Sunday, February 9, 2014

Baguio Weekend (012014): Day 1 - Cafe by the Ruins and Burnham Park

H has never been to Baguio, *i know, right? :p* so one Monday over chat we decided to go that same weekend. I've been to Baguio once and it was summer so I never really felt Baguio's coldest. That was what pushed me to go, I'm the "planner" type, so I'm not really comfortable doing "biglaang lakad"s. The same day, I checked Victory Liner's website so we can book a bus ride but unfortunately, the booking must be made 8 business days before the trip so H had to go to Victory Liner in Cubao and buy us tickets. The earliest he can get was 10pm but since I'm on midshift and I usually leave the office around 11, we opted for the next available one which was 2am. 

I went home Friday night around 11 and we were both excited! I was planning to take a 30-minute nap before leaving but since workdays are hectic days for us, we didn't have the chance to pack until the night before the trip. We were at the Cubao terminal at 1:30 am and despite the hour, there were still a lot of people, even chance passengers. The bus left at exactly 2am. I'm usually the one who sleeps during bus trips but this time, right after we've settled, H's already snoozing while I got mine around 5 in the morning already. The 2nd bus stop was in Pangasinan and H urged me to go down even if I didn't need to go to the CR just so I can feel how nippy the air was! 


It was a 6-hour ride from Cubao to Baguio and we arrived a little past 9. The air that welcomed us was twice as cold as the one in Pangasinan and being the thin-skinned girl that I am, I needed to bundle up.Wednesday before the trip, I tried booking us hotels but all was full and I was lucky enough to get one room at Hotel Cosmopolitan.It was supposed to be Holiday Park but they have no more available rooms too. The room that Hotel Cosmopolitan had for us was with twin beds but I took it anyway because I didn't want to be calling other hotels. Since their standard check-in is at 2pm, we just left our bags with them and walked our way to our first destination - Cafe by the Ruins. 

The restaurant was just 10 mins away by foot from the hotel. An officemate of mine told me to try them. When we got there, we were 4th in the waiting list and after 15 minutes we were called for our table. It was a nice place, and you can smell the freshly baked breads while waiting because the seats outside was were right in front where they display their breads. 


Our breakfast totaled to almost P800. Yes, their they're a little pricey but the food was good. I had their longanisa and H had their bacon breakfast set. Breakfast sets include coffee or fresh juice and fresh fruits. Since H read that their scones were good too, we had one plate. The scones plate was P85 which includes your choice of spread. We picked kesong puti. The bacons were thick and the longanisa, long. It was a bit raw in the middle and it isn't sweet tasting like the ones I'm used to but it was ok. We shared my longanisa and took home the bacon and the scones. I took a bite at one of the scones, and yes it was good! :) It was that good that you can eat it on its own. It tastes like a salty lengua de gato.



After breakfast, we went to Burnham Park which was just a few steps from Cafe by the Ruins. We took a few pictures and because my tummy was rumbling and H was still sleepy, we went back to the hotel and slept by the couch. Haha.



At around 1pm, the receptionist called me saying that our room was ready. She asked if we wanted to swap from twin to queen bed because a room just went available because the group who booked it settled for one room instead of two. I happily took the one with the queen bed for 2 reasons: 1. H and I can share the bed 2. It's P300 cheaper :) The room was ok. The bed and pillows were soft and comfy and the CR was spacious enough. Negative points were the CR has no bidet so I had to ask for a tabo and the shower was mahina so I ended up using the tabo for bathing too. The TV wasn't flat screen hehe but for P1680, this shouldn't be an issue. 





Excuse the unmade bed. I jumped right in before H had the chance to shoot. :) We slept until 4pm, watched a little bit of TV and asked the receptionist where we can still go as it was already 5pm. Look at the chubby chips! We usually see chips bloat that way in airplanes, we were thrilled like kids :p

Next stop:  Botanical Gardens and Wright Park

No comments:

Post a Comment