Our 48 hour weekend get away was one of the most memorable experiences
I have had in Baguio city. We have experienced lots of mishap and
misadventures, from planning to the actual trip. Believe me this isn’t a run of
the mill trip, nonetheless, we all managed to smile and kept our heads above
waters.
The ER&M team planned to go to Baguio City few weeks before I
transferred to the team, and as a new member of the group I was invited to join.
I have been to Baguio several times but I still opt to go with them coz I know
this will be a totally new experience and yes, true enough, it was a totally new experience!
I booked our accommodation through Agoda and LA handled the car hire –
we booked a Toyota commuter. I had our itinerary printed and we are all very
excited about this trip! Our estimated
time of departure is at 7pm last Friday, but unfortunately our driver was
2hours late! So we went to Somerset and stayed at Kingsley’s room and grabbed
some beers while waiting for our ride. After couple of hours, we met our driver
(one of the most reckless drivers ever!!)
We had our very late dinner in LA’s
house in Bulacan and we all enjoyed the sumptuous food served on the table –
Shrimps, Chicken (that’s one of the best fried chicken I’ve ever tasted),
salted egg in tomatoes, daing na bangus, sinampalukang manok (soup), pickled
papaya (atchara), and fruit salad. We are all full and extremely satisfied,
hashtag happy tummy :) We took a
short nap before we head to Baguio.
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| LA's Place - Bulacan |
We left Bulacan half past 2 in the morning and arrived in Baguio
around 6am.
Kingsley is on the ball all through out the trip, especially when
we were in SCTEX and TPLEX. He told us that the driver is at 145kph + swerve +
overtake! We asked him to slow down. I wont ever recommend this guy. He’s nice,
well, we are all nice, but it would be better if he drive with care. He doesn’t
even know the places in Baguio – I was literally the tour guide and a human
Google maps! We hired him and paid 11,000php ($237.97) to have a hassle-free
trip, and guess what, it’s not. He’s always late and his driving style is
awful. I took a nap for only 25-30mins and when I woke up, we’re lost. The
driver doesn’t know where we’re heading! I told him where to go next, expecting
that as our tour driver, he’ll bring us to those places. He should know where
to go, he even told us that he’s very much familiar with all the places in
Baguio, but he’s not. I literally need
to instruct him “kuya, 3rd exit of that round about, or kuya, bare
left, or straight ahead.” That’s really stressful, I cant even take a short nap
coz I’m afraid we’ll be lost again and waste another couple of hours.
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| at Kennon Road View Deck |
The itinerary wasn’t followed as plan, but that’s ok, we still have
fun and enjoyed each and every places we’ve visited. We had our Breakfast at
Café by the ruins then went straight ahead to Tam- Awan Village.
Next destination : Mines View, Good Shepherd, Wright Park, The Mansion. This is the time when we got lost, the time I took a nap. Kuya doesn’t know how to go to those places from Tam Awan Village! What?? Seriosusly?! So with the help of google maps and waze, we finally arrived in Mines View. The places was chock-full so we have to park our car a little bit far from the entrance. We haven’t had the chance to take a picture with any of the St Bernard dogs nor take a picture wearing their igorot dress. We just took a few snap shots at the view deck.
By mid day, we went to 50s Diner to have our lunch but the place was jam-packed to so we decided to try another resto near the area. We had our (free) lunch at Rose Bowl Steak and Restaurant, courtesy of the ever generous LA. We have much food on the table.
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| Entrance Fee : 50Php |
Next destination : Mines View, Good Shepherd, Wright Park, The Mansion. This is the time when we got lost, the time I took a nap. Kuya doesn’t know how to go to those places from Tam Awan Village! What?? Seriosusly?! So with the help of google maps and waze, we finally arrived in Mines View. The places was chock-full so we have to park our car a little bit far from the entrance. We haven’t had the chance to take a picture with any of the St Bernard dogs nor take a picture wearing their igorot dress. We just took a few snap shots at the view deck.
