Vacation With Friends in Baguio (Day 1)

Notwithstanding the bad weather, our vacation in Baguio last February 23-25 had been fantastic! We got free lodging and were able to visit some of Baguio’s main attractions such as, among others, Mines View Park, Tam-awan Village, Lourdes Grotto, Oh My Gulay!, and Nevada Square.

Baguio, Here We Come!

Before heading off to Victory Liner Cubao, Meng and I decided to meet up in Gateway for dinner. There we were reunited with our ex-officemates, Anna and Carla, who we haven’t seen in a long time. We left Cubao at 9:15pm and made a couple of stops along the way.

After 6 hours of bus travel, we finally reached the mansion at General Lim St. We were welcomed by Ate Mercing, the house caretaker.

The boss of Anna’s mom was kind enough to let us stay at her resthouse – a spacious vintage two-floor mansion with nine rooms – for free. I find this house very idyllic: there’s a number of paintings hanging on the wall, a chimney in the living room and antique furniture displayed around the house. I chose to stay in Room #9 with five people, while the two couples opted for different rooms in second floor and ground floor. We slept after unpacking our things without discussing our plan for the afternoon.

Day #1: February 23

Meng and I woke up early and, unlike the rest, were able to eat something for breakfast somewhere in Burnham Park. It was drizzling that morning and the Stadium in Burnham was already jampacked with spectators waiting for the much-awaited grand parade and performances. We then returned home to take a bath. Water was not only cold, it was also scant that we even had to fetch water from the faucet near the tank. Water supply, as you all know, has really become Baguio’s major problem due to dramatic increase in population and continuous depletion of water reservoirs.

At 2:30pm, everybody finally felt the hunger and decided to eat their very first meal in Baguio. The weather got even worse that afternoon. It was raining hard as we we walked through the Market Encounter and paid for P5 entrance fee each to get to our desired destination: the famous Solibao Restaurant (Burnham Park, 2600 Baguio City, Phone: 442-3867). We ordered Ihaw-Ihaw Delight, tortang talong, adobong kangkong, sinigang na baboy and four rice platter.

After that feast, I asked them to accompany me at SM Baguio for I already ran out of kaching and needed to withdraw some cash. Time was moving fast so we decided to part ways and go with our respective itineraries. Carla and the rest of the Max people went to Maharlika to shop for pasalubong. I had no idea where Anna and Raf spent their afternoon. Meng and I decided to visit the Our Lady of Atonement Cathedral, walk along Session Road and look for Hilltop which, according to Coba, is the best place for ukay. Little did we know that searching for that place would be a catastrophe.

After walking a few kilometers under heavy rain and almost getting lost, we finally gave up finding the elusive Hilltop. We ended up entering a labyrinth towards the crowded city market and returned to Session Road to rest and eat. We had our early dinner in Zola Café / Restaurant, a popular hangout place among locals located at the Upper Session. I really enjoyed their food, especially their Pizza Cebu, but the ambiance was so bad. There’s a weird smell inside and the café played a deafening rock music.

We met the rest of the gang outside Zola and before returning home, bought some Red Horse. Carla was such a shopaholic and enthusiastically bragged about the six pranelas she purchased in the market. What the hell. Haha! We couldn’t get any taxi so we walked our way again to the mansion. Nobody got drunk that night. We also did some jumping photoshoot in the living room. Sarah was phenomenal. I lulled myself to sleep early, tired and a bit tipsy.