Things You Can Do in Baguio City After Summer (Part 2)

to continue with my Baguio after-summer series, here are more things you can do in the City of Pines during the rainy season.




Eat to your heart's content.

Oh yes, let's start this post with food... because food is that fuel that allows us to enjoy many things. As one chocolate brand says, "you're not you when you're hungry." Anyway, with so many food establishments scattered around Baguio City, one recommended place to eat home-cooked meal is the Balajadia Restaurant, located at the city's Slaughter House. Here, you and your family and friends can feast on different meat dishes. Chilly gloomy weather you say? Enjoy a bowl of Bulalo then. Yumminess to the max!  (More about this restaurant on a separate post, including a very interesting dish called B and B).




Learn more about the Cordillera's culture.

Sure, one can learn more about the rich Cordilleran culture anywhere you go in Baguio and the nearby province of Benguet, but if you want to learn, have fun, and satisfy the tummy, you can head to Tam-Awan Village. The place is best to visit when the sun is up as the eco-trail might be slippery during the rainy season, but you can still roam around - check different traditional Ifugao / Igorot houses, and if the rain is too much to bear, you can just stay near the cafe where you can watch different traditional dances.


In this area is where you can also have your portrait sketched. Prices depends on the artist you choose, but each sketch won't really take too much of your time, a perfect activity to do while waiting for the rain to pass.

If the chilly weather is giving you goosebumps, the cafe serves hot drinks - coffee, chocolate, and tea - as well as pastries and snacks.



Find inspiration.

Not the romantic kind of inspiration, but something that would boost the morale. In this group getaway, we were blessed to have entered the Tartland Baguio Pasarabo factory. Known for their buttery Lenguas de Gato, Tartland's story is very inspirational. They are a testament that good things start from small beginnings, and by staying true to their passion, they were able to make Lenguas de Gato a Baguio City pasalubong staple.

At the moment, I am not sure if they allow tourists to drop by and see how the Lenguas de Gato are made because they are currently doing some expansions, but if you find ways to visit their factory, please do. Their story will definitely inspire you.




Test your strength and courage.

Baguio may be a small city, but it definitely has a very rich and deep history. While some of those are about triumphs, the city also has a very dark history, making the city known for its haunted places. Part of our getaway was to visit these haunted places - starting with the Baguio Cathedral, then to Teacher's Camp, followed by the Laperal White House. I am definitely a scaredy cat, but I still gave it a go, because the Fright Tour is not just for frights, I got to learn so many things as well. Unfortunately, we weren't able to visit two more places in the tour - the site of the Hyatt Hotel and the Loakan Road, but the things I experienced was okay enough to scare the living daylights out of me. I actually went home sleeping with the lights on because I still couldn't get over the tour.


Help sustain the local industry.

There are so many places to buy souvenirs and Baguio-made food products to take home, but if the weather is unfavorable, I suggest you do your shopping at the Baguio City Market. Here you can buy everything you need under one roof! Haggling is welcome, but don't haggle too much, because their goods are definitely lower than those you can buy at the malls and other commercial places.




Be awed by nature.

I do agree, Baguio is very urbanized now, but you have to agree, the city still boasts a very beautiful nature range. Enjoy taking pictures just about anywhere (I once stopped by a residential area to take pictures of wild dandelions), and even if it rains, it sometimes bring the fog that adds more drama to the surroundings. Rain or shine, the nature will surely feed your cameras with different subjects to take pictures of.

My three-day after summer group getaway with fellow bloggers was a success, thanks to Azalea Residences Baguio. I may have traveled to Baguio at least once a year since 2009, but I was still able to experience so many first on this getaway. My heartfelt thanks to the whole Azalea team for making this getaway one for the books.

Regardless of the season, Baguio City is a wonderful destination. Please don't think you can only enjoy the city during summer. Actually, I find it a little better to travel after summer as the roads are less congested and places aren't peppered with tourists. I fell in love with Baguio City more, and as early as now, I'm itching to travel back and enjoy these again and more.

