It has been ages since I last wrote here. I've been thinking about putting all my life adventures on my blog lately so I don't have to keep them on my phone forever. 😂 I almost used up all my phone storage so I forcedly decided to delete a bunch of pictures and videos. I am quite a sentimental person and I feel like videos and pictures are necessary to keep them as memories. I am also too lazy to post them on my social media because I have to edit the pictures and videos first. That's a lot of time to do and I really don't have massive energy to do it casually. 🙅 

Last 14th of December, we went to Atok, Benguet to celebrate my husband's birthday. We decided to stay here for one night so we could have all the day to ourselves without overdoing the trip. We just opted to visit the Northern Blossom Flower Garden, and that was it. We were thinking of visiting two other places but we realized they all had the same ambiance and we would have to go on another trip going back and forth. You know? We already spent 8 hours of travel from the night of Wednesday the 13th straight from work. Wew!

And with everything to keep in mind, the Northern Blossom would still be the best view and location of all based on our research online. So we just made it easy and simple from there.

So before anything else, let's do the pictures first! 📸 Regardless of your phone, everything you capture here will be beautiful, amazing, and surreal! 

 

 

It has been more than a year since I last visited Baguio and due to this pandemic, we had more travel bans than travel plans.

Baguio will always be the first choice for me and I wouldn't mind going back there a hundred times. I am not an adventurous type of traveler, so I prefer not going and staying in a tourist spot as much as possible. I understand that it will not always be the case especially if it's your first time here. But I am at this point where I am more interested in experiencing the local living than traveling.

 Why is that? Well, the reasons are multi-fold, but I have three things that keep me coming back to Baguio, so here you go...

1.  Good Food

 

Every traveler knows Baguio for producing fresh vegetables, fruits, and coffee beans. On top of that, it also brags its local restaurants which offer a wide selection of good dishes. They have the famous Strawberry Shortcake of Vizcos, combo meals of Good Taste, and a healthy menu of Oh My Gulay! You name it, they have everything you crave for. 

2. Majestic View and Scenery

Describing Baguio as a beautiful place is an understatement. Wherever you go, you are always surrounded by breath-taking highlands.

My Mom Enjoying Mines View

Our not-so-usual skyline view outside

Mountain Breeze at Arca's Yard

3. Cheap Finds

Some places offer a good and convenient experience but it always comes with a great price. Baguio is on a different point - you can have a full-out vacation here without breaking the bank. And additionally, no one leaves Baguio without a whole heap of pasalubong.

The place where you can buy the cheapest vegetables - Strawberry Farm

3 kilos of broccoli is sold here for Php 100 only

The only time and place you'll see strawberries are less than Php 100

My desire to fulfill my coffee adventure is kind of indomitable despite the limited time that I have when I unintentionally see a coffee shop along my way. It was on a fine Tuesday that I was tasked to go on a field work in Manila, that I had to stop by two universities around U-belt. I just had few hours to accomplish my job on that day, and I just realized that I was holding back my hunger for quite long which was a bad idea at all. First things first of course. I had a couple of things on my hand that must be done quickly. I was nearly completing my errands when I saw Amo Yamie Crib situated few walk steps away from my assigned workplace. That of course strengthened my hunger more and all that I thought was to finally get everything done - congratulations to me because I did!

Red Velvet Frappuccino P139

☼ Northern Blossom
☼ Camp John Hay
☼ Botanical Garden
☼ Colorful Houses
☼ Bell Church
☼ Strawberry Farm
☼ Burnham Park
☼ Kamiseta Hotel

And with our itinerary, we successfully completed everything on the list but almost didn't follow the time allotted and it's all just fine. For day tours, I actually recommend booking with a trusted travel agency if you want to save your time and money. Going to Baguio alone would cost you a back-and-forth fare of almost  Php 1000 already, and if you're planning to go to other places outside of Baguio, it would cost you more - plus it is obviously a much longer trip. And that explains why. Just in case, you may want to refer to our itinerary for your next travel, I am sharing it here now:

🕛22:00 - ETD Jollibee Bluebay Walk
🕛4:00 - ETA Baguio
🕛6:00 - ETA Northern blossom
🕛7:30-8:30 - Breakfast & ETD
🕛11:00 - Lunch at Botanical Garden
🕛12:00 - 16:00:
      -Kamiseta Hotel
      -Camp John Hay
      -Colorful Houses
      -Bell Church
      -Strawberry Farm
      -Burnham Park
🕛23:00 -  ETA MANILA

NORTHERN BLOSSOM - ATOK, BENGUET

The most scenic view in this tour is the garden of cabbage roses. It is undeniably wonderful and it will really take your breath away! If there is less fog in the area, you'll be able to see the famous Mt. Pulag. Unfortunately, and fortunately, there was a blanket of fog when we went there but we still enjoyed the experience of going up and down in each spot.


BOTANICAL GARDEN - BAGUIO
We happened to visit Botanical Garden for the second time around and we had enough of flower sceneries from Atok already, so we didn't really take another tour of it again. Instead, we took our lunch in one of the restaurants inside and chose the best spot for our dine-in. The name of the restaurant is The Garden Diner. It's easy as breathing to look for it - it's nearly situated at the entrance, the very first one on the left.

I ordered Chicken Sisig and it was so goooood!

KAMISETA HOTEL



This place is perfect for eating and relaxing, of course sleeping (after all it's a hotel). It has a French-inspired aesthetics with a great touch of vintage concept. It's quite secluded and quiet except it gets thronged by visitors during peak seasons. Everything here is Instagram-worthy. Aside from photo opportunities, Kamiseta Hotel also offers a lunch buffet for PHP 358/head. Sadly, we were already full when we went there, and what is sure for us is that we'll give it a try on our next time :)



COLORFUL HOUSES AND BELL CHURCH

After Kamiseta Hotel, we actually went to Camp John Hay. It is a place where pine trees flourish and manor houses are situated. I also know that there are nice spots to wander around and activities to do, however, we were just there for a short time - like we just used the comfort room and window-shopped in their retail stores. Exactly after 30 minutes, we left for Benguet's Colorful Houses.


This place is good for photo opportunities, but for anything aesthetics per se, it is not. So do not expect a lot when you go here - at least let's appreciate its uniqueness among the typical houses.

After taking a few shots, we headed to the Bell Church. I used to know about Baguio only when I was a little girl, but Benguet is truly a huge place for tourist spots also - so I was really surprised!



I am always amazed by the topography of northern provinces in the Philippines however, I couldn't deny the environmental problem upfront me. I closed my eyes and gave a distant hug because I couldn't look at the baldness of this high land for long.

STRAWBERRY FARM



Going to the Strawberry Farm made me extra excited not because I would be picking strawberries but because I would be hoarding broccoli! Okay to be exact, I was extremely looking forward to these things when we arrived here: 1.) Broccoli 2.) Strawberries 3.) Strawberry Ice Cream 4.) Other vegetables that are far expensive in supermarkets!!!


Of course, what is Strawberry Farm without strawberries? No doubt, it's fresh, it's good, it's sweet and cheap - the price tag says it all.