When In Venice Grand Canal (#ShortVacayInPh)

June 2023

Reminiscing about my short vacation in my home country back in 2019 gives me joy and regret at the same time. Regret, as I have not been able to see my parents due to the short amount of time. The pandemic was unexpected and postponed my supposed next vacation. The hiatus even lasted longer. However, I was still grateful for having time to rest and recuperate. During days that I had no appointments, all I did was sleep, binge-watch movies, or food trip at a nearby mall. But I guess my movie-watching hours were longer than my sleeping hours, lol. So at the end of two weeks, all I had were dark circles around my eyes 🤣.

The first Sunday was spent at Skyranch Tagaytay. On the last Sunday, before going to my desired destination, I visited a salon first to cut my hair since it'd be too long before I could cut it again. Then, before lunchtime, my brother and I traveled to the Venice Grand Canal, located in Taguig, Philippines.

It was quite raining that day, and I thought our day would end up just somewhere else, especially since the transportation in Manila was so inconvenient that it made me lazy to go to faraway places. If I wasn't mistaken, it took us three rides to get there — one on the train and two rides via jeepney. I'd been to the Venice Grand Canal in Taguig with my friend before going abroad, so I was kind of familiar with the route. I had nothing in mind to visit that day, so I opted to choose the place. Besides, my brother hasn't been there, so it was a tour for him, not just me.

Venice Grand Canal is a shopping mall in Mckinley Hill inspired by Venice, Italy's classical and colorful architecture. The famous Grand Canal is, of course, part of it. As in Italy, there are also gondola rides with singing gondoliers. Behind me is a replica of Rialto Bridge, and underneath is the spot for gondola rides.

I was planning to ride the gondola just for experience, but upon seeing the queue and the fee, I backed out, lol. I've been to Venice Grand Canal in Macau but I had no chance to ride the gondola because I was with my bosses. The next time I visit either Taguig or Macau Venice Grand Canal, I will definitely ride on the gondola for the experience.

My brother looked too happy here, as he was excited to ride the gondola as well. But the queue was more disappointing than the fee.

Aside from Italian architecture, the shopping arcade and restaurants are part of the attractions. We stayed in this place from lunchtime to nighttime. We also had our lunch in a Filipino restaurant and dinner in a Japanese fast food but I couldn't find our photos to share here.

A few human statues in different costumes were also attention-grabbers. I truly appreciate their effort in posing like statues for long hours as not everyone can make it. But they move when someone wants to take photos with them.

At night, we visited this Chinese-themed exhibition. There were 3D wallpapers of Chinese palaces and autumn tree installations on the sides.

We decided to wait until dusk, as the place would be much prettier when the lights were on. Unfortunately, the rain poured, and my camera wasn't pretty enough to capture beautiful photos at night. While waiting for the rain to recede, we opted to eat our dinner before heading back to our respective places.

The front view of the Venice Grand Canal Mall was more stunning with those glimmering lights covering the upper half of the front building.

I returned to my temporary place feeling both happy and sad. I was happy that I had able to break from work, even if it was only for two weeks. But being unable to see my entire family made me sad at the same time. And the fact of returning to work — the true reality — made me feel even sadder. I'm hoping that this year's vacation will be granted. I simply missed my family, our farm, and our home.

That concludes my short vacation in the Philippines. Thanks for stopping by.

(All photos are mine)

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