Baguio-Camp John Hay

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When we go to Tibet we are probably now prepared to climb Mount Everest. With all the trekking, hill climbing, and stairs we’ve climbed in the past week and half we feel we can conquer anything. Not without Kristin complaining the whole way of course.

We are now in a place called Baguio. Baguio is the Philippines summer capital. It is a really pretty city with mountain temperatures.

To start our day off we headed to Camp John Hay. This area was founded as a hill station for the US military in the early 1900’s. Now it’s a tourist destination with shops, food joints, a historical core, adventure parks etc. We grabbed a bite to eat at a place called Brother’s Burger. I gave Tris a lecture on not letting his eyes be bigger than his stomach, but when my Ranchero burger arrived I had to eat my words too. It was HUGE!

Walking around we came across a sign that said Treetops. Excited, we bought the full package for 850 pesos ($20) without really knowing what we were doing. We’ve done some pretty cool zip lining/treetop adventures so we both agreed that we’ve had more fun elsewhere. Regardless though we had a good laugh and it killed some time. The first ‘adventure’ was basically a free fall for a few seconds on a belay rope system. They called this the Tree Drop. We got to do a trek, which was basically a waste of money. Its just a guided walk to each ‘adventure’, but our guide was a good photographer so that was a plus. The second ride was called the superman. You lay like a hang glider and go back and forth on a zip line. It was pretty slow though. The third ‘adventure’ was called the Silver Surfer. We both stood on a plat form thinger and went across a zip line a few times. The last was a relaxing swing ride (like a gondola) back to the beginning.

After the Treetops we went to the Historical Core. We walked through the Negative cemetery… though we didn’t really understand the concept of it. I think it represented burying all the negative comments and being positive? We got to see the house that John Hay and the leaders lived in, as well as the amphitheater.

After the camp we went to SM Mall in hopes to find Tris a pair of jeans. He sent the ones he brought home as he never wore them, and now is wishing he hadn’t. He only has sweatpants. After trying on probably 30 pairs he found a pair that actually fit.

Baguio has the largest ‘ukay ukay’; second hand clothing shops in the Phillipines. Most of it is shipped over from Hong Kong. We looked through a lot of it and tried on some pants but everything was Asian size, ie: Too short for Tristan, and to tight around my thighs to even worry about the waist.

After, we went to Bliss Café and chatted with Jim. He’s an American who has lived in Asia for over 40 years. He told us about Baguio and Tibet. He also convinced us to go to San Juan for 1 day 1 nigh which is a great surf spot. Lex is going to meet us there and we will then head back to Manila.

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