Baguio as Artist's Haven: Day 2 - February 22, 2014

If our first day in Baguio was well-spent in outdoor adventure, sight-seeing and food tripping, our second day was a mixture of appreciating arts and nature. 

Our first stop is at Monduiging's Woodcraft along Asin Road in Tuba,Benguet. We found out how artistic Baguio natives are. Woodcarving has been a business in Asin Road. You will see a lot of different woodcarving stores along the way but Monduiging is the most famous, if woodcarving is your thing. 

We were amazed how these people made different crafts out of wood, big or small. According to the caretaker, who I forgot his name (sorry for that), a small piece of woodcraft is made almost a day. Wow, such amount of time is needed for a decorative small piece. Time, dedication, patience and creativity are needed to create such a magnificent masterpiece. I wish I possess such kind of talent. 

Creating handicraft or such artistic craft is a bankable business which can help you make big in the industry at the same time help people earn a living. 

This is a tissue holder, believe it or not?

Many faces of Bulol, Ifugao Gods

After visiting Monduiging's Woodcraft, we went straight to BenCab's Museum which was owned by a Filipino National Artist, Benedicto Cabrera. As you visit the area, be ready to pay for P100.00 for adults while P80.00 for students and senior citizens as entrance fee. The fee, in my opinion, is worth it, for I believe viewing those paintings and other artworks are noteworthy. 

Enjoying my stay at BenCab Museum

Well, the place was indeed, exceptionally beautiful. The first three floors are dedicated to painting and other artwork exhibition. Meanwhile, the ground floor was a cozy cafe and restaurant known as Cafe Sabel, named after BenCab's favorite art muse, Sabel, whom Ben Cab met at Tondo. She was street grease lady (taong grasa) in Filipino. 

The many faces of Sabel

Across the museum is a beautiful landscape which Ben Cab bought. It was not only appreciating art at its finest but also experiencing the beauty of nature all at the same venue. 

such a relaxing sight to behold

After hours spent in BenCab Museum where we also had our hearty brunch, we continued traversing along Asin Road to check out other sceneries. What captured our attention is the bridgeway where the clean waters from the stream was flowing. We had a short photo shoot there with my high school friends.

Clear waters

the Ladies!

After checking out the places in Asin Road, we went back to the city to buy pasalubongs at Good Shepherd. The rest of the afternoon was well-spent at Mt. Sto. Tomas. We were not able to reach the peak due to fog, but making it almost on top of the mountain, we were privileged to see how beautiful the province of Benguet is. We also experienced the cool breeze of the winds and captured the many, tall, pine trees in area. If we had this first on the list, we might be able to get on top of the mountain and see its magnificent beauty.

With my beautiful and handsome friends! 

Overlooking Marcos Highway, Baguio City

The fog

An afternoon on top of the mountain

The second day in Baguio was tiring yet full of discoveries for we were able to learn the other side of Baguio, being the artist's haven.  

Baguio adventures (Day 1 - February 21, 2014)

Here is the first chronicle of my three-day Baguio Trip with my dear high school friends including their loved ones (who in turn become my friends) last February 21-23, 2014. We were here to witness Flower Festival. Before heading to the grand parade of flowers, we checked out some of the best spots of the city of Pines and experienced adventure together.

Ate breakfast at Chowking Session Road
Although, I have listed some of Baguio's best eats, since its too early in the morning when we arrived at the Summer Capital of the country, we chose to dine in Chowking because, in reality, we were really hungry. :-)

Wright Park
If you think of Baguio, one of the top of the mind spots is Wright Park. It is famous for horseback riding. However, we did not do the horseback riding for we have other plans in mind.

The Mansion
This is the Philippine President's residence in Baguio City. It is where the foremost leader of the country stays whenever he/she visits the City of Pines.

