So parts of last year sucked – not just for me, apparently. My friend A went through a few things of her own last year too. It got so bad that she hankered for some time away from the city and invited me for an overnight stay at an Airbnb place in Tagaytay.

I’d never been to an Airbnb before. Hotels and hostels I’m familiar with, but I never actually felt the need to explore the Airbnb option because I had always thought that booking would be a painful experience. It turns out that it’s just as simple as booking through Agoda.com or Hostelworld.com but the accommodation options you get are more…quaint.

We stayed in a place called Moon Garden in Tagaytay and the place was very interesting. It wasn’t very far from the ‘Starbucks’ landmark in Tagaytay but it was far enough from civilization that you do get to relax and unwind. I think there are five casitas in the property and all of their rooms are Instagram-worthy.

There wasn’t a lot to complain about with the casita that we got. The bed was huge and comfortable, cable TV was provided, there was a long table available for playing games or writing, and there was even a little comfortable nook for reading.

The bathroom probably was the most unique feature; it’s certainly the only bathroom I’ve seen that was laid out like that and I’m not entirely sure why there was a bench right by the toilet.

There were a lot of little knickknacks scattered around the room to add to the charming aesthetic.

 

We hung out in the common area in the afternoon and their “lobby-slash-reception” area looked out to this peaceful garden.

There were also villas on top of a koi pond that guests can reserve (just advise the staff). We had our lunch (store bought) in this villa and the experience was pretty peaceful. I mean, how could one not be calm and zen in a place like this?

Unfortunately, the Moon Garden doesn’t have a functional restaurant so guests would have to buy meals or eat out. We just bought a shit-ton of snacks and drove to Bawai for dinner. Breakfast, however, was included in our package. I got corned beef – the real kind of corned beef – while A got danggit and we were served really strong kapeng barako.

We mostly ticked off the movies that Star Movies lined up for that weekend (really enjoying Melissa Mccarthy in Spy) and just venting. We really didn’t do anything at the Moon Garden, although I suppose that was the whole point of our outing.