*** Jenn ***

Things You Can Do in Baguio City After Summer (Part 1)

In the many times I have traveled to Baguio City, most of those were during hot summer days - February and March (Panagbenga season and during daddy's death anniversary). It is true, the City of Pines is more popular during summer because of its favorable weather, but when rainy season comes, the hype seems to die down. Maybe because most of well known Baguio City attractions are best visited when the sun is up and the sky is blue... but I was blessed to have traveled to Baguio during the rainy season, and I am happy to say that there are still so many awesome places to check and things to do even if it is raining outside.


Enjoy a cup of hot drink and some pastries.

Casa Vallejo near SM City Baguio houses three interesting places, one of which is the Hill Station, where you can enjoy snacks. They offer sandwiches and different drinks, but people mostly visit this place for their desserts.



Feed your mind.

Right next to Hill Station is Mt. Cloud Book Shop, a local book store that sells mostly Filipiniana books, but there are also very interesting foreign books. The first time I set foot here was last March and I instantly in love with the place! This book store offer so many books that are not usually available in big, popular book stores, which adds more charm to the place. Last March it was here that I got to buy my copy of Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo, but the next time I set foot here, I vow to buy these two books in their hardcover format.


Have a one-of-a-kind cinema experience.

As you exit Mt. Cloud Book Shop, this spread of movie posters will pique your interest, and if it is raining outside and you don't feel like roaming around, you may opt to stay in and enjoy a movie. Since this cinema is not located in the mall, this for sure will be a different kind of a movie experience, especially that they show movies that are not really shown in common cinemas.



Taste the flavors of the Cordillera.

Baguio City is a foodie's heaven, with so many restaurants left and right. Surely, you may find food places in the city that offers different kind of ambiance and flavors, but if you want to be very true to the Cordilleran experience, I recommend you check out Café Yagam. Their specialty is the Sagada-roasted coffee, but they also offer pastries and traditional Cordilleran cuisine.

I was able to taste four of these dishes - The Pinuneg, Binungor, Kini-ing and the Pinikpikan. To keep warm from the cold Baguio weather, we also had the Tapuey (rice wine). More about this food trip will be shared in the upcoming posts.





Appreciate art.

Most of the artwork in this 4-storey museum is made by the National Artist for the Visual Arts BenCab (Benedicto Reyes Cabrera), but there are just so many galleries in this museum that would tickle your senses. If you get tired, there is a hut outside for you to rest at, or you might want to try the food at Café Sabel.





Learn about hard work.

The Easter Weaving Room may look like a big souvenir shop where you can buy different kinds of products - from food to jewelry, from poncho to footwear. However, the magic happens downstairs, where they weave the fabric they use. You may think the Cordilleran fabric may be expensive, but when you visit their weaving room and see just how difficult it is to weave these fabrics with intricate designs, you will appreciate the products even more. Biggest lesson I learn - don't sell yourself short.

There are still so many things to do in Baguio after summer, but I will cut this post short for now and hope you can join me again next time when I post the part two of my series of articles dedicated to the City of Pines. My biggest gratitude to the people of Azalea Residences Baguio for making this a one-of-a-kind trip.

*** Jenn ***

Giveaway Alert! Win Awesome Prizes at Orange Magazine 5x5 Campaign

It is a known fact that I don't have anything much to offer, so any chance I could to help out, I try my best to help to best of my abilities. When blogger friend Jeman of Orange Magazine posted about the website's upcoming anniversary with a question whether readers might be okay to ask for a donation in exchange of raffle tickets, I immediately thought it would be an awesome way to pay it forward.


When Orange Magazine celebrated its 5th anniversary last July 1, I was one of the happy bloggers who attended the kick off of Orange Magazine 5x5 Campaign, in partnership with World Vision. In very simple explanation, attendees would donate 100 pesos per raffle ticket. There are no pressures in this campaign, one might donate just one hundred pesos and it will be received whole heartedly. Like I said, I don't have that much money, so I donated 300 pesos. I was given three raffle tickets to fill up, and I placed two of those in the bowl at the event.


