It was Good Friday and with nothing to do in the morning, drove from Paete all the way to Liliw to look for this hidden organic strawberry farm in Liliw, Laguna, owned by barangay captain Mario Cortez of barangay Ilayang Sungi Upon arriving at the place, accessed by a narrow farm to market road, you can see several rows of strawberry plants, sweet basil, tomatoes, broccoli and other fruit trees, including a coffee tree.

Tough luck though that there were a few visitors to the farm the last following days that's why not much ripe berries were available but still managed to get hold of a few ripe ones including several seedlings with ripe berries to show.






you can buy strawberry seedlings with ripened berries to take home for PhP25.00 for a small one and PhP50.00 for a medium one. There's free entrance fee/admission to the farm but very limited parking space along the narrow road

This farm deserves another visit by Tutubi and will probably try to visit the mini-waterfalls in the area, at the foot of Mt. Banahaw one of these days. Here's hoping there's less need to go to Baguio, specifically La Trinidad, Benguet to do strawberry picking activity where you pay per kilo of the berries you picked if the farm and adjacent areas can be developed.


How to get there:

from Manila, drive through Slex, take Calamba exit then head towards Sta Cruz, Laguna all the way to Jollibee Pagsanjan where you turn right (the area called Sambat). COntinue towards the old church in Liliw then take the service road going to Ilayang Sungi about 4.1 kilometers from the church as measured using a car's trip meter.

By commute, take DLTB, HM Transport or Green Star bus to Sta. Cruz, Laguna. In Sta Cruz, take a jeepney going to Liliw. ride a tricycle to take you to Captain Matio Cortez's farm in barangay Ilayang Sungi.

Labels: Calabarzon, Farms, Laguna, Southern Tagalog

If you've heard, seen, read about it, there are numerous scams perpetuated by unscrupulous taxi drivers victimizing people in Manila airport (Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA)) from as simple as refusing to use the meter, charging exorbitant taxi fare, or even use of tampered taxi meters called batingting.

There are also three kinds of taxis in Manila airport: coupon taxis with fixed fare per destination, yellow airport taxis with fares almost double of regular taxis and the regular taxis that are usually the least trustworthy

Here are several ways to avoid Manila airport taxi scams:

1. Book Airport transfers to your hotel

Very easy but usually expensive, not for backpackers and budget travelers

2. Use your own car, a friend's car or hire one

Ask a friend/family to fetch you at the airport

Convenient but may be expensive and time consuming if your flight gets delayed

Drive yourself to the airport and use overnight parking in NAIA Terminal 1, NAIA Terminal 2, NAIA Terminal 3
or alternatively Park N Fly, so you'll have a ready transport from the airport.

3. Airport Transfers via NAIA Airport Loop (Formerly NAIA Shuttle Bus)

Served by two fleets, one by HM Transport with buses labeled HM Transport Airport Loop and the other using white buses emblazoned with Airport loop, the shuttle buses can transfer you to all
NAIA terminals 1, 2, 3, and 4 and also to Pasay/Taft/Rotonda if you want to take the bus or MRT and LRT-- the cheap way!


4. UBE Express Premium Bus

This premium bus service serves several fixed routes to Manila via Roxas Boulevard, Makati, Pasay/Rotonda/MRT/LRT, Pasay/Buendia/LRT and Entertainment City. Regular fare is PhP300 but offering promo of PhP150.00. This is a very good alternative if you want to avoid long taxi queues at the airport as you can book your trip in advance



This is also the same bus that can take you to Victory Liner bus terminal on EDSA, Five Star bus terminal in Pasay, and several Bus terminals in Pasay/Taft/LRT Buendia going to your destination.

5. Resorts World Manila Free Shuttle Service

If you hold a valid Resorts World membership card, you can hop in to their free shuttle of Resorts World at NAIA Terminal 3. It's easier to get an ordinary cab from there.

6. Citylink Bus to NAIA Terminal 3 to Eastwood City, Quezon City via C-5

Citylink bus serves the Newport City to Eastwood City route via C-5 to connect the two Megaworld projects. The bus passes by NAIA Terminal 3. Not available on Weekends though.

7. City buses from NAIA Terminals 1, 2, and 3

Ordinary (non-air-conditioned) and air-conditioned buses pass by the three terminals that can take you to various destinations in Metro Manila

8. Jeepneys in NAIA Terminal 3

These jeepneys ply the SM Mall of Asia or Baclaran -Nichols route. You can ride them near NAIA Terminal 3 if going to Nichols/Fort Bonifacion Gate 3 or across if you're going to Baclaran/Pasay/Taft/Rotonda/MRT/LRT area

9. Coupon Taxis

these are white-colored taxis with big luggage compartments. They charge fixed fee per destination and more expensive than ordinary taxis

10. Yellow Cab: the Yellow Airport Taxis

Colored taxis are dedication taxis for the airport with fares almost double the fare of ordinary taxis. Flag down rate is PhP70.00



Last Notes:

If you still took a taxi and got scammed:

Text NAIA : +63.917.839.6242
or call Customer Relations Center (CRC) +63.2.823.0669
Facebook and Twitter: naiamiaa

For complaints, you may contact the MIAA Hotline at +63.2.877.1111



Be safe!

Labels: Airports, Metro Manila, National Capital Region, Public Transportation, Travel Warnings

Here's information for those going to Bohol with more time, excess baggage but less budget, a Silver Star RORO bus taken by Tutubi's househelp recently

The bus terminal is in Cubao Araneta Bus Terminal in Quezon City

You need to buy your ticket in advance to get your ticket

Fare, as indicated on the bus ticket is PhP2,100.00 from Quezon City to Alicia Bohol

Route: EDSA, SLEx, Batangas, Quezon, (Bicol) Camarines Norte, Camarines Sur, Albay, Sorsogon, RORO Ferry to
Samar, cross San Juanico Bridge to Leyte (Tacloban), RORO Ferry to Bohol

Travel time: around 2 days with lots of stop-overs


This is tiring yet adventurous way to go sightseeing in the Philippines

Silver Star Shuttle and Tours
San Antonio, San Pedro Laguna
Telephone Numbers: +63.2.808.3344; +63.2.868.9094

Silver Star Bus Terminal Contact Number in Cubao: +63.2.439.8768

their main destinations:

Liloan, Silago, Abuyog, Palompon
Guiuan, Catarman, Rawis
Catubig, Gubat
Bulan, Ubay, Tagbilaran

Please call Silver Star bus hotline/contact numbers for inquiries on fares, trip schedules, freight rates et al



Bus Terminals in Cubao
Bus Station in Pasay/Taft/LRT Buendia
Bus Stations in Pasay Taft EDSA Rotonda

Labels: Buses, Public Transportation