At the crack of dawn on Saturday, Cathy and I were already at the JAC liner terminal in Buendia, Taft, waiting for our travel companion Abigail, who had been hammered from a night of drinking the night before. Despite this, Abigail arrived only a few minutes after six a.m. It was my first time meeting her, and the awkwardness quickly turned into familiarity, as if we'd known each other for a long time, especially when she took out the Tanduay Rum from her bag while we were having breakfast at Cafe Lago.

Since I started traveling around the Philippines three or four years ago, I've been to Mindanao, Visayas and the edge of Northern Luzon, doing so I was able to overlook nearby provinces like Laguna. Because of that realization, along with a couple of cool friends, Cathy and Abigail, we set out on a trip to a menage a trois of cities and municipalities in Laguna.