Howdy all!! It’s been so long, and when I say so long it’s about 1 year! haha I’m back as not so recently I have visited the summer capital of the Philippines, BAGUIO!
DISCLAIMER: It was 2019 visit.
It happens like this, I was working and my friend send me a message telling that we are going to Baguio as if you have no other choice but to go, it was Thursday and we intended to go early morning on Saturday. Right then and there he book a room for 3 in Bed and Baths @ Station 120. It’s a good hotel close to session rd, Baguio Cathedral, etc. Come Saturday we met at Calamba Laguna at 4:00am, originally it was only me and my friend, luckily his colleague decided to join the trip and our two more “barkada” will be following the next day!
How to get there from Laguna:
From Calamba, Laguna we waited for a bus headed to LRT/PASAY and then went down at Magallanes Bus Stop. From there, we ride a jeepney going to MOA and make our stop at Victory Liner Terminal.
If you’re not familiar with Victory Liner Terminal same as us, we asked the jeepney driver if it will be passing by the terminal.
Once you’re already in the terminal and has no pre-booked ticket, head to the ticket booth buy yourself one, they have deluxe and regular, regular will cost you P501. After that, your ticket will indicate the time you could ride the bus and your seat number, from there you could decide to follow your ticket time or line up for chance passenger, since it’s only 5AM when we reach there, we lined up for chance passenger. Just to let you know, the line is so long for chance passenger and the bus is only leaving after an hour. So, we got on by 7:45 and bus leaves exactly at 8AM. BTW, you don’t have to worry if your bladder is about to burst as their restroom is super clean and comfy HAHA. They also have RCBC ATM if you wish to withdraw some hot cash.
If you’re coming from the Airport or wished to go to Airport there is Airport Bus in Victory liner terminal, but I’m not sure about the time and how it works.
Since, it’s holiday and well having storm signal no. 1 at Cordillera, the usual 5 hours ride became a thrilling 9 hours ride from Manila to Baguio City. First thing we did is get a return ticket for 26, unfortunately the only available slot is for 3:30 in the afternoon and the kind lady told us we might reach Manila at 10PM on the 26th since I have work on the next day I opted for 25th departure at 11:45PM. If you are also planning to visit there during holidays then make sure to book before hand and DO NOT GO based on your feeling hahaha, as my friend who took the bus on 26th arrived at 2:30AM in Manila imagine going through all that traffic again!! Scary. Forever do exist.
Arriving late in the afternoon and being welcomed by a raging storm. We decided to drop our bags first and changed our clothing to a more appropriate one for colds. The hotel is equipped with towels, small bottle of shampoo and soap, I didn’t get the chance to take some photo but it was a comfy room, with big screen TV, large mirror and a table and chair. Do remember to bring an extension or multiple plug-ins as the socket are limited for only 2 plug-ins. After that we headed to 50’s diner for our dinner, though I wouldn’t recommend it as the food is really not that good, but the serving is humongous.
Walking the session road during rainy season is also quite an experience, the view and feels of the place is amazing. That same night before we drink our night away, we went to Burnham park, walking the dark sidewalk and catching up was a great idea. Night Market is also must to haggle some good clothes.
Early Sunday morning, I went to attend a Mass at Baguio Cathedral, meet up with my 2 more friends who just came and ate a delicious breakfast of bacon, egg, fried rice, and cup of hot coffee made my day!
From Baguio Cathedral, we walked our way to Laperal house, it’s roughly a 14 minute walk. Then, we ride a cab going to Wright Park, but the traffic made us walk from Park Drive Garden to Wright Park. Once you get there you could try riding a horse which will cost you P500 for an hour ride and P250 for a 30min ride, I’m considering this when I saw the staircase going to the long pond and the mansion. Well you can’t ride the horse up the stairs, this is just me wishing I could. I felt I’m losing all my ehem baby fats! >.<
From Wright Park we walk the long winding road again to Mines View, to be honest, in my opinion there’s nothing much to see or do in there, it’s almost the same as the activities there are in Wright Park, I think the only thing you will consider when visiting Mines View is the observation deck, I can’t appreciate it, maybe because there are a lot, I mean A LOOOT of tourist, it almost hard to move there, so we just stayed for like 5mins at most.
For lunch we went to Ili-likha, it’s Instagramable as the place is artistic to boot. Hard to find the entrance though. Once your full, go to the wet and dry market for the “pasalubongs”. We bought Bugnoy wine there and drank while talking and chitchatting then had our dinner at Pizza Volante. Before the night ends I bid my goodbye to Baguio. Next time I come up there, I’d like to visit Sagada, La Trinidad, and well get a tattoo with Whang -Od.
You could also try visiting SM Baguio, you might enjoy it, though most of the shop inside can also be seen anywhere else. We also come up with a group name called “BoreLogs” it means sleeping, it’s not tagalog and I’m not sure if it’s a gay lingo or if I spelled it right but I like the look of it! So to those who like to sleep as well, whether during a long trip or whatever. I bid a see you on the next trip Ka-Borelogs! Sleep tight. *wink wink*
Chasing Sunshine 