Saturday, February 22, 2014 @ 7:00AM, after ng work (I'm on graveyard shift), derecho na kami sa Victory liner Cubao station for the 6-7 hours trip to Baguio. Sumakay sa MRT from Shaw to Cubao at nakarating ng by appox. 8:30AM. Our reservation was at 9:00 AM, surprisingly ang daming passengers. We are kinda nervous kasi we thought naiwan na kami nung nireserved naming bus at baka ma-treat kami as chance passenger, luckily hindi naman. Ang nakakatuwa pa nun, yung dinatnan namin is para sa pang 6AM trip pa lang, kasi daw delayed and traffic sa may Pangasinan. Anyways, no choice kundi maghintay ng pang 9AM trip. So what we did was, kumain muna ng breakfast then balik sa terminal. Pagkabalik namin, pang 7AM trip na, so konti na lang at malapit na yung 9AM. So wait ulit, untill the 8AM bus came, dun na kmi sumakay since madami pang available seats. To cut the story short, dumating kami sa Baguio ng 4PM.
Baguio City-- Derecho kami agad sa terminal ng Victory to reserved para sa Sunday night trip, unfortunately, pang Tuesday morning na yung available. Ow that's a big problem kasi may trabaho kami ng Monday night. Kukunin na sana namin yung Tuesday trip, pero buti na lang, we asked someone who knew some other terminal buses going to Manila. So dun na lang kami pumunta. Genesis bus and Dagupan Bus--fully booked for their DeLuxe buses. So, failed ulit, at buti na lang ulit nakausap ko yung konduktor na marami pala silang bus, yun yung mga ordinary aircon buses na walang reservation kung hindi pila lang ang kailangan. Oh thanks God! nabunutan kami ng tinik. It's amazing right? I did not expect na may ganun din pala sila doon (dito kasi sa Manila terminal meron din). Problem solved!
Hindi muna kami pumunta sa aming nirentahang room, nag ikot ikot na kami agad sa may SM Baguio. I was not surprised, I'm really expecting a lot of tourists/people along the place. In front of the Mall, there are beautiful flowers displayed and free photo taking booth. Ofcourse, I have photos too, ako pa e adik sa picture! Ayun, hindi namin namamalayan na sobrang gutom na pala kami, pumunta na kami sa loob ng mall, walang aircon--well obviously malamig naman talaga :) at doon kami sa department store dumerecho to buy some stuffs. After that, foodcourt na, kain...kain...kain. Isa lang ang napansin ko sa may tabing table. They ordered 3 plates of Pansit, sa 1 plate good for 2 person, nagulat ako na tig iisang plato pala sila, wow! mashoshock at matatawa ka talaga. Biruin mo yun, tig isa pala nila, akala ko mga nasa 6 sila, apat lang pala. Na curious ako, baka naman kasi masarap kaya ganun. Pumunta ako dun sa pinagbilhan nila called "KAMIMURA", mahal din kaya di na ako bumili--poor!
After malling, pumunta na kami sa Burnham Park @ 7PM, napakadaming tao, which I find it exciting. Masaya ako pag marami akong nakikitang tao, mga namamasyal, ewan ko siguro dahil I'm a loner kaya pag may group of people natutuwa ako. Malaki ang park, kasya ang thousands of people, merong river na pwedeng magbangka pero may bayad na P100 for 30 minutes--sabi ni ate matagal tagal na yun kaya sulit, ikaw din kasi ang magpapatakbo nung bangka, so find it exciting kaso ayaw naman ng kasama ko. Sad pero okay lang kasi may Singing contest naman doon sa kabilang kanto--Baguio Got Talent? Tapos meron din dun sa kabilang kanto, singing competition din. Kapag nakaramdam ka naman ng tawag ng kalikasan, meron ding silang pay comfort room, P5 for IHI, P10 for DUMI. Lahat na lang may bayad. Lumalalim na ang gabi at lalong lumalamig ang kapaligiran, unti unti na rin kaming nkakaramdam ng pagod dahil wala pang pahinga. So we decided to get our room. Since wala naman kaming sasakyan, all mode of tranporatation namin is Taxi. Ang nakakatuwa lang doon is FX yung taxi nila pero mas cheaper than taxi's here in Manila. Magkakalapit lang naman ang mga tourist spots doon so hindi siya kamahalan sa fare.
There is something wrong akong nararamdaman nung papunta na kami, yung feeling na kinakabahan ako kasi feeling ko hindi safe yung room, iniisip ko na bahay siya tas kwarto lang--parang nakikitulog ka lang sa kapitbahay. Lalo pa nung hindi namin mahanap yung place, kung saan saan kami nakarating, parang horror lang, napakatahimik ng lugar, puro puno tapos ang lamig lamig, feeling ko may aswang...that weird feelings na hindi ko maiwasan. And thanks God!We finally found our room at 11PM.
