20130129

A day in BAGUIO

It's been 5 years since the last time I've been to the City of Pines "BAGUIO", as we also experiencing colder weather this January in Manila, how much more in Baguio?? ^^

Since this is only a one day trip, no need for any preparations, I just checked Victory Liner website for the time schedule of their trip to Baguio. We take the midnight trip at 11:30pm (Caloocan), the fare is 445php (AC bus) and 715php (deluxe bus), with free wifi on-board. For their schedules visit http://www.victoryliner.com/schedules/

Arriving in Baguio City early in the morning, guess we only take 5 hours travel time from Caloocan to Baguio, with three stopovers. It was so cold, the weather felt like I'm in Korea again ^^

Since it's too early to start the tour, we had our breakfast first at the station and waited till the sun shines in the city.

We take a cab from Victory Liner station to our first stop "Baguio Cathedral", it only cost 37php for the ride.

BAGUIO CATHEDRAL

One of the famous landmark in the city, the pink facade of this structure is so lovely!








After hearing the mass, we go to our next destination as we enjoy the cold weather :)


BURNHAM PARK

Another famous tourist spot in Baguio is Burnham Park, a wide green area full of plants, flowers, trees, etc. A good place for relaxation, picnic, biking and of course photo-ops!



  




Burnham Park Lake


The Burnham Park man-made lake is under construction


Enjoy biking at the park





Our next stop is Baguio City's Mines View Park, we ride a jeepney near Burnham Park , which will bring you straight to Mines View Park, same route as the Botanical Garden, Wright Park and The Mansion. (fare is 10php)


MINES VIEW PARK

Another famous tourist spot in Baguio "MINES VIEW PARK" , where you can see a beautiful scenery, buy pasalubongs, buy fresh strawberries, photo ops with Saint Bernard dogs, pink horses and a lot more!









US with FIONA!



PRETTY FIONA



PINK!


fresh strawberries

pasalubongs

After enjoying Mines View Park, we hop to our next destination "Baguio Botanical Garden".

BOTANICAL GARDEN

Nature's beauty holds here in Baguio Botanical Garden, I personally love the sunflowers! With the lovely weather, you won't get tired roaming and exploring this garden.




Sunflower galore!




This garden has also Korean place "Taebak Park"



still doing their construction, kinda remind me of "Rooftop Prince" ^_^

Japanese Filipino Peace Memorial Park




Chinese Park




Baguio Botanical Garden's Wishing Well


We had fun roaming around this garden, especially our photo-ops! We really had a lot of photos here, practicing aperture and focus! ~kekeke~ 

Well that would be it, for exploring some good places here in Baguio, that could be done in ONE DAY! It was past 2pm when we finished our trip, then we go to SM Baguio for our late lunch. We ride a taxi from the Botanical Garden to SM Baguio, that only cost 55php.

SM BAGUIO

Lovely scenery from the 2nd floor of the mall, it was so cold too :)






Thought we are good to go, we arrived at Victory Liner exactly 4pm, I queued for tickets and we can only avail the 10:10pm schedule time, 'coz that's the earliest we can get, the other earlier schedule trip  was already sold out! So lesson learned, when you arrived in Baguio, purchase your return ticket as early as you can :)

Since we are so dead tired, we have no choice but to find a cheap INN, we check in at the Baguio Inn for 3 hours, good enough to take a nap. 

What a tiring trip it is! But I do enjoy it, of course with the company of my dongsaengs, it was really fun! Plus the weather has been too perfect, the place is so so so good! Definitely Baguio is a nice place for vacation, people were nice too ~ special mention to the cab/taxi drivers who gave change, even to the last peso :) 

20130121

My 2012 Moments to Remember

Another awesome year for me! A lot of things happened, great experiences, discovered new things and explored different places,  ..... Overall it's HAEppiness overload!

Traveling is LOVE, the year 2012 has been good to me allowing me to visit SOUTH KOREA twice (February and November), THAILAND, SINGAPORE (again) and BORACAY!



Consider myself lucky to see some of my Korean BIASes, number one on the list is LEE MINHO, who visited Manila last November, then my LEE DONGHAE and CHOI SIWON visited last August and while I'm in Seoul last February I saw SUNGMIN and RYEOWOOK of SUPER JUNIOR.
When I visited THAILAND last JUNE I had a close encounter with none other than a famous actor in Thailand MARIO MAURER! On the same day I also saw pretty boy SONG JOONG KI in Bangkok.
I can't get enough of MARIO MAURER, I saw him for the second time when he visited Manila last October.



Aside from my biases, my favorite BANDS also came and of course I also get a chance to have have some meet and greet with them. HAEppiness!!!


