Tagaytay Trike

Ever since I moved to Manila, I wanted to visit Tagaytay.  I heard so much about the Taal volcano close by, the restaurants that are worth 2 hour-ride from Manila to have a meal, and the nature and landscape that are vastly different than that of Manila’s.  When I got the chance to use dad’s birthday as an excuse, I booked our rooms with One Tagaytay Place Hotel and rented a van and driver to head out Manila on a Friday afternoon.

It was my fault that I didn’t check the Tagaytay weather before leaving Manila .  It was hot and humid in Manila but the Tagaytay highland was chilly and very windy.  I brought shorts, tank tops, and sandals and I knew that I had made a mistake as soon as the driver opened the door of the van.  To top it off, we found out from the hotel at eight at night that Tagaytay doesn’t have taxis to take us to the restaurants.   Hotel recommended that we take the only local transportation in the evening, a trike, to a restaurant that is 15 minutes away.  A trike is a motorcycle that is converted into a passenger ‘vehicle’ with one side of the bike attached to a cart.  Theoretically, the trike “comfortably” transports three passengers.  Mom and dad got into the trike’s passenger “seats” and I sat behind the ‘triker’.  The trike took off into the night with its loud engine and earth-shaking vibrations.  I was cold sitting behind the driver at first, but later on, I was warmed up by either the heat produced by the trike’s engine, vibration of the trike, or the adrenaline rushing through me as the trike climbed up the Tagaytay ‘highway’. 

trike

As soon as we got off the trike, mom lost it!  “Never ride this again, do you hear me?  It’s so dangerous; you’ll be tipped over if a car passes this thing with a bad angle.”  I protested, “How are we going to get here if not the trike? Besides, you learn how the locals get transported!”  “We could eat at the hotel!” mom said.  I guess she does have a point but the trike not only warmed me up, the excitement of an adventure also made me forget that parents are senior citizens these days and dad is approaching 80!  Afterall, maybe trike wasn’t such a smart idea to transport precious cargo!

trike "passenger" compartment

One of the employees at Fire Lake Grill helped us and arranged a P300 ride through another employee’s van to return to our hotel.  This morning when we were heading out for a tour of Taal volcano, we paid up for the hotel ride (P1,800).  Even though the trike ride was mom’s first, I have a feeling that we won’t be doing that again, EVER!