With the museum geek in him satiated, Tutubi, and his two companions proceeded to their destination just around the corner from Balay na Santiago, a quaint restaurant advertising bangus (milkfish) grill and bibingka.

Branding the name Genaro's bangus grill, the place is a late replacement for the earlier planned trip to Hose 48 Steakhouse for their steaks raved by other bloggers, that sports a simple homey ambiance. A freezer where you point to various ingredients, sort of a Sutukil, on display and cooked per your directions either sinigang (sour broth), nilaga (soupy), inihaw (grilled)



On Bangus, they Genaro's Grill, even with the name grill to the name, serves rellenong bangus, sisig na bangus, kilawin, paksiw and the usual daing na bangus. Typical grill fare of sizzling pork sisig, bangus belly and sizzling squid.



For the sinigang (Filipino style soup with sour broth) there are options for shrimp, prawns, pink salmon, cream dory (pangasius), pork, beef with price range of P180 to P360 (sinigang na sugpo)

Since they're only three and with limited budget, they just ordered sinigang na pink salmon plus the so-called Genaro's treat, a sampler of inihaw na talong (grilled eggplant), grilled milkfish and inihaw na liempo (grilled pork spareribs) with spicy dips.

Pink Salmon in sinigang broth

After the early heavy dinner, Tutubi proceeded to Monte Carlo Hotel for his well-deserved rest and slept soundly throughout the night...

At 7 in the morning, after taking his complimentary breakfast of daing na bangus, Tutubi checked out of the hotel and drove back to Manila. It's in Santiago City's center that they got caught inside heavy traffic due to an on-going parade that he realized that the city's celebrating the fiesta in honor of San Santiago (St. James whose feat day falls on July 25), the same patron saint of his hometown Paete in Laguna. Traffic was so heavy that even large trailer trucks were forced by the city government to traverse the labyrinthine alleys of the city with so little room for maneuvering.

The attempts to evade traffic and find a way out of the city bore positive results when Tutubi stumbled on an old house, bahay na bato architecture, said to be the ancestral house of the Abaya clan while out of an unknown street corner saw a Chinese temple.

Santiago Chinese Temple, no idea if Taoist temple or not since Tutubi just passed by the street where it's located
The ancestral home of the Abayas in Santiago City

From there Tutubi retraced the route back to Manila, stopping momentarily again at G&B in Bagabag, Nueva Vizcaya to buy buko pies as pasalubong, searched for the former POW concentration camp in Cabanatuan City and finally a last minute pasalubong shopping at Sevilla Sweets in San Miguel, Bulacan for the famous pastillas.

Labels: Cagayan Valley, Isabela, Isabela Restaurants

Right after checking in at Monte Carlo Hotel, Tutubi's other companion, Jerry, had to return to Manila and requested to proceed to Calao area and buy his return bus ticket at Victory Liner, later found out to be fully-booked, and instead bought a ticket at Baliwag Transit just across Victory Liner terminal.

Since the trio were getting hungry, Tutubi's driver asked he wanted to have an early dinner for him to rest early. Tutubi replied in the affirmative. Jerry wanted to call House 48 for their steak but Tutubi wanted something Filipino or at least taste local cuisine of Isabela. His driver suggested a bangus grill nearby where they agreed to have their dinner.

On the road going to the bangus grill, Tutubi spotted the large sign of Balay na Santiago, a museum he thought was near the City Hall, but found out is near the barangay hall of Calao West. He immediately signaled his driver to stop for him to pay a visit to the museum.


Balay na Santiago looks like a reconstruction of a bahay na bato with the facade modeled after the Aguinaldo Mansion in Kawit, Cavite.

At the museum entrance, they were told by the attendant that they're about to close since it's already 5 o'clock in the afternoon but Tutubi pleaded for him to get in telling the attendant they came from Manila and can't possibly come back the morrow. The attendant let them in and guided them to the various rooms and displays already closed with the lights off, even allowed him to photograph items on display, not so typical of other museums he's been to.


Inside the museum were pictures of Santiago City's tourist spots, old pictures of stone churches of Alicia, Tumauini and San Pablo, old furnitures redolent of a long-gone era you only find in old heritage houses, mementos from the Cordillera like their nipa huts and bulul (rice granary gods) and even giant paper mache similar to those paraded during the Higantes Festival in Angono Rizal annually on November 22 and 23.

dining room setting of an aristocratic past
reminds you of Angono's Higantes Festival, isn't it?
Bulul on display showcasing the culture of Igorots also present in Isabela

Notes:

Balay na Santiago is open from 8am to 12nn and 1:30pm to 5pm daily. Admission fee is P5 for adults and P3 for students/children.

