Village tour

I got a text from my Tita this morning inviting me to a free walking tour of Bonifacio High Street by no other than tour guide extraordinaire Carlos Celdran. The tour was about the different art installations in the really long retail district. You know, that huge rock fountain, giant orange chimes, green worm-like tubes, a slide, and metal blue bear? I seriously wanted to go but half of me couldn't leave the confines of my cozy room and drive all the way for that. And I was also thinking that if I did join the tour, I would have invited my friends and we'd probably have dinner out after and I wasn't so much in a spending mood since I'm trying to save up for some stuff. Instead, I did my own tour (but in a car)- with a twist. Instead of hitting the artsy stuff, here is an art(ista) tour of the village where I've been living in for about 20 years. So just like any walking tour (if you have never been to one), a little bit of history about Ayala Alabang: It was in 1972, when the Madrigal family offered for sale to Ayala Corporation its 4.2 square kilometres of land in Alabang. The Madrigal family agreed in principle to Ayala’s proposal in 1975 of real estate development and actual work on the area started in 1976. Buyers of land started pouring in (most Ayala projects get sold out site unseen). Number of buyers exceeded the number of lots for sale that more parcels of land had to be bought from various owners in the adjacent areas.

Ayala Alabang Village now stands on acres upon acres of land. It is about a 20 minute drive (without traffic on slow pokes on the road) to Makati. The village is a totally integrated community that offers the conveniences of modern living outside the busy streets of the city. It has its own country club, said to be the first in the country to combine the amenities of a golf, polo, and sports club, a tiny Rustan's supermarket (well, it IS Ayala Alabang), an air conditioned church, a community pool, tennis court, clinic (where I had my vaccinations for pneumonia and flu done this morning), library, a soccer field, several schools (DLS-Zobel, Woodrose, ICA, and Maria Montessori), 17 parks (according to Southbound.ph although I've never counted), and a riding school. And on Saturdays, there's an organic market in one of the parks - great place to buy fresh produce and home made stuff.

the main pool is in the upper area

I guess it's because of these suburban essentials that celebrities choose to live here rather than Quezon City. And because of the aesthetically pleasing houses, it's also a popular place for location shoots for commercials, films, and TV series.

Celebs who (I know) live here are Aga Muhlach (whose house was a popular hangout for Woodrose girls when it was still being built), Pops Fernandez, Lea Salonga, Vilma Santos, Ayen Laurel, FVR, Cristine Jacobs-Sandejas, and Agot Isidro. And I think Bryanboy lives here too.

Aga Muhlach's house. We used the same people who did his house when we renovated ours so ours looks like his

FVR They used to give a lot of candy during halloween

Where they filmed Madrasta

Vilma Santos (according to my sister)