It is already more than a month when my girl had told me that she wanted to go to the Baguio City to attend the Panagbenga Festival along with her workmates. And, as I remember the excitement on me is much like when I have a scheduled climb,bringing me much sadness when I learned that the scheduled trip will conflict my work since I got due dates for the said. Fortunately, I was transferred to other job assignment making way for my leave and availability.The day came fast, so as the increase in the excitement along with other people joining ( as said by my girl, not to mention that she's the most as she's not a frequent traveler, hehe peace :p).
Finally, it's the day before. I have to still go to work to assist my supervisor since I just handed over other assignment that was assigned to me. Fortunately, we managed to finish the work within the day, making way for me to go home in usual time. It is almost midnight when I came home, giving me less time to rest. And, thanks to my snoring brother, he almost gave me no sleep. It is just more than an hour before my cellphone beats for it's alarm when I manage to take my rest. Soon, the alarm sounds, forcing me to wake up in a drowse. I got up quick to check my things before heading to bathroom and prepare myself for the long travel.
It's still dark when I walk outside looking for a pedicab to ride. My stomach is complained as I ride the pedicab I managed to get, "Fill me first",my poor stomach said. It is because I failed to take my breakfast since no food available yet as my mom was still in dreamland when I woke up and she just woke up when I am about to leave. Soon, the pedicab have to drop me at the side of the hi-way where I can fetch a jeep bound straight to bus terminal. It took me sometime before I manage to get one. Good thing, the jeep didn't stopped long for every stop over we've passed, giving me time to buy foods at a fast food near the bus terminal. The only problem was the bus have to take some time to fill in its seat before we left the terminal.I managed to reach the assembly point, exactly as agreed with my girl and the others. The group have to wait for half an hour before leaving for Baguio City.
The first hour of the trip is quite silent, maybe because the group was recharging since they