second round @ tagaytay

after months (?) of planning & exchanging e-mails, we finally settled on a date to for a long-standing return to tagaytay. last time we went was in the middle of a strong typhoon when some (understandably so) canceled due to floods & power outtages. this time, there were a few first-timers (jap, mitch, richard & dino), a few from last time who couldn't make it (jim, notty) and some who still couldn't make it (reggie, tm). going out friday night and sleeping in around 230am is a no-no specially if you are going to meet friends riding with you at 630am. i did manage to get to the meeting place probably 5 mins after 630 but eric, as usual, arrived late. there was idle chatter during the short drive to mcdonald's where we're supposed to meet up with the rest of the gang.

the drive to tagaytay was fast. everyone was kind of curious about dino since it was his first time to hang out with the group. annie, in her usual inquisitive self, asked him about his gf and sort of cornered him into admitting that they're not together anymore. tsk tsk tsk, for the record dino, i did not say anything about it to anyone. when we got to the tagaytay resthouse, it was as magnificent as last time we were there - it was a perfect place to get away, a haven of sorts. we did our obligatory market shopping with shanda showing us how it was done that we kidded her that she's now the undisputed "palengke" queen. going to the wet market was surreal and i don't remember the last time i went in one. what remains vivid is how i used to go with mom to the wet market when i was very young - this before the advent & popularity of airconditioned supermarkets. meats, vegetables, fruits and beer - all set!

shanda's passion for cooking was evident during lunch time and jap doing her best tried to salvage the rice she was cooking to no avail. we ended up with jollibee rice + grilled tilapia, bangus and dada's adobo - yum! the rest of the afternoon was naptime for some and watching reruns of grey's anatomy's season 1. we decided to try going for badminton & swimming but the place where we were supposed to go was closed - bummer! we ended up hanging out at cliffhouse in tagaytay and was reminded how awesome it was to be out of the city, cool temp & all. dinner came at 9pm, again courtesy of shanda's cooking prowess and we started drinking probably around 10pm starting off with a bottle of red wine and san mig light.

"destiny" is a card game jim introduced to us last time we were in tagaytay. its actually a perfect game to get people drunk as the turnaround is quite fast, "casualties" even faster. by the end of the night, it was clear annie was the winner. dino richard & eric were buzzed from the game. i was buzzed just drinking. everyone else seemed fine. at past 3am, sleep felt like the best thing in the world.

imee, out of guilt likely, came out to tagaytay so early in the morning that meeting up with her pretty groggy seemed like punishment for the night before. breakfast of leftovers felt nourishing and it was obvious that morning that some were in better shape than the rest. we hanged out a bit more, took more pictures before we had to hurriedly leave around 1pm for some other engagements. i, for one, had to meet up with my groupmates for a school presentation all the way to rockwell.

all in all, it was a great weekend hanging out with friends. these are good people and i'm quite lucky with friends.