When you go on an trip and don’t want to forget…you blog. :)
PLANNING
Our planning consisted of a remarkably hot Wednesday night that
involved the conversation below:
Eejay: “Absent ako Fri-Sat?”
Pepay: “Bakit?”
Eejay: “Baguio”
Eejay: “Baguio”
Pepay: “May budget ba tayo?”
Eejay: “Mga magkano need?”
Pepay: “10K lng cguro pinakabasic.” (3D/2N was planned)
Eejay : “Ok. Bukas, samin ka na matulog para maaga tayo maka-alis sa
Friday.”
We only had one major rule to avoid over-spending:
“ONLY ONE SPLURGE MEAL FOR EACH DAY”
(This usually falls during our dinner
time)
PACKING
Based on our experiences from previous trips, it essential to try to MINIMIZE
PACKING to avoid complications with your baggage. Baggage included only
medium-sized backpacks and a small body bag. (Very lucky to not have to carry a
large DSLR because we both think that it’s an inconvenience and not a
necessity.) We chose GoPro Hero 3 –less baggage hassle, less attractive to
thieves’ eyes and less distractions when taking pictures in the absence of a
display.
THE NOTEBOOK
On the advice of one of our friends (My co-teacher Kring Dela Cruz), I
carried a small notebook. Already written on it are destinations that have
potential and the blank pages are for listing expenses during the trip so we
can keep track of our remaining funds.
DAY 1:
Frankly, we didn’t plan on a specific itinerary because the trip was so
sudden. But we’re that kind of people, when we plan excessively for a trip, it
gets cancelled or forgotten. :)
7:00 am
Victory Liner- Caloocan
|
Php 445 + Php 5 (Malayan Insurance)/each
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Stop-Over
Siesta - Pangasinan
|
I was surprised to discover that
Victory Liner does not have stop overs in the Siesta Bus Stop anymore.We went
to a nearby bus stop instead. I don’t know what it’s called. :p
We had hotdogs here because I was
trying not to get too full. I wanted to eat the traditional Arroz Caldo in
Sison.
(2 Hotdogs in a bun-Php 100)
|
Stop-Over
Sison – La Union
|
You have to have the scrumptious Arroz
Caldo from this stop over. I always manage to eat here back when I was still
a student.
Php 55/each—never changed in almost 6
years!
 |
2:00 pm
Arrival @
Sta.Teresa Inn-Baguio City
|
Along Marcos Hi-way. We got off the bus
in front of the Inn so we can avoid having to go through Baguio traffic. My
parents used to stay here when they were visiting me. Must have stayed there for
more than 6 times already!
Php 700 per night for Twin-Sharing
rooms—prices still haven’t changed! We had to pay upon check-in and keys are
surrendered when you go out during the day.
It was an old convent so don’t expect
the luxury of a hotel but with basic amenities (Hot-cold shower, Cable TV)
We got a room for three (A single bed
and a Queen sized in one room) because they ran out of Twin rooms at the same
price.
Unfortunately, we discovered they had
problems with cockroaches in the bathroom which was really the ONLY issue we saw.
I had Eejay kill them all…mwahaha!
The staff are friendly and
accommodating, the owner was a LITTLE snotty but we discovered that he’s
warmer than he lets on.
They also sell warm drinks and instant
noodles.
No elevators since they only have 4
floors of rooms. They also have CCTVs along corridors.
  |
The rest of Day 1
|
We had a little rest after unpacking
our things and decided to go straight to Burnham to explore
(Taxi from Inn to Burnham-Php 50)
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Bike Ride in Burnham
|
First thing we head straight to:
Burnham Bike Rentals
(Php 40/each/hour for MTB and BMX
Php 50/each/hour for Tandems, etc.)
We ride bikes during free weekends for
fun but we decided, after 20 minutes, that we were having a hard time riding
bikes with tons of kids fooling around. I mean, what did we expect, right? :)
 |
Siomai @ Somewhere
|
To kill the grumbles, we passed a small
siomai booth near the bottom of Session road and made two siomai orders.
(Php 20/each order/4 pcs each)
|
Solace in
Pizza Volante
|
We proceeded to Session Road once we
bid “Good Riddance” to the bike track. Unfortunately, it started to rain
midway and I opted to bring him to Pizza Volante as I fond memories of it.
I also remembered that it had a smoking
area near the windows. Unexpectedly, Eejay was caught unaware that Baguio has
recently implemented a non-smoking policy which we readily accepted. I didn’t
expect the change in the service, though.
We had a hard time ordering since most
of the items on the menu were unavailable at 5:00pm. We got the coffee after
5 minutes which was acceptable but the waffles took 20 minutes to arrive. By
the time we had waffles, our coffee cups were empty and the check was almost
another 20minutes. Well…we weren’t happy with Volante. I think my fond
memories will stay as distant fond memories now.
