It's already March and it's only now that I'm posting about Day 5 of our Northern Luzon getaway in December. Hahahah. I completely forgot that I haven't posted about this yet 'til I had to write a post on my other blog that linked to my post about Day 1 of our trip. Yeah, that's one thing I need to work on - procrastination!
Our last stop was Pagudpud in Ilocos Norte. We had lots of fun in Pagudpud and I even thought of staying there for another night, but I really wanted to go to Baguio again. And, so, in the afternoon of Day 4 of our trip, we headed to the Partas bus station in Laoag.
We thought we'd have a fun start on our trip to Baguio. But, we were welcomed with a VERY bad customer service experience from this certain Partas bus conductor.
We arrived a few minutes before the next Partas bus going to Baguio arrived at their station in Laoag. We were the first ones there so we got the front rows seats. When we were settled in, the bus conductor RUDELY informed my mother that she HAS to transfer because the front row seats were reserved for someone. We questioned him because if it was indeed reserved and PAID FOR, the ticketing office would've advised us about it. So, NO, we didn't agree to transfer seats.
After a few seconds, we saw this bus conductor blabbering about like a pesky old woman, speaking in Ilocano to the bus driver and the driver's wife. We, then, figured out that the driver's and the bus conductor's wives were the ones they reserved the seats for. The bus conductor's wife was to be picked up at Vigan station, which was like a few hours away from Laoag. So, that really angered us and my aunt Zeny and I started telling them off to the point that we almost reported them to their office. We decided not to 'cause we don't want to ruin the rest of our day.
What pissed us off the most was the bus conductor yelling and threatening to not come aboard if we don't transfer seats. ARE YOU FRICKING KIDDING ME? You're throwing a tantrum, you old piece of sh*t?! ARGH.
Anyway, in the end, he knew he can't do anything about it. We saw the driver, guard and the guy from their ticketing office talking to him and were also mad at him for going off like that. Yeah, he's a complete jerk. So, I decided to take a photo of him while he was handing us our tickets.
Okay, enough about him. The whole trip from Laoag to Baguio was really exhausting. We paid Php 410 each for our tickets (total of Php 2,050). We left Laoag at 2:30pm and we arrived in Baguio past 11pm. That's more than 8 hours of travel and we were really hungry. So, I had 2 cups of rice at Andok's where we had dinner. *LOL*
We had a good night's sleep and we were up really early the next day. We were scheduled to go back to Manila in the afternoon so we had to make the most out of the few hours we got left in Baguio.
We hired an FX taxi for our quick tour in the morning. We already brought our bags with us 'cause we were staying inside the PMA compound in Baguio, at my aunt Zeny's home. It's a bit far from the bus station of Victory Liner.
The FX taxi, by the way, can be rented if you want to tour around Baguio. They charge Php 300 per hour, but just ask for a discount. The driver we hired agreed we pay only Php 900 for an almost 4-hour rental since we didn't really tour around the city.
Our first stop was the Strawberry Fields in Baguio. My mother was planning on preparing Strawberry Sinigang so we wanted to pick our own strawberries for that. Plus, I wanted to see the farm myself.
My mother and I, along with Tita Beth (her best friend), decided to pick strawberries. I'm the only one without a photo while picking strawberries. Boohoo!
The price is Php 300 per kilo for strawberry-picking. We tried to ask for a discount, but they were pretty firm with the price. They said it already covers all strawberries and plants we'd crush, damage, eat and throw away. *LOL* We went over a kilo and I tried to haggle yet again. The seller agreed, but she was whispering so the others after us won't hear. Hahah.
There are a lot of vendors outside the Strawberry fields. We tried the Strawberry Taho and Strawberry Ice Cream.
We also bought these sweet Sagada oranges (they threw out the peels before I can candy them waah), honey, strawberry and blueberry wines (loved them!), plus other pasalubong items from Baguio (read this post for my reviews of the pasalubong products from Baguio).
