Baguio after six years

And so, I spent my long weekend back in Baguio... after six long years! =) I guess I am just so happy to be back, to be seeing good old familiar places, hearing that old familiar dialect (Maysang estudyante manong!) and being in the company of my friends whom I haven't seen for such a long time.

About 11:45, Saturday night, the deluxe bus I took from Victory Liner, Pasay Terminal left for Baguio. I really wanted to travel comfortably and by that, I mean no narrow bus seat, no unwanted seatmate and no stop overs. Ang arte eh no? I just thought that since it would be my first time again in years to go back to Baguio, my trip should be a little special. Well, it turned out to be very special =) Armed only with my hooded jacket to help me battle the cold, I arrived in Baguio at 4:15am (!).. thanks to Kat and Jang, I had a place to stay =) Really, thank you guys from the bottom of my (naguguluhang) heart... you are my angels.. hihi...

Anyway, Turista Day 1 started as soon as I regained my energy around lunch time. Me and Kat went to Pizza Volante for lunch. Seems like that one's a pretty famous meeting place. Food was great. If only I haven't had my braces adjusted the night before, I swear I could've eaten all what was served like a hungry buffalo. We were really planning to eat at 50s Dinner, which was one of my most favorite restos in Baguio during my college years. Unfortunately, it got transferred and although they were saying it's still as good as the old one (especially the food), it didn't feel that way. It was also jam packed with double a dozen tourists waiting in line just to get inside. So, we ended at Session Rd to the famous Pizza place. After lunch, we went to sneak in UP Campus just to have a feel of our alma mater. Geez, I miss UP... I miss 'Oble'... I miss being just a student. As I've mentioned before, the school looks really different, with a lot of new structures and buildings. I can't even remember where the offices are... tsk.

Then, we headed off to Botanical Garden (nope, in all my Baguio years, I haven't been there!) for some serious turista business - eh ano pa, e di magpicture nang magpicture. =) We thought minsan lang naman yun so, magpapakaturista na kami. Then it rained... and we took more pictures.

Then I got 'R's message... meet daw kami ng 8pm sa Volante (na naman!). I must admit, I was a little panicky and worried. 'R' is my college crush - as in that ultimate blush-ever, can't-talk-straight-when-he's-around, 'pahiram-ng-Math-notes-para-maka-style', nenok-ng-picture-sa-bulletin-board, active-sa-Youth-Night, kind of crush. Yuck no? Haha. Anyway, we started 'talking' again after I got an unexpected message from him at... okay, buckle up... Friendster! He got my number and that was that. So I informed him that I was in Baguio and that was it. Hala. I don't actually know why I was somehow nervous at the thought of meeting him, considering that six years have passed already and I am pretty sure that I am not feeling anything special this time (fingers crossed tightly!). Kat said I have to get my beauty rest so we went back to the house to get freshened up (kamusta naman, ang dudungis na namin at nangangamoy usok pa). The meeting was moved to 9pm as he was preparin' some kind of a gift for me daw. At dun nagsimula, ladies & gentlemen, ang istorya ng pakbet. bow. (tell you some other time) So there, spent the rest of my night with 'R', re-living our college memories together (which were actually so little but nice just the same). He took me home a little before 12mn and I haven't seen him the rest of my stay in Baguio. It's his exams week daw so I'd say, forgivable? U-huh. Text lang siya ng text, ganun. Hmp...

Turista Day number 2: Tam-awan Village, some art gallery / coffee shop near Tam-awan, Red Cherries (tama ba?) cake shop, market and Kaffee Klatsch. I am really thankful that I had Kat and Jang to accompany me around. Kat and I had lunch at Tam-awan. It was my first time to eat Adobong Baboy na kamote yung halo. Ang sarap, but again, because of my teeth-throbbing episodes, hindi ko pa din makagat yung ulam. Sad. Then we had a lot of sight-seeing.Tam-awan is such a cool place (literally and figuratively speaking). They have these Igorot-inspired houses which can be rented overnight for lodging. We went up the steep and slippery path to the view deck where you can supposedly see the China Sea and witness God's magnificent creation but the fog was so thick that I only got to see the silhouette of some trees. Then again, it was the experience and the company that I am really thankful for. =) Then we saw this coffee shop / art gallery and we went inside and got awe-struck by the different art pieces inside. They don't allow taking pictures inside but since we don't acknowledge that rule, we still clicked away to our cameras' content. Nakarma tuloy ako... I have this picture where mukhang huling-huli ako sa akto at gulat na gulat. Bigla kasing nag-chime yung bells na signal yata 'pag may visitors, eh I was posing beside this art sculpture... pati si Kat nagulat kaya yung picture CLASSIC... haha. Kafee Klatsch - best place to be with your friends if you just want non-stop talking (and picture-taking in our case) with soft acoustic / piano performance in the background. I fell in love with that place instantly.

My third day was serious business. I had to go back to UP and accomplish my clearance, get my diploma (at last!) and apply for a request for my Transcript of records which I would claim in the next two months. When I was asked to sign the claim sheet, I saw that I was among the few ones left who haven't got these documents yet. Almost all my batch mates have gotten theirs years ago. Hala. I had to go back after lunch 'coz the manang who's in-charge of the releasing of diploma and whatnot took a half-day leave. I went to SM and just looked around forgetting about time. It was already past 2pm when I went back to UP.

Anyway, I had no clue that my nightmare was just about to start. After I left UP, I headed straight to Victory Liner to buy my ticket for my trip back to Manila. I got an 11:15pm schedule. The rain started pouring hard just as I was about to get out of the terminal so I decided to stay back for about 30 minutes and just surf the net in a computer shop inside the terminal. The rain looked like it would never stop. The computer shop manang said it was the onset of typhoon so there's really no use waiting. I decided to go ahead with my plan and scour the market for some pasalubong. Then I got stranded waiting for a cab that would take me 'home'. It took me about two hours, drenched and cold and well... surprisingly... happy. I was worried alright but it was something that didn't really scare me. I knew I'd get pass that safe and sound. Malakas ako kay Lord... hehe. Pero grabe, it was my first time to experience something like that in Baguio... alone.

At around 10:30pm, despite the torrential rain, Kat and Jang brought me to the terminal. As much as I hated saying goodbye, I did... knowing that in just a few months, I'll see them both again. So to you, I am still not done thanking you. Thank you for making that trip worthwhile and special and also, for making me laugh like crazy at the mere thought of 'pakbet'. Ikamusta niyo na lang ako kay Pakbet Boy. Ayus.

I'll post the pictures soon in my multiply page. =)