Baguio is Love ♥

So i am back to tell you the story of how i left a part of my heart in the summer capital of the Philippines, Baguio city. I know this one is really a month late but I still want to share it. Well, I’d like to say a word before I continue; this is an entry from a kid at heart who was so excited to meet the clouds again. I did my math and if I got it right, it's been 11 years since the last time i step foot on that place. Therefore I am a newbie and a complete ignorant of Baguio city though it wasn't that hard to adapt. However, a decade may have passed but there's the same fact that didn't change, Baguio is still one of the best places I have on my list and have set eyes on.

Let us drive back to the winding and zigzag road 11 years ago. I was in my 3rd grade, Michael was on fourth and Ralphqnwas only a yeau old. Dad droveqour then old Foud up the mountains. We went up there to accompany mom attend a seminar of chemical engineers. We dropped off Uncle Manny and Aunt Amelia at their house at San Fernando, La Union. It was always a fun ride up the Miracle Bible Compound because when you reach their place, you can have a good view of a part of the city. Enough of my nice to know talks - haha. As far as i could remember, i woke up that early rainy morning inside our car which was parked along Burnham Park. It was a freezing morning. And me and mike were already wearing our Baguio weaved jumpers which made our feelings a little better but was still not enough for the climate. (I would just like to share the odd feeling of having the same things my brother has though we weren't even twins but mom and dad made us feel like that). Papa went out to look for a tour guide because Mom was already running late and no one of us knew where to go. After a short drive, we reached the hotel where the event was to happen. I guess it’s named Raja Inn but I am not sure of that anymore. What we just did there was to wait until the convention ended. T’was a pretty boring time, we didn’t even stroll around because of the rain. Me and my brother would go up the place and back to our car to kill the time. Then we went home.

Now let’s steer the wheels back to January 14, 2012. I traveled to Baguio with my brother, Mike. The ride took us almost 8 hours and we were hoping to be there by 7PM however it ended up 10PM. It was tiring though I slept almost the entire trip. I wanted to be awake by the time we were going up, and I was, however I couldn’t see anything else outside except darkness. Disappointing, indeed. However as we drew nearer to the heart of the city, smile painted my face when I saw lights at the distance below us. The lights from the houses of Baguio city appeared to be stars in the distance. How charming. It was like you have already passed the skies that you are viewing them from above.

Soon enough the cold and pine smelling breeze of the place started to creep all over my system. It was really freakin’ freezing outside. I wanted to cuddle under my blankets and in front of a fireplace to keep me warm. Since it’s already late in the evening, though prolly night life has just started the only thing left for us to do is to visit the night market which a lot of people never fails to do so. It’s filled with retailers of clothes, shoes and many more stuffs at a really cheap price. If you have a knack for spotting great things out of this pile of stuffs then you can find your match and you might even surprise yourself carrying a handful of those plastic shopping bags if you can’t have a good grip of yourself. It was just a matter of mixing and matching things so you can have all the goodies you want.

Guess we did survive with fast food and take away foods for our stay there.

The next morning though we slept really late for the night, we had to drag our lousy selves to the shower room. People we’re boiling water and everything just so they could make sure they’re not going to freshen up with freezing water.

I stared up at the sky and it felt so near, that any minute now you'd be able to touch it.

Our first stop for the day, “Any idea on where to go? Maybe we should get a tour guide.” That was the best plan they had. It saved us the effort of getting lost and asking for directions. The tour guide we got was actually offering transient houses by the Burnham Park and he agreed to a price of 600 pesos. I think we got a great deal for it was really cheap.

After some ups and downs on curves we reached the Grotto. Together we counted the steps but lost track of it since every now and then we would take pictures or do something else. But it was fun; some say it’s 300 plus steps. I’ll go back there one day and finish counting it myself.

We dropped by the Chinese Temple near the border of La Trinidad for a few minutes then headed to the Botanical garden. We started buying souvenirs there that we forgot to appreciate what’s inside it. Jaiden even got tired that he was already sleeping; we had to take turns in carrying him.

After that, we were all starving; we headed to Mines View Park, where we ate at one of the eatery there. Mines View was filled with different sorts of people, you could barely enjoy the scenery for some of them don’t even want to budge. You would have to squeeze yourself so you could find a good spot. Me, Mike, Ate Badette and Nica just wore the traditional clothing of Baguio and took unlimited photos. One thing we couldn’t resist was to shop, and so we all bought different sort of things. I wish I was able to buy one of the jumpers like what Mike had bought for its really affordable and I was surprised when he told me how much he got it. Sigh. We left the place and went to Wright Park.

It’s horseback riding time.

At first I was really afraid, the horse might go berserk and run away. I just don’t want to end up clinging unto my dear life with a piece of rope. However, it was not bad at all. It was even great and we all enjoyed it. I even managed to go Solo though I wished I had the courage to control the horse a little bit faster. We had a little chat with the caretakers and our horses have their own names. Mine was named Viper; Tristan’s horse is Graham; Bruno for Nica and if I got it right Tanduay for Ate Dette (LOL I dunno). For 30 minutes we were going there in circles we even got bored.

After that we just passed by The Mansion and headed to SM baguio for some rest. Then we went home. And as night fell, we again visited the night market where I bought some shoes and sandals. However I noticed that the breeze wasn’t as cold as the other night. The next day we were all tired, we still woke up early yet the weather wasn’t at its best for another stroll. It was drizzling, not the greatest time to tour Baguio. Plus,.. we packed our things for we were going home after lunch. So me, Nica and Ate Bing decided to just go out to buy some “pasalubong”. Then we all met at SM Baguio where we ate our lunch. We dropped by the Baguio Cathedral and thanked God how wonderful the trip wass. Then, we dropped mike at the Bus terminal going to Ilocos and left for Pangasinan. On our way home, we met the clouds. I loved that scene. I have been looking forward to that all along and we bumped unto them. It was foggy on our way down that Dad had to go really slow and had to keep the signal lights on for other cars to notice. And off the winding and zigzag road went, till we meet again. So there goes our short vacation at the Summer Capital of the Philippines.

It was really a short one but we felt like we’ve been there for ages. We had so much fun and we enjoyed our time together. There’s really no place like home when you’re with family. I just hoped mom and Raffy were there too.