"First Timer in The City of Pines" - Our Baguio Vacation (Day 1)

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

If you can still remember, I said (in a couple of my previous blog posts) that I have never yet set foot on the City of Pines through my whole 31 years of existence. However, that streak was broken when we had a vacation in Baguio City for not just one, but THREE full days (4 days, 3 nights is the better way to put it).

This vacation happened last October 24, 2014 - October 27, 2014 with me and my family (wife and kid) together with my Mom, my Lil' Sis and her BF, and a niece of mine. Join me after the jump as I tell how this trip to the Summer Capital of the Philippines turned out for a not-so-young first timer like me.



Baguio City Vacation: Day 1

I am going to be honest. From the get-go - excluding the two kids (my daughter and my niece) -I am the first and foremost wide-eyed wanderer for this trip, so bear with me if I may sound a little bit excited, okay?

For this trip we decided to go in a group rather than going solo because, as we all know, having a trip as a group has its advantages (mainly, to help split the bills, he he he). It is also a good thing that my little sis' BF, Kevin is also coming with us. He is the designated driver for the group because his driving skills are WAAAAAAY advanced compared to my sucky talent behind the wheel.

We have agreed that we will be leaving in the early hours of the morning so that traffic is not heavy yet. Our call time was around 4 a.m. so that we can leave by 5 a.m. Guess what time I was up? Freakin' 1:45 a.m.! Hindi naman excited noh? Oh well, you can't blame the first-timer.

Shortly, just after the sun started to shine, we were off to the much awaited trip. Everyone is in high spirits! Yay! Just a little after we entered NLEX, we had a stopover for some much needed stretching, sunlight, and grub. Then off we go again..

My sister made an itinerary for this trip (See? We are prepared!) and the first on that list is a little detour before we head up to the City of Pines. We paid a visit to a church that was recently granted the title of "Minor Basilica" by the Pope - The Marian Shrine of Our Lady of Manaoag in Pangasinan.

It is a little bit ironic that before we go to a town with cold weather, we preferred to do a stopover in a town where the weather is warm because the weather in Pangasinan that day is a bit hot (for my liking). Anyway, we attended the mass at the shrine and then while we are there, we also did look around. I gotta say, the church does deserve the title of “Minor Basilica."

After that brief stop, we then proceeded with the journey to our destination. We (especially, Kevin) decided that we will be passing the Kennon Road or much popularly known as the Zig-Zag. No one objected though since every first timer in Baguio must experience the “Kennon Road Experience” along the way. Here, Kevin’s driving skills really shows as he effortlessly maneuvered through the twist and turns of the road and I was just a “Happy Passenger” because of that. We did stop by the famous tourist attraction in Kennon Road, The Lion’s Head.

The Famous Lion's Head (Reminds me of Alex from Madagascar)

I always hear good things about the Strawberry-flavored Taho, so we tried some in our stopover since they sell a lot of it here.

Strawberry/Taho Combination - Wala sa Manila nyan!

That Strawberry Taho is really something. In my opinion, it has a unique taste and I liked it, but maybe it is just me (different tongues, different tastes). After that short stop, we decided to continue on with our trip. After some more captivating sights along Kennon Road (that I was not able to photograph because I am caught in awe with those sights), we finally reached our destination, Baguio City.

ProTip: Now, here is a tip if you are planning to go to the City of Pines: Make sure that before you go there, you have secured a place to stay and have a reservation because you do not want to end up wasting precious time just finding a place to stay. Whether you prefer a transient house, an inn, or a hotel, you CONTACT the place and RESERVE early.


Update (02/27/2015) - For the sake of the people who are interested in booking a reservation at Ina Mansion, I have provided the numbers that we contacted to reserve a unit there for our vacation. Keep in mind that the owner of the numbers are not affiliated with Ina Mansion itself, but are owners of units at Ina Mansion that are offering the said units for rent to vacationists like us. The numbers are listed at the end of this post. 

*Update (10/10/2016) - There are some changes to the contact numbers and persons. We had a return trip to Baguio about a few weeks ago and unfortunately, the person we contacted back then in this 2014 adventure decided to sell his Ina Mansion unit. Good thing, he/she provided us another person who still has units in Ina Mansion and so, we are still able to reserve a place to stay at Ina Mansion. The contacts are provided at the end of this post. Please be guided accordingly.

As for us, we had a reservation that was booked weeks prior to the trip so we just went straight to the place and save the hassle of looking and haggling for a room. For this vacation, we stayed at Ina Mansion Condominium.

Okay, some may ask why this place? Well, there a lot of options honestly, but the location of Ina Mansion is the main reason why we chose to stay there. Ina Mansion is situated at Kisad Road and is just behind the Children’s Playground of Burnham Park. Being THAT close to Burnham Park means a lot of popular places in this side of town are just a walking distance away.

