04.01.08
Villa Escudero Part 2
To continue from my previous post on Villa Escudero, after lunch we headed off to see what else was at the plantation. We found there was a museum that housed lots of things from Mr. Escudero’s private collection. We weren’t allowed to take pictures, but we were able to get one shot inside. . . Mum’s the word on how that happened, but here it is with us in front of one of the displays. There were many other things that I would have preferred to take a picture of, but oh well. . .
From left to right is Andrew, me, Marissa, Dad, Mom, and Uncle Rudy. One may notice that Filipinos are very heavily influenced by the Catholics. There were old floats for religious parades there as well as antique furniture, antique clothing, including clothing from the various presidents and their wives, a collection of money from around the world during the turn of the century and prior(interesting to see how the details/art work changes through time), Mr. Escudero’s private taxidermy collection (he was also a hunter), and many more items. I could have spent the whole day there browsing around, but we got in a bit late and had to leave because the museum was closing. So we snooped around the plantation more and found another popular activity there was rafting. Here’s a shot of the rafters.
These rafters could be seen from our nipa hut since the balcony of our hut hung over this side of the river. Here’s a view from our hut.
Our hut was two levels, but only the beds on the bottom level had mosquito nets. I slept upstairs in one of the beds without a mosquito net and got eaten alive by mosquitoes during the night. This was actually the one and only night I got bitten by mosquitoes on this trip. Years ago, it was different, and I got bitten much more. Here’s a pic of what the bedroom downstairs looked like.
This was the second place where we were able to enjoy a hot shower even thought it was practically a trickle, it felt sooo good! The other hot shower we were able to take was at the massage spa. My sister and I had a great Filipino massage called “hilot” by her condo on Bonafacio High Street. They had very nice restrooms and showers. Very modern like here in the states, but the shower head was even nicer than what I’m used to. Not only did they have hot running water with strong pressure, the shower heads were about 10″ in diameter. Talk about a “shower.” That was wonderful! But getting back to Villa Escudero, I really loved that balcony. I really wished that I could take out my knitting and sit there and just knit. It was so beautiful and peaceful. We talked into the night and learned of more stories from my mom and dad of when they were younger. Some of the stories were so sweet, yet some were also quite sad. Here we were chatting into the night.
Soon, dinner time arrived, so off we went to the buffet. Here’s a shot of part of the buffet. The food here was very good! I admit that I do miss the food still. Even the breakfast was delicious, and actually the most traditional Filipino breakfast that I had on the whole trip. I didn’t take any pictures of breakfast, but basically there was a couple types of fried fish, champrado (it’s like a chocolate rice pudding), scrambled eggs, hash, rice. I’m sure there was more, but that’s what sticks out in my memory of it. As far as dinner, my favorite part was the coconut bread pudding. Oh my, to die for! I love both coconuts and bread pudding and to have it both in one recipe. . . ummmmmm
Normally on the weekends, there is a performance during dinnertime. I believe it consists of some traditional folk dances and music, but alas, we were there on a Wednesday night and left on Thursday because Andrew and I we leaving the Philippines that Friday. So we missed the performance. I did take a picture of the instruments, tho. I really would have loved to hear them in action! But this picture will have to suffice for now.
After dinner we headed back. Here’s a pic of Andrew and me by the rafting dock. The atmosphere during nighttime reminded me so much of the feeling of the Pirates of the Caribbean at Disneyland. Even the sounds, ha!
Another cute little touch at Villa Escudero was the serenaders. While we sat chatting on the balcony, we heard some music. At the door we found some guys singing to us! Ha! They sang Filipino folk songs. It was really sweet, and they sounded good!
In the morning, I wanted to soak up as much as I could of that balcony. So early morning, I got up and hung out on the hammock.
Shortly after this shot, we ate our breakfast at their buffet and headed back to Manila. Oh, by the way, I just realized that I didn’t even mention where Villa Escudero is. It is in San Pablo City, boundary Tiaong, Quezon, Philippines. They even have a website which is www.villaescudero.com Addresses in the Philippines is a bit different from here in the U.S. I don’t know how mail gets to some of the homes. I’ll explain that in another post later. For now, that’s it for Villa Escudero.
Marlakins