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| Mine's View |
By mid day, we went to 50s Diner to have our lunch but the place was jam-packed to so we decided to try another resto near the area. We had our (free) lunch at Rose Bowl Steak and Restaurant, courtesy of the ever generous LA. We have much food on the table.
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| Rose Bowl Steak and Restaurant |
We are all physically tired, yet we are all in high spirits and thrilled
for the next destination. We got a text message from Tiptop that the room is
now ready. Upon check in, we’ve noticed that the room assigned to us wasn’t the
room type we booked in Agoda. What? Again, another mishap? We booked 2 bedroom
apartment superior, but what we got is a deluxe. This is all wrong. We talked to the owner and was told that there’s
a misunderstanding on the booking. Their system shows that we booked it through
booking.com (2bedroom deluxe), yet we have a print out saying we booked it
through Agoda (2 bedroom superior). It was a lengthy argument and we’re already
pissed of what’s happening. Kingsley told us to relax and don’t let this stuff
ruin the entire trip. After talking to the owner and after settling things up,
we finally had a chance to sleep. By the way, we end up paying $130 (6000php)
instead of $97 (4500). So how’s that? Ugh!
We woke up by 8pm and headed to Session Road for Dinner. We opt to
have Australian steak at Sizzling Plate – We ordered Australian Porterhouse,
Australian T-bone, and Pork barbeque. I was planning to order Leche flan but after finishing my steak, I’m all good.
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| Sizzling Plate |
We went to Ukay Ukay and let Kingsley experience “shopping” at Baguio’s night market. After an hour or so,
we went to Burnham Park and rent a boat. It was actually fun. By midnight, we
decided to go home and bought some beers and snacks. Again, as expected the
driver is no where to be found. We waited for another half an hour for him. Lol 😤💪
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| "Ukay-Ukay" |
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| "Row row row your boat" |
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| Session Road |
The boys had their beers outside while watching TV, while I was in our
room (room share with Iara) busy with my phone. Hahaha. Everything’s
fine but I was awaken by several (very) loud knocks at our door. We were really scared and terrified. I haven’t had a good sleep that night –
something spine-chilling happened, but I’m not gonna share it here, but that
was the longest 10mins of my life, and Iara’s too.
The next day (Sunday), we packed our things and headed to Camp John
hay. We had our brunch at Mile-Hi. We all enjoyed the beauty of CJH.
Wish we have enough time, so we can go to other places listed on the itinerary, but we have to head back home. We all have to work on Monday. Hahaha :) We went to Baguio’s public market to buy some pasalubong and to grab those fresh vegetables and fruits.
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| Mile- Hi |
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| Bell House |
Wish we have enough time, so we can go to other places listed on the itinerary, but we have to head back home. We all have to work on Monday. Hahaha :) We went to Baguio’s public market to buy some pasalubong and to grab those fresh vegetables and fruits.
There might be lots of misadventures over the weekend, but we all went
home happy and safe. We managed to keep our cool the entire trip despite all
these crazy things happening to us. But yeah, it was a weekend well spent with
my ER&M family.
Thank you guys for making this weekend a memorable one:
TL Joel – for being so cool. For not adding fuel to the fire during the
phone confrontation at the hotel
Iara- for being the best singer ever. Hahahah! And for being so kulit
Ralph- for all the selfies and for the good laughs – our pabebe
LA- for being so generous, and for being the peace-maker
Kingsley – for reminding us to keep our cool, enjoy and have fun. and
yes, for reminding the driver to slow down
Kuya Driver – for bringing us back to Makati safe, but no, we’re not
gonna hire you again. Uh, uh.
*** Photos 📷: Our Facebook/IG's
You can also check my other Baguio Trips here : Baguio Trip 2D1n, baguio 2015, Baguio Wanderings
Cheers!
Xx
Ash
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