Our Hike to Taal Volcano, Tagaytay Philippines
Tourists that are going to Tagaytay usually wants to see the beautiful view of Taal Volcano from afar and to feel the cold weather from the highlands of Tagaytay. Well for us we don’t want to see it from a distance only, but this time we made sure to see its beauty until to its crater lake and bring all the readers closer to Taal Volcano by hiking on it. Taal Volcano is the island of Luzon in the Philippines, the second active volcano in the Philippines with 33 recorded eruptions from the past. You can reach Tagaytay from Manila for approximately 1 hour via private car or public transportation bus that costs Php 120.00 only. Since we came from Manila, we went to the bus station at Taft Terminal Station to catch the earliest trip to Tagaytay to avoids traffic and the heat from the sun. When we reach Tagaytay, we went to Talisay Bay by hiring a tricycle for Php 500 and chose a resort to leave our luggage. Since we are only two persons and we wanted to use the boat for the two of us alone, we decided to get the boat that costs Php2000, which is suitable for six persons, including the tour guide. However, it is preferable if you come in a group to save up your money. The pump boat will take you to hike grounds for less than 15 minutes. On the way, you will see many fish cultivation. Don’t forget to wear your life vests for safety purposes and make sure to wear appropriate hiking clothes. There are two options to go up the crater, by walking up or by renting a horse for Php 500.00 and ride on the horse. Of course, we chose to go up on our own for exercise and to enjoy the green surroundings, besides the horse looks pity and skinny too. We started going up at around 9 in the morning and reach the crater at 10:30 am. When you reach the viewing deck, there is a store selling some snacks and cold drinks like fresh coconut juice. However, the viewing deck is not enough for us, so instead, we went down to the crater to take a deep on the lake and see on a closer look at the surroundings of the crater. Luckily the tour guide brought us down to the crater lake to check on it. Below are the pictures we took during our trip to Taal Volcano:
Note that the tour guide allows us to take a deep in the crater lake as when we go there the water is safe. After resting a bit on the crater, we headed back to the viewing deck and went back to the resort to have our lunch at around 1 PM. We planned to eat at the summit of Taal Volcano, but the weather was hot by the time we went there, so we decided to cook our meal at the resort. We brought our portable cooking set with us and a reasonable amount of food. What we cooked was shrimp