Jab’s Park, Cafe, Restaurant and Bar- Talavera Nueva Ecija

Who would ever think that the then small rural town of Talavera Nueva Ecija where I spent part of my childhood would become progressive through the years that it now boasts a massive and competitive lineup of Restaurants, cafes, bars, supermarkets, shopping areas and even banks, private schools, offices, and other commercial establishments?

This is not how Talavera looked like when I was a kid, and definitely Talavera improved and continues to progress as the years go by.

And there’s this nice and cozy place in Talavera called Jabs Park, Cafe, Restaurant, and bar all in one. It features a huge park with a musical fountain, an event’s place, a dining restaurant and a bar at the same time complete with a live band.

The entrance fee is Php350 each including children if I’m not mistaken and the Php200 is consumable for your food and drinks which to be deducted from your total bill. Not bad.

The place looks very cozy and you can enjoy the time just by walking around the instagrammable pathways, where the trees are adorned with beautiful round lantern lights that get more picture perfect, particularly at night.

The bar and restaurant is surrounded by a Gazebo (dining area) if you want to sit and relax or even lie down while eating and watching the band but they require a minimum of Php5000 total bill to enable you to sit there. Although we spent the same amount, by chance, we actually didn’t know we would exceed that budget, we preferred to sit on the long table in the middle of the area to get the exact spot of the band.

We had dinner of sinigang soup as always and had my favorite chicharong bulaklak as appetizer while drinking beer and listening to the 80’s playlist live band.

And some other photos taken!

For anyone who wants to relax and enjoy a night of music and drink in Nueva Ecija, JABS is a good place for you.

Clark and Subic in a day

July 2024. As we had to renew our toddler’s passport as we were not able to renew it in Bahrain before traveling to Phil due to lack of time and we are bound to Australia in August, we just decided to renew it in Clark, Pampanga.

I looked forward to that day so our family could have the chance to bond and long travel by car a the same time. We had Clark, Pampanga and later went to Subic, Olongapo in a day.

Not much of an activity in a day, we left Cabanatuan City at around 6 in the morning and reached Clark about 2 hours later. Good thing that the newly opened DFA satellite office in Clark opens at 7:30AM and we arrived just in time. We didn’t have to fall in line and wait for the long queue as minor applicants have the special lane for them. We finished our errands a little more than an hour later and since it’s still early, we all agreed to drive to Subic as planned.

We reached Subic free port at about one and a half later and had a buffet lunch in Cabalen Restaurant. Yeah, it’s also my first time to eat in Cabalen and tbh, I didn’t expect it to be as good as it is and worth the price of Php540 each- unlimited with a lot of selection to choose from, from main dish to desserts, to their native delicacies, to juices.

Still lot of time after lunch, we drove around the clean city of Subic.

Please check all the pictures from Zoobic Safari to Camayan Beach Resort.

And more!

Not just a two in one errands but it’s also added to Rain’s new places to see in the Philippines, and Nanay’s bucket list!

METRO MANILA

Metropolitan Manila is the seat of government and one of the three defined metropolitan areas of the Philippines. It is officially known as the National Capital Region, and is commonly known as Metro Manila or simply Manila. It is made up of 16 cities namely: the City of Manila (the Philippine capital), Quezon City (the country’s most populous city and former capital, Caloocan, Las Pinas, Makati, Malabon, Mandaluyong, Marikina, Muntinlupa, Navotas, Paranaque, Pasay, Pasig, San Juan, Taguig and Valenzuela as well as the City of Pateros.

Although Metro Manila is not considered a province, it is included in the 81 provinces of the Philippines.

Since it is very near to my hometown, I guess I have traveled almost everywhere here since as a child. It is just strange that I couldn’t find a nice photo of mine anywhere else in the area or maybe I couldn’t think of snapping one when I’m around Metro Manila, haha.

 

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Science Discovery Center

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White Moon Bar, MOA

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Manila Ocean Park

 

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BATANGAS

Taal Volcano and Lake are wholly located in the province of Batangas. The northern half of Volcano Island falls under the jurisdiction of the lakeshore town of Talisay, and the southern half to San Nicolas.
So it was just like we went to spend the night in Tagaytay and we passed by to see the beauty of this lake.
It is a stripline with bars, coffee shops, and restaurants where you could relax, dine, and get the chance to look at this awesome view from the top.
Haven’t got a lot of photos as the others are not for posting material but the actual site of this place is truly remarkable particularly in the late afternoon when the sun is going down.

 

BENGUET


Benguet is a landlocked province of the Philippines located in the southern tip of the Cordillera Administrative Region in the island of Luzon. Its capital is La Trinidad. The highland province is known as the Salad Bowl of the Philippines due to its huge production of upland vegetables.
 
Baguio, officially the City of Baguio and popularly referred to as Baguio City, is a mountain resort city located in Northern Luzon, Philippines.
 
I’ve been to Baguio several times, oh well, who else wouldn’t be, and definitely, I will come back, hopefully during my 2019 vacation as it is now on my  2019 travel itinerary.
 
Here are some of our photos in Baguio.
 
The view from our Hotel.
 
Where I did Zipline on Treetop
 
Other places I’ve visited in Baguio:
 
Burnham Park
Mines View Park
Baguio Cathedral
The Mansion
Baguio Botanical Garden
Tree Top Adventure
Session Road
Bell Church
Camp John Hay

ISABELA

Isabela is the second-largest province of the Philippines and the largest on the island of Luzon in the land area. Its capital is the city of Ilagan.
 
