My 5-day trip (Part 1 - Baguio)

Last week was a long break for me since I work nightshift. Can you guess why?
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It was thanksgiving! :D Yay!

Earlier in the year, my boyfriend and I found some cheap air fares and I suggested we make use of it for thanksgiving in November, which happened to be last week. The thanksgiving holiday started on November 23 up to 24 in the Philippines, and those happened to be a Thursday and Friday. We took a leave for the Wednesday, so we then had time for a trip from November 22-November 27 (morning).

So what did we do with the five day break?

Travel to all sorts of places, of course!

Our flight was 4:30pm, but due to some bad weather, it was delayed a bit, and we arrived around 6pm. We then had to go to the Cebu Pacific office in the airport because we decided that the initial 15kg that we booked were too little for both of us (main reason is me ^^ girls need lots of extra baggage) It didn't take long for us to get some more prepaid baggage for our flight back home, even though it was still a few days away. After that, we went to eat at a Japanese place in the NAIA airport. I ate curry don, and he got a karaage, and we shared a ramen. We didn't have time to take pictures and devoured the food right away since we were in a hurry. Thankfully, they managed to serve the food within 5 minutes.

We opted to walk to our destination which is Joybus terminal, since the GPS showed it to be near. We ended up in some alleys where a tricycle almost ran into my boyfriend even though he was clearly well on the side of the road. It was not as near as the GPS says, and the exercise left both of us totally sweaty, but it wasn't totally unwelcome. (we probably both needed the exercise anyway and it totally saved us some cash) When we arrived at the Joybus terminal station in Pasay, our bus was not yet there. We had pre-booked a bus ride from Joybus, the executive bus coach of Genesis Bus Line. It was more expensive than the normal aircon buses since it was a no-stop bus, and when we finally got to ride it, the airconditioning was good, and in fact, it was totally cold. Even with all the layers I was wearing, I was still shivering. Thankfully, they provided blankets as well. So I got even more extra layers. The bathroom in the bus we rode was good for CR breaks, but when I tried to wash my face, there was no water! I had to resort to using drinking water to wash the soap off. And it seemed that the bus we rode did not provide the water bottle and biscuits that was mentioned in the online reviews that I read. Doesn't really matter that much since I was mostly asleep during the ride. It was a night trip and went for approximately 6 hours. Our destination? Baguio! :D

When we arrived in Baguio, it was early in the morning, around 3am, and there were no jeepneys, so we again walked to the Transient house we booked via Airbnb. One awesome thing about the place we booked was that their check-in time was flexible, and they were totally okay with us checking in at 3am in the morning. We got lost a bit of the way and went around a couple of places. Despite lugging around our luggage, since Baguio was a cold area, walking around didn't make us sweat like our walk to the bus terminal, but it did leave us very tired, especially the sloping roads. We got to the transient house around 4am already, at which the owner found us just a couple of meters away from the place.

After resting for a bit, we headed out to go to our first destination: La Trinidad Strawberry Farms. Our phones' GPS was totally our bestfriends during the 5-day long trip, especially in Baguio, where, because of the temperature, we often opted to walk. We asked around for what jeepney to ride to get to La Trinidad, and after going around in circles (the people who answered us were very confusing, pointing us in circles, literally: one said to go to this place, and when we got there, the other one said it was where we intially were), we eventually found it by ourselves at the place where the itinerary guide I had put together had pointed us.

For anyone who might want to got there, the jeep that goes to la Trinidad does not seem to stop at any terminal in the area. It passes by the side of Center Mall. The jeep is called Tomay/La Trinidad. Just tell the driver that you're headed for the Strawberry farm. There are a lot of sights you can take pictures of on the way there.

Unfortunately, since it's still November, their strawberry picking is not available yet, much to my dismay, so if you want to do that, you're better off going there around December to May, which is also the peak season for travelers in Baguio, so be aware of the increase in tourists. Just outside the farm, you will find many shops selling all kinds of souvenirs. It is cheaper to buy here than in the city itself, so you might wanna buy there instead. We took note of it when we found out that 3 keychains in the city were worth more than 13 keychains at La Trinidad. They also sell Strawberry Ice Cream and Shake.

After La Trinidad, we headed for the next items on our itinerary, which are the Rose Gardens and the Burnham Park. The Rose Gardens was full of people, and there's not much to see since it was pretty small, but the Burnham Park was big and spacey and there were a lot of spots where you can take pictorials.

Since it was off-peak season, we were able to go boating which was P100 for an indefinite time. The man even joked that we could stay there for 3-days if we want, not that we did though, or else we would miss our other destinations :P We started out not knowing how to row the boat, but eventually, he got good at it, and then I wanted to try it myself too, and I got the hang of it as well. There were other boats that were much easier to maneuver, but most of them are pricier by a bit. And there's also an offer where you can get a guide if you add P50 if you don't wanna row yourself.
Before we finally headed back to the dock, we took turns rowing the full length of the lake and then back to the dock. We definitely plan on going back when it's off-season again. :D

We took a lot more pictures before heading to where the skating rink and other amusement rides were, which was just a little walk away from the lake. I guess I was expecting too much when I was dismayed to find that it wasn't an ice skating rink. We didn't skate, since my boyfriend didn't want to, and it was no fun doing it alone. We didn't really ride anything there at all, since we had a bigger fish in mind for tomorrow. (You'll see what, after the baguio trip)