Mines View Park
Another popular place to go to when you are in Baguio is Mines View Park. From the observation deck of the park, you can see the spectacular view of the mountains and the panoramic view of Benguet's gold and copper mines. Apart from the mountain view, you get to see Coco, a St. Bernard. Take note also of the different stalls of pasalubongs that will welcome you as you enter the vicinity.

with Coco

from the view deck

Friends!

solo moment

with my best bud in HS, Michelle

Camp John Hay's Tree Top Adventure
At last, I was able to do my adventure at Camp John Hay's Tree Top Adventure. I'm a big fan of zipline, despite the fact that I have fear of heights, I still did the superman activity (as they call it), with all my might, shouting my heart out. :-). I enjoyed this with the company of my dearest friends.

excited for the adventure!

lovely view of the mountains at Tree Top Adventure

after the zipline

the canopy ride

Forest House
After doing the different eco-adventure at Tree Top Adventure, this was our time to feast for food. As I checked for where to go for Baguio's Must Try food adventure in Travel Magazine, Forest House is part of the bucket list. No doubt, this fine dine restaurant gave us a great dining experience. Since we were really starving, we splurged on food. This is to compensate the tiredness we had during the adventure we did at Tree Top.

Of course, I definitely love the dessert part. We shared a slice of blueberry cheesecake and black and white cake which is Forest House's specialty of the house. More than the good food, I loved the ambiance of this restaurant. Very pretty and homey. :-)

at the entrance

inside the Forest House

Friends with Kuya Monching, our driver for the 3-day trip

sweet blueberry cheesecake

Strawberry Farm
Last stop of the day, strawberry picking at Strawberry Farm. After choosing the best strawberries as pasalubong, we also bought some of our take home goodies at the said area. I went home with jars of choco flakes and the famous sundot kulangot to bring home for my family and friends. :-)

Strawberry plantation

Harvest time!

Michelle wants to eat her strawberry right away.

Bestie Ed and her GF Leny enjoying their time picking strawberries

freshly, picked red strawberries as pasalubong

That's all for our First Day in Baguio. Fun, Adventure, Food Trip. :-)

A Day Tour in Baguio City

It seemed that Baguio had a sweet spot in my heart. My first visit in the City of Pines was in March 1997 with my family and their marriage encounter friends. 

Eleven years after, in September 2008, I went to Baguio together with my High School friend, Wybenn together with his officemates and friends from Cebu. I thought I won't be back after that visit. 

On February 2012, I was able to return in the city with my former manager due to work-related activity. It was also that same year when I had my first Flower Festival experience. 

This year, 2014, I came back in Cordillera's Summer Capital city not only once but twice all on the same month. :-) Baguio City has never failed to provide me with so much memories. Every visit is worth telling a story.

For this blog, I am sharing my first Baguio journey for the year, which was happened last February 2, 2014. This was a whole day activity with the family and some neighbors which we considered our family. We left our residence in Laguna at 2:30am and arrived in Baguio at 8:30 in the morning. We had several gas station stopovers including our visit in Our Lady of Manaoag in Pangasinan.

Our first stop: Burnham Park 

This is where we ate our home-cooked breakfast. We shared our pot luck food with our family as well as our friends from our neighborhood. After having our breakfast, my siblings and their friends had their boat ride while I took photos of the place. 

February is the perfect month to visit Baguio because of its cold weather. Other than its cool climate, flowers bloom beautifully on this month, that's why the city of Pines had its annual festivity called "Flower Festival" or "Panagbenga" in their own native dialect. I will have separate blog for my flower festival experience for the  year, 2014.

Burnham Park's Swan Boat

Great weather for a boat ride

My siblings and their friends were doing the Swan Boat Ride.

Good Morning Pines!

Flower bloomed beautifully in Baguio

Second stop: Bell Church, La Trinidad, Benguet

This was my first time to visit a Chinese Temple. I have to go as far as La Trinidad to experience this activity. Bell Church is designed with beautifully landscaped gardens and the place is surrounded with bells, dragons and Buddha sculptures.

entrance of Bell Church

Third Stop: Strawberry Farm, La Trinidad, Benguet

This was also a first for me despite being in Baguio for several times. This was one of the most enjoyable part of the trip. I enjoyed this activity with the company of my youngest sibling and her friends. Picking fresh, red strawberries was not an easy task. You have to be careful in choosing the best and sweetest strawberries. According to Ms. Melody, the strawberry caretaker who entertained and taught us how to pick the fresh strawberry, the fruit should be red in color but you have to pinch its stem when harvesting them.

