It was just supposed to be a day trip to Enchanted Kingdom. But what started as a semi-planned trip to Baguio turned out to be one of the most fun vacation I ever had.
Sarah planned to come to Manila from Bacolod to fix some papers and enjoy a simple five-day vacation. All she requested was that we go with her to Enchanted Kingdom (EK). A month before her arrival, I had the chance to meet OMJ, Cinco and Alexis before OMJ's trip back to Baguio. He suggested that we go to Baguio instead of EK. Since EK is now only open during the weekends, Baguio became the whole itinerary. Cay, who was supposed to come to Manila in August, changed her plans so she can go with us. That made the headcount to 4 girls: Sarah from Bacolod, Cay from Davao, Gerda from Pampanga and Moi from Manila.
Arrival day (July 13th) came and it didnt start as well as expected for Sarah. She had to wait 3 hours at the airport for Marlon, who offered to pick her up. You know, the usual boo boos: carrying 2 bags of napoleones and piaya (which both weighed a ton), wrong terminal pick up, getting lost on the way to Leah's house (ended at San Antonio, Pasig instead of San Antonio, Makati)...that kinda stuff.
I met Sarah for the first time at Araneta Center. Leah was with her but she wasn't going with us to Baguio. Alexis was also there with Jhelyn, so they could at least meet Sarah. Gerda was already at the bus station because she was supposed to buy the tickets in advance. Unfortunately, they weren't selling tickets in advance. She has to wait for over 4 hours for us to arrive at the station. Cay's flight from Davao was a few minutes delayed but eventually got to the station by midnight. We left Manila at 12.30am.
When we got to Baguio, we proceeded to the transient house we reserved. We left our things there, had breakfast then went to make a courtesy call at the head office, where we met the other managers, coached and staff. After freshening up, first stop is Mine's View Park...ooops its raining, change that to SM City Baguio! The unique thing about the mall is that it's kinda open air. No need for a/c because its so damn cold already. I went to the silver shop, Sarah and Ger rode the mechanical bull and we karaoked at Quantum.
We rented a room at a transient house, but we might as well not have done that and just camped at OMJ's place. We practically just used the place as a changing room. On the second day, we were joined by Alexis and Jhelyn. With Coach K, we went to PMA. To go there, we had to pass through the runway of the domestic airport. Would the plane stop if a vehicle was passing through? Back at the city proper, we walked through Burnham Park, went to the ukay-ukay (where you can buy an original Hermes bag for only Php10,000) and then went to the market to buy food stuff for dinner. Two pickpockets targeted Cinco, but fortunately didn't get his phone or wallet.
On the third day, we were finally able to go to Mine's View Park, where I was able to buy my Romana Peanut Brittle. There were no locals (igorots) to have pictures with but there were quite a few St. Bernards and pink-haired horses for photo ops. Passed by The Mansion House to take some wacky pictures. Walked to Wright Park where we saw white horses with pink hair (they too get on with the times). Walked again to The Botanical Gardens, but it was already closed. And just as we started the whole Baguio trip with SM, it was also the last place we went to.
OMJ, Cinco, Dos and Coach K served as our hosts and tour guides. OMJ cooked for us, Cinco showed us around, Coach K brought us to PMA (and we repaid her by making her walk) and Dos gave us souvenir t-shirts. We cannot thank them enough for accommodating us, going out of their way to give us their precious time. We love you guys!
The weather was rainy, we were all freezing. We barely had any sleep, we barely had space to sleep on. The pace was hectic, we were in and out of cabs. There were nine of us and one bathroom. We didn't have enough plates and utensils but we all ate heartily. But nobody seriously complained. Our trip back to Manila was delayed for 18 hours because nobody wanted to go home yet. We were a group of people who mostly have only seen each other for the first time, technically strangers. But by the end of the fourth day, we separated as family.
See you next year, Baguio!
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