For more photos, check out my post on Certified Foodies on everything we bought and tried at the Strawberry Farm in Baguio.
After Strawberry Farm, we went straight to Good Shepherd in Baguio. I was buying pasalubong items for a friend who requested Ube Jam and Pili Nuts from Good Shepherd (read: demanding?!?! Guess who… *LOL*). Plus, it's been awhile since we last went there.
I super love this sign right at their garden:
We bought a couple of pasalubong items from Good Shepherd and tried their breads, too. I so love the "siopao", which was more like Asado-filled bread.
We weren't able to take photos of us when we were at Good Shepherd 'cause we were really in a hurry. Our tickets were scheduled at 2pm and we still have to look for the place where I wanted us to go for lunch.
The restaurant I'm referring to is Oh My Gulay Artist Cafe in Baguio. I've heard about it from a colleague, who's also a foodie like me, and he said it's a must-visit. I did some research beforehand as to where it's located. The article I found said it's at Green Azotea so I was insisting that's exactly the name of the building. Turned out that it was located in the La Azotea building along Session Road, which is, well you guessed it, painted green. *LOL* Here it is:
Okay, this photo, I just HAD to post. My nanay went all crazy with her accessories. She even felt it was cool and posed for this photo. How cute, eh? *LOL*
Sorry, I had to give this photo a title. *LOL*
Oh My Gulay is on the 5th floor of La Azotea. This is what welcomed us when we got to that floor:
I loved the interiors of Oh My Gulay. Very unique, eclectic, ethnic, weird, corky… I don't know how else to describe it. It intrigued us a lot that my bro even took time to take photos of almost every corner of the restaurant. Here are some of them:
Oh My Gulay's menu, of course, lists all their vegetarian dishes, mostly salads and pasta. We ordered Pasta Primadonna, Chow-Chow noodles, Anak ng Putanesca (yeah, cool name LOL), Lumpia Salad (my favorite), Talong Parmigiana and Waldorfesto (apple and potato salad). You can check out my Oh My Gulay restaurant review on Certified Foodies.
Right after lunch, we went straight to Victory Liner. We left our bags there, by the way, so we had no problems bringing along everything we had with us, including all the pasalubongs we bought from all 4 destinations of our Northern Luzon getaway. Can you imagine how much baggage we had with us?! *LOL*
Anyway, I want to thank Tita Zeny for letting us stay at their home in the PMA compound in Baguio. That's less expenses for us. We totally enjoyed her company. We haven't seen her for decades and I'm so glad she was able to come with us. She also made the whole trip fun. We miss you, Tita Zeny!
Here are photos of us onboard Victory Liner. It was actually the first time I felt exhausted from all the traveling and bus rides.
We did have a lot of fun. It's been awhile since I last enjoyed myself that much so I was so grateful that I was with my 2 favorite people in the world - my nanay and my brother - and my mother's best friend, Tita Beth, who's also as cool and fun.
All in all, it was a really fun trip. Though next time, I'll make sure to only pick 1-2 destinations for a 4-day vacation so we'd completely enjoy each place we visit. *LOL* But, now, at least, I can check off 2 places on my to-visit list - Vigan and Pagudpud!
Anyway, my bro said he'd want to go back to all the places we visited except for Baguio. But, hey, I love Baguio! Though I've been there countless of times already, I still can't stop thinking about how much I'd love to live there. If I'd ever be given a chance to have my own house there, complete with a parking area (with a garage door opener would be nice heheh), I'd be completely satisfied. The climate in Baguio makes you want to snuggle up with someone while drinking a hot cup of tea or coffee. Argh! I already miss Baguio! ^_^
This is the second to the last in my series of posts about our Northern Luzon getaway. My last post will be all about our travel expenses. In case you'd want to go on the same trip, you'd know how much you'd need. Keep posted for that! :)
I hope you enjoyed going for a ride with us on our Northern Luzon getaway. We may not be as adventurous as other travel bloggers or travelistas out there, but we still have tons of fun. ^_^
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