(Php 140 for Waffles, Brewed Coffee
& Coffee w/ Vanilla Ice Cream)
|
SM Baguio
Where they got all the people for you!
|
After the rain had settled, we wandered
around Session to SM.
Hoping to catch a taxi from here, we
soon realized that locals and tourists alike flock to this location. Taxi
queues from the Upper and Lower Ground floor were nightmares.
Walked back to Burnham again to pass
the time before dinner sitting on one of the benches around Burnham watching
the tourists in the Burnham Bump Boat Lake.
(Php20/manggang hilaw with salt and
VINEGAR!)
|
Around 6:45 pm
(or when we heard the distant rumbling
of the skies again)
|
We finally decided to go to our dinner
splurge destination on a cab from Burnham (Eejay was supposed to teach me how
to skate in the rink but I wasn’t wearing any socks and there were no
available socks to be bought nearby. Sadness.).
(Taxi from Burnham to Baguio Craft
Brewery-Php 60)
|
Baguio Craft Brewery
“We Want To Live Here Forever”
|
I was really excited about this because
our first love was really, BEER.
Our first round:
Eejay: INZANITY + Buffalo Wings =
HEAVEN!!
Me: KRAKEN + Pork Wrap Thingy (I forgot
:P) = BRAZEN Grrrr…
Another round?
Eejay: Englishman in New York
Me: Kabunyan (I found it interesting
christening a beer brew after a god so I decided to try it.)
Baguio Craft Brewery is <3!
FIVE STARS in EVERYTHING! Especially in
Customer Service!
(Php 1190 4 glasses of brew + 2 plates
of food things)
*Their brews are a little expensive
costing from 160 to 230 per glass but, being drinking buddies, we thought it
to be worth the splurge. :)
A very profound way to say:
"Shots!Shots!Shots!Shots!Shots!Shots!"
 There was more but ... we were hungry ;)    |
DAY 2:
5:30am
|
Wake-up Call
A humble breakfast c/o Sta.Teresa Inn
Staff
(Php 65 Coffee and Lucky Me Cup
Noodles)
|
7:30am-10:00am
PMA
|
(Taxi from Inn to PMA – Php130)
We spent a couple of hours here because
we thought there was an exercise but, apparently, there was only an
inspection routine so we decided to leave but NOT before we had a small
humble brunch in the small shop in the parking lot near the grounds.
(Php 90 for two orders of tasty
home-made siomai + 2 bottled water and Php64 for two drumstick ice cream cones)
  |
Camp John Hay
|
(Taxi from PMA to John Hay Php60)
We didn’t really do much here but walk
around aimlessly.
We went to the Butterfly Sanctuary
(Php50/each). It’s really small and doesn’t have much to see but the manong
there was thoroughly entertaining. XD Beside the butterfly sanctuary was a
small paintball arena but we weren’t up for that much physical activity.
 
I wanted to go to Chocolate-De-Batirol but
Eejay was being the stingy one so we decided to go to Mines View via Taxi.
(Php75 taxi from John Hay to Mines view)
 |
Mines View Mayhem
|
Traffic to Mines View was to be expected
slow.
About 500meters from the View deck, the
traffic almost stopped moving so we went out to walk to the site.
Manong taxi driver was thankful not to be caught in the traffic as
well.
When we finally managed to enter the
view deck, I realized that the number of people who trust monopods to handle
their precious mobile phones are cringe-worthy.
In spite of our anti-social tendencies
acting up, seeing the view gave us a bit of a relaxing effect. We didn’t stay
long, though, as you may know why. Going to the exit, a lot of people don’t
seem to know how to read. The entrance and exits were labelled but pasaway
talaga ang mga pinoy.
While exiting the foyer, Eejay saw me
looking dotingly at one of the St.Bernards having their pictures taken with a
frightened tourist girl and asked me if I wanted my picture taken with them.
I nodded and thought “This dog deserves some lovin’” being dog-lovers
ourselves. The caretakers take the pictures themselves, possibly to ensure
the Php50/2 shots rule is being enforced.
Manong caretaker might have been
delighted with our brave poses (I hugged the dog) and took a few extra shots
too for the same price! :)
This practice might raise the eyebrows
of animal rights activists and I do feel a little guilty but they didn’t look
stressed at all. Probably gotten used to being celebrities and all. :P
  |
Lunch
Some random but awesomely native
karinderya
|
We went back to karinderyas we
encountered during our walk & found the one that I saw serving Dinakdakan. This
has always been my favourite Baguio staple food and Eejay seems to have loved
it as well when he was in Pangasinan. Aside from that, they were also serving
Sinanglaw, one of my favourite karinderya foods and I knew, Eejay would love
it.
AND HE DID! Jackpot! They say the
quickest way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. :) This had to be one of the
happiest meals that we’ve ever shared.
(Dinakdakan, Sinanglaw, Sinanglaw Soup,
2 ½ rice and 2 bottle of soda all for Php180!)
 |
Botanical Garden
|
(Php20 Jeep ride from Mines View to Botanical)
The Botanical Garden is a commemorative
park to emphasize the importance of peaceful relationship between Philippines
and Japan after World War II.
The park consist of various temple-like
structures, a walk-way full of images of Buddha and, the most exciting one,
an authentic Japanese Tunnel walk. The 150m tunnel reminded me of a film we
recently watched (The Pyramid). It was a little creepy…and slightly muddy but
it was also fun educational…. It was stifling. *Slight Claustrophobic
tendencies acting up*
    |
Sitio La Presa
When Heaven meets Cordillera
|
(Jeep ride back to city proper Php16)
We called up one of the kind taxi drivers
we met on the previous day. Eejay asked Manong Sonny about Sitio La Presa
(being a big fan of Agnes) and Manong Sonny offered to drive us around the
city at the rate of Php300/hour including the trip to La Presa if we’d give
him a call.
Now, some of you may think that this is
expensive but, from our research, taxi drivers nowadays take advantage of the
place’s popularity and charge around Php800-PHp1000 for each trip to and from
La Presa only. We both thought that Manong Sonny’s offer was a steal.
“Akala ko nakahanap na kayo ng iba.
Pero buti na lang tumawag kayo. Tatagain kayo ng mga kasama ko.”, he said.
The trip to La Presa took around
45minutes with breath-taking views of a tiny Baguio and the feeling of
entering the clouds.
Arriving there, we observed that the
place really had been commercialized to the core. Shops… souvenirs… food… St.
Bernards everywhere.
(Php20/cone of strawberry ice cream)
I was unfamiliar with the show but I
can only imagine what it would be like to see the actual house for fans.
(Php20/each for entrance to the show
set compound and Php10/each for picture taking behind a breath-taking view)
 Bonita Rose was resting towards the back so we didn't opt to disturb her. Cute piggy :).   
Leaving was much harder since we had to
trek back along the now-uphill road to the exit.
(Php20/water bottle)
Eejay left a few fans behind when we
went on vacation (his mother and sister) so we bought them souvenir shirts
instead (Php150 for two white shirts)
|
Bencab Museum
|
To be honest, we only went here because
of “That Thing Called Tadhana”. We are not big art fans, we hardly understand
paintings, what they were painted for but we appreciate history. I acted as
Eejay’s personal tour guide on the first floor we explored (the Bulols and native
tools) and stayed mostly in the small room provided for photography. We both
picked our favourites among the paintings and found our small differences in
taste.
He liked a particularly powerful piece
called “Ready to Hope” by Abigail Dionisio and I liked Bencab’s minimalist
“Yellow Momentum”
 
Sabel, whoever she is, must have made
a mark on Bencab’s life because almost everything is named after her.
We explored briefly the rest of the
museum pretending we understand everything. Lol!
(Php100 entrance fee/person)
|
Tam-Awan Village
|
A replica of an authentic Ifugao
village with all the landmarks and the different types of hut which, I think,
you can rent for lodging.
Before entering the village, you’d need
to pay the entrance fee (Php 50/person) The cashier would give you a map to
follow. Navigation around the mock-Ifugao town is not for the directionally challenged
*me*cough*me*.
One of the cottages served as a town
square which held the café, souvenir shop and an artist making caricatures in
20 minutes for Php200/head. I think Eejay wanted to have ours made but it was
my turn to penny-pinch. Hehe.
Manong Sonny drove us back to
Sta.Teresa Inn for a little rest and a short bath. We only consumed 3 hours
and 15minutes but we gave him the full 4 hour fee for being nice. He didn’t
even look at the money when Eejay handed it to him!
For those who want a budget tour guide, here’s Manong Sonny’s Phone number for you. I suggest to call him a day prior so you can plan ahead.
Manong Sonny: 0918 – 455 - 3329
 |
Dinner
@
Steaks and Toppings |
After a bath to freshen up and regain a
sense of hygiene, I called up one of my college friends (Ponz Quilala) whom I
haven’t seen since 2009!
(Taxi from Inn to Session Php50)
We were supposed to eat @ Barney’s Burger
but she discovered that they’re open only until 7:00pm so she led us to
Steaks and Toppings.
Meeting old friends can be thoroughly
nostalgic and rewarding and meeting her cute& bibo kid and quiet &
nice bf is a super plus!
