tara na sa panagbenga (day 1 of 3)
2.26.2008
I just finished the work I left behind and had my fingers warmed-up.
So here's a detailed account on my three-day retreat to the "upperside"..
- Feb. 22, 2008 -
@ 3:00 a.m., I was up and running.. not my usual morning habit but we had to leave early. And besides, I was super excited (hindi ba halata?) so 3 hours of sleep was good enough for me *wahe* By 4:30, Ryan and I left to pick up his friends at the Balibago shuttle terminal beside Famers Plaza. We arrived at 5:30 and had our breakfast at Jollibee. We left the fastfood after 30 minutes and thus began our journey..
To cut our travel time, we took the alternate routes going to Baguio and we opted for Kennon Road instead of Marcos Highway to avoid the public busses. We had some car trouble along the way pero naayos din naman so thank God.. akala kasi namin hindi na kami aabot ng Baguio *hehe* Lucky for us, unlike dun sa isang truck na unfortunately eh tumaob causing a tolerable traffic near the city's entrance.. at may mama pang nag slide ang motor. Buti na lang naka helmet sya and he wasn't badly injured. Eneweis, despite all these mishaps plus the 4 stopovers, we finally reached our destination by 12:30 p.m.
We checked-in at Burnham Hotel and seeing the actual place (compared to that on the website) got me quite disappointed. Yes, the lobby/reception area was nice but when you look at the rest, especially the front and back (parking area) of the structure, you wouldn't think it was a hotel. Pag park nga namin sa likod, we thought we were pointed at the wrong direction. To make things worse, they adjusted their room rates and we were included despite the fact that we made online reservations a month before (when the rates were still low sa website) So yun, nagulat na lang kami because we had to pay a higher room charge balance. Eneweis, if I would rate the place, I would give it 2 out of 5 stars. SO for those in a tight budget who want a place smackdown in the middle of everything (making going to places easier), with a comfy bed but flat pillows, an antique but creepy ambiance (plus a few critters), a cable tv with poor reception, a hot and cold shower minus the "hot" every 30 minutes or so, a free wifi na hindi kayo aabutin if your room is in the 2nd floor, a carpet that's already worn out, and a lot of lamps na yung iba ay pang display lang pla (kasi ayaw bumukas) tapos yung iba naman delayed magbukas... THEN THIS IS the place for you :oPMoving on.. we had lunch at SM Baguio, went back to the hotel to get some rest, then went out again by 5pm. Our first destination: Burnham Park. We paid a P5-entrance fee at the Market Encounter, looked around and bought some stuff then went inside the Landscape Exhibit. This is where we took most of our pictures kasi ang gaganda ng mga background *hehe* The designs were fascinating.. wish ko lang ganito kaganda ang garden sa bahay ko *as if*
After the short photo opt, we headed for the ukay-ukay. Nagtingin-tingin lang kami tapos we headed for the City view Terrace of SM and had dinner at Dencio's. The place had a wonderful view of the city tapos malamig pa yung hangin. Talo pa yung naka-aircon *hehe*
