Last weekend was special because it was a birthday weekend celebration of Ging. We spent it at Baguio, one of our favorite escapes from the hot, humid, heavy polluted and stressful Metro Manila. Yes, probably Baguio has one of the highest levels of air pollution (because of rampant smoke belching from most forms of transportation), but there is still an abundance of fresh chilly air from the patches of pine trees and other vegetation found in the city.
Some may say Baguio is overrated, but whenever we visit, we always find new things to do and new places to discover. There are Baguio trips when we go to the same old places, but as I've said, there will always be new discoveries-whether they be new buys or great places to eat. Just be cool, find the time to go around without an itinerary, and touring would be as enjoyable every time.
When we visit Baguio, we always stay either at the City Center Hotel located at Session Road, or the historic Mountain Lodge, located across Teacher's Camp.
DAY 1:
We traveled the whole day, left Manila around 11am, then arrived Baguio at 7pm.
We had dinner at the classic Sizzling Plate along Session Road, where we had the usual Salisbury steak, then tried for the first time, one of their bestseller, which is sizzling sisig (which tasted like bopis). We finished our meal with a slice of Sans Rival, along with the corn syrup enriched Coke and fresh calamansi juice.
We spent the rest of the night at the Harrison Road ukayan, of which the crowd mostly consists of wandering students. Surprisingly, many Koreans also go around the ukayan, trying to steal good deals on ukay goods.
DAY 2:
We had breakfast at Vizco's along Session Road, where we had the usual Pinoy breakfast of daing na bangus and longganisa, with egg and fried rice. For dessert, we had their bestseller, strawberry shortcake. It was the best version I've tried. The strawberries on top were really fresh, sweet and juicy.
Because we just had to, we went to Mines View Park, not to enjoy the view nor take pictures riding on pink-haired horses or wearing traditional Igorot costumes. We went there mainly to eat grilled pusit and grilled corn, smothered on butter and iodized salt. The grilled dried pusit was sold at php25 each and the corn was at php30 each. We bought silver rings from Ms. Becky, located at one of the stalls selling souvenirs and such. Because the afternoon was getting chilly, we walked straight to Good Shepherd and had regular brewed coffee at php50 for a cup and adobo roll at php30. Their kiosk is located at the gazebo part of the convent. By the way, they are also selling Civet coffee, for php100/cup, which is quite cheap, as compared to other cafes selling this exotic variety of coffee.
It was quite late so we weren't able to go to Cafe in the Sky, located at Mt. Sto. Tomas part. We attempted to still go, but when we were already at the jeepney station at Bayanihan building area, headed to Tuba, the driver told us that it was kind of late at 5 pm to be heading there, because the last trip going back to Baguio city center is at 7pm. Definitely, I wouldn't enjoy drinking coffee and staring at a sea of clouds at 30 minutes max. So instead, we just went around the Bayanihan building for ukay ukay finds. As soon as we got a jacket and a bag for Ging, we called it a day and decided to go back to the hotel.
Just when we were about to go down the creeky wooden stairs, we noticed a set of stairs alongside a wall, going up. I saw a sign that says Bayanihan Heritage Library and Training Center. On instinct, I immediately grabbed Ging's arm and went up the stairs. Alas! The whole floor was a cozy, rustic, homey library. The complete package of shelves, smell of books, a few chairs and tables and a number of artsy looking people awaited us. These people, I suppose, were the owners and staff of the library. They welcomed us with a smile and offered us a place to settle down (heavy-looking furnished oak-type low benches and table with a silver mat on top). Coffee was brewing somewhere, old books screamed "browse me!", the slight sound of vehicles outside and low voices of people chatting- elements that confirmed to me, this place is perfect, this place I don't want to leave.
