Visiting Baguio was not really on our itinerary, but since my best friend Sharon cousins visiting Abra would want to stop over Baguio for overnight because her other cousin owns a transient house in Baguio, so we decided to joined them and go to Baguio. The idea coming back here didn't really excite me much, because I'd been here twice. But since it was my best friend first time so I decided to joined her excitement being her tour guide in the city. We leave Abra late in the morning and we reached Baguio 5 hours later, it was late afternoon when we arrived in Baguio and it was gloomy and a little rain pouring outside. Since this time we came with a bunch of people, my best friend and I were kinda hesitant to go on our own plan. After a few hours of resting and there is no plan from the group, me and my best friend decided to go on our own.
Since, she really wanted to try the Strawberry picking in La Trinidad Benguet we head it there first, it was around 4:30 in the afternoon and I am very thankful that I know someone from there. She's a niece of our supplier whom I meet 3 years ago here in Baguio and since then on, we became friends. I hurriedly dialed Kinjud's number hoping to catch her in La Trinidad, and luckily shes still there, she gave me the direction and voila! an hour later we arrived and standing, looking over the green fields with lots of people picking strawberries.
Coming here would usually takes you three kilometers or 30 minutes or less from Baguio City proper. Anyone can go here using any way of public or private transportation. You can hire a taxi from the city proper that would cost you Php 100.00 or more depends on the traffic situation in La Trinidad road.
I am very excited because this is also my first time trying out there famous strawberry picking, because the last time I was here, it was planting season so instead of picking the strawberries, me and my co-worker end up digging the fields and help the local farmer plants the seeds. It was okay and we had fun though, but this time, its the real thing. Nothing beats the experience of getting this beautiful heart shaped berries fresh from the farm.
Since, its the peak season picking a strawberry straight from the field is quite pricey, not like during lean season, one basket would only cost you Php 150.00 but now it was around Php500-600.00 thanked goodness! I'm glad I had a friend from the area who managed to help us bargain and we were able to get it at Php 400.00 not bad right?
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| with my bestfriend Sharon and my friend Kinjud. |
Sharon and I were really happy picking them and eating in between, although we were informed that we should eat them after washing but sorry we can't help it. It was so delicious and sweet.
After filing in our basket with strawberries we head back to Kinjud's vegetable stall in the are, Sharon and I bought some fresh lettuce, broccoli and some pasalubong or present for our love ones back home. My best friend even bought a walis tambo o broom reed, its not because she could find one in Manila, but because walis tambo from Baguio are durable and world class quality, in fact this is one of most popular product that everyone always takes home from Baguio. And of course your strawberry experience won't be complete if you won't try their very own strawberry ice cream. At first Sharon and I thought this is like any other dirty ice cream you could see in the street, but to our surprise this one is an exception. The ice cream is really good. we really loved it, its creamy with little chunks of the actual fruit and its sticky, it wont easily melt, we even played it turning upside down. This ice cream should be in your list if your planning to visit the strawberry farm. Totally worth a taste and you won't be disappointed.
It was around 5:00 pm when Sharon and I leave the farm, my friend Kinjud advice us to take the Bokawkan Road so we can dropped in Tam-awan Village, another tourist attraction in Baguio. I'd been here before, Tam-awan is a 2.5 hectare- mountain-side village that was built to preserve and showcase Cordillera's culture and history. An artists’ colony set amid a charming collection of Ifugao and Kalinga huts. It is the heart of Cordilleran arts and culture uniquely blends indigenous aesthetics and exquisite Cordilleran craftsmanship with an artist’s concept for a village adapting to Baguio setting. I am very excited to tour my bestfriend around the place becasue there are a number of Igorot huts within the village which would allows her to see the traditional homes of the Cordilleran people. But unfortunately we arrived just in time for their closing time.
So we head back home, while on our way to the city we can't help be amazed by the fogs on the road. So we asked our taxi driver if he could pull over and let us have a photo opt with the fogs and he certainly said yes and even took our pictures. If there is one thing I loved about Baguio definitely its the fog. I love this visible mass consisting of cloud water droplets or ice crystals suspended in the air at or near the Earth's surface. I felt like I am one step closer to heaven every time I am surrounded with fogs. It's just amazing.
It was dark when we reached at our transient house. Everyone was asking us where we have been, and we were like; "Oh! we were just in the park" (liar!), we didn't want them to know we've been wandering around the City. After dinner my best friend and I were lying in bed getting bored, while waiting for the rain to stop. It was around 10:00pm when the rain stopped. So we hurriedly went to Wag-wagan night market or locally known as ukay-ukay or thrift stores. Which open at 9:00pm to 3:00am along Harrison Road in Baguio. This is were great deals of signature items, like clothes, shoes and other fashion accessories you will find. These are shipped from overseas in bulk and are sold here at a very cheap prices. Your Baguio Itinerary won't be complete without you coming here or check them out at least. Baguio City is known to be the “Shopping Capital of the North”, the best place to buy secondhand garments. And we would't miss it for the world even if its raining.
On the next day, we were getting ready to head back home, and stroll for a while in Burnham Park. It was so nice walking around at the park, because the flowers are blooming everywhere.
Unfortunately our group findout that we went to Strawberry Farm, so they decided to go there and try the famous strawberry picking. While every bodies busy picking the strawberry, my best friend and I were busy buying "pasalabong" and eating strawberry ice cream.
These has been an amazing week for me. I got to traveled up North which includes attending a wedding in Isabela, road tripping Nueva Ecija and Nueva Vizcaya Baguio Road, Vacation in Abra, beach in La Union and stopping over Baguio touring Strawberry Farm and Sitio La Presa, the famous televesion drama setting of Abs-Cbn Forevermore with my best friend and her family.
