A "loaded" Sightseing at Burnham Park

Loaded with our bags already, we can’t help not visiting this famous Burnham Park before heading back to Manila. It’s a shame if we will not visit this anyway as the park is in the City center and in fact just few kilometers away from the transient house we stayed.

And so, with heavy luggage on our backs and shoulders, we explored the Park. It was under renovation then but still there are a lot of tourists.

Burnham Park has man-made lagoon with a range of water boat ride option. Bike riding and skating is also available in the area. A lot of food stalls can also be found. But since we’re fully loaded then (hahahah), we chose to stroll the area and of course we can’t forget to have photo op. :p

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Posted in: Baguio

What's in in the PMA Grounds?

It’s known to be the school and training venue of the best Filipino men and women aiming for military service, and like many of us, we also would like to witness or at least have a glimpse of what’s in the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) grounds. That’s why on the 2nd day of our exciting Baguio escape, we had PMA tour as our first stop.

Located at Fort Gegorio del Pilar on Loakan Road or at least about 10km from Burnham Park, we headed to PMA few minutes after 8AM. Since it was peak time and on a Monday, our travel time were more than expected, about 45mins to be specific when on normal time and days you can get to the place in 30mins.

The area is very huge and we requested the taxi driver to drop us at the midpoint.
We strolled the area and glad that it’s very clean with properly maintained landscaped.  There are vintage tanks, weapons and helicopters too!

How we wish we could witness drill exhibitions of the cadets, but due to our schedule and time constraints, we didn’t have one..but at least, we had our photo op with the very accommodating cadets.

The PMA grounds are open to the public all year round but it’s said that the best time to visit is during weekends for drill exhibitions and just before lunch time when the cadets would walk to their mesh hall.

P.S. Don’t forget to bring ID when visiting the place as it’s required upon entering the grounds.

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Posted in: Baguio

There's more to "The Mansion"

Coming from the Wright Park and just we were about to cross the street towards The Mansion, we spotted three big tourists buses also heading towards the famous tourist spot. Yeah right, a lot of tourist in this area at the same time would mean no chance of taking good pictures..argh!

And so, without further delay, we literally ran to at least get ahead of them. J And guess what; we managed to get a number of good shots just before they get in the area. Lucky isn’t it?

But hey, what’s really in it about The Mansion that everybody would like to get a sight of it when in Baguio City? Well, it’s the summer residence of the President of the Philippines and also its official residence when in the City. As an official home of the highest leader in the country, I think it’s merely understandable why everyone is just curious about it.
 

But wait, after visiting the place, I just learned that a lot of historical events took place in this area, giving more reasons why indeed one would visit it when in the City of Pines. As to what these events please see picture below.

For security reasons, tourists are only allowed to enter a little past the gate though but enough area to have a picture perfect shoot of the well known spot.

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Posted in: Baguio

Wright Park in Baguio City

After about a 10-minute walk from the Baguio Botanical Garden, this Jollibee riding in a horse signage welcomed us to Wright Park Baguio City.

There are several horses which can be rented for at least 15 minutes and can stroll around the park. Funny how imaginative they could get to make their horses attractive as possible and lure each tourist or visitor to rent it..see, they even dyed one in pink!

Plants for sale could also be found in the park.

After taking some photos and a short stroll around the area, we headed through this stairs to the other side of the park.

We rested for a while after the somewhat long walked and hiked by sitting beside this long ornamental lagoon until we had a sight of “The Mansion”.

We didn’t realize that the other side of the park is actually just in front of The Mansion and we were just a few steps away from it. And yes, needless to say, we stood up immediately and walked towards the famous sight. Please click here for my entry about The Mansion. J

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Posted in: Baguio

Baguio Botanical Garden

I love flowers, who doesn’t by the way? :) And I mean not just flower bouquets but the blooming ones, just like growing in a landscaped garden setting. That’s why I was so excited to visit the Botanical Garden when we had our Baguio tour.

The weather was unpredictable that day that it actually rained an hour before we visited the place. Still with rain showers, we visited the garden and we were welcomed by the natives who were so pushy to draw us to take pictures with them, with their costumes and of course for a fee.

The area was relatively huge but I was disappointed that the garden had only few blooming flowers.

We roamed around the garden and we found some cute structures too.

There’s also a horse where in you can ride for a photo shoot. There were also some stores and souvenir items for sale in the area but I wasn’t able to take photos as I was busy searching for blooming flowers which was ironically a few in this famous garden. *sigh*

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Posted in: Baguio

Lourdes Grotto in Baguio City

Lourdes Grotto is another famous tourist spot in Baguio City, especially among Catholics.

There were vendors in the area if you’d like to buy some candles and flower garlands to pay homage.

The grotto is located uphill so one must climb the 200+ steps to reach the top. Yeah, it’s quite a long hike but who says we can’t stop to catch our breath and took some photos?!

After reaching the top, we had our moment of silence and said our prayers. We also spent some time appreciating the view uphill of the City of Pines.

And yes, we had our photo op with the natives also. Charged is Php5 per person, Php5 per native and Php5 per shot!  And if you’d like to wear head dress like us, it’s another Php5! So, how much we paid with this photo? Just do the math, okay? :D

Just as we were thirsty from the hike, we were delighted that Manong Taho was just downstairs ready with his famous Strawberry taho for only Php15.

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Posted in: Baguio

Tam-awan Village: A glimpse of Native Cordillera Community

It’s unplanned that it would be our first destination in our DIY Baguio tour and it turned out that visiting the Tam-awan Village was indeed a great way to start it. A recreated native village, it showcases native collection of Ifugao and Kalinga huts positioned in a manner like that of a traditional Cordillera Village.

How it started
The Chanon Foundation created this village to let those people who haven’t had the opportunity to explore the native Cordillera region experience how the native community is. They started to recreate this village through reconstructing native Ifugao houses. The indigenous houses were placed like that of a typical Cordillera village.

Ifugao Huts & more

For an entrance of Php50 per adult, we were able to explore the recreated village. There’s a map given on how we should explore the area but we were not able to trek up into the view deck as it has been raining days before our visit, it was so slippery and muddy plus we were all wearing slippers.

Nevertheless, we just enjoyed and walked around the Ifugao huts and wonder how they managed to live in such cute little houses.

Alang Hut

Dukligan Hut

The place is also an artist’s haven. A lot of artworks, such as paintings and sculptures, from Filipino artists are displayed in the Art Gallery and are also for sale.

Bugnay Gallery

There’s also a café in the village if you want to grab some snacks and chill a little.

Cafe

The Verdict
Visiting Tam-awan Village made us appreciate the culture and community of the natives in the region. It was indeed a great way to start our first Baguio exploration. I just hope that this recreated village would be properly maintained to continue its goal in letting us experience the indigenous Cordillera community. I would highly recommend this place to those who are in, in appreciating culture and arts and for those who are not, for them to appreciate it.

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Posted in: Baguio