Going Places - People's Park in the Sky (Tagaytay)

Lots of tourists here at the "People's Park in the Sky". They'll be in for a very disappointing experience, and so was I. *sigh*

One of the famous tourist spots here at Tagaytay City is the "People's Park in the Sky". It was originally named "Palace in the Sky", I discovered after doing a little research on the web. (I was initially calling it "Palace in the Sky" and I thought that I was wrong when I saw its Hollywood-like sign.) Since it was raining on the day we arrived in Tagaytay, we were only able to go around places the next day. This is our final destination before heading home.

If you're a tourist looking for beautiful places in the Philippines to visit, then look further! Yes, you read that right, LOOK ELSEWHERE. Because this is definitely not the place you're looking for.

Still not convinced? Fine. Let my post enlighten you.

Can't be bothered to trim the grass and clean the place a little bit, huh?

You can ride a jeepney, so you won't be exhausted. But I think the walk is half the experience, so let's walk!

We started walking... Let's have one last look at all those tourists outside. Dozens of buses by the gate. The jeepneys get full in no time.

After getting past the Entrance, I thought to myself "Crap, I think we should've gotten in the jeepney.".

First off, just by checking the Entrance of the "Palace in the Sky"... Oh, sorry. "People's Park in the Sky. ...you can see that it is not well-maintained. There's trash everywhere and the place doesn't look too good. In fact, the place doesn't look good at all! There's a ₱30 entrance fee. Ok, not bad, it's cheap... And you'll see why in a minute.

Midway, I see something... A checkpoint! ...of some sort for anyone out-of-shape enough to walk a few blocks.

...but, hey, the view's awesome.

We're halfway done. (Although, at that time, I thought we need to walk farther.

Hey, look. It's a sign with an uncanny similarity to the one from Hollywood. You know.. Except for the missing letters. But, hey, I think it's been like that for a long time. For all we know, it really might be called "Peoplesk n the Sky". Yeah. That's probably it.

Oh, I could see the "Palace". It's not that far, after all.

Super sharp turn. Just like in Baguio.

Almost there...

How was it? We're not even there yet, but we're already beginning to see the horrors lying ahead. Let's move forward...

Here's the front of the "park". There are some teenagers picture-taking by the rocks over there.

What's this thing over here? Hmmm... Like a plaque or something.

Here's the "palace" from its left side.

Still not impressed at this point. But, really, we haven't seen anything yet. Shall we go up the staircase, then?

There's an altar for the Virgin Mary at the top, where everyone offers their prayers.

This is the view from the Palace's front side.

Oh, look. There's another building right next to this one. ...why does it look like that?

Above the altar, there's a rooftop. (That's the altar, right there, under the roof.)

Here's the rest of the rooftop from my side. A little blurry...

A big Jesus statue atop it all.

Here;s the rest of the rooftop from the Jesus statue's side.

I think the "highest point" is on the other building. It looks higher than this one and has a better view of Tagaytay.

...and in the middle of the 2 buildings, there's a park. That barely looks like a park. It looks more like an abandoned playground.

The People's Park in the Sky is built on the highest point of Tagaytay City. Looking out to the Taal and the rest of Tagaytay City, the view is amazing. However, the place looks abandoned. Nobody cleans and maintains the place to the point that the place looks like a haunted house popular to tourists. There are a lot of tourists on this particular day. I'm certain that they don't get the same amount of tourists or visitors everyday, but I'm sure that they still have a fair amount within a year. So... I wonder where all those generated ₱30 go to.

Then, we went down the staircase to go to the next building. I took this opportunity to take a picture of the back of the People's Park sign. Not sure why...

Hey, what's that?

Ah, so that explains all the satellite thingamjig on top of that other building. I didn't know that there was some sort of PAGASA station here.

Here's the other building. Climbing the filthy staircase...

Look. At this. It's qute obvious that nobody cares. Nobody.

I went to the opposite side so I can see the other building. Look, there's the Jesus Statue.

Down the balcony, there's the park.

Look past the park, there's the rest of Tagaytay.

Another look at the Main Building. Still not impressed...

So, all of these are from PAGASA, huh?

Searching the internet for information about this place, I stumbled upon a few personal reviews. Most of them are negative, which is to be expected. I even read one review where a mother and her baby was hit by falling debris from the deteriorating ceiling. Wow. Just.. wow.

There's a staircase to the park and the stores downstairs. There's another mime here, waiting for curious tourists. It's amazing that he can endure staying there for long periods. Where he's standing, I think, is one of the most disgusting places in People's Park.

Some of the stores. Most are just selling a bunch of Tagaytay souvenirs. Take your pick.

There's the "park" area, facing the stores.

Another view of the "park". Still not impressed. (At this point, I just got tired of taking more pictures. There's nothing else interesting to see, I think.)

I hope that someone from People's Park reads this. Please, fix this place. I know a lot of tourists want to visit this place and Tagaytay City is (I think) considered as a famous tourist spot here in the Philippines. If I were a tourist (and most of them have likely spent a lot of money to visit Philippines, also spending time and effort to make it happen), I will surely have a negative experience of our trip after visiting this place. A great place managed by the wrong people...

Last take at the Jesus statue. (Blurry...)

In conclusion, I don't think I'll be visiting the People's Park in the Sky anytime soon. My message to the tourists...go to Boracay or something. See you in the next post!