Taal Volcano

From the picnic grove, we saw the majestic beauty of Taal Lake as well as the Taal Volcano. We decided to do a short hike to Taal Volcano. There were a lot of offers; one guy said it would only cost 1, 200 pesos, others would say 1, 500.

This one guy offered to bring us to Taal Volcano for only 1,500 which include the tricycle (back and forth), cottage, entrance fee, life jacket and Bangka. It was a good deal. The next morning around 6:00, the guy said that the 1,500 pesos payment doesn’t include the tricycle. We were stunned because the agreement yesterday includes the tricycle. We told him we will not do the hike if he will charge us extra 300 pesos for the tricycle. So driver said it’s ok not to pay him 300 as long as we continue the hike. Weird! To the tourist, make sure you remember what you have agreed; otherwise, this kind of person might ask for more fees.
We drove down to the resort, it was steep and the road was zigzag. We registered and took a Bangka crossing the lake to Taal Volcano. The lake was rough. I didn’t know that a lake can be rough as well. Jeniecel and I got wet. Nice shower. It was a 15-20 mins Bangka ride. We arrived there around 7:20. I saw the horses, cute. I want to ride a horse, so as Jeniecel. The guy said it will cost us 4, 000 for the 4 of us including the guide. But we don’t need a guide because we know how to do it ourselves. We told the guy it should only be 500-800 pesos/pax for the horse including the guide so he should not fool us. The guy offered 2,000 pesos, half the original price, we were laughing. The guy asked for the fee which was 50 pesos each. But the office was still closed. I told him we will pay when we get back. We walked and walked. One guy was following us, offering his horse for only 1,200 for me and Jeniecel. I negotiated the price for 1,000 pesos for the two of us. The guy agreed.

There were guys waiting for us with their horses. Cool. Now we were smart enough to leave those overpricing guys. Instead of paying 2, 000 pesos, we ended up paying 1,000 pesos for 2 the horses including the guide for me and Jen.
The weather was sunny. The horse ride was fun. It was dusty, good thing I was able to wear black t-shirt, tights, and shoes. It took us 30 minutes to reach the topmost part of the volcano. WOW! The view was striking. Good thing it didn’t rain. We can smell the acid coming from the volcano. We stayed at the small store and rested. The lady vendor gave us some information about the volcano.

From the store, Lyngve decided to go in a different direction to check the other side of the volcano, so we followed him. The trail was very established with overgrown grass. Now that was a perfect spot! We took a lot of photos and enjoyed the view.
Then we met this couple, a Filipina and a foreign guy (I have no idea with his nationality, it doesn’t matter). We were talking about the amount we paid for the horses. The Filipina said they paid 2,000 pesos for 2 horses including the guides, and the guides were even demanding for snacks when they reached the top of the volcano. The lady said she was pissed off of how demanding these guys can be. We told the couple that we only paid 1,000 pesos for 2 horses including the guides. The lady was in shocked and so as the guy. The guy asked why the guys had to rob him. We told them that it depends on how they negotiated the price. The lady said she will complain for this but the guy said she shouldn’t do it because they are having fun anyway but the lady insisted. When we reached the foot of the volcano, the lady asked us to be their witnesses and that we have to tell the head office that we only paid 1, 000 pesos. We promised those guys (the guides) that we are not going to tell anybody that we only paid for that amount. So I told the lady we are not going to say anything to the head office about the price we paid. It is not our responsibility, and that’s how we negotiated. It is also their obligation to check on the internet how much they should pay to avoid overpricing. We are not going to put those guys in bad situation all because of their silly nitpick. Whatever has been agreed on their side, they should stick to it. We were just so good when it comes to negotiating prices. The lady walked out and I bet she was upset with us. Not our problem. We swiftly went to the Bangka to avoid them. When we were crossing the lake, Lyngve told me we forgot to pay the entrance fee. Holy cow! It’s too late, we were on the Bangka.

Then we reached the resort and the tricycle driver was still there. We drove back, unfortunately, the chain had a damaged and we had to get another tricycle (8 pesos each) to go to the jeepney station. We were in a jeepney (supposed to be 45 pesos each), but the jeepney wasn’t full yet. We were waiting and waiting for more passengers. A couple of guys said we can start the jeepney ride but we have to pay 80 pesos each. Everyone has to agree otherwise the jeepney will not leave. People were so upset because they keep on insisting for it a hundred times. I almost nagged him. We had no choice; we had to start the jeepney ride. Weird, because the jeepney was able to pick more passengers as he was driving. But still, we had to pay 80 pesos. I hated it.

Anyways, we were back safely in the picnic grove. It was a very nice experience. Again, to those who are planning to travel, make a research, check on the prices, don’t forget to negotiate; otherwise you’ll end up like the couple I stated above. Have fun!

Here's the GPS track just in case you need it:

Taal Volcano

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