Saturday, June 30, 2012

Baguio Day 1

Want free soup in your every meal?
Due to Baguio's cold climate, I noticed that most of the restaurants/food chains offer free soup, unlike in Manila only the Carinderias could provide this free appetizer. It was like a necessity to warm up your body in this land with foreign vibe.

As part of our 2nd anniv, Hans had an idea to celebrate our anniv in Baguio. It was a first time for both of us, so we're very excited to see and feel the summer capital of the Philippines.


This blog will serve as a guide for first timers like us, so for our transpo we ride in victory liner, I'll list down the prices below. From Manila (Pasay Terminal) for the regular bus, the travel time will take 7-8 hours, victory liner also offers the express service, wherein you'll ride a bus with a built-in CR, and will only take 4 hours for the travelling time. But we choose to go with the regular, because the price of express is double the  regular.

I know how long we'll reach the destination but I still didn't expect that Baguio is really that far away, I thought after Tarlac it will just take an hour or two, but the nature sight seeing is worth it, especially in the part of the long and winding Kennon Road.
The mountains in this part, though I'm not sure if it was the Sierra Madre or whatever Cordillera mountains I'm seeing (sorry for not knowing bout this), were really exceptional, even my stomach ache along the journey vanished after seeing the view.

I now understand why people say Baguio slowly lost it's beauty, because while approaching the city, you can see a mountain full of structures, it's pretty ugly from the view in Kennon road, especially after seeing the greenaries then a group of messy different looking buildings was on the threshold.
But I realize Baguio can't be called a city without this developments, it needed this dirt to be able to produce on their own, thanks Urban Planning subject.

But after arriving on the premises of Baguio, I ate my words, still compared to the "city" I'm used to, amidst of vehicles everywhere and non uniformed structures, the view inside is wonderful, lolololol, I love the trees everywhere, and the sooooo cold temperature that it was warmer inside the air-conditioned bus.

After dropping from the bus we met a stranger, introducing himself from the tourism department, he helped us to choose the right hotel for us that will fit our budget, his group can tell you the directions but they also offer service with a cost of P50 to accompany you to the hotels you want to go in.

We decided to go to Tuvera Pension House just a few meters away from Victory Liner, I heard that for affordable stay, transient houses are advisable to take.
(c)
Of course after having a hotel plus hungry stomach(it was past 12pm when we arrived) needs big meal, so where else will we head especially in times where you don't know where to go? In (drum roll)..... SM baguio, where everywhere there is SM. lol.
Yep, this is the only SM with no HVAC inside, we ate a huge meal in Jerry's grill. I also love that taxis are very useful for the people here, I even rarely see jeepneys used by people, and another thing FX in Manila are used as taxis here. Fascinating.

For our dinner we try to eat in somethin new to us, so we walked in Session road and we found the Sizzling Plate Baguio. Like in Gerry's grill, again free soup! It tastes like home made and even the tenderloin steak, thick and juicy, there's no need to have a heavy sauce to pour in. Another thing I love in this store is the warm ambiance, and literally will make you warm due to, I guess, smoke coming from the food and kitchen.
After eating we proceed walking to session road to search for the ukayan but since it's already past 8pm, the stores are already closed so we go directly to nearby Burnham Park.
The park is I guess also already closed, we just saw this wooden seats and a monument beside the park, and my eyes are mesmerized to see that in Harrison road there is a night market that is opened til 12 midnight.

Tomorrow will be a long day, we still have a long list needed to be done here. Will update this post again tom.

Prices:
Victory Liner Regular - P395/ticket
Tuvera Pension House - P1,050/room good for 2 person w/ CR,TV,wifi
Taxi - P35 plus P2 per patak?


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