The Manor at Camp John Hay in Baguio

Prior to visiting Eurotel and touring the rest of Baguio, I was at The Manor together with the rest of the training team of Motivating Minds. It was my first time there and may I just say that I was so thrilled with our stay.

It was drizzling when we got there. I was kind of a bit bummed at first since I was wearing my suede cowboy boots and looking forward to doing long walks outside, amidst all the beautiful trees, pines and the fog which eerily surround the landscape.


Little did I know that the only walk I'd be doing at that time was when we went to Baguio Convention Center to check out the place and to prepare the tent venue for some outdoor activities. It was fun though! I could already imagine how the training would go the next day.

Baguio Bliss Bloggers Tour by Eurotel

This is a continuation of my Eurotel Baguio Bloggers Tour. Our whole Saturday (March 5) was spent going from one tourist spot to the next. Ivan, Joseph, Anna and the designated driver for this trip made sure that we visited places we haven't been to, that we were all well fed, and that we were all having fun. In fact, we had a resident comedian in our midst (Joseph of Eurotel). Half the time during this trip, we were just laughing and having a great time. Anyway, here are the places in Baguio we visited:

THE BELL CHURCH

This temple is huge! I was only able to climb a couple of stairs. I didn't anymore go to the top. Laziness! Hehehe. Hey, in almost 36 hours, I only had a few hours of sleep. I didn't wanna collapse or something. Plus, the view was already pretty from where I was standing. ^_^

My Eurotel Baguio Experience

A few months back, I got an email from Ivan Aoki asking me if I'd be interested to join a Baguio Bloggers tour. I immediately emailed back saying that I'd be interested to join should this event push through. I know I'd just been to Baguio late September last year but there are still so many places there that I haven't been to, and perhaps, this would be my chance to visit those places.


Fast forward to March. I just came back from Radisson Blu in Cebu and our training team was preparing for another training convention in Baguio (which I will blog about in a separate post). Lo and behold, I got another email from Ivan detailing the Eurotel Baguio Bloggers Event. I was excited and apprehensive at the same time coz it coincided with the dates of our training event. But as the cliche goes, if there's a will, there's a way. As soon as my training duties were done (March 3-4), I hopped from The Manor to Eurotel to be with my fellow travel bloggers, and thus commenced a ride that I will never forget...

Mines View Park Hotel in Baguio - a Fun and Relaxing Stay

I came home late last Friday evening feeling so proud of myself for having joined the very fun and relaxing bloggers tour of Mines View Park Hotel located at 1 Apostol St., Outlook Drive in Baguio City. This is the fourth time that I traveled without my husband, Peter. The first three times were as follow:

1. 2008 FunBoard Cup in Boracay
2. 2009 Jakarta and Bali trip
3. 2010 Singapore, Ho Chi Minh and Kuala Lumpur trip

...and this time, I did it with so much gusto unlike before when I used to cry prior to the trip and I'd be having several panic and anxiety attacks at the airport and while on flight. The whole excursion felt right from the start because I know I'd be going with wonderful people who share the same passion as I do -- passion for blogging and for traveling, and because Baguio, for me, in a way, feels like home. Aside from the fact that it's just 5 hours from Manila, I've had a few visits to Baguio before and each time had always been full of exciting (and romantic) memories. Plus, if anything happens to me, Peter won't be that far away. ^_^


Anyway, because I don't want this to be a very,very, very long blog post, I'll just share with you here the summarized version of how it all happened, plus links to other Baguio-related posts.

Sept. 23 at 5:30 in the morning, all of us bloggers scheduled to join this trip met at HalfMoon Cafe along Tomas Morato for beakfast. I didn't know everyone in the group so I stayed outside with my blogger friend Ryan and had breakfast with her and Peter. I ordered Bangus breakfast set and brewed coffee.


At around 6:30 am, we were on the road up north. We were divided into three vans and I was honored to be with the Aspacio couple, Jennie and Jed, my co-MJ fan Ryan and my Plurk buddy JL.

L-R: JL, Ryan, Jennie and Jeff

L-R: Me, Ryan and JL inside the Innova we rode.

There were several stopovers at different gas stations. Finally, at around noon, we stopped at this huge Lion statue along Kennon Road for some major photo op.


At times like this, I miss Peter. Who will take my picture??? LOL! Thanks to my blogger friends who tagged me in some of the photos. At least there's proof that I was part of this very exciting Baguio trip and visit to Mines View Park Hotel. Hihihi.

Baguio Panagbenga Festival: MY 29th Birthday Celeb Part II

My birthday last year was a blast! I invited all my girlfriends and even my ex (who’s also a very good friend of ours) to come celebrate my 28th birthday with Brownman Revival at Hard Rock Cafe. Afterwards, Peter even organized a surprise birthday hoopla  for me back at our presidential suite at the Mandarin, complete with confetti, cake, drinks and even balloons and birthday hats!!! There were even rose petals scattered in the bedroom leading to the bathtub for some kinky, steamy sexcapades afterwards, hehehe.

(left-right): Ces, Jem, Pat, Irene, Koryn, Me, Ninette, Vina, Peachie

Our Men: Wally, Peter, Vicente and Gil 

Me and my baby while watching Brownman play at Hard Rock Cafe 

Peter’s surprise hoopla back at Mandarin Hotel 

Anyway, it’s not that I wanted to beat that this year (that was Peter’s best birthday present for me ever! Nothing can beat that!) but I just want something different, fun and out of town. I already celebrated my birthday with my family the previous weekend at Isla Verde and I really had a blast. Unfortunately, I ended up catching a fever afterwards (due to fatigue from all the trips and late nights, hehehe)  and now, I just want to celebrate  it with my friends and favorite band (again!). So I checked up Brownman Revival’s schedule and the moment I saw that they’ll be in Baguio for the Panagbenga Festival, I didn’t have second thoughts. I immediately texted all my friends hoping that they’d come with me and Peter as I fully celebrate my 29th year here on earth.  

Vina, Francis, Ninette, Anmarie, Vangie, Jem, Koryn and Mer confirmed. We will just be meeting up with Michelle and Joan in Baguio since they will be leaving a day earlier.  As soon as possible, I bought bus tickets for all of us. Departure was at 10:15 pm, Feb 23, Friday.  Unluckily, Vina and Francis didn’t make it on time and Jem just barely made it. Nevertheless, we were on the road by 10:20 pm and slept through the entire trip.

We reached Baguio at around 4:30 am. Ninette booked us  an apartment room to stay over until we check in at our hotel by 2pm. However, being the nomads that we are, Mer, Koryn, Jem, Peter and I started our tour that dawn while Ninette, Anmarie and Vangie decided to rest instead…

Feeling super cold so early in the morning…

 

At around 5:30 am, Session Road wasn’t that crowded yet. We headed to Pizza Volante to grab some breakfast, and had our tummies filled with coffee, eggs and pancakes.