Blogface's Bisaya Life: Knifing thru (SM) Batangas

My work entails a lot of local travel. It's tiring but someone's gotta do it. I also get to see cool places (malls mostly) and weird people and cool people and weird places.

Batangas City
We went to Batangas City not really knowing where SM City Batangas was. I know, I know, like the old Bisaya saying goes, kung gira pa ni, patay na mi, (if this were war, we'd be goners.)

How to Get There
My partner in crime, Jun L., and I went to the Tritran bus terminal on Taft Avenue at the corner of Buendia (Buendja for most drivers and conductors). The signboard says BATANGAS PIER but you have to actually tell the good conductor to let you off at Balagtas. The fare costs around 175pesos a pop.

Within 10 minutes or so, we were off.

After dozing off while watching Bedazzled (Brendan Fraser, Elizabeth Hurley) as our "in-flight feature", we were reminded by the kind conductor that we were already in Balagtas.

The one good thing about getting farther and farther away from Metro Manila is Pinoys are generally a helpful lot. After asking around, we were directed to a jeepney terminal bound for BAYAN. Traffic was a killer! The jeepney driver shrugged his shoulders and said sagely, "Ehh.. may SM na kasi."

After getting off at BAYAN, we boarded a tricycle near the City Hall and asked the driver to get us to a hotel nearest to SM. Of course, we forgot that SM Batangas was scheduled to open the next day and hotels would be booked solid.

Nice, Pretty
Pontefino Hotel was so nice. So nice that we initially could not get inside the driveway because the sekyu (security guard) thought our wheels weren't worthy. After all, naka-traysikel (tricycle) lang kami. Thank goodness it was fully booked. Mahal kasi, 3,500pesos ang standard suite. Too much for working masa like ourselves.

Days Hotel was ok sana (although a bit expensive at 2,700 pesos for a standard room) since it was just a stone's throw from SM Batangas. It was fully booked, too.

Avenue Pension
We had to settle with Avenue Pension. I have been to pension houses in Cebu. Albeit amenities were spartan, at least they were secure and clean. Not so with Avenue. For about 400pesos for an overnight stay, we might as well have slept in the steps of SM City. We would at least have guards. At that pension house, the toilet was a mess. The blanket was green (did they change the linen? I didn't think so too). There were mossies and bedbugs. The a/c was not working. The windows were eternally shut.

There were also prostis with their mama-san near the entrance of the pension house, hawking their wares to unsuspecting guests. There was also a girl who begged for anything who even went to our rooms upstairs. Something like an in-house beggar.

Mac-Ro Lodge
The next day, we immediately transferred to Mac-Ro Lodge just a few steps from Avenue Pension. This was like 5-star accommodation compared to Avenue for 1,200 pesos for a 24-hr stay.

Mac-Ro Lodge facade
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Mac-Ro Lodge reception
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However, the lodge rules were weird to say the least. The receptionist would ask guests, "Short time po ba?." Duh, we were lugging six feet tall bags. Wouldn't people out for short-time be generally less unencumbered?

Also, they do NOT give the room keys to guests! Hmm... So if you go to the topmost floor to eat (they have a canteen there) and your room is in the third floor, you have to go back down to receptionist to ask for your key. Pray that when you check in, the receptionist gave you the RIGHT key otherwise you might walk in on a couple doing the horizontal tango.

But this was WAAAY much better than Avenue.

A working bathroom... toilet paper... yes!
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Ahhh clean sheets... definitely better than Avenue.
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The daing na bangus prepared by Manong on the topmost floor was deeeelicious :) Click here to find out what daing na bangus is (for my non-Pinoy friends).