Holiday Crowds and Congestion in Baguio

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So unfortunately our white sands beach experience was dampened (pun?) by the weather. At least we got some good beach (and surf) time in San Juan, so we were ok. It was pretty restful time in Pagudpud for us.

We caught a tricycle back to town and took the bus to Laoag. We left fairly early, but it was a long slow bus ride and the exhaust filled the bus with diesel fumes. So that was not great.

In Laoag, we stopped for some food at the Jollibee, and I left Vanessa with our bags while I went to grab some water and snacks for the bus trip. The supermarket had a travelator (moving sidewalk) at the entrance, so that was exciting for me...

Then we took another tricycle back from the town square to the bus station on the edge of town to catch the bus to Baguio.

The bus was showing The Fast and the Furious movies and Tokyo Drift. I think these movies were the inspiration for our bus driver who was driving very fast and passed cars all the time whenever he could.

By the time we got to Baguio, I had to pee so bad I didn't think I was going to make it. I got off the bus at a McDonalds to use the bathroom.

It was after dark, and once we got oriented we went looking for a hotel or guesthouse to stay in. We checked all the places in the area listed in Lonely Planet, and a few other, but it was Saturday night and everything was full. We eventually found a really crappy room in Hotel Ola. I think it might be a janitors closet six days a week. I'm only half joking.

We went out to drown our sorrows in pizza, and ate at a New York style pizza place.

We got up and went straight to another guesthouse. Now that it was Sunday, we figured we'd have better luck, and with the daylight we could venture further away from the middle of town. We were right, and the guesthouse we went to had some space opening up that evening, so we stored our bags and went to see the town.

We had breakfast across the street at a delicious vegetarian food place, and then headed to the BenCab museum by jeepney. We had tried hailing a taxi to get to the jeepney stop, but they were all full, so we had to walk back to the town centre.

The BenCab museum was pretty good, and it was part museum, part art gallery named after Filipino artist Benito Cabrera. It was in a beautiful building set in a valley. It was really nice.

We took a jeepney back to the town centre, and then took a taxi to a viewpoint marked on the Lonely Planet map, but it didn't exist as it turns out. Which was kind of frustrating because traffic was like gridlock getting there. It was in a big park though, so we went for a nice walk to the botanical gardens... which was also a disappointment.

Defeated, we walked back to the centre to the SM mall. We went up to top floor terrace and the view was great there. We got some popcorn for a snack and enjoyed the sunset. Too bad it had to be in a mall...

After dark, I got a bit disoriented and was heading the wrong way away from the guesthouse. By the time I figured it out, we'd walked pretty far, so we just grabbed a taxi.

The vegetarian restaurant was closed for dinner, so we went to a nearby pizza place for dinner, and it was alright. Back at the guesthouse we discovered that we'd just missed Vanessa's sister in-law's family be half an hour. Bummer! They're from Baguio and we had exchanged a couple of emails trying to make arrangements to meet up, but we aren't travelling with a phone so that made things difficult.

We tried to use Skype to get a hold of them, but couldn't get through. Defeated once again, we went to bed.

All in all, Baguio let us down. It's a beautiful setting, and the houses and buildings roll along the mountain ridges. But it's obscenely crowded for a city of its size. And we just seemed to be a little bit out of rhythm with the place, having trouble hailing taxis, going to viewpoints that didn't exist, and missing Vanessa's in-laws family by half an hour. Sigh.

Well, let's just get out of here and (more) into the mountains!

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Photos

This One's Rice Flavoured
I had no idea there were this many kinds of white rice.

Super Vivid Mode
Is this cheating?