Baguio Trip Day 1: Burnham Park-Baguio Cathedral-Lourdes Grotto-Tam Awan Village

My first trip to Baguio!

When my friends talk about Baguio, silent mode lang ako. Nahihiya kasi ako at the age of 20-ishhh ay hindi pa ako nakaka-akyat. :( Finally... together with hubby, my 2 year old kid Alviss and parents, we took a Victory Liner bus and headed to Baguio. Thank God I already bought tickets the day before to avoid any hassles. You can make ticket reservations online but there are terms and conditions. Check it here. We left at 6AM and arrived in Baguio at 2PM.

We stayed in Starwood hotel, one of the cheapest. It is just 5 minutes away from the center, staff are good and accommodating, below the building is 7/11, it has its own resto but it's more of a canteen to me. Shower curtain has molds and we saw 2 roaches, one in the restroom and one in the cabinet. Ewww. Is this what we get for its worth?

Planning an itinerary was easy. I just researched it online and read blogs and forums and they will give you an idea where to go. All I did was to group those places we would like to visit based on its proximity.

Right after we unpacked our stuff and had luch we started touring around. We took a cab to get around the tourist spots and getting one isn't difficult. Their flagdown is way cheaper, P25, while P40 in Manila. Obviously, cabs here don't need air conditioning and that is the reason why flagdown is cheaper. I also noticed most of the cabs are SUV's. It was also the first time I got an exact change from the driver!!! I admire the drivers here, they are honest and hindi sila garapal.

I also noticed na para kaming nasa roller coaster kapag nagbabyahe dahil ang kalye ay pataas at pababa. :))) Minsan ang steep pataas at pagdating sa tuktok, biglang kabig si kuya driver pakaliwa. Nakakatuwa at exciting!

Burnham Park.

My kid really enjoyed the park. I couldn't describe the excitement in his eyes when he saw how huge the playground was. He was confused as to where to go first. We tried biking, tried strawberry taho for P15 and endless picture taking.

my kid trying to drive. he really enjoyed this.

delicious taho with strawberry bits

Baguio Cathedral.

There was a wedding when we arrived. We went inside this pink coloured church to pray and thanked God for the safe trip.

Lourdes Grotto.

Hubby and I challenged ourselves to conquer this 100 steps with the kid tagged along. Though this is the coldest place we've visited, pagdating sa taas parang nawawala ang lamig dahil sa hingal at pawis :)))

Natives really encourage you to go up as a sacrifice. And when we got there, we saw the Lourdes grotto. You can offer flowers, light candles and pray.