Grabe it's not what I thought of, it's a transient pala, mataas yung building, maganda yung labas, mukha siyang hotel, nasa 2nd floor kami. Concrete lahat, may balcony na makikita mo yung magandang view ng Baguio, meron sa likod at harap, 2 storey siya, sala set, kitchen and 2 rooms sa taas plus malinis na CR with hot shower. I really love the place, yun nga may kamahalan-- P1,200/night. We just stayed for that night because it's not worth it kung mag 2 gabi pa kami eh uuwi naman kami ng Sunday night din.
Sunday-- February 23, 2014 @ 7AM, maaga kaming nagising para mapanood na namin ang finale ng festival, ang float parade. Kahapon kasi hindi na namin nahabol ang Street Dance Parade, so bawi bawi na today. At 8AM, checked out na kami sa bahay at umalis na kami papuntang Session Road kung saan magsisimula ang parade. It is unbelievable that millions of people are there, kahit saan ka dumaan ay siksikan unless dumaan ka sa tamang daanan wherein hindi ganoon kasikip. I salute to the Organizers and the people of Baguio who help and maintain peace and order. Special mention sa mga Pulis na nakakalat along the way, sobrang dami ng tao pero you can see and feel yung security. Unlike here in Manila na sobrang magulo kapag may mga events. The Parade is very organize, there are 11 floats na nakita lang namin pero as we heard on T.V, may 22 floats daw pero we didn't saw the others. The floats are very beautiful, very artistic, it was decorated using the 90% flowers and 10% misc. Ang pinakagusto ko lang is yung theme ay Plants vs Zombies, I love it, I love the way it was decorated and the mixed and matched of colors. Very lovely and entertaining. Ofcourse all of them are beautiful, yung iba ang theme is Egypt, Joliibee, Kalesa and so on. You guys should attend this Festival, hindi kayo magsisisi. Very entertaining and what I love is the crowd, you can see a lot of tourists, be it foreigners or people from Manila, Visayas and Mindanao. Overall, its a must-see Festival.
Same day, after the show, gumala na kami sa mga tourist spot nila, well again, its not my first time so ako yung nag guide sa kasama ko. First stop, Mines View... dito yung may mataas na lugar na kung saan makikita mo yung buong lalawigan, not really the whole of it pero yung view, imagine na your like on a helicopter and you see the view from the top, maraning pine trees or trees, maraming kalat kalat na bahay tapos nakakalula. Isa pang dinadayo dun is yung malaking aso na pwede kang magpapicture pero may bayad nga lang, its like P20/shot. Also they have the Bahag custume that you can wear and take a picture, P15 unlimited shot and also may kabayo din na pwede mong sakyan and take a pic, may bayad din. Marami ding mga paninda doon for pasalubong like t-shirts, key chains and foods. They have lengua, ube jam, basta many to mention and the good thing you can buy them at P100 for 7 pcs. depende sa ml nung size. And ofcourse dun na din kami bumili para di na namin problemahin. Shepherd convent is just like few steps away from Mines view, ito yung convent na nagtitinda ng Ube Jam which is pinakakilala sa Baguio and a producer ng super sarap and newly cooked Ube jam. When we got there, sobrang haba ng pila, so tinamad na lang akong pumila kasi it will take 1 hour and then you only buy 1 can of Ube? Its a waste of time right? So we decided to buy outside na lang and then we left. Next stop, THE MANSION, what we did here was, just took a picture and then thats it! kasi nothing so special naman, pero the good about is nakapagpapicture ka sa pangalawang bahay ng Pangulo ng Pilipinas. Well not so amazing, but what it made sense is, katabi lang nya ang Wright Park. Lakad lakad lang kami sa Park and picture picture, tingin tingin ng view tapos nakakita kami ng Sunflower na malalaki, kinunan ko lang ng picture and honestly ang ganda pala ng malalaking sunflower. After that, bumaba na kmi tapos nakita namin yung rancho, meroon pa lang ganun dun, pero alam ko na yun di lang namin napuntahan dati. This is where you can ridea horse paikot sa oval and you have to pay for it depending the hours you would want. Bad thing is, the amoy is very disgusting so we just left the place. And just a few steps away, the Botanical Garden, well nothing new like the first time I got there, wala pa ring bulaklak na yun ang ineexpect naming makita. Its just a normal plants and flowers pero common sa paligid. ANg innexpect namin is flowers like nakikita sa Dangwa, mga mamahalin na rosas, yung ganun, pero none, umupolang kami sa tabi, parang nagpahinga lang, boring na. hahaha! then we left.
So I think we need to go to terminal because its 8PM already. The earlier the better. When we got there, you can Imagine a group people falling in line to seeJustin Bieber on Dome. Ganun kagrabe ang pila sa terminal, ang daming umuuwi the fact na its 8PM pa lang. Akala namin maaga na kami pero late na pala kami. It took us 2 hours to fall in line bago kami nakasakay. Mapapa Thanks God ka talaga kapag makakasakay ka na sa bus kasi ang nakatayo lang kami sa pila. Pagdating namin sa bus, plakda kami, natulog na agad. 11PM paalis na kami going to Manila. Pero the feeling is great, satisfied and happy. Guys, try to visit Baguio even walang festival, maganda ang lugar, malamig, pang tourist talaga siya. Try this coming Summer. Pano, see you again and planning to come back sa Baguio.