Baguio City is likewise thought as Strawberry Basket in the Country for they produce the best and freshest strawberries.  After our strawberry picking session, we ate our home-cooked lunch. As for the dessert, we tried La Trinidad's strawberry ice cream. My verdict: YUMMY! :-)

Strawberry farm

They enjoyed strawberry picking activity.

Fourth stop: Lourdes Grotto

You have to climb 250+ steps to see Our Lady of Lourdes. This is where most Catholic visitors pay for a visit to pray for thanksgiving or for prayer petitions. That time, there were many vendors selling colorful candles which were symbolic for different petition you are about to pray for (health, studies, career, family, relationship, etc).

Fifth Stop: Baguio Botanical Garden

Baguio Botanical Garden is quite a large park where you find different Ifugao statues, Ifugao native huts and abundant greens. However, some parts of the garden are under renovation, thus, we did not see other areas of the park.

Sixth Stop: Good Shepherd Convent

This store is famous for sweet strawberry and ube jams made by the nuns. 

Seventh Stop: Camp John Hay and Tree Top Adventure

Unfortunately, Tree Top Adventure is already closed when we arrived at the said adventure park. The kids felt sad when they learned about this. They wanted to see and try different adventures here but not that day. 

Anyway, a whole day visit in Baguio was not enough. We had skipped several tourist spots in the city but spending one Sunday in Baguio with my family gave me good memories and happy times. :-)

-TouRIZta-

Nostalgia at Precious Moments

A throwback Thursday, indeed, just happened to me last January 30, 2014. I did not plan anything that day. It was just an ordinary working day for me but that field working Thursday enabled me to go back to memory lane as I passed by Senator Gil Puyat Avenue (Formerly Buendia) where I saw Precious Moments Cafe, Giftshop and Restaurant. I stopped for a moment but my curiosity brought me to the establishment and checked what was in-stored in the said place.

Precious Moments Menu 

These angels welcomed me to this place.

Precious Moments is a known brand of lovable angel figurines and I've known this stuff since grade school. I vividly recalled that I used to have notebooks with Precious Moments design when I was a schoolgirl. Until now, I do own a photo album with Precious Moments as cover. That's how I love these cutesy angels dearly.

As I researched about this heavenly place in Makati, Precious Moment Manila is owned by Mr. Jojo Sonillo and Mr. Samuel Butcher, the creator of this world renowned brand. This quiet corner in Makati is a cafe, gift store and events place rolled into one.

Second floor - dining, events and showroom area

Big-sized Precious Moment figurine as centerpiece

Doll collections

Adorable angel sits on the table

I asked one of the staff for the approximate capacity of the events area of Precious Moments. He said that it can accommodate 80 persons. So, for intimate and small gatherings, Precious Moments Manila is a perfect venue to hold one and celebrate life's precious moments.

After viewing those nostalgic dolls, angelic figurines and other specialty items around the area, I was invited by the staff to try their food. So he handed me the menu and helped me select food for my hungry tummy.

The following are the food I have chosen during my short stay. By the way, they served really good and delectable food. I was very special that day because I was really pampered during my stay.

Iced choco macadamia drink and black forest cupcake

Seafood fettuccine (good for 2-3 persons)

I was not able to finish my pasta dish. The serving was meant for sharing. By the way, I did a solo visit at the place.

Happy Me! :)

After I had my short memorable stay at Precious Moments, I told myself to return to this place and bring my dearest family and friends here to create a new precious moment.

Thanks for sharing a Precious Moments with me. 

Photos are taken by yours truly.


-TouRIZta-