"First Timer in The City of Pines" - Our Baguio Vacation (Day 3-A)

So, how did a 31-year-old first-timer fared in his recent fare to Baguio City?

In contrast to our first day in the City of Pines, we had a whole day of adventure on our second day as we had stops at Mines View Park, Wright Park, The Mansion, and Baguio Botanical Garden to name a few. For Day 3, we will take our visits a little bit farther as we go to a place outside Baguio City and then to a place with a very American-sounding name. 

To check out the second day of our trip, click HERE
And of course, if you wanna track back to the first day of our trip, click HERE

Join me after the jump for our 3rd Day of stay in Baguio City.


Baguio City Vacation:  Day 3-A

If we got up early the day before (Day 2), then we got up much earlier for the start of our third day in the City of Pines. Why? Because this time around, we will be starting our day by venturing out of the comfort of the City of Baguio to a place which has become synonymous with strawberries; The Strawberry Farm in La Trinidad Valley in Benguet.

The place is about 6 kilometers away from Baguio, so that is more or less a 30-minute travel out from the city. You can ride the PUJs from Baguio City to get there, but for this certain part of our trip, we chose to travel with "Sabel" (Kevin's Mitsu Adventure) since obviously, it is the practical and logical choice.

After about half an hour (I guess it was less if there was no traffic jam along the border), we arrived at the famous Strawberry Farm. We arrived there early, but surprisingly, the place is already teeming with people and parked vehicles that we had to park "Sabel" a little bit far away from the farm (A strategic decision, actually). 

The Strawberry Farm: Unfortunately,  no strawberries that day..

Unfortunately, luck was not on our side this time around. When we inquired about the "Strawberry Picking" at the folks there, they told us that there was no available strawberries since all were harvested earlier. Actually, we are really not that out of luck as the locals suggested that if we walk a little further, there is a chance that there are strawberries ready to be picked on the other plantations (albeit, they are a bit far away). In the end, we decided not to take the chance since we may lose precious time if we do that. We just became contented with shopping around for local produce that were available in the market, especially the fresh greens (veggies).

Greenies

We also haggled for some "Strawberry-based" products that will be brought as Pasalubong when we get back to the Metro.

Pick your Poison...eer I mean variant 

The strawberry farms of La Trinidad is probably the best place if you are planning to get products made from strawberries. They have a lot to offer ranging from jams to wine; however, what would be my favorite of them all is the "Strawberry-Flavored Ice Cream."  For the record, I have tasted strawberry ice cream flavors offered by commercial brands, but the ones sold in La Trinidad are "hands down" the BEST ones I’ve ever tasted! - Heaven in a Cone, if I may say. 

Heaven In a Cone! - The Best Strawberry Ice Cream

After we have bought a lot of greens and strawberry products, we then decided to head back to Ina Mansion to drop off our haul from the farm, take a rest, and then continue with the itinerary.

The next stop for us this day is a place situated at arguably, the highest point in Baguio and has a very American-sounding name. I am talking about the John Hay Air Station or more commonly known as Camp John Hay.

The tag "City of Pines" always pertain to Baguio City. Before this trip, me, being a first-timer, have pictured Baguio as an image of...well a lot of Pine Trees. Pine trees that rise above the slopes of the mountains, Pine trees that hide behind the fog early in the morning, and Pine trees that tower above you as you walk under them. However, from Day 1, when we arrived at Baguio City, I realized that the picture in my head was not what it was. Instead of Pine Trees, the ones towering the City skyline is a mall atop a hill and blocks and blocks of apartment, hotels, and inns. Commercialization of the city has somehow turned the rustic atmosphere I pictured into a thing of the past.

Again, we chose to ride taxi cabs for this trip since the good ol' taxi drivers in Baguio know the terrain better and since the way to Camp John Hay is an uphill ride, we better be all passengers rather than one of us will shoulder the load of being the designated driver.

Arriving at Camp John Hay, I was relieved that the place still foster the Baguio atmosphere I have said earlier. It still retained the image of "City of Pines" that I pictured in my head.

Ah..now those are towering Pine Trees

The place was established October 25, 1903 , a lot has changed in its 100 plus-year history. Nope, I will not delve into that history, mind you. The thing is, Camp John Hay is a former rest and recreation station for US Armed Forces in the Philippines. The Camp got its name from John Milton Hay, Pres. Theodore Roosevelt’s Secretary of State at the time. It was one of the places first bombed by the Japanese forces at the start of World War II and was claimed back by the Americans in 1945.  When it was turned over to the Philippine government, the site was converted and transformed into a tourist attraction. The camp has everything that everyone loves about the city — a respite from the toll of the urban living.

My Mom has one particular place that she wants to visit there at the camp. The catch is, she just said that we need to walk our way there, so we just literally "hiked" our way there. Turns out, it is not a "short" hike. The good thing though, is we are able to appreciate the beauty of the site while walking the trails that snake over the hills of the camp - a good exercise, by the way.

Along the hike, we stopped by the entrance of the famous Eco Trail and toyed with the idea of braving the hike along the trail. However, considering the time that will be spent trudging that 3-kilometer endeavor, we just decided that the trail will be something that we can take on for some other time and just continue on with our task at hand - reaching the place my mom really wants to visit at Camp John Hay.

The Entrance to the Eco Trail is guarded by this guy right here

The Entrance to the Butterfly Sanctuary

A Cosplaying Couple having a date at the Hills? You don't see that every day, huh?

It is all "Uphill" in here...LoL

  After some time hiking (mostly uphill), we finally arrived at the place my mom is really eager to visit - The Bell House.

If you noticed, I titled this post as "Day 3-A", right? The reason for that is, as much as I do not want to, I have to split the post of our third day since it is arguably the longest day we had in Baguio City and a lot of stuff has happened that it is really impossible to squeeze it in one post and not make the post a long one, like ala "Telenovela" long.

As I have said, I need to cut this post short, but luckily for us, the second half of this post is just a click away on the link below. Just click on it to read more about our walk around the Bell House and much more.

Just click HERE for the Day 3-B.

Of course, you can read about our first day HERE.
To see how we fared on our second day, click HERE.

Until next time,


Ciao!