After burnham, we opted to go back to the house first, before heading out for Mines View Park. We were thinking of where to eat as well. I initially decided to go to Goodtaste Restaurant, but since it was out of the way of where we were going to ride the jeep going to Mines View, we decided against it. At first, we were contemplating the many restaurants down on Session Road, BUT! When we decided to ask Google where the nearest Asian restaurant was, Rose Bowl, which was just outside our transient house, came up. The reviews online seemed to be good, so we decided to go there. Scanning the prices, we compared it to be around the level of Classic Savory. We got a seat near the window area, overlooking some houses. We ordered Fisherman's Delicacy (Sam Sim), a plate of Plain Century Eggs, Shanghai Rolls, Lechon with Broccoli, and Rose Bowl Fried Rice. Everything tasted great! The Fried Rice was not the heavy type of rice, in fact, it complemented the other dishes really well, not overpowering them in flavor. The Lechon was goooood! The Sam Sim was mostly vegetables with fish fillet, but put some chili pepper in it, which they would give you upon request, and it is absolutely good. Just don't put too much. I'm fond of putting chili peppers in my food, but I made the mistake of putting too much here. I didn't realize that chili peppers in Baguio were spicier than the ones we had back at home. Good thing there was water! Not repeating that mistake again next time we eat there, and we definitely will! :D

After filling our bellies, we went back to the house, before heading out again to find the jeep going to Mines View Park. It was found in the lower Session Road, in front of Danes Bakeshop, which was just near to Melvin Jones Grandstand. Fare was P10. The view was breathtaking there at Mines View Park. "Breathtaking" may become literal if you're afraid of heights though. You can take pictures of the beautiful view of the mountains there up on the viewing area. Otherwise, there are St. Bernard dogs and horses (which they decorated for show) which you can take pictures with for a price. It costs P200 with the St. Bernards, but I didn't bother to ask about the horses. There were also a lot of souvenirs you can buy here, since there are some shops located just inside the park. And there were a lot of flowers in the area as well.

Near Mines View, there are other places to go, like Good Shepherd Place which is like a market place, and is a walk away from Mines View; and Wright Park and The Mansion, which you can go to by riding a jeep from beside the entrance to Mines View Park; Botanical Gardens was near to the area as well. We didn't go to these places since it was getting dark already by the time we finished at the Mines View, though they were initially in our itinerary. We rode a jeep back to the city proper, and walked back to our transient house. We ate takeout dinner there, the other half that we didn't manage to finish from Rose Bowl (their servings were big).

We slept for a bit until 9pm, which was when the Night Market in front of Melvin Jones Grandstand starts. It was a very long line of stores selling all kinds of things, from jackets to shoes to bags to accessories to clothes. All for cheap prices. Just be careful when you go there. Make sure to secure your valuables, because where people flock in jam-packed areas, surely there will also be some others milling around, waiting to take advantage of less alert people.
We definitely went there to snag some deals. I got a good-looking trench coat for P100! We also snagged some jackets for less than 400. And I bought four long-sleeved mini-dresses for P50 each. It was a really cheap deal, and the mini-dresses were made of good quality cloth! I also bought a luggage bag, which I regret. It cost P1000, and the zipper parts weren't sewn that well. I suppose I could get my mom to repair it so that it wouldn't break apart. We did make good use of it though, when we left baguio, and to carry some stuff when we went home the following days later. It's not that it's falling apart, it's just that, I don't think you should be filling it to the brim with stuff. Other than the zipper part, it's actually pretty sturdy. But I still wish I had more sense when I was deciding to buy it. Anyway, it was my only regret for the whole trip.

Our itinerary for Baguio was for a one-day trip only, and after the Night Market, we went back to where we were staying to rest and get ready for our trip going back to Manila. When we realized we didn't seem to be getting to the terminal, and fearing we would miss the pre-booked bus, we took a taxi and realized that our walking would have lessened had we not missed the left turn we were supposed to take way back just before we got to Session Road where we hailed the taxi. But oh well, we made it to the bus, and atleast we learned a new route which would be less-taxing to our legs the next time we stay in Baguio. All's well that ends well. The bus we rode back to Pasay was also Joybus, and this time, they really did provide the water bottle and biscuit. I didn't get to check the CR of that bus. Take note though that the bus ride back to Pasay will leave you with air pressure in your ears, like you rode an airplane, because of the change in pressure going down from Baguio. It would be wholly uncomfortable, but if you slept most of the way (which I did), you won't really feel anything apart from the in-ear pressure.

Regrettably, I had to reformat my phone just after our trip, and just now, as I was about to put images in this, I realized that I had unknowingly saved the images in my phone storage (I don't know how that happened, since I normally save these in my external storage). I was totally bummed out. I resorted to using the ones my boyfriend had, so some of them might be blurred since a lot of them were from video screenshots. I lost a lot of photos I had initially wanted to include in this post. :< I'm still really sad about it, but I'll get over it eventually.

The other details of our trip after we left Baguio, I will detail in another post as this one has gotten really long!
Til the next part of this post!~~