One day in Baguio - April 30, 2011

Leaving Victory Liner Pasay Terminal at around 11 PM, the bus had a stop over at around 1 AM.  I can't remember where this is but that's good 2 hours of EDSA and NLEX roads.

Hmm, this seems to be the Victory Liner bus terminal in Baguio! Taken at around 4 AM.  Travelling with no traffic, is around 5 hours of travel from Manila to Baguio.

My office mate who invited me has a successful classmate in her college years who owns this house for rent. It is new, big, and clean.

We ate pansit, adobo, and fried chicken from the treat of the house owner which happens to have a restaurant which is open 24/7.
We drank San Miguel Lights in can and had conversations till the sun rose.

This is the view from the house.  Damn, I just can't recall where this is located as I want to share it with you and try it here.

The bed.  I slept alone as I'm the only guy in the group.  I think we have slept for 2 or 3 hours.

Image your house with a view like this!

This video doesn't seem to show what I've seen during that day.  The clouds were moving fast and not in a straight direction.  I was amazed and took a video of it.

I don't know the purpose for this hole.  Maybe, they're planning to fit a tank for water in there. As I recall, water is very weak in this house.

We had lunch at Jack's restaurant.  This can't be found near the city center but the food is good and cheap! These prices on your left has huge servings.

 That's the address, give it a try! :)

This is familiar to many of you because it is Strawberry Farm!!!

 Strawberry ice cream please? :)

After the girls finished shopping, we went to Chinese Temple.  You might be wondering how we can get to various places.  We rented an FX taxi for a reasonable fee for the whole day.

Click the image on your left to see the bigger image.  I want to show you how much structure has been erected on the sides of the mountain.
It's not beautiful but that's the sign of progress. Baguio is slowly getting bigger.

Due to the climate in Baguio, flowers of this type, usually the big ones, thrive.

One of simple tourist spots in Baguio is the Lady of Lourdes Grotto.  What makes this unique is the climb up to it which is pretty challenging to most.

 Off Duty, I wonder what her job is? Hehe.

 Shopping Again...

They shopped around but only bought some Baguio t-shirts. Next stop, Tam-Awan Village.  There's nothing breathtaking or captivating in this place but being close to nature.  All trails are filled plants and trees.  You'll get worked out but not sweat too much.
Zoom-in and you'll see entrance fees as of 2011. :)

They're best friends since college and see each other often even after more than 15 years.  I don't know what their conversation is all about.

This is a room. You can spend a night here,  not a bad idea.

They also happen to have a nice coffee shop with various art paintings and things for sale. From there, we chanced upon a performance of a native dance of the Aeta people.

After Tam-awan Village, we went to the city center, Session road.

 Snacks!

This is the view from Mcdonald's. I was observing this vendor while eating.  One thing you'll notice is how well he presented those sliced mangoes and skins.  Unfortunately, he doesn't wash his hands before working on those mangoes.

We went to Mines View Park.  It's filled with people which include tourists, vendors, and locals.  Despite that, it's a  very energetic and colorful place to visit.

Aside from selling products, enterprising Baguio locals would have you pose for a picture with a dog, horse, or a Baguio elderly native for a small fee.

Look at that! One of the tourist activities in Baguio is ...
..eating!  They look so enticing.

It rained for a while in Mine's View Park before we got to leave.  Here's is the modern Baguio scene, slight heavy traffic.

We're back at the house and I'm content to what we've been able to do for the day.  We're taking our rests before we go to the house owner's small coffee shop for a chat and dinner.

Minty Joy and Dilly Gay Soup Cafe.  I got the name right from an image of their menu, below. Hehe.
This is located outside of Baguio center.

Their food is good as the owner loves to cook.  He had a chef/cook working with him.

There had been lots of drinking, chatting while we finish all these food.

My office mate and her college mates were having a good time reminiscing what they were in college.  I didn't get to experience such since my college days seemed more like work, competing and challenging unlike them.
They all have children with their eldest going in high school.
Newer generations, mostly, are focused on their careers and success despite we often hear them being so liberated at a young age.
With the internet, consumerism, and slowly booming economy, I believe the youth of today are less to have a family at an early age.
We took a lot of pictures of ourselves and said our thanks to our very nice hosts before leaving.

That's all for our one day trip in Baguio.  This is only a Saturday and we could have left Baguio the next day but our group seem to have a common priority for the family on a Sunday and to have a good rest for work on Monday.  This picture is taken 11:21 PM while waiting for the scheduled trip at 1 AM.  

I think we got to Makati at around 6:45 AM, outside the 5 hour travel time, as the bus had to drop passengers at the Cubao Victory Liner Terminal and throughout EDSA. 

Three of us in the group stepped down from the bus in Makati as our homes are located in the south (Laguna and Las Pinas) and have to ride to different bus for it.  The bus we got is both headed to Laguna and having a stop at Alabang. We're still together on the same bus. I remember having a stomach ache from Makati to our home.  I'm silly to put up with all that pain so just I can unload at home and not somewhere else. I bid farewell to my friends at Alabang and thanked them for the experience. I got home at around 8 AM.

But.... my trip doesn't end there.

NEXT DAY >>>