Sunday, April 30, 2006

trip to Tagaytay with Mom and Lola..

It was some sort of a peaceful reunion. Early in the morning, as planned, we picked up my grandmother (mother side) from our old residence. (Tito Toti, Tito Zaldo's father-in-law was the one who drove us coz Tito Zaldo's not available that time.) We didn't actually went in the house. Sa looban kasi ng pamilya namin un. Let's just say that a lot of things went on through the years and well.. they are not in such good terms.. that's putting it mildly. Not particularly a feud. More like a series of misunderstandings.. as I'd like to think so.. which is why there's only like 2 people when we got there- that's my grandma and my grandma's younger brother's wife, Tita Nadeth (she's nice and easy to get along with).

Mom and I got surprised to see my grandma again for so many years with no contact. (Long story really. Enough said.) She looked so different from before. I guess this was the result of aging and not being with her for so long (approximately 5 years). She looked weak (besides the fact that she recently got her hand bitten by a cat which resulted to an infection and that years ago she had a foot operation so she couldn't walk too well), frail, skinny, and umm.. how should I put this.. vunerable..? She let out an expression of disbelief and excitement. She kept saying I'm so tall now. Yeah it's true, I've grown a lot (and partly because I'm wearing heel~ed sandals that time XD).

I remember a few days ago before the trip that I get to talk to her for just a few minutes on the phone. She sounds the same though I swear her pitch is a lil higher this time. Anyway, she told me about how my cousin Kuya Rey's doing well in school now. He's top in class in Math and Language. I cried discreetly as she was talking. Afterwards I went in my room and cried. Hard. Don't laugh, I know it's pretty much like a disbelief, I mean, y`all think nothing much bothers me to get so overwhelmed to weep like a child. But then there are always secret times, you know. I bet everyone have their moments.

I was facing the wall, having no intention to let anyone know what I was doing. I kept telling myself that I have to stop before someone gets in. But my emotions got the best of me. I was sad about what happened years ago but I'm also happy that Kuya's alright and that my mom's getting involved with grandma Loli again. I guess it took me so long to contain myself that led Ronald to check up on me. Sorry you had to witness my drama, pare.

Ok, back to the trip. Me and Grandma were sitting behind Mom so you could imagine how my mother would've felt constantly looking behind while the vehicle's moving. Damn, if I was in her position, I would've experienced nausea greater than her. Anyway, from the front mirror I could see she was trying to hold herself together as she and granny was talking. But the glossiness of her eyes betrayed her hard voice and her I'm-not-bothered expression. *sigh* My mom, the softie. Then again, I'm like her too.

We stopped by Chowking in.. Dasma.. I think.. or Imus was it..? I forgot. We ate siopao coz me and Loli didn't have breakfast and were hungry. Afterwards, we headed straight to Tagaytay, the place with a disturbing memory for me. I bothers me somehow that whenever there's like a trip to a nice place or field trips it always ended up bad for me. There's always something that pisses me off or upsets me. The last time I came here with my friends, it was a mixture of excitement and worry. I'll just talk about the excitement part, no use recalling the bad past. I was excited coz it was my first trip not having any adult relatives with me who kept on dictating and.. you know, everything else, being adults they are. So it was fun. =)

Tagaytay Zoo is the place my friends and I didn't get to go to the time we went to Tagaytay which is why I got excited. (I swear if I have a better cam like Cannon I would've enjoyed taking pictures more. But then again, at least I have a cam, right? Oh well, I'll just save up then.) As my mom was paying, we saw this Shih Tzu dog in the guard's station just beside us. Being dog lovers that we were, we approached the canine and I took shots:

There was a mime in the entrance of the Zoo, looked cool. Would've dropped some coins for him if I had some with me. There were also parrots on the side. I forgot to get their names, too bad:







The first type of animals you get to see as you step inside are.. reptiles. I'm not fond of snakes but I'm not scared of them either (just as long as they don't have venom anymore and that they're trapped inside) but I swear.. looking at 'em fascinates me. The pattern of their "skin" is amazing, you'd have to imagine touching one:

This is an Indian Python


Albano Python


There were also some fishes and turtles inside. What startled me were the fake (must be rubber) crocodiles on the floor. I have shot of 'em on my cel. It was too dark to be seen on my cam. (I don't get why even with flash the shots look dim. Damn.)

Outside the "Reptile Room" (as I liked to call it) were some souvenir stuff. Walking some more, there's a restaurant for tired travelers and more cages of Indian Pythons and other small snakes. I couldn't get a decent shot of any kind of monkeys so I guess you'll have to settle with these:

Rhesus monkey


Don't worry, it's not a mutant gorilla about to take over the world..


The part I love most with Zoo~s is the cute animals you get to see! (Though in this place there's only like less than 5 I can name that you could qualify as "cute"..)

Her name's Julia.. Not yet a year old..




And on with the other animals..

It's called a Carroway..


The Brown Bear's looking depressed.. Awww..


The ostriches running around the cage.


No, not a camel, a Llama..


There was supposed to be a 5-legged Ox featured. This one had 4 legs.. so it might be the Ox at the back who's lying down. too bad I didn't get to capture the Believe It Or Not moment..


Not sure if they're lioness~es..




We ate lunch in the restaurant and as the time flew, the temperature rises.

Mom and Grandma..


me and Grandma..



We saw some tiger performance after we ate. Julia's younger sibling was so cute! Mom got to hold it for just like a minute or two (it can't play and jump around that much coz it just ate). I caught the moment on my cel coz my cam's lowbat (damn) and I couldn't find my extra battery earlier so.. Sayang di ba? Ang sarap nyang hawakan so much! The fur's like a cat's.. The face is uber cute..

We went to the Tagaytay Market before heading straight home. Mom bought some food for Grandma in her house. We dropped her off first. All in all, it was pretty much successful for a motherly reunion. =')

Labels: family, love, place(s), reminiscing the past, with pics