Wanna go to Burnham Park, Burnham Lake, Session Road, Baguio Cathedral, Block Market, SM City Baguio, and even the “Night Market” at Harrison Road at night? You can just walk from Ina Mansion to go to these places and being able to do that saves you dough and/or gas. With those advantages, I gotta say that staying at Ina Mansion is a practically sound choice.

After we have settled our things in our room and taking some very needed breather, we then agreed to not waste time and go to the places around the vicinity while the sun is still up. We chose to take a walk around Burnham Park and then head over to SM City Baguio to shop for some supplies.

ProTip: Since there are a lot of establishments here in Baguio where you can buy supplies for your vacation, it is better not to bring too much of those and stock on dough instead. There are far more groceries and convenience stores here than ATM machines, so you do the Math.

We walked around Burnham Park for a bit. Of note is, I chose to wear some light clothing when we headed outside. I was like “initin ako sa Maynila, malamang hindi ako lalamigin sa Baguio!”  However, the thing is, it sure is cold in Baguio that even though the sun is up at around little before 4 p.m., I can really feel the cold breeze. No wonder guys up there wore jackets at that time of day. After some walkathon, we then decided to head up to SM City Baguio since walking really took a toll on our stomachs and we only had a light lunch earlier. The way to SM Baguio is a literal “Uphill Trek”, but Hey! We are up for that challenge.

SM Baguio is just like every other SM malls around the Metro (back in Manila) with only one exception: This mall does not have any air conditioning system in it. Yep, No Aircon! Being situated in what probably is the place with the coolest weather in the country, why would it need one, right? We grabbed a bite to eat at one of the local fastfood chains there. I for one do not like eating outside a restaurant/fastfood chain. You know, those tables set up outside the premises, if you know what I mean? However, this time in Baguio, I made an exception. I insisted that we eat on the tables outside the outlet since it is colder outside than inside the store (Oh man, at this point, I was really LOVING the weather in this city! Can I store it in a bottle and bring it home? LoL!). At around 5 p.m., the cold weather started to pick up and that is when I started to regret that I just wore a shirt, baggy shorts, and slippers. The cool wind just finds it way inside whatever clothes you are wearing and it is like saying “Welcome to Baguio, newbie tourist! Feel my breeze!” Do not get me wrong though, it is what I am here for, so no complaints here. Good thing, I still made sure I was carrying a jacket and it was unlikely of me, but I definitely put that on like my life depended on it.

I like it COLD!

After our early dinner, we then went to the supermarket and stocked up since we will be staying for more than a couple of days here in Baguio City.

We decided not to bring the vehicle, so we had to take a cab back to Ina Mansion. I was surprised that in order to get a cab, you had to fall in line, so we did. Good thing is, the line does move pretty quick since there are a lot of taxi cabs in Baguio City. It is safe to say that cabs here go around the clock, 24/7. After some time waiting, we were able to get a cab, although since we are seven in the group, we needed two cabs.

Photo by Daniel Agostini via Flickr.

ProTip: In Baguio City, the fastest and convenient way of transportation is the taxi cabs. Gas is a bit pricey up North so even if you have your own vehicle, using it to go around will not be that practical. Back to the taxi cabs, they go around the city 24/7, so you will definitely find one when you need one. Like SM Baguio, these cabs are also not air-conditioned and instead are “Air-Cool.” The flag down rate is cheaper compared to its Metro counterpart. One thing to remember though is, these cabs are only allowed by the City Government to have a maximum passenger of five, including the driver. It does not matter if the cab is an AUV (Toyota Avanza, Mitsubishi Adventure, Isuzu Highlander, et al), 5 persons is still the maximum load. Its the rules and the drivers strictly follow it, because the fines are no joke (A driver said to me that fines can go as high 6000 Php, Yikes!). That is why for a group of seven like us, we had to utilize two cabs. Its the rules, man.

It is almost past 8 p.m. when we reached Ina Mansion. Some of us are a bit tired due to the long trip from Manila, especially the kids, so we decided to call it a day. It was quite an interesting first day. The travel, I may say, is really long considering that we arrived at Baguio a little after noon, so we only had half of the day to explore the vicinity. The good thing is, we have a couple more days to go and for those days, we have the whole day to explore, so it sure is going to be a lot more fun.

This ends the first day of our vacation in Baguio, make sure to check back for Day Two.

Let us call it a day with a snap!

Until next time,

Ciao!

*Post After Thoughts and Updates: 

•  The second part of this feature can be viewed by clicking HERE. Be sure to check it out!
• The third part of this feature can be viewed HERE and HERE. Unfortunately, I had to split it up in two parts, but it is still a good read nonetheless.
•  Update 02/27/2015 - The contact numbers of the good people who let us rent one of their owned units at Ina Mansion are as follows: 0907-4478904 (Look for Lawrence) and 0908-9398748 (Look for Lucy)
•  Update 10/10/2016 - As noted above, there is an update. If you want to rent out units at Ina Mansion, contact this person instead: ROC GARCIA (09163978044/09498206838) Don't worry guys, he is as accomodating as the other people I referred here before.