Our Baguio Travelogue (Day 3)

We woke up early today thus we’re able to go out of the hotel at 8:00am (early huh?). We only have the whole morning to visit the rest of the places we haven’t been to, as listed on our itinerary. We had a light breakfast, had read few pages of the newspaper the hotel had supplied and were off to the street again.

Our first destination is the famous Mine’s View Park. We had the usual taxi pictorial and Gil made it a point to capture everything along the way, including the Session Road, the SM, Baguio townhouses, the pine trees etc. Upon reaching Mine’s View, there’s this souvenir stall, which has an Igorot statue complete with a Welcome to Baguio-Mine’s View Park banner. I asked Gil to pose in front but the stall personnel assisted us and handed us Igorot scarf, headgears and the rest of an Igorot’s accessories, and were instructed to pose on the platform provided. It’s fun! Gil liked the idea, and so the people who saw us followed. Only donation is required, any amount will do.

We walked along a winding stoned stairway towards the viewing deck. From there you’ll have a spectacular view of the nearby valleys and mountains of Baguio. Gil really enjoyed the place. He was really into nature thus this is one of the best spots for him. We had various pictures taken and spent an hour maybe savoring the mists and splendid view of the place.

There were still ponies for photo ops for only P10/shot. It’s fun Gil tried one (his first time ever horse experience! lol). We had one picture too together (he was quite trembling! LOL!) :D Mine’s View were also known for its quaint shops displaying Baguio’s best delicacies and handicrafts. We’re able to have some as ‘pasalubong’.

Some minutes away from Mine’s View is the Botanical garden. From the gate itself are Igorot groups garbed with their native costumes and regalia, always ready to take pictures with you, of course for a fee! As you enter, you will be welcomed with a narrow trellis of plants pathway. Since Botanical garden is also called an Igorot Village, you will find native huts of typical types as those of Igorot dwellings in the Cordilleras. Aside from numerous flowers and trees, there was also the Artists’ Guild, Green House Effect Gallery, Igorot statues, souvenir shops among others. We enjoyed walking around but it’s getting hot, and we still have more landmarks to visit. Thus, we’re off to our next destination- The Burham Park.

Since we’ve stayed at the city proper, we decided to put Burnham Park on the last part of our list in case we ran out of time. The park is located at the heart of the city and was named after Daniel Burnham, the city planner (thru the instructions of Gov. Wright). We had leisurely stroll around the man-made lake and climbed-up the view deck for our photo ops. It is still the most favorite place of the crowd wherein countless of activities are possible as boating, biking, mere strolling, picnics to name a few. Cheap silver accessories were all over the place thus we had some for our brothers as ‘pasalubong’. We never had the chance to try boating as much as we want for we only have few hours left for Orchidarium and public market for more souvenirs items.

We’re glad we’ve asked a young peddler for the Orchidarium’s direction (if not, we’ll be heading on the opposite direction). The Orchidarium is a part of the Burnham Park and showcase different varieties of ornamental plants. The orchids and flowers alike were so soOo lovely and the landscape is breathtaking. These plants were being sold in public or you may just enjoy taking pictures of them. It’s fun, it’s lovely…and it’s so getting too hot already! (Few minute before 11am).

We hurriedly went to the market for our last shopping bash (Hurriedly, but mind you…we just walked!). Since we went there several times already, we already have in mind what to buy and to which store in particular. We had 3 kilos of fresh strawberries at P110.00/kilo, strawberry jam of 3 bottles for P100.00 and 4 packs Legua de Gato for only P100.00 and we’re done! We bought Japanese cakes along the way to munch up while beating the 12:00nn checkout time of the hotel.

We came back to the hotel at 11:30am, 30 minutes left to have a quick shower, pack our things up and all! Just in time, everything’s ready! (We will miss this room, the bed, the tub and everything else!) We just waited at the lobby for the hotel staff to check the room (and had some sort of pictures again!), and off we went to the Victory Liner terminal.

We were early for the 1:10pm scheduled time, of well, at least for me! lol! (Then was only past 12nn). We remembered we haven’t had lunch yet, and so we looked for something to indulge with. Glad to find Maxim’s Tea House on the terminal’s mini food court upstairs. I had Shark’s Fin Siomai meal while Gil had Pork Siomai meal. But since we’re the last one on the line, it consumed a lot of time before we were being catered. Just in time that we went downstairs, the 1:10pm bus was already there. The result? We munched the lunch out all the way out of Baguio proper, yes, in the bus! (We enjoyed though, imagine the smell of our food and the sauces in a closed air-conditioned bus! lol!)

Seems the picture taking was not over yet because we still had some before we we’re drown to a not-so-deep sleep. The trip back home took about 8 hours because we arrived home past 9:00pm. Nay, Tay, She and Glen immediately had their share of strawberries and we were still able to see the pictures of our tiring yet exciting Baguio trip before Gil accompanied me back home for we still have office works tomorrow. c”,)

home-sweet-home! :)

How was the trip? It’s amazingly good! But since it was an itinerary-based trip, we’re always on the rush to follow things through. Nevertheless, we’ve had the best Baguio getaway ever, together…hand-in-hand. c",)