There is the Isabela Museum and Library at the Old Capitol Building in Ilagan town and also up north is the National Museum branch in Tuguegarao with important geological and archeological findings in Cagayan Valley on display.

How to get there:
Hire a tricycle to take you to the place from the bus terminals of Victory Liner and Baliwag Transit in Calao.

Related Post:
List of Museums in the Philippines

Labels: Cagayan Valley, Isabela, Museums, Santiago City

After finishing what needs to be done in San Mateo and a brief stopover at Magat Dam, Tutubi looked around for a hotel to stay for the night not wishing to immediately return to Manila by traveling through the night. He already saw several hotels and inns on the road and set his sights on one that's somewhat the newest of them all in Santiago City very near the home of his driver.



On seeing Monte Carlo Hotel sign, he instructed his driver to park in front to inquire for prices and inspect the room. He was offered a standard room at P800/night but opted for the deluxe one priced at P950. He could have stayed at a suite room since his budget allows it but did not since all he wanted was a nice place to sleep a few hours and again hit the road.


the facade of the hotel hard to miss on Santiago City's main highway

On seeing the room, he immediately booked one where the lady at the frontdesk gave him a key to room # 7 to which he inquired if he needed to pay a deposit. The lady just replied "Di naman siguro kayo tatakbo, sir (you probably won't run away)," to which he replied at the back of his mind "I won't run but will drive away."

They trust their customers or maybe Tutubi really is afflicted with agerasia making him look trustworthy :P

the front desk with too trusting staff
the fountain and lawn near Tutubi's room
Tutubi's deluxe room for a few hours sleep

Monte Carlo Hotel Review:

The hotel seems fairly new including the rooms were nice. The only difference between the standard and deluxe rooms is that the latter's floor is carpeted. Breakfast, inclusive in the price, can be taken near the front desk or delivered to your room; in this case, Tutubi had his daing na bangus delivered at 6am and it arrived on time with sun side up fried egg, fried rice and coffee. The only minor thing he noticed was the absence of a chain lock on the door or a peep hole to see first who's on your door before totally opening the door (for security reasons). Lots of parking in the hotel for they seem to cater to drive-in customers.

No Casinos in Monte Carlo though so better go to Las Vegas or Monaco, both gambling capitals; only karaoke/videoke there.

Monte Carlo Hotel
Telephone number: +63.78.682.3303
Address: Purok 3, Rizal, Santiago City

Room Rates:
Standard: P800
De Luxe: P950
Suite Room: P1500
Family Room: P1500
Extra Mattress: P150

with inclusive breakfast.

Where to stay in Isabela alternatives:

Diocita's Hotel
Address : National Highway, Rizal, Santiago City
Tel. No. : +63.78.682.7717
Remarks: a few meters from Monte Carlo Hotel

Rosato Hotel, Cafe & Restaurant
Address : National Highway, Magsaysay, Alicia, Isa Rizal, Santiago City
Tel. No. : +63.78.662.7322

Honey Lodge Suites
Santiago City

Santiago Spring Garden Resort
Address : Sinsayon, Santiago City
Contact No. : +63.78.682.3082

Cauayan Grand Hotel
Address : Don Jose Cancillier Ave., Cauayan City, Isabela

Ilagan San Antonio Hotel
Address : 12 Burgos St., Centro Ilagan, Isabela
Tel. No. : +63.78.624.2170


There are also lodges and inns you can see on the highway and in the town centers for various accommodations. No information yet on room rates, prices and if cheap enough for you. Hotel and resort listing from the DOT website. please call the hotel contact number for the latest information

Labels: Cagayan Valley, Hotels and Resorts, Isabela

Right after finishing his official job in San Mateo town, the drive southwards back to Santiago City was interrupted again by Tutubi when he saw the road signs leading to Magat Dam on a road also leading to Ifugao province. He instructed his driver to turn right on a mostly "rocky" road leading to the dam said to be a popular picnic place for the locals

Tutubi's driver wanted him to buy tilapia grown in cages in the lake but found none selling the fish and so just took a few photos before leaving.

picture of Magat dam with the massive spillway on the background

According to a sign at Magat Dam, "The Magat Dam Brief History:

The construction of the Magat Dam and appurtenant structures, the principal feature of the Magat River Project (MRRP) was authorized by Presidential Decree 693 signed on May 7, 1975 by the late President Ferdinand Edralin Marcos.