So, as if we have been here many times before, I immediately felt at home, run my fingers on book spines, took some books, browsed and gazed blankly with amazement at the place. The place looked humble, complemented by the old wooden floor, old shelves, old books, everything old, everything musty and vintage, except for the people. The staff looked young, and I suppose we looked young too, plus another set of young-looking visitors. We stayed for an hour or 2, mostly going through the nostalgic Childcraft books and the Baguio history coffee table book that Ging laid on the table. We had a 5-peso hot chocolate from the vendo, and a 15-peso cup of brewed coffee. The most senior guy apologized that they have not much to offer, as the library is newly-opened and they are about to purchase a refrigerator, so they can accomodate more refreshments to visitors. The place is open at 9 am to 5:30 pm.
Kalapaw Taste of Laoag restaurant, located near the Victory Liner station, has been consistent- has been consistent on their below-standard buffet menu. They are only consistent on one delicious dish - the safe one, the Bagnet. The first time we tried their dinner buffet, it was already almost 8pm, so there was not much left, and my taste buds were not functioning then, so I just got whatever was still fresh looking, but based on my visual judgement, every dish looked like it was cooked a day ago. The meat looked dry, the veggies look wilted, and the fish looked massacred. The only perky looking dish was the bagnet. The buffet dinner costs Php300, which includes drinks, of which is either water or iced tea. I forced myself to eat, I took mostly the remaining arosep (lato), and paksiw na puso ng saging. Thinking we were quite late for dinner- therefore we made up an excuse for the left-over-looking food. Now, this second time around, we went to Kalapaw at around 6:15 pm, but but but...the line-up looked worse, well except for the Bagnet. There was na lato, the same meat, veggies and fish looked stale and lifeless, rice was looking rock-solid, and worst, they could not offer other desserts, except for the halo halo ingredients of gulaman and black beans that looked like children played with it. We were tired and we were hungry, so despite feelings of angst and hesitations, and because I don't want to spoil Ging's mood, we had our dinner there. I had a bowl of sinanglao, a serving of paksiw na puso ng saging, 3 small Paksiw fish, about 5 chopped pieces of Bagnet, a patch of Pinakbet of which I mostly took okra and sitaw, and 2 spoonfuls of rice. Basically, that's what I ate- for the price of Php300. I'm not a picky eater, but if you might get opinions of food bloggers, this place belongs to the top 10 worst buffet offerings. Surprisingly, a lot of locals go to the place, maybe because they were after the bagnet, or maybe because out of habit.
DAY 3:
We had breakfast at the hotel, the usual longganisa and daing na bangus silog.
Our ticket back to Manila is scheduled at 11:30 pm, so we had the whole day to frolic and just go where our feet take us.
And that was literally what we did. We walked from Session Road to Camp John Hay. No rushing, no mood swings, just walk and talk. For lunch, we had bulalo and pinakbet at Mamita's Bulalo, located near
50's Diner. The bulalo was good, the serving was just right. Then, we proceeded with our afternoon walk. There was a part on our walking route, along Loakan, where people might have wondered why were we walking on awkward places. We even saw Diane Castillejo riding on a Chevy SUV. She seemed like she wanted to ask us for directions, but immediately sensed we were not from there, so they took off. Along we trotted. Didn't care, didn't stare, we even stopped to take pictures of weeds and pine tree barks, and pointed at old houses that looked haunted. Finally, we reached CJH and had mocha frappucino at a famous and overrated coffee shop. There was a downpour, so we waited for it to stop a bit, and we hailed a cab going to SM. Ging was looking forward for his online fantasy basketball drafting at 9 pm, so we had a lot of time to chill and just talk (because we had no internet signal). We went carbo-overloading at Sbarro, and when it was almost time for Ging to go online, we walked straight back to our hotel in Session Road. By the way, that weekend was the worst Globe internet connection ever. The hotel had their own PLDT wifi connection, but it was fluctuating, so Ging was in a sour mood that evening. Anyway, we ended our last day with a strawberry smoothie at Beans Talk cafe, and I had a terrible stomachache afterwards. Two reasons - maybe I had hyper-acidity and the coldness of the drink made my stomach flip.
Over-all, the trip was good. It was the first time that we didn't go to the city market. It was also the first time that we didn't buy pasalubong. All is well. God is good.
