Going to Baguio for the first time twelve years ago as a high school student felt visiting a foreign country. I have never been abroad, though (even to this day) but I never traveled a lot as a kid and to my limited experience the Philippines is Manila and Manila is about the heat, the jeepneys, air pollution, trash and mayhem at night. Baguio, with its uneven topography, pine trees, houses built on mountain slopes, the cold temperature, less jeepneys, less air pollution, less trash and less crime, was someplace else. When I got into mountaineering as an adult, I would visit Baguio only as en entry point to Benguet. And having seen the Mount Pulag and Kibungan, places which had more than just pine trees, Baguio became boring and pale all of sudden. I never thought that Baguio would one day become my main destination until I agreed to join a group of friends who will be spending the long weekend. I was hoping to rekindle the fascination I had with the city more than a decade ago.
Here's a rundown of my Baguio experience:
