Adventure Up North

(Baguio City: City of Pines)

My 7 year old daughter Maki has long been contemplating on going to Baguio City. I told her that it's like you're in a centralized air-conditioned room even if you're outside. It is also where her Tita Ta(my sister) spent her college days. About last week of March, it was decided that it is going to be me, Maki, Tita Ta & Aqui (my 10 month old nephew). We worked on a budget but then again there were some people who were wishing to join thus the "Operation 1k" was conceived. "Operation 1k" means anyone who likes to join should shell 1k for the bus fare. Being the host of the trip, I was in-charge of the transient house, food, Day tour and Van/driver. Tita Ta made the Itinerary. Final count is 9---me, Ethan, Maki, Ate Edna, Tita Ta, Atta, Tam, Allie and Aqui. It will be "a first time" for everybody except for Tita ta and me.

 April 8, 2013 at 6am, we boarded the Victory Bus in Cubao. It has 2 stops: 1st stop is after 2 1/2 hours, 2nd stop is also after 2 1/2 hours.



Ate Edna and Maki

Ethan and Me

 Tita Ta and Allie

 Tam, Atta and Baby Aqui

Hello Baguio City!

 

After 6 hours, we finally reached Baguio City. I first secured our return tickets so that our seats will be reserved. Then we headed straight to our transient house in City Camp Road. We hailed a cab and fare was only 50php. Cabs in Baguio are mostly Fx which can accommodate up to 5 passengers(seats at the back are removed). Drivers there give exact change and taxis are everywhere. 

We ate our packed lunch. While settling our things, we encountered an emergency. Baby Aqui's fingers were accidentally caught in the fan blades. I got scared because blood (about 50 cc blood loss) was projectile (Thank you Lord the fingers were intact), 2 fingers were bleeding like crazy. Since it is not my territory and I don't know where the drugstore is, I applied compression on the wound  and we immediately went to Baguio General Hospital. I would like to commend the ER doctors and nurses for the speedy attention they gave to Aqui. He had 2 stitches.

 
After the adrenaline rush, we went to the market to buy stuffs for our food for the next 2 days. Meat was sold about the same price in Manila. Vegies and rice were cheaper.We went back to the house, all were relieved that Aqui was alright. We got ourselves ready, we had dinner at SM Baguio.

Because our entourage is dominated with kids, we had dinner at KFC Baguio. SM Baguio is ventilated naturally, no air conditioning but it is still chilly. Tita Ta pre arranged a meeting with her college friend Ms Pia who happens to be the lead vocalist at Le Chef, The Manor.

 

 

Little did we know, that tonight we will be delighted with a beautiful surprise. . Ms Pia and Tita Ta shared fun times during College. Tita Ta used to play the bass guitar in a band "Yellow Bell Bottom". My niece Tamara requested Ms Pia to sing "Someone Like You" by Adele, the latter agreed.  While introducing the song, Ms Pia called Tam to join her on the stage, after a short prodding Tam joined her. And well she ended up singing the entire song alone. On Tam's first line, we had goosebumps---hard to believe that it was our Tam who owned the voice. We were so caught up, we forgot to record the first lines, good thing my techy daughter Maki grabbed the cam and recorded her Ate Tam. You should have seen the people watch in awe. I have a problem uploading the video, you may view it on my Facebook account.

 

 

Tam with a live band at Le Chef, The Manor (Camp John Hay)

 

We stayed for about an hour then we hopped to Harrison Road where you can find the grandest "Ukay in Town" (till midnight).

Stuffs range from clothes, jackets,cardigans, bottoms, some kid's wear, shoes, silver pieces of jewelry, personalized baguio key chains from 10-150php. Most items are 50php and below, so happy with our finds especially Ate Edna. We reached our transient house at about midnight. Ate Edna and I slept at 2am because we prepared our snacks, lunch and dinner for Day 2.

 

Day 2--April 9, 2013 (Araw ng Kagitingan)---we ate fried rice, corned beef and fried eggs for breakfast. We prepared sandwiches, pork steak, rice, soda, water for our lunch and snacks. We have a long day ahead. Day Tour starts at 9am. I chance upon an Igorot driver at Yalwa (thru the internet) who gave us a very good deal for the day tour. We will tour Baguio from 9am-5pm, our Itinerary are as follows: UP Baguio, Panagbenga Park, PMA, Camp John Hay, The Mansion, Heritage Tree, Mines View,Botanical Garden, Wright Park, Teacher's Camp, Bell Church, Strawberry Farm, Tam-awan Village, Lourdes Grotto, Diplomat and SM. Our tourguide/driver/occasional photographer is also an Artist/Sculptor at Tam-awan Village---Clinton Anniversario. I have been to Baguio a few times but the only places I have been were Burnham Park, Mines View, Lourdes Grotto, Camp John Hay and PMA.

Clinton Anniversario with his yellow Starex Van (9 seater). Just google Igorot driver van rental in Baguio and you will see his rate. He has been a big help to us and very polite too. I thought it was impossible for us to go thru the Itinerary, our system was he budgeted our time per place (we requested some places where we wanted to stay longer).

 

Day Tour- first stop is Tita Ta's alma mater, UP Baguio. So happy that she visited this place with her kids.

 Inang Laya at the background

 Oblation

 Tita Ta's kids--Atta, Tam, Allie and Aqui

Panagbenga Park

 

 

 

 

PMA-- we have an easy entry because the officer-in-charge at the gate is Officer Mark Domingo, an assumed relative of  Tita Ta's husband, Tito Marco Domingo :)

 

 

 Camp John Hay--where we had our lunch picnic style. We chose to gather under a tree with sprawling shrubs and flowers and it is free.



 

 

 

Wright Park---we did not ride the horses here because it is quite expensive. Some horses were dyed pink.

 

Tha Mansion--This is where the President stays when he visits Baguio.

 

The Heritage Tree---found along the road, one of the oldest trees in the city. Its trunk and branches are sculpted.

 

Mines View Park---we had a little overtime in this place. There were lots of tourists and we got excited with the Igorot costume.

 

Pose with a St. Bernard dog costs 50php/ group for 4 shots (with your own camera)

 

 

 

Igorot costume is 10php each for unlimited shots.

 

free

10php/shot (Daddy Jon requested to have a picture of Ethan riding a horse)

We also did our pasalubong shopping here because Tita Ta noticed that the price are cheaper compared years back. Our tourguide also said that pasalubong sold in Mines View are now cheap.

 

 

Botanical Garden

 

Teacher's Camp

 

 

 

Bell Chuch (La trinidad, Benguet)

 

 

Strawberry Farm---it was raining when we arrived at the farm. The kids were a bit sad because they just stayed inside the van. Tita Ta and I still took the chance, armed with umbrellas we did some photo op with the strawberries :)

 

 

 

 

Tam-awan Village--- this is where the culture of the Igorots are preserved. It also houses a variety of art collection. Entrance fee 50php for adults, 30php for students (bring ID), 20php for kids 12 y/o and below.

 

 

 

 These 3 works of art were done no less than our tour guide Clinton Anniversario.

 

Maki with Artist Jordan Mangosan

 

 

Lourdes Grotto--a quick stop at this place

 

Diplomat--used to be a convent for nuns and later became a hotel. A little bit creepy but the kids loved it because they are avid fans of "Walking Dead".

 

 

 

A beautiful garden at the far end of Diplomat.

                              This structure has the "Ten Commandments" inscripted on the wall. After this, we were brought back to our transient house to put down our things then proceeded to SM. SM is the last stop of our tour. Fun-filled day for all of us. Thank you Lord for our chosen tour guide and for keeping everybody safe. We bought a few things in SM then went back to transient house. We have a sumptous dinner, to cheer everyone from our very tired feet----pork ribs sinigang, rice, soda, mango and strawberry cream salad and cookies n cream/rocky road ice cream (as they say, when in Baguio eat ice cream hehe).
The following morning (Day 3), Ate Edna prepared our breakfast--yang chow rice, meat loaf, hotdog and packed lunch. I made sandwiches for our meryenda. When you have kids in tow, it is best to have lots of food. We checked out at 11am and went to SM again. We relaxed at Starbucks while Tita Ta and her kids dropped by UP to get some papers.

 

                                                                   Manang Pen

 

From SM Baguio we made our way to Victory Liner. They bought last minute key chains and hats which were surprisingly cheap near the terminal. We boarded at 2pm. The ride home went smoothly. We reached Manila at 8am. We met up with Daddy Jon at Gateway where we had dinner.

  It was a very memorable adventure including Aqui's ER tour but  everybody had a great time especially my dear sister Tata who finds the city her second home. We had thoroughly visited Baguio City and appreciated their culture more. We're looking for more trips together in the years to come maybe still with "Operation 1k" to inspire our kids to save up hehe and maybe next time with Daddy Marco and Daddy Jon on board.

To God be the glory for all His wonderful blessings!