Implementation of the project was based on the preliminary study conducted in 1973 by the National Irrigation Administration (NIA) with the assistance of the United States Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

Subsequent detailed and extensive damsite investigation and engineering studies further confirmed the feasibility of what is now known as NIA's most daring infrastructure project and one of Asia's biggest dams today.

The total project cost is P3.4B, jointly financed by the Philippine Government and the World Bank. It was inaugurated on October 27, 1982 by the late President Marcos. It was inaugurated on October 27, 1982 by the late President Marcos. He said 'This is a truly a day of pride for all those who worked in the project for all our people and our country.'"

The present hydro-electric power plant is acting in reserve capacity. It only runs when additional power is needed
The lake reservoir, created from Magat River, is now used as tilapia farms by some enterprising locals
A place where harvested tilapia from the fish cages are unloaded from boats and loaded on jeepneys. Notice also the low water level of the dam

Magat Hydroelectric Power Plant sits at the boundary of Alfonso Lista town of Ifugao (part of the Cordillera Administrative Region) and the town of Ramon, Isabela.

Other dams in the Philippines are La Mesa Dam in Quezon City/Rizal province (site of the La Mesa Ecopark), Pantabangan Dam in Nueva Ecija, San Roque Dam in Pangasinan, Wawa Dam in Montalban (Rodriguez), Rizal. A similar project can also be found in Laguna with Caliraya Lake(including Lake Lumot) as reservoirs.

Tutubi would also love to visit the engineering wonder of Hoover Dam in Colorado, USA and the Three Gorges Dam in China, currently the world's largest hydro-electric power plant in the world.

How to get there:

Directions for those with vehicles: there's a road going there with direction signs on the highway of Ramon town of Isabela between San Mateo and Santiago City.

For those commuting, Magat Dam is a jeepney ride from Santiago City plus a tricycle to the park. A tricycle terminal is located at the corner of the highway in Ramon to take you to the place.

Labels: Cagayan Valley, Cordillera, Cordillera Administrative Region, Dams, Ifugao, Isabela

San Mateo, the town where Tutubi needs to finish his business first before really going to sidetrips and interesting places.

A sign at the boundary intrigued him claiming San Mateo is a child-friendly municipality:

welcome sign of San Mateo town. Notice the 343 kilometer sign post near it.

We research led to this webpage for "having won the 2007 Presidential Awards for Child-Friendly Municipality Regional Search – 1st to 3rd Class."

All that Tutubi knows about San Mateo is that they take pride in their mongo [mungbean] production and uniquely peach-orange itlog na maalat [salted eggs] colored with achuete. The salted eggs are said to be not too salty with yellow yolk. Tutubi was able to bring home a few kilos of mongo for his mommy but wasn't able to get samples of sa town's salted eggs due to "memory gap."

Labels: Central Luzon, Isabela

In just another trip, Tutubi went on a planned trip, not a backpacking one since he has a car and a driver, to San Mateo town in Isabela for a work assignment and made stops to various attractions and restaurants along the way, mostly unplanned based mostly on Tutubi's scant knowledge of the place since it's his first time to visit Nueva Vizcaya and Isabela provinces of Cagayan Valley.

"Isabela, Thy Will be Done" welcomes visitors to the Isabela and Nueva Vizcaya Boundary (picture taken inside a speeding vehicle that's why it's slightly blurred and color skewed)

Tutubi will share his usual stories and photos chronologically as he passed by places including Cabanatuan City's historic cathedral where Antonio Luna was murdered, a former concentration camp of WW II where "Ghost Soldiers" successfully made "The Great Raid" and rescue of American POWs, drove and shot pictures of Science City of Munoz and San Jose City in the province of Nueva Ecija. Commemorated heroic deeds of soldiers long gone in a historic pass at the boundary of Nueva Ecija and Nueva Vizcaya. Witnessed everyday images of Bambang and Solano, Nueva Vizcaya, sampled a famous buko pie stand and pancit cabagan on Maharlika Highway (now called Cagayan Valley Road). Traveled back in time at a museum in Santiago City. Wondered at the immensity of a dam and hydroelectric power plant between the towns of Alfonso Lista in Ifugao and Ramon, Isabela and indulged to his stomach's content at an "all you can eat" restaurant in Cabanatuan City for a measly P100.00

two children resting in the shade of a large World War II memorial somewhere in Nueva Ecija


Pictures and funny street signs coming up with a mostly unplanned tour of Cagayan Valley!

Stay tuned!

Labels: Isabela, Nueva Ecija, Nueva Vizcaya