Happy New Year! 🥳🎉🎊🎆

Yes, guys. We made it to 2025. Thank you, Lord for all the blessings we received and for all the challenges that we conquered.

January 1st, immediately at 1:00 AM, we travelled to the hubs' hometown for a small family gathering. On our way back home, we decided to check out the Pailaw sa Taal, a lights festival in the town of Taal, Batangas.

Pailaw sa Taal.

The Pailaw has been going on for several years already. This year, it started last November 8th. I honestly thought that it would just culminate and we won't be able to get a chance to visit (which is going to be a shame since we live just in a town next to it).

Pailaw (which means to "light up") lights up the whole vicinity of the Taal Basilica down to the municipal hall.

It's such a delight to see it in person when it is all lit-up. It also heightens the energy of the people around.

I guess it was a good thing that we went later on in the festival and there were not too many people around anymore.

Well, there were still lots of people, but it was way better, judging from the photos I've seen from people I know.

This part of the front of the Escuela Pia (Taal Tourism Office) also captured my attention. These neon lights shaped into animals added a modern glow and contrast to the otherwise historic, Spanish -era architecture.

Right at it's corner, this large Belen or Nativity Scene, a visual reminder to all of us of the story of the birth of Christ.

Closed Road

The main road is closed and people get to have their pictures taken under these lights. Of course, we also had a few snaps here.

The kids remembered that we were also here last year and that there was a monkey bar somewhere in the park. So they asked their uncle to accompany them there. One round each in the monkey bar was enough for them. Awww, these kids are really getting bigger. "Too old" for these playground stuff.

Wait, I have to tell how beautifully adorned with lights the trees were. My aunt said even the see-saws were lit up when they went here last week. Unfortunately, I am bad at taking photos, I could not give justice to this beautifully lit park.

Hearts!

Yes, we were able to take some decent photos here, without too many photo-bombers. In the earlier weeks of the Pailaw, this area was also super crowded.

Night Market

Of course, festivals like these wouldn't be complete without food. There were lots of food stalls and night bazaar that added to the lively atmosphere.

We just got some fruit shakes and juices, and hotdog sandwichers. There were kakanin (rice cakes and deserts) also also and some native delicacies from Taal like the panutsa (peanuts in muscovado sugar) and kalamay (brown glutinous rice cake).

It was a rather brief visit to the Pailaw, because we were already almost drained from the whole day of activities,but we definitely enjoyed it.

It's something for the books. I would love to come back here when we're not too tired. Lol.

And that's it for our brief #WednesdayWalk. Happy New Year, everyone. Hope you had a wonderful NYE celebration.

Wishing us all a happy, healthy, and wealthy 2025 and beyond!

📍 Taal, Batangas, 🇵🇭