Road Trip Part 1: Revisiting Baguio City

My first Baguio City Experience was sometime in October 2001. I went there with three (3) of my friends but we only stayed there for the whole day. We took the bus, left the terminal at around 10PM and arrived in Baguio at 4AM. It was very cold, the cool wind really made me chill when I went out of the bus. We slept for a while, went out to walk around Baguio the whole day and then went straight to the bus terminal going back home.

This time, after seven (7) years, I went to visit the City of Pines again. My friends and I agreed to take the bus, leave on November 28 (Friday) since the November 30 holiday was moved to December 1 and we won't have to go to work for four days. But eventually, most people have thought the same way we did and so when we arrived at the bus terminal at around 10PM, we were surprised by the huge crowd gathering inside the terminal. To make it short, we were not able to leave that night. We had to wait for the 5AM bus to take us to Baguio City. It was a very long wait, we were all very sleepy and tired but we decided to just stay there and wait.

We arrived in Baguio City the following day (Saturday), a little after lunch time. With my heavy back pack behind me, we walked the streets of Baguio City and had lunch in a restaurant named "Zola". After satisfying ourselves with the food, we then had to find a place to stay. As we have already expected, it was hard to find a place to stay since there were really a lot of people in Baguio that time. It being a long weekend and we found out later on that there is a Nursing examination going on that time.

We eventually found a place in Camp Allen with the help of a cab driver. It was a small hotel named "Robol 88", it's got a rooftop where we can have fun while seeing everything around us. We paid the accomodation for a day since we were still unsure of our plan for the next day. We slept for a few minutes and went out to take a walk. It was a very long walk but I did not get tired, I enjoyed every moment of it, seeing a lot of people, enjoying the cold weather, seeing beautiful flowers and breathing fresh air.

It was the most pleasant long walk I had. We went to SM Department Store, bought some small things to give to our friends back home and sat outside SM. It was already past 6PM and it was really very cold out there.

At around 7PM, my friends, Randy, JC and I decided to have dinner in a restaurant nearby. Randy said that the food there was great and so we decided to try it out. We ordered buttered chicken, lumpiang shanghai and rice and we were really surprised with the amount of food we saw on our table when all the food were already there. They really gave us big servings and we never.. however we tried... we were never able to finish everything. But the thing that they served us sodas without ice is something that really amused me. We looked around on the other tables and we found out that all of them are satisfied to be drinking their sodas without ice and there we are trying to figure out why they served it without ice. Eventually, we requested for ice from the waitress :)


On our way back to the hotel, we bought a small bottle of strawberry wine just to try it out and then we bought some bottles of beer from the convenience store. We decided, despite the coldness of the weather, to drink on the rooftop. It was very very cold, I had to put on a warmer jacket and socks. But my hands are still very very cold as well as my face. The cold wind kept on blowing but we stayed on. The strawberry wine tasted very good... we should have bought a bigger bottle :)

When we finished the wine and a few bottles of beer, we decided we already had enough so we went down to our room and slept. At around 3AM we were awaken by the ringing of one of our cell phones. Our other friend called to let us know that he is already at the bus terminal. I was so sleepy so I just let the two guys fetch him from the terminal. I slept like a baby till morning :)

(photos courtesy of Randy and Elbert)

to be continued...

Road tripping in the rain

It was a rainy Sunday morning when me and my friends, Dennis, Elbert, Jabey, Randy and Vinzer went on our road trip. We were supposed to meet at 6:00 in the morning but due to the heavy rains, we were all a bit worried that our trip won't push through, thus we all arrived late.

We started our day eating taho (food made of soya and usually sweetened with melted brown sugar) in front of Marikina City Hall where we agreed to meet.

On board Randy's SUV, we proceeded to Daranak and Batlag Falls in Tanay, Rizal. It was my first time to go there and I was excited. We had to pay Php20.00 for the entrance fee. Since all of my friends, except Dennis, own a DSLR camera, they went on taking wonderful pictures and we pose for them sometimes (though we're not professional models, it was all for fun). I was always amazed at what they can do with a camera and I wish I could own one someday and learn the tricks of photography. The place is really beautiful although the paths were wet and slippery due to the rain. We explored every place we can reach and took pictures of every stone, insect, and water that we can see.

The next place we visited was an old, beautiful church in Pakil, Laguna. But since we arrived there at past lunch time, we decided to look from a place to satisfy our growling stomachs. There was only one karinderia (a small canteen selling cooked food) in the area and so we really did not have a choice. I remembered ordering sinigang but it was quite cold already. The food wasn't great but since we are all starving, we finished everything we ordered.

We immediately proceeded to the Church. They took pictures in and out of the church while I sat in a pew watching them, a little bit jealous of what they are doing. It was afternoon, we were quite lazy so we sat down on the stairs in front of the church while waiting for the others to finish. We, of course, had our picture taken there. We love having our group pictures whenever we go to a place.

Our next stop is the Japanese Garden in Cavinti, Laguna. There was a drizzle when we got there so we had to bring our umbrellas. They again took pictures while I was wondering why the place is called Japanese Garden since I can't find any plant, tree or flower that's different. I mean, there's nothing really Japanese about the garden. There are actually a lot of pine trees and it looks more like Baguio City. The place is beautiful and very nice for picnics. I wish we could have brought a blanket and some food. But then, I found the restrooms to be soooooo dirty. I wish they could hire somebody to clean it since they are charging entrance fees.

After having rested in the Japanese Garden we then went to visit St. Bartholomew Church in Nagcarlan, Laguna. But since it was Sunday and we arrived there late in the afternoon, a lot of people have already gathered inside the church awaiting for the mass to start. They took some pictures and we walked a few kilometers going to the Underground Cemetery.

We were however disappointed when we got there since the place was closed. But since the gate was made of iron grills, we just peaked through it and through the fence as well.

It was generally tiring but very much enjoyable. We did not allow the weather to dampen our moods... we went out to enjoy and that's what we did.