Solemates in Baguio

This is one epic and random trip to Baguio in October of the previous year.

After work on a Friday night, my friends braved the storm to come see me after my midshift at Quezon City. All tired, soaking wet from the rain, they patiently wait for me to finish work at a café nearby. I remember being nearly broke, thank God that month's worth of salary was placed in my account just before we leave to catch the next bus to Baguio.

Armed with just 5,000 Php for what would later turn out to be a 22-hour stay in the cold city up north, we waited almost an hour (or maybe even two) to get a bus as chance passengers. I know, it's my fault. I knew we should have had tickets reserved ahead of time but the lazy me did not even bother to mention it to my companions. Left with no choice, we fell in line, patiently, tired and sleepy to get a ride to Baguio.

Halfway through the early hours of the morning, around 3 am, we were able to settle in our seats. Four hours later and with the sun rising, we felt the cold breeze of Baguio air. I could live here, I thought to myself.

First in the itinerary was to check in the hotel, freshen up and begin our escapade. From the bus terminal, and with Google Maps in hand, we walked to the hotel which was 15 minutes away. Fortunately, we could check in as early as 7 am. After leaving our baggage, we had a quick breakfast at the hotel to satisfy our famished stomachs. And with that, we were ready to go.

Next stop: back to the terminal. Why ? We planned ahead and decided to buy tickets for the trip back to Manila. It was also where we commissioned a cab to take us to the nearby town to see the famous Ben Cab Museum. While people do speak Filipino and English here, it is handy to know how to speak the local language, Ilocano. Fortunately, my best friend can (I recognize only a few words) ! Even if we did communicate with the locals in the national language (Filipino), there were times my best friend had to intervene in the local language so we can get better deals !

There was a road block so it took us longer than normal to get to the museum. We eventually did and I get to see new installations in some exhibit rooms I previously visited a couple of months ago.

Café Sabel, located at the ground floor of the museum, overlooking the greenery, was the perfect location to have a quick cup of coffee to warm us up a little before we hit the road to our next location.

A 40-minute cab ride back to the city later, we found ourselves in Session Road - the heart of the city of Baguio. The quest was on to find the restaurant we've been meaning to dine in to: Oh My Gulay ! The veggie-restaurant is located in a secluded top floor in a building along Session Road. Food was so good ! We get most of our vegetables from farms up here in the north so you can just imagine how fresh these dishes are ! Plus, eating them in an ambiance like they had up there, it was a perfect experience. And it was just ten in the morning ! We had a full day ahead of us !

On the way downstairs, we saw this book sale on the corner of the building. Bookstores really make my friends and I all giddy ! One can almost always see us in bookstores !

Maybe it was time to digest all the food and drinks we had for the last hours and visit yet another place we really wanted to go to: Mt. Cloud Bookshop.

It was heaven, really. I could really feel like I was on the clouds ! The feeling inside a bookshop is so surreal ! All these stationery, books left and right, up and down !

As if our meals from that morning were not enough, we stopped by the nearby fancy coffee place to grab some snacks, coffee to warm us up again (I did not bring with me a jacket or scarf, silly me) and to plan our next destination.

It was almost five in the afternoon and with the souvenir shops almost closing, we rushed to buy some goods to bring home to friends and family and drop them off at the hotel, where we also took the chance to relieve ourselves and free our stomachs for another meal that was about to be swallowed and taken in.It was settled : dinner at O Mai Khan.

We have not even finished our meal yet we were agreeing on where to eat next ! Most of the time, opening this topic is proposed by me. Guilty!

It was almost ten in the evening yet Baguio remains to be alive, at least the city center. We took a cab to Camp John Hay. There it was too quiet. The eerie silence was spooky. To rub salt on the wound, the driver was talking about ghost stories along the way. Thank you very much. Here, we tried the famous Batirol, a local way of mixing a hot chocolate beverage. It is not our regular smooth drink. Because of the process, it leaves quite some rough residue from the ingredients used. Some like it that way. While it is deliciously sweet, the roughness bothered me as I am not used to this kind of drink. Nevertheless, it was quite an experience ! I've already had a day of experience but it was not bound to end there !

I could sense my best friend was feeling uneasy seeing that barely any cab was passing by. We were just there for half an hour. I suggested we try to grab a cab back to the city center before it gets late. It took a while, but we eventually did. We thought we would call it a night but we decided to catch the night market in the hopes of seeing and buying some great finds.

The night market is a long stretch of vendors along Harrison Road. We ended up not buying anything. There were too many people which made it impossible, at least, for me to stop and take a good look on things.

Just before heading back to the hotel, we had pizza along Session Road. Bad idea. Our stomachs are too full from a day's worth of eating ! That was when we decided (finally!) to call it a day and hit the sack.

Early the next day, we were set to go back to Manila to attend a friend's party. We checked out and walked our way slowly to the bus terminal. We were already settled in our seats and about to leave when suddenly, the man from the hotel reception rode our bus, looking for us. He said he got things mixed up and we should pay extra. We could not believe what was happening. My friends did the arguing and we ended up not paying anything. When the receptionist descended the bus, my friend realized that he handed us the wrong receipt. It turned out, he was after another guest ! My friend went down the bus to catch the receptionist. Mysteriously, he was nowhere to be found in the vicinity. Creepy. It's almost as if he were an apparition ! Spooky.

As we descend back to Manila, we took the opportunity to get more sleep and rest. Soon, we would have to get back on our feet and face our reality.

And that was how we spent 22 hours in Baguio. Food, cab rides, site seeing and spooky encounters.