I’ve been here just once with a friend a very very long time ago for just a day trip via commute. It was only a back-and-forth trip so we were not able to explore the City that much. 

Update: 06.01.2020

The next time I came to visit was in  2019 when we went to visit my husband hometown in Nueva Vizcaya and the next day, they took us for a little trip in Santiago, Isabela, (I think it is a Robinson Mall) for a lavish lunch and later went to visit some of their relatives in Quirino Province. I’ve had a lot of photos taken along the way as I enjoyed the sight of trees and valleys and rice hills, and for someone like me who was used to a City like Cabanatuan with just a little nature and mostly Commercial districts, this kind of view is definitely good to see.

A few months later after I gave birth to our son, We went two times again in Isabela, the first time was when we applied for our Son’s passport in DFA, Santiago. It was a few days after the NY 2020 and the first available DFA was in Santiago, Isabela. Actually, I went to DFA Tarlac a few weeks ago but we’re not able to get one due to missing requirements.  The second time was going back to my hometown in Cabanatuan City when we decided to take a road trip  via the long- way starting from  Isabela, Quirino province, Dinadiawan, Baler, and some parts of Nueva Ecija as we wanted to see the nearby places. It took us one full day trip that started at 5AM and reached my place at past 7 in the evening along with our side stops at road-side restaurants to freshen up, eat, and walk a little. On this trip, we were able to see some Eco Tourism Parks in Vizcaya, the Landingan Viewpoint in Quirino, and some beach side in Dinadiawan and Baler before reaching our destination.

Picture above: Me with my big preggy tummy in a very stunning view!

RIZAL

Antipolo is a city east of Manila in the Philippines. It’s known as a Catholic pilgrimage site. In the Antipolo Cathedral, the shrine to Our Lady of Peace and Good Voyage has a 17th-century statue of the Virgin Mary, and attracts thousands of visitors each year. Southwest, the Pinto Art Museum displays contemporary Filipino paintings and sculpture in tropical gardens and whitewashed, Mediterranean-style villas.
I went there some time ago and visited Hinulugang taktak and some other places including one Cathedral.
Hinulugang Taktak Protected Landscape, also known as Hinulugan Taktak, is a protected area located in Rizal, Philippines. Initially assigned as a recreation area, the waterfall area has been designated as a national park by virtue of Republic Act No. 6964 in 1990
This was also one of the few times we went for a family excursion in my Elementary days!  I’m glad that my great- grand mother (deceased now) loved to join excursions during school vacations and she always takes us (me and my sister)  with her.
I just hope that I can still visit the same places now that I’m already an adult. Most probably, take a lot of pictures!!!

PANGASINAN

Pangasinan is a province in the Philippines. Its provincial capital is Lingayen. Pangasinan is on the western area of the island of Luzon along the Lingayen Gulf and the West Philippine Sea.
It amazed me that I have been to different provinces as a child including Pangasinan. I’ve been here several times and visited Manaoag way back and some other places within the area with my Great-grandmother.
I remember joining excursions with my distant relatives from my mother’s side in  childhood, and Pangasinan has always been one of our destinations. After visiting the church, I remember stopping over and spending half a day on the beach. Our elders at that time made friends with a few Pangasinense families, and some of them became our tenants in Nueva Ecija. I remember the delicious ripe mangoes, the shrimp paste & anchovies  they used to bring.
There were also once in my life when I wanted to learn their language, and seek help from one of our tenants to write down some words and translate in their dialect. 🙂 Childhood days!

TARLAC

Years ago, my family and I used to pass by Tarlac every time we were commuting to La Union, but just passing by as this was our stopover to ride another bus going to La Union and the same route going back to Cabanatuan City. I forgot where we exactly have to be dropped off, but it is a corner road that the other split will lead you straight to Manila, and the other split will take you to Nueva Ecija.
The very first time I’ve been here literally was when I was invited by a friend somewhere in Concepcion Tarlac and stayed there for a night.
The second time was in the City Proper of Tarlac where I only spent the day in the Mall named Magic Star and went home on the same day.
Update: December 2019
So I went to Paniqui Tarlac (DFA) on the 11th of December 2019 to apply for Jan Francisrain’s passport. Too bad that we didn’t have enough time to roam around as we spent almost half a day in the queue in DFA inside Waltermart, Paniqui Tarlac, not to mention that I felt upset at the outcome of our errand on that day as I had some requirements missing we weren’t able to get him a passport that day but we still managed to go out and have lunch somewhere around the area.
Rain’s baby photo with my sister, Department of Foreign Affairs- Tarlac

ZAMBALES

Zambales is a province in the Philippines located in the Central Luzon region in the island of Luzon. Its capital is the Municipality of Iba which is strategically located in the middle of the province.
I’ve been to Zambales just once when I was in my third year college as part of our  University  field trip where we visited a lot of places for Education purposes but I already forgot all the names, too bad I haven’t saved any of our photos taken during this trip. I just remember we went to Olongapo and Subic.
I also remember I wasn’t in my best form as I was sick on the entire trip, I spent most of the time sleeping on the bus. If it wasn’t a part of our School Activity, I wouldn’t have joined that time.
Photo not mine. For reference only.