baguio and back again

We were back in Baguio City on June 7th for an overnight trip, and while walking down Shuntug Road I told J, “People are probably less cranky here.”

It had been so painfully humid in Metro Manila the past few weeks that I think it contributed to my hotheadedness. Baguio’s chill breeze was a welcome respite.

It was J’s birthday weekend, and Casa Vallejo had slashed its room prizes by nearly half. I booked the tickets and a Standard Room in May.

To get to Victory Liner, we got on a taxi with a strange driver. He drove slowly, took turns slowly. At the end he drove past the bus station, and I was too pissed and scared to tell him to make a U-turn so we just got off. The tricycle we took to the station broke its chain. Don’t you love us Baguio? Don’t you want us back?

Finally we got on the bus. It was my first time to ride their First-Class bus and the aircon froze my kneecaps off.

We arrived safely, though, and thank goodness.

We were too early for Cafe by the Ruins, so we waited at a nearby McDonald’s until 7 AM.

It was my first time to have breakfast at Ruins. We both ordered their newest Ruins Longganisa, homemade and delicious. A bit pricey at PhP300+ but portions were generous.

We dropped by Casa Vallejo to leave our bags and walked down Session Road.

It was our first time to try Strawberry Taho. We saw it on sale outside the church.

BenCab Museum. J had fun watching the ducks.

Back to Session Road. Pizza Volante.

We tried the newest item on the menu, Po Boy.

This pizza proved to be too large for the two of us. We took half of it to the hotel, and hours later it was still soft and yummy. Amazing.

The room at Casa Vallejo was quite small, but that’s fine by us.

We napped for a bit and went down to Hill Station Restaurant for dinner.

I was only able to take a photo of our dessert, but we highly recommend their Seafood Carbonara, Hill Station Green Garden Salad, Cambodian Coriander and Garlic Chicken, and this dessert!

Off to sleep with our bellies full.

Breakfast view.

The next day, we had lunch at Solibao Restaurant. Had their Bagnet Kare-Kare and Lumpiang Sariwa.

And Strawberry Shortcake at Vizco’s — of course! :)

What we miss now that we’re back in humid Manila: cheap, really good food, homegrown restaurants, not-sad salads, the cool weather.

We’ll be back for sure.