THOUGHTS by Anonymous: Adventures in Baguiolandia: Oh Baguio! I Love You!

Oh Baguio! Your cold weather in the land of tropics amazed me! It's like aircon everywhere! I haven't been to snow countries so please excuse my ignorance. I had been to Baguio when I was still 12 years old but then what does a 12 year old kid mind about travelling.

My office mates and I booked our Manila ticket last week of December 2015. Initially, our plan was to go to Enchanted Kingdom. Baguio was out because of the long hours of travel. I tried searching itineraries in Baguio and thought we could make it in 72 hours.

Day 1 February 6, 2016
This will be our first out of town trip with my new set of office mates. I am in my current employer for almost 4 years now and a lot of people have come and go. We were so giddy about this trip that we always tried to calm ourselves down because it might ruin our vacation.

ABOARD THE CEBU PACIFIC FLIGHT

February is a Panagbenga month in Baguio so there will be a lot of tourists visiting the city. Panagbenga festival is an annual flower festival in Baguio City.  Early January we already bought Victory Liner bus tickets going to Baguio just to make sure we don't ran out of tickets once we get to the terminal.

WE BOARD THE 8:00 AM BUS FROM MANILA TO BAGUIO. DON'T FORGET TO BRING A TRAVEL PILLOW WITH YOU!

We had three stop overs in Pampanga, Tarlac and Pangasinan, We haven't had a proper breakfast so we always bought food in all stopovers.

SUPER JUMBO HOTDOGS SOLD IN PAMPANGA FOR PHP 30.00 EACH.

In Tarlac, I bought one whole sweet corn and in Pangasinan we tried this local delicacy called "tupig". It is a combination of bibingka and budbud (I guess it is called Suman in Luzon).

EACH TUPIG COSTS PHP 6.00 EACH

TUPIG IS A PANGASINENSE DELICACY

LAST STOPOVER IN PANGASINAN.

I dunno if it is just me but food prices in North Luzon were kind of expensive. Every time we asked for the price, we usually just smile and thought to ourselves "let's just wait and eat in Baguio".=D

After almost 9 hours of land travel, we finally arrived in Baguio City! One minute after we stepped out of the bus, my office mates and I looked at each other with huge smiles on our faces and giddyness and said "TUGNAWWW!!" (Cold in English) I have always checked the weather in Baguio city even before we traveled. I was really looking forward to experience the cold weather that averages 16 degrees Celsius in a day.

JUST ARRIVED IN BAGUIO CITY!

Right in front of the Victory Liner terminal, there were strawberry taho vendors. Strawberry tahos were a bit expensive than your ordinary taho because of the strawberries.

STRAWBERRY TAHO FOR PHP 30.00. A MUST TRY.

We were supposed to buy bus tickets beforehand for our Baguio to Manila trip but due to a huge number of tourists visiting Baguio, the line was so long that we decided to just go to our hotel. Taxis in Baguio are SUVs because of the uphill roads all around the city. Their flagdown rate is Php 30.00. I just have to give a shout out to our taxi driver. He knew that we were tourists but still after we paid our fare he informed us that Baguio City has a "minus 5 pesos" fare rule. God bless you manong driver!

We checked in at City Travel Hotel around 6:00 PM. Our room costs Php 5,200.00 good for 7 persons with additional Php300.00 for 1 additional person. Out total bill was Php5,500.00.

PART OF OUR ROOM IN CITY TRAVEL HOTEL. THIS IS THE GIRLS' ROOM.

MEN'S ROOM.

MINI LIVING ROOM. THAT'S THE CR RIGHT THERE.

After we checked in and put our bags in our room, we went out and find a place to dine. We came across Heritage Hotel. They had an eat all you can for Php 398.00. So we devoured their buffet and eat our hearts out! Haha!

EATING OUR HEARTS OUT!

Since it is Panagbenga month, there was a bazaar inside Burnham Park. You can buy pasalubongs and have food trips in the bazaar inside Burnham Park. Strolling in the city felt like I was in another country! I really didn't mind walking around with a 16 degrees weather. I was just so happy! People in Baguio are so lucky to have this kind of weather. I was also amazed with houses that had chimneys! I always thought chimney's are for snow countries like the US only.

Around 11:00 PM, we decided to go back to our hotel and prepare for tomorrow's itinerary.


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This is just 24 hours out of 72 hours of our trip. Stay tuned for part 2 and 3!


-Jen