I’ve been nagging my travel partner, like forever, for us to visit the Singapore Botanic Gardens every time we take a trip to the Lion City. She would say yes, but that would be it. We would always skip it on the itinerary. One time, she ‘fessed up, “what the heck are we gonna do there?” She exasperatedly asked me. Well. I really have no idea, I just wanted to see it since it’s the only UNESCO World Heritage Site in Singapore. Honestly, I just wanted to cross it off my list of World Heritage Sites to visit, lol.

VISITING THE SINGAPORE BOTANIC GARDEN, AT LONG LAST

So, after much more nagging, we finally went to the gardens, the oldest of its kind in Singapore, like 158 year-old old. This garden is older than my grandma’s rheumatic grandma. I was readying for a good belting of I-told-you-so, after our visit.

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Every single time someone in the group asks where we would go next, J would go, To Vigan’s Hidden Garden! I don’t know what’s with him and gardens, but on our last day in the city, we finally relented and went to the place. Honestly, I’m really not that keen on revisiting it since I really didn’t find it that interesting the first two times I went. But okay, since we have nowhere else to go, to the Hidden Garden it is.

Vigan’s so called Hidden Garden is not really hidden at all. Well, it is way out from the city center, and one needs to either ride a tricycle or hire a calesa to access it, so I guess it is partly hidden in a way.

The sprawling garden started out as a personal venture for retired engineer, Francis Flores. It started to really blossom and guests started to pour in. Eventually, he opened the place to the public in 1991 and it became one of the usual stops with the calesa tours in Vigan.

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Close to nature, closer to God. This is Caleruega’s tag line, and I cannot think of a much more fitting description of this isolated sanctuary in Batangas than that.

This haven is located on the far end of the Evercrest grounds at the border of Tagaytay and Nasugbu. Like pilgrims, travelers wanting to visit this refuge have to traverse a single-lane rough road to its gates. Never mind the bumpy ride as the scenery is quite breathtaking; the rolling verdant hills, cobalt blue skies and Tagaytay’s cool weather makes you feel you’re somewhere other than the Philippines.