The pictures above were taken just a week after my friends and I had our afternoon snacks here. We were then on our way back to Manila from our day tour at Chateau Royale Resorts.

The blueberry pancakes were for my household angels as they were in awe of my description of how it looked like when each of my friends ordered this sweet looking delight a week earlier.

I won’t rave (or rant) on how the food tastes like. The ambiance of this place, for me, is what sells. If you go to Tagaytay, the Bag of Beans is just one of those places you’d make sure to spend sometime before calling it a successful weekend. From buffet breakfast or lunch to snacks of coffee and sweets, the menu suits most types of interests specially their all day breakfasts of pancakes.

You’ll find Bag of Beans at the right side when en route to Batangas and will not miss the swarms of cars looking for parking spaces to buy their coffee beans and breads. Should you be interested to dine in, there are three parking spaces at the side and back of the resto.

Address : 115 Aguinaldo Highway, Mendez Crossing West, Tagaytay City, Philippines

For Reservation, contact #: +63922 873 9686 or +63920 954 6370

Aside from cashew nuts, native delicacies, and lechon along the streets, Antipolo is best known for the shrine of Nuesta Señora De la Paz y Buen Viaje or Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage.

Patrons go here to attend mass and visit the shrine showcasing some of the sceptres and crowns. It was said that the state has around  400 pieces of dresses already.

Aside from this, patrons go here to have their vehicles blessed with holy water as a sign of gratitude for the blessing of having acquired a vehicle. Many also believe that the intercession of Nuesta Señora De la Paz y Buen Viaje will bring forth a safe trip for the car owners.

Just across the area where the cars are parked while awaiting for blessing ceremonies, is Reggie’s store. It’s not a complete trip without the suman and kasuy.

Suman is sticky rice wrapped in coconut leaves. One bundle of around 20 pieces is sold for Php 100 (USD 2) while roasted kasuy (cashew nuts) in plain or garlic flavor ranging between Php 150 (USD 3) to Php 200 (USD 4).

Day tour is my personal preference for this place because in my experience for an overnight stay, some of their facilities need some more improvements on facilities and more drastic training in events management.

For facilities, there are cabinets in the rooms that need minor repairs, squeaky doors, leaks from ceiling in the CR, non-working aircon in room or conference hall, faucet malfunction, etc… and it was difficult to transfer if there are corporate bookings.

Day tour accommodation is quite promising given that the common shower room is better maintained (or probably has been recently renovated). I enjoyed the kayak. Rate is at Php 350/hour including two life vests. Beach is clean and the water was refreshing and blue. Pool area is very enticing with all the cabanas around and trees close to the area provide some shade and greenery, making the place relaxing and cozy.

Room rate ranges at around Php 5,000++ or more. It’s just good to know that in my stay there last April 2010, renovations were underway for the north wing already (I stayed in the south wing).  Food is good and the location of the restaurant at the lower ground give a good view of the beach and accessibility to the pool.

In events management, most specially if the reservations were coursed through the Makati office, they should strongly coordinate the requirements agreed with the sales representative with the events management on-site.  As an example, when we arrived there for a planning session, it is at least expected for the conference hall to be prepared, what was the submission of the program for if these things will not ready. Upon arrival at the beach club, that was the only time they arranged the conference hall; turned on the aircon (and learned wasn’t working and had to fix– which affected our schedule); set-up of free flowing cofee, etc and was done almost end of the day already. Our PM snack was served close to 5pm (supposed to be between 3PM-4PM) and the dinner roll served with pancit, in our impression, tastes old.

You may contact them directly for quotations or reservations at telephone number: +632 520 6400

Overall, this is in my list of options for day tour but will think twice for overnight stay.

Mine was a Full Body Scrub with free Cream Bath (Php 1120) – This is a one hour exfoliating full body scrub with moisturizing cream. The effect was not just polished skin but also invigorating with the massage that comes with this service.

Other services we had were:

Foot Spa with Back Massage, 1 hour   Php 560

Hair Spa with Scalp Massage, 30 mins   Php 560

Aromatherapy Steam Bath, 20 mins   Php 450

Manicure/Pedicure, Php  150/Php   150

Lilac Package, 2.5 hours   Php  2580

Lilac package comes with body scrub with a choice from rose, banana, green tea, or olive grove plus facial and hair spa, Sonya’s signature massage.

By the way, the soaps in their bathrooms were the mini-honey soaps from Ilog Maria, a honey bee farm nearby.

And then, there is a Panaderia (Bakeshop) with various local breads and pastries.

Sonya’s Garden

Barangay Buck Estate, Alfonso, Cavite, Philippines (near the vicinity of Tagaytay City, Philippines)

Driving to South Luzon having a clear destination of where we want to go, although unsure of where it is exactly hehe, we found this pristine nature that is a home to a lot of honey bees.

We went there primarily for their honey products – soaps, royal jelly hair oil, honey cider vinegar, aroma theraphy products, and a lot more.

These soaps were hand-made in small batches. The production area is just below the store where ladies mix ingredients from an old recipe that is said to have moisturizing, softening, healing, deep cleansing, anti-fungal and anti-bacterial effect to the skin. They even have deodorizing pet soap.

Among my favorites are the Lip Balm (bcoz I seldom wear lipstick) and Propolis Ointment (for skin irritation and infections, allergies, insect bites, rashes, skin irritations, fungal infections, swollen and infected wounds. For the reason that when I am in a place with mosquitoes, I am the first one bitten. While my skin is already tortured with bites, people around me doesn’t even notice there are mosquitoes. Me and my sister Jean share the same ‘attraction’ to those blood sucking insects.

Aside from this store in Silang, Cavite… some of their products are also available in Echo Store, Kape Isla, Serendra, Bonifacio Global City. Ilog Maria also have an online store.

Contact Details:  www.ilogmaria.com / +63 46 865 0018

Mode of Payment: Cash (in Silang)