Weekend at Baguio

The family and I had a spontaneous weekend getaway to Baguio last weekend! Baguio has always been a nice place to enjoy the lovely cool weather and that’s exactly what we got and more!

My brother, while riding the bus last week, saw an ad some where (in one of the buses, I think) that was advertising discounted rates for the Manor at Camp John Hay. Upon checking the website (and after my officemate willingly covered for my on call work over the weekend), we booked a one bedroom suite plus an extra bed… all for the grand total of 5000+. Not bad at all! 50% discount.

It was definitely worth the price because the room was great! Two baths, two LCD televisions, a spacious living room and dining area, plus a nice cozy bedroom. Impressive. Without the discounted rates, we’d probably end up paying 8000 pesos – 10000 pesos for this room! Thanks to my sister, the pictures below are the only two good ones we have of the room! The rest are no good!

Of course, discounted rates are there in the first place because it is the rainy season after all. Thus, we couldn’t walk around the surrounding areas, but in return though, we did enjoy nice bonding moments while eating and hanging out together (even if it’s just within the confines of the Manor).

There’s really nothing much to see in Baguio these days, however, we did discover a new and highly rated place to go to in Baguio - BenCab Museum. BenCab is National Artist for Visual Arts. This, I would say is a really really nice museum, well maintained, has a clean look, and I can say, world class. 

The museum features various painting and art works from different Filipino artists. These were really good. And since it’s located by the hillside, you actually start from the top most floor, going down a floor at a time until you reach the base (which I believe is 4 levels down), where you are greeted to a nice quaint Café with a nice view of the mountains. Unfortunately, it was raining so we couldn’t walk out the open area. Fortunately though, we see the national artist himself down there and so we couldn’t resist not taking a photo with him.

The museum though, has an entrance fee of 100 pesos which for me, is pretty good price with what you can see around the museum.I find other Baguio attractions and Baguio’s beauty to be deteriorating so this was definitely a breath of fresh air. Beautiful and well kept. It has this high class feel to it. We definitely need more of these well maintained attractions in the summer capital of the Philippines.

All in all, the trip was amazing! Although it was only an overnight trip, I realized that family time is really something we need to set aside time for. Nothing beats hanging out with the family!