Now sharing my 2012 Moments to Remember! 

JANUARY

CAMUS-tahan Reunion at Laguna, our yearly family gathering (father's side). I love the color of our shirt ~SAPPHIRE BLUE!

CAMUS Family


Followed by SIMPLE PLAN Concert Live in Manila (Smart Araneta Coliseum), it was not their first time visiting Manila and I'm glad that I was able to watch them live!



FEBRUARY (February 11 -15)

SOUTH KOREA Tour!

One of my dreams come true .... Travel to SOUTH KOREA! I'm so HAPPY that finally I reached one of my dream country! Been to the filming locations of my favorite Korean Dramas! South Korea is L-O-V-E!



The happiest part is that I see SUNGMIN and RYEWOOK! I'm so lucky!!





MARCH

Meeting the bands (March 7, 2012)

Meet & Greet with Dashboard Confessional's front man "CHRIS CARRABBA" 
I'm so dazed when I see this man, he is so gorgeous! I'm about to explode when I get a chance to have a KISS and HUG to this guy! So much happiness for me! ^^


Meet & Greet with The Cab
A couple of months ago I was listening non-stop to their songs, the fact that ALEX MARSHALL was in front of me together with Alexander De Leon & Joey Thunder! It was amazing experience that finally I'm meeting The Cab and got a hug from ALEX ^^



SMASH PROJECT 2012 (March 8, 2012)

One of the best concerts I've attended! Where 4 BANDS came to perform, namely "The Used", "Cobra Starship", "Chris Carrabba" of Dashboard Confessional, and "The Cab". Lucky again that I got a patron tix to this concert, I was very near to the stage and seeing the backstage. Their performances are EPIC!




APRIL

Meet & Greet with Taking Back Sunday

Never thought they will come in Manila, it was a bit surprising for me, lemme say that 2012 has been so good to bring ADAM LAZARRA and the rest of TBS! Even he was suffering an injury that time, he managed to visit Manila and entertains fans! A salute to Mr. Adam Lazarra!




TAKING BACK SUNDAY Live in SM Skydome (April 13, 2012)


MAY

My birthday of course!



JUNE

THAILAND tour! 

This tour is so memorable, aside from seeing great temples, attractions, shopping and stuffs, what made is so special is that I saw MARIO MAURER (had a close encounter in Ayutthaya) and SONG JOONG KI in Bangkok is so so so AMAZING, indeed it is really AMAZING THAILAND!!!!




JULY

BORACAY tour!

Had a great time with this tour, it's been 3 years since I came back to this island. Even the weather is not that good, we still enjoyed our escapade, been through some water activities, eat a lot and had a good time!



AUGUST

SIHAE IN MANILA (TriNoma Actvity Center - August 15)
Seeing my dorky boys is HAEppiness, seeing my DONGHAE is super HAEPPINESS!




SEPTEMBER (Sept 17 - 21)

SINGAPORE tour!

My second time to Singapore with my sister Tina, enjoyed the USS (of course) with Transformers The Ride. Was able to explore the Harry Potter: The Exhibition, been to Gardens By The Bay - new attraction in SG, some familiar places for me like Chinatown, Merlion, Esplanade, MBS, Bugis, etc. We also had a chance to see some Ferrari and Porsche for the Formula 1.



OCTOBER (October 30, 2012)

Red Carpet Premiere of Suddenly It's Magic: MARIO MAURER!

"Lightning strikes not only once but twice!" ~kekeke~

He's so handsome! Seeing him again up close, he even says "HI" :) How I wish I was Erich at that time, walking on the red carpet with gorgeous Mario Maurer! #daydreamingalot



NOVEMBER (November 16, 2012)

FUN MEET: LEE MIN HO

It's been months since Bench officially announced that LEE MIN HO will visit Manila for a fun meet at the Smart Araneta Coliseum. Seeing this god of beauty, is he a human? I know he is so handsome, but I never thought of this feeling, I can't merely describe ! It's beyond my expectations, he is really a GOD OF BEAUTY!



SOUTH KOREA AGAIN! (Nov 22 - 28)

Yay~ my second time this year! It's really a good good GOOD year! Allowing me again to visit my favorite country, as I always say "I will never get tired visiting/touring this country (South Korea), NEVER". This time I'm with my favorite travel buddy TINA (my dongsaeng), spending 1 week in South Korea is LOVE!



Hopefully this year 2013 will be another great great GREAT year! I'm so excited for more adventures, more experiences and more fun! As they always say... ENJOY AND LIVE LIFE TO THE FULLEST!