Farrah, her bibo kid, was scared to go in the restaurant because of street performers hanging out along the entrance. They apparently came to Baguio during the Panagbenga Festival and extended their stay.
(Php1000 dinner/snacks/beer for 4 adults
+ 1 child)
I tried to entertain Eejay with the Harrison
Road ukay-ukay market but we just ended up petulant and prickly because of
the sheer amount of people in it. A big fail on my part.
After exploring a bit, the drastic
change in our Baguio experience took effect. Taxi drivers kept refusing
commuters and it made us a more than a little disappointed because we couldn’t
think of a reason why.
We had to walk from session to Leonard
Wood road to get a cab.
(Taxi from L.Wood to Inn Php50)
Being lovers of alcoholic beverages, we
had to make a pitstop in the 7-11 across the street for another round of beer
together with the take-out Ponz gave us (Barney’s Burgers!)
(Php115 Water + 2PalePilsen)
|
DAY 3:
8:00am
|
Baguio Cathedral
(Jeep ride from Inn to Cathedral--Php16)
We managed to catch the communion and
the final blessing of the English mass @ the Cathedral.
|
Breakfast
|
We proceeded to have breakfast @ a
Chinese tea house which name eludes me. We had some non-extraordinary but,
nonetheless, nice noodles.
(Php170 Beef noodles + Wanton Noodles +
2 bottles of water)
|
Pasalubong Shopping
|
The Baguio city market has a designated
area for tourists to freely and comfortably shop for their pasalubongs.
Unfortunately, we only found out that there is another more secluded area
where they sell slightly cheaper and completely identical products AFTER we were done buying the food stuffs (Near the
other side of the overpass)
After the shopping, we decided go to the
Victory Liner Terminal to buy our tickets.
(Php2380 Pasalubongs + Cute polkadot
Sack bag)
(Php50 taxi from market to VL Terminal)
 |
Victory Liner
The Harbinger of Unplanned…...…
…Vacay Extension!
|
This is an example of one of the most
fatal flaws a tourist can commit:
No escape plan!
All buses for the day were fully booked
and we needed to fall in line to be chance passengers which will
definitely involve hours of waiting.
After trying to discover other escape
routes (Genesis buses, the only other liner that has a Manila route, were
also fully booked), phone calls and texts, and a lot negotiations after, we
settled on a 1 day extension.
(Taxi from Victory to Inn-Php 50)
RULE #2: When extending unexpectedly,
try hard not to be tourists.
|
Late Lunch for Cheapskates Like Us
|
(Jeepney ride from Inn to Side of
Burnham—Php17)
We had late lunch at a karinderya near
the side of Burnham Park with our food consisting of Dinuguan, Adobong
Chicken and Adobong Sitaw.
(Php140 for 2 ulam each + rice for each + 1 bottled water each)
|
Skating Rink
|
I know I’d embarrass myself but have
fun doing it…
…and I did! I fell on my ass but I had the
best time of my life. Luckily, Eejay knows how to skate so I only fell once.
(Php 100/person/30minutes/In-line
skates)
(Php20/each for strawberry taho, yum!)
|
Dinner
|
When I was a student staying in PhilAm
Village, we used to have dinner at this eatery near the front of Baguio General
Hospital where some employees also enjoy their meals and I decided that it
was a potentially cheap yet rewarding dinner for us.
(Walk from Inn to Eatery and funny kolehiyala
tales—Priceless)
(Php185 Bulalo w/rice + Sisig w/ rice +
free mineral water)
Craving for ice cream: FULFILLED
(Php90 Ice cream + water from 7-11
along the walk)
|
DAY 4
Seeing as we had to limit our spendings but make the most out of it, we
had to be creative with how we spend our time.
Breakfast
Pizzahut
|
I know, I know, I said we were supposed
to be cheapskates but we were going to travel for 6 hours straight. We needed
a safe bet for our tummies so we went to our neighbour Pizzahut. Chose the
budget meals and brought along leftover pizza for the ride.
(Php330 for 2 solo pizzas, 2 soups, 2
pastas)
|
When you don’t want to leave Baguio but
you’re broke…
Victory Liner Terminal
12:40pm
To Caloocan
|
It was really hard for us to get cabs from
the Inn to Victory Liner Terminal and it really bugged us because we can’t
think of a reason why perfectly empty cabs would refuse customers. Can
somebody speculate on this? Because it’s weird and disappointing. We spent
about 20 minutes of waiting and having drivers refuse us before we could get
a proper ride.
(Taxi to Victory Liner Terminal – Php 50)
|
SUMMARY
All good things need to end says…someone. Over-all, our Baguio experience was not relaxing but, rather, invigorating with all the new experiences we have as a couple. We also learned that we were a good team when in crisis. Stranded but loving it!
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