Seventh Heaven
Imagine the heavens reaching out its hands in its unreserved ways as every ray of sun touched our faces. We were underneath serene blue and ash skies in the earliest of mornings and felt nothing but unruffled happiness. And with every breath we took, the cool breeze made a tangible path over the beautiful sunrise and across the mountain ranges that lay emphasis on its spectacular, lush greens. It was as if we were living inside in a Monet landscape.
So we took all the time in the world and made sure every bit of the curves, lines and pictographic sketches were etched in our memories and will be forever there. This is just one among the many rewards we get for wandering and discovering things, places or customs, new and old. It is very exhilarating to experience things first hand. Memories like these are unparalleled and meant so much to us that it made us feel like as if we were in seventh heaven.Zigzag
They say perfect moments are hard to come by these days, especially amidst the hustle and bustle in every street corner of the capital cities. Work, life and everything else are more of fast food value meals, 24 hour convenience stores and handy free deliveries. This is when taking time off and running away to a verdant & brighter environment tops our charts.
Off we go! Even if it meant going on a seven hour bus ride through a long and winding yet infamous zig and zag of a road. Our seventh heaven definitely did not just opportunely fall from the skies nor was it instantaneous. Here’s our fair share of sorts and look into our frenzied yet electrifying wee hours earlier.
Ticket to Ride
Our adventure started when the tires began rolling on toward its destination. Next stop, summer capital! No reservations, no place to stay, no nothing. We went to the station, got tickets and joined the band wagon. Seat 37 & 38, we looked on and on until greeted by a stretch of cushion at the back of the bus, the far end of the bus. We didn’t really care, we had our biggest smiles on as we made ourselves comfortable, after all we had ways to go and countless adventures ahead.As the hours dragged on and still inside a bus full of strangers and nothing but road forward, our eyes drooped unwillingly. Sleep finally caught up but we were awakened by loud honking while the bus found its way to the zigzag and seemingly never ending path of dark highway and cliffs. It gave our hearts a bit of a jump frankly until finally we had a glimpse of civilization – Our Baguio City!
Broken Compass
We’ve been here years ago and great memories came rushing through our young and energized minds as our feet touched the ground. And as we breathed in the seemingly extra fresh and breezy air it instantly reminded us why we always came back for more. We simply loved the atmosphere, we loved how everything seemed composed and above all we loved being on foot when going from one spot to another.
We had no doubt in our mind, we just started walking and made our way to the quiet streets. This from time to time stirred by loud music and chatter as we passed by clubs and cafes in the wee hours to daybreak. The wind did not grow stronger but instead grew thicker and colder giving that icy, pins and needles kind of sting to our finger tips. And could we forget how our faces seemingly numbed to the brain?
It was all in good fun and adventure so we kept on walking up the road and down, through streets, behind alleys and on and on but no sign of the hotel. Quite the sight we were with our red back packs on, comfortable sneakers and a box of my mom’s homemade blueberry cheese cake. We talked and walked on and as our conversations kept us warm and eager, the chilling January breeze kept reminding us of the blunt and usual weather in the city of pines.
Temperature was way below we could shake off, so after taking pride of having photographic memory and keeping faith in our geographical instinct, we finally laughed to our hearts content while gasping for breath as we realized our memory wasn’t as photographic as we had thought it to be. Photographs were more of a blur than anything which validated one true thing -- both you and I are but a broken compass.
Good Inn Hunting
We retraced our steps and hailed a cab as soon as one came along by the side of the road. We quickly hopped in and got the cabbie drop us off Hotel 45 in Session road. The silence was almost deafening as we stepped off, we moved across the street to where the hotel was. And just our luck, no rooms were available to rest our adrenaline pumped yet tired bodies and aching feet. We quickly moved on and started walking again to look for another place to crash.
We decided to check out the Prime hotel just around the corner of Session road but the price just wasn’t reasonable for us. And quite a good thing really as we eventually found out creepy stories about the hotel from one of our unexpected meet with Jesse’s old friends, but this part of our story we can skip and save for later.
