Taal Vista Hotel (partial write-up)
The Taal lake and volcano is undisputedly one of the most scenic places in the Philippines. Back when I was still as big as the little boy in the photo, a trip there is like a treat my siblings and I delightedly await. I’ve mentioned many times that it would only take 20 minutes at most to be at the town proper of Tagaytay where the volcano can be viewed (there are also parts of Laguna and Batangas where the volcano can be seen). One of the more popular places there is the Taal Vista Lodge along with the People’s Park (Palace in the Sky) and Picnic Groove. We would go horse-back riding, watch concerts in the open area and simply take photos with the volcano as background. 
Nowadays, there are lots of other recreational places and restaurants in Tagaytay offering great food and a wonderful view of the Taal volcano.
I had a nostalgic trip down memory lane when I came back this place sometime in July, during my brother’s wedding. The ceremony was held at the Lourdes Chapel, also in Tagaytay and the reception followed at the Taal Vista Lodge (now Hotel). Sure, the horses where still there but there was a big improvement from 12 years ago…the place is much cleaner, well-landscaped, unused outdoor tables are covered with patio furniture covers as opposed to being left alone dirty.
They’ve also installed canisters for trash, which as I remember the trash cans used to be those green rubber made from broken auto tires. 
– Well, a big improvement indeed! Really, the place looks cleaner…
*I will write more about the place and the wedding (food review in my other blog) and photos soon to be uploaded.
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On Lack of Time-out / Kiiroi Namida
I haven’t gone to see a good movie for a long time. If I remember correctly, the last film Harold(hubby) and I watched together was The DaVinci code (lol). I can’t even remember when was that. We had a friend look out for the kids for about 5 hours (thanks tita Sol).
Our film/anime fix then comes from free streaming videos like veoh.com or aniyume.net. We would sometimes do a ‘marathon’ if we are not in a bind to finish things around the house. We’d pull out the sofa bed and have chips and nuts or kropek (how do you spell it? -shrimp crackers). Of course, the kids behave too while watching.
Wow, I was surprised how big the playscreen is! =D
Anyway, this film is the first part of Kiiroi Namida (Yellow Tears), this was the latest film that I got to see. The story is set in Post war Japan…of how 4 young artists continue to follow their dreams and hold on to their pride to not work as regular employers but as artists.
It stars Arashi (Storm), a popular Japanese pop group which includes my favorite actor Jun Matsumoto. He plays Yuji Katsumada, a delivery boy, well not one of the major roles but that’s fine, good thing is he’s still there.lol.
The other 4 boys in the group played as follows: Sho Sakurai as Ryuzo Mukai; a novelist, Aiba Masaki as Shoichi Inoue; a composer/singer, Kazunari Ninomiya as Eizuke Muraoka; a mangaka and Satoshi Ono as Kei Shimokawa; a painter.
The film has typical elements of Japanese culture, the manga, the food, the costumes, the public bath, even the room which the 4 guys rented speak well of Japan. But there lacks cohesion and emotion somewhere. It was not a movie that will bring you thrill or make you cry, rather it made me laugh at some points which I have not expected. Lacking as it may, the film put out a lesson well enough, not all dreams come true…however doable it may seem, its not that easy.
Kiiroi Namida was based on the legendary manga of the same name by Shinji Nagashima – one of the more notable manga artists from that same period portrayed by the film.
If you want to follow the nostalgic story of dreams, hope, freedom, friendship, departure and adolescent tragedy of Kiiroi Namida, please click here.
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