The first day of the trip was fun and super tiring! And when night time came, the temperature had dropped lower making it super cold in Baguio! So not a fan of cold weather! I wished for a moment that I had a certain someone’s strong arms wrapped around me as he pulls me close to his body so I won’t feel so cold but safe and warm. Ay but nauna na nga pala sya magBaguio! Ha! Ha! 

I had to make do with my black parka jacket and the fleece blanket provided by the owner of the transient house we stayed in at to get me through the night. So I made it through the first day of the tour and after getting some much needed rest, I woke up with enough energy for another round of tours and picture taking and patience to deal with the rest of our tour mates. 

First stop: Teachers Camp

Another place in Baguio that I heard is also haunted. It used to be a training camp for American teachers in 1908. I don’t know why it’s haunted but according to stories, guests staying in the place would often hear a lady crying in one of the cottages; footsteps walking along the hallway and some say there’s a headless priest and a white lady haunting the place. 
  
It doesn’t look haunted honestly. In fact, the place is so picture worthy! But again, perhaps it is a different story when night time comes around. 

Okay so for the second day of our trip, I wore: a For Me top over my black Bershka parka paired with my Uniqlo culottes. As for my shoes, well I only brought one pair which is the Skechers Go Walk. Luckily, the shoes lives up to its claim of being comfy.

Second stop: Botanical Garden


Third stop: Wright Park


 




Fourth Stop: The Mansion


This is just right across Wright Park. Since I don’t recall visiting the place before, I asked Hazel to go – this was after returning to our tour van and finding out yet again that we were the first ones to get there and the rest of the folks were still milling around. I thought we’d make them wait naman this time around even if only for a few minutes since we’ve been doing the waiting all day the first day!


So The Mansion is the official summer palace of the President of the Philippines. I think this is kind of like the Camp David version of US.

This ube taho is lurrrrrve! While I liked the taste of strawberry taho, this ube flavored one delighted my sweet tooth more. This was also my first time to try ube. I didn’t want to try it out initially because I’m not a fan of ube but the night before at Christmas Village, I had to because I was super hungry already and we hadn’t had dinner. There was an abundance of taho vendors in the area and so hot taho on a cold night plus hunger pangs resulted in me eating this ube flavored one.

I found another taho vendor selling it around The Mansion House area and I was hungry again so I helped myself to this before we finally made our way back to the van.

Fifth Stop: Camp John Hay


So actually the fifth stop was at Mines View Park. I’ve been there before as well so when Hazel said she wasn’t going to explore the place and was staying in the van, I chose to stay as well. We were supposed to also have lunch in the area according to the schedule but the place was packed with tourists! So Hazel and I agreed we’d have lunch when we got to Camp John Hay instead.

We ate at Mile Hi Diner. It’s kind of this cute retro themed restaurant from the 1950’s.

 
 

It even has a jukebox! Though it’s just a display. It would’ve been pretty cool if it could still play music. Oh well. The food was okay. Nothing special.

I’ve stayed in the Mile Hi hotel in Camp John Hay when I was still working for an events company. I remember that because my workmates claimed the place is haunted. One of my work colleagues even had a nightmare. I did remember hearing someone crying from the outside but like I said non believer so I chucked it off to another hotel guest staring out the window crying loudly. But they were all like it’s a spirit because the view outside of our hotel room were just trees and no ground to stand or sit on so it was impossible for someone to be crying outside. I also recall hearing footsteps in our ceiling. The upstairs of the hotel were mostly outlet stores but it was the middle of the night by then so the stores were closed. Still I thought well could just be someone doing inventory.

Last stop: Philippine Military Academy

So finally we had just one more stop before we were set to go back to Manila! I also remember staying around the area of PMA when I was a kid. I think someone from my family had a friend there so that’s where we stayed. It was raining non stop that time and so it was really cold. Safe to say I did not have good memories of PMA after that!

But a second visit to the place years later changed that. PMA’s actually a beautiful and so peaceful. Everyone else were taking photos around the tanks displayed but who cares about war vehicles when there’s this beautiful scenery?

So that’s my Baguio weekend adventure. Question now: Would I do it again? Absolutely! I’d go back to Baguio again BUT not on a tour! Never gonna do one of those group tours ever again. I said that about my Ilocos adventure as well but I just had to give it one more try.

What did I learn from this trip?

1) I am not a public group tour person. Nope! Uh-uh! The most exhausting part of the trip was not the number of places we visited. It was having to do tourist-y stuff shortly after arriving in Baguio. No taking a quick shower. No washing up or brushing your teeth. I prefer we arrive and settle in our hotel first. Get cleaned up. Rest a little bit. Then let’s go! Go! Go!

2) I have no casual clothes. I realized this when I was planning what to wear for my trip. I thought I should wear jeans but then my two pairs sadly no longer fits me well. It’s not because I gained weight ha! Actually quite the opposite. I’ve lost a good amount of weight and both jeans are now loose fitting. I also don’t have a lot of casual tops or shoes! My closet is brimming with work clothes and gym clothes. I have a lot of heels and a couple of slippers. Thankfully I remembered that Ryan gave me Skechers Go Walk as a Christmas gift before so I had something to wear.

3) I enjoyed having Hazel and Gab as travel buddies. I have to say I greatly appreciated Hazel’s patience with me as I made her my photographer and sometimes had her and Gab holding my bag and jacket so I can pose for a photo. Ha! Ha!

Also I like that Gab was such a trooper! No tantrums. No complaints.

And so that wraps up my Baguio weekend adventure. Next stop: Iloilo 2018!