South Luzon Loop: THE WAY HOME

Since the story is now about our way home, I will not segregate it into different posts na. Haha! Im so bitter about going home. If you want to read about our earlier adventures, just browse through my archive.

Anyway, ideally and according to D's initial plan, our South Luzon Loop was really a loop. I can't discuss it in detail because I let D handle the route stuff so I don't know a thing. haha! But when Leo joined us, he wanted us to take the shorter route. Of course, I second the motion. hehe. So technically what we did was not a loop. We just retraced the same route as how we came in. So what you will be reading next are just bunch of stories about our revisit to Naga and the things we saw on the road.

Let's start!

After 5 hours, we reached Naga again. It was a little faster this time because the boys wanted to rest. But I want to go to SM Naga! After we settled again in Sampaguita Tourist Inn (we got the same room by the way), D agreed for us to go to SM Naga while Leo toured the city alone. The mall was just walking distance from the inn so we just wore shorts and slippers but of course we still used Choco Banana and wore our helmets. Spell tamad! 

This was us in our attempt to have a photo anywhere we go -

Inside, we just browsed what do they have that are not in Manila malls. I saw a food chain named Graceland, then some stalls in the foodcourt and some pasalubong shops. The others were just basically the same as what we have in Manila. Even the movies shown were the same. Look at this line. When I saw this I knew what movie they're waiting. Of course, it's the JLC movie. Ohh I have to watch.. in Manila. hehe 

I bought a bunch of Pili products then proceded to check which food to eat. Of course, I want to eat something local. That's actually my panata - I will not eat anything that can be bought in Manila. So we tried Geewan's Pinangat, Kinunot (apparently it's shark daw in sour gata sauce) and lechon kawali to save us just in case we don't like the food. Fortunately for us we liked everything.

After dinner, we decided to check out one of the cities' historic churches - San Francisco Church. It was only now that I'm doing this post that I learned that it is not my desired church. I always thought I can scratch Penafrancia off my list. Ohh I guess we have to come back. On the third weekend of September maybe? Para Penafrancia Festival!

We went back to Plaza Rizal again for a night stroll. This time there were less people so we had this sign all by ourselves.

The reason we came back here was the street food! We weren't able to try it on our first night because we were so full (to D's relief). Now, we really made space for it. It was one of the rare times when D let me convince him to try dirty food. Yey! He didn't try the colored drink though, he still prefered bottled soda.

After that, we decided to go back to the inn to call it a night as we have to rise early the next day. We woke up at 5am, took a quick bath then continued with our travel. We left the inn at around past 6am. Leo was in such a hurry because he wanted to reach Pasig when there's still sun. He was really keen to overtake every vehicle. Look at this shot. It was almost like he's answering to the bus 'Yes may reklamo ako! Masyado ka mabagal' Haha!

We had breakfast in one of the eatery on the way then continued again. Leo left us this time, he was so fast. I was on the brink of surrendering because my butt hurt like hell when we saw him waiting for us just at the entrance to Bitukang Manok. He told us that we will stop in Eme-Eme. Apparently, it's this place-

Our next stop was lunch at Palaisdaan in Quezon. There's two Palaisdaan there ha. One is Kamayan sa Palaisdaan which is the pricier one. Then there's the older Palaisdaan branch which they said priced lower so we went there. hehe! The place was full at 12nn. But of course! We ended up seating in one of the tables in the dining hall instead of our desired floating cottage. Anyhoo, the food arrived late as usual.

Good thing there's some vendor selling Pilipit (Squash with Latik). It tasted like Karioka to me.

Our food arrived at last. It was just so-so. Nothing extravagant.

So we took off again. Then as if the boys' wishes were granted, we reached Pasig before the sun set at 5:30pm. Nice! Here's D and Choco Banana doing the victory pose -

As for me, I'm happy that I made D happy. Everyone's happy actually. Except my shoes -

Now I have a reason to buy a new shoes that I've been putting off forever. Hehe!

TOTAL DISTANCE TRAVELLED: 1,160 kms in 4 days
Expenses: Roughly 6,000 for a motorcycle w/ backride (including gas)


So, where will the next tour be? The boys were talking about Panay Loop. Hmmm let's see.


Till our next travel,
Yosh