Here we are still walking along the quiet streets, our hotel hunt continued on until we found a little place by Magsaysay Street that went by the name J3 Lodge. The lodge’s entrance wasn’t much, it was more of a garage feel to it when we stepped in the driveway. The lodge just so happen to have available room thank goodness, but then it only had common bath. With adrenaline and exhaustion coming all at the same time, we decided to take it and most definitely transfer to a better room in the morning.
At last our feet can take its much deserved rest from our street slopes & back alley circuit trek in the earliest of mornings. And the best part of it is, spending time slash misadventures with my dearest! A little something we have been looking forward to but haven’t quite gone around settling. Alas! There we were red back packs and all, ready for a breather and a nap before hitting the busy and breezy streets of our little big Baguio.
Downhill & Hours Later…
We found ourselves in quite a feat yet again, moving slowly and on foot along the downhill communities nearby Mines View Park. I must say this was becoming a usual trend in this particular expedition and leaves very little room for muscle cramps, sweating & that inevitable feeling of tiredness. The spectacular slopes of a road coupled with the chilling breeze compensate for any creeping sense of exhaustion.
Feast of Sorts
We can almost smell the deliciously brewed Sagada coffee with scrambled egg & Hannah sausage. Not to mention Pizza Volante’s Pizza Special plus the Longganisa with garlic rice to get our appetites going. Like most of our travels, we savor on and embrace our gastronomic experiences. So, after each of our long walks and our interesting conversations, we look forward to ending up sharing a nice warm meal somewhere.Breakfast at Pizza Volante
After looking around Mines View Park we rested our soles over a unique selection of strawberry glazed pizza at Pizza Volante by Session road coupled with a warm cup of brewed coffee for breakfast. We assumed it was coffee beans native to the land making it even more fun. We were overly excited to eat where the locals ate and hung out – blending in.Roadside Luncheon
Come lunch time we found ourselves seated in a cozy little Carinderia by the side of the road just beside the Hillstation place which is a bed and breakfast slash book shop. What really drawn our attention to this cozy spot is its relentless and very much enticing aroma of their beef Bulalo. We couldn’t be happier than the moment we took our first spoonful of beef dipped in a mix of chili, kalamansi and fish sauce together with its broth hiding beneath well cooked white rice. Try it sometime, its heaven for any grumbling belly longing for an amazing gastronomic collision.
Dinner at Ming’s
After yet another walkathon adventure while having the privilege to enjoy Baguio City’s scenic spots, our beastly bellies grumbled on, impatiently begging to be fed. Underneath the night sky we treaded lightly through busy road and through a quiet side street and finally found what we’ve been looking for – Dinner! Jess likes to read about tons of different stuff and places. He read about Ming’s in a blog, so we came to see if it’s any good and good thing we did!
We had General Tao’s chicken, steak with sidings of mashed potatoes and veggies then a couple of refreshments. Cool, cool breeze met our faces as we ate our dinner. We picked an outdoor table and thought of getting some peace and quiet from the busy restaurant scene or from the endless chatter of the growing crowd inside. And to our surprise, some of Jess’s workmates were in the corner table near ours – small world ain’t it? It was a delightful meet and greet, nice to see some familiar faces in a region foreign to us.
Home Bound
Following our adventure filled trek and tour inside our little big Baguio City, we went to the local market place. After all, what’s a trip without everybody’s favorite – pasalubong! We headed out pretty much by break of dawn to scour the local palengke scene for some strawberries, goodies, foodies and fresh veggies. By the time we were done with our shopping spree we were all smiles, we had more than we can carry and still had spare cash!
So before we started heading over to the bus station for our trip back home, we felt an aching bite of hunger so, we stopped by and had breakfast in a local panciteria. The place wasn’t fancy at all, but man their lomi topped with local farm fresh veggies was the best we ever had! Then throw in some local coffee brew & a huge steamed siopao. It made our bellies happy and placed our home bound adventure surprisingly fun-filled. We left for the bus at about 10 in the morning and we never bothered to have our goodbyes, wink, wink! Until our next visit, you have a huge place in our young hearts – Our Little Baguio City!