After serving dinner, the program started - we learned all about this partnership as well as a background about World Vision. As a surprise, two awesome musicians performed - Lirah Bermudez (who once joined the TV Show Protégé on GMA-7 under the mentorship of Janno Gibbs), and rapper extraordinaire, Gloc-9. It was my first time to hear them perform live, and they are just super awesome! Gloc-9 already established his name in the music industry, and I already know he is a phenomenal rapper, but hearing him perform live was just awesome. They performed "Takipsilim," and I suggest you go check the song out on YouTube or Spotify, because it was one heck of a song - super powerful!

photo credits to Jude Ng and Orange Magazine

Anyway, both Lirah and Gloc-9 are the campaign's ambassadors, and this campaign is not only aiming to gather donation to help send five kids to school, World Vision also aims to help communities. In other words, they aim to help give kids the "fish" they deserve, they also aim to help communities "how to fish" so that more people will have better futures.

True, all bloggers who attended this party were asked to give donation... but it was actually a give-and-take situation, because in exchange of the donation we made, we stood a chance to win prizes worth more than the donation we gave.


I placed two raffle tickets, and I won an Energizer gift pack and Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago's latest book, "Stupid is Forevermore." Very timely prizes to win, as the country is now under the rainy season and rainy season meant chances of power interruptions, and this flashlight and battery sets will definitely be useful. As for the book, well I am very happy to have won that because my mom bought the first book months ago, and now I have the second book! This will be a great addition to my growing number of books.

Other prizes given away were Tai-Chi gift packs, Veri-Fit gift packs, Doggie's Choice gift packs, Francis Magalona shirts, and signed Gloc-9 CDs.

Biggest prize of the night was an O+ smartphone, which I sadly didn't win, but I still have one raffle entry, so I will try my luck winning on the grand raffle.


Aside from the raffle - prizes provided by sponsors - Orange Magazine's main man Jeman Villanueva also shelled out personal items to help gather more donations. On a separate table, he lined up unused items - a Starbucks glass tumbler, a Madonna CD, an Urbanears headset, a watch that is the same brand and look that Katy Perry wore on her "Birthday" music video, and a Huawei smartphone. These items have their own price tags, and attendees were given the chance to buy a raffle ticket for each of these prizes. It was difficult for me to choose which I wanted to bid on, but in the end I chose the Starbucks glass tumbler because well... it was Starbucks and it was made of glass! It still had the original price tag (598 pesos), but I only paid 50 pesos for a ticket...and yes, I did win! Awesome!!!

As for the Bath & Body Works pack (it has hand soap, hand cream and candle - all apple scented), it was given to the earliest bird, which I also won. Just a little bit of explanation, I arrived at the World Vision building quarter past 5pm, and since the event would start at 6pm, I felt I arrived way too early, so I stayed in their lobby and read an eBook for a while. When I heard someone asked the guard where the Orange Magazine event venue was, I decided to stand up and joined the person. :)

Photo credit to Jude Ng and Orange Magazine

A very fruitful night for all of us - tummies filled (thank you to Goldilocks, Pizza Hut, and McDonald's for the food), ears and hearts entertained, and bags filled with goodies, but the most fulfilling part of the night was knowing each of us helped (or will help) people in as little possible way that we could. Yes, the prizes I took home were more than the amount I donated, but I could sleep soundly at night knowing that the money I donated will go a long way.

Giveaway Alert!!!

Orange Magazine will have a bigger and better raffle happening towards the end of the month, and you can totally take part of it! All you have to do is donate as little as 100 pesos to these World Vision bank accounts:

BPI: 4251-0024-15

BDO: 000-2700-4341-1

PS Bank: 038-33200013-8

Metrobank: 060-7060-5186-41

and forward a copy (a picture) of your deposit slip together with your complete name, address and contact numbers to katrina_gratuito@wvi.org, wv_phil@wvi.org, online@orangemagazine.ph or fax at (02) 374-7660.

Every 100 pesos donation is equal to 1 raffle ticket, so you have a say as to how many raffle tickets you can earn.  The grand raffle (prizes include smartphones) will be on July 31, but of course any donation to World Vision after this campaign is very much welcome.

To know more about this campaign, please visit the  official website - https://www.worldvision.org.ph/5x5-campaign. If you have questions about the campaign, please check out Orange Magazine Facebook Page or the Orange Magazine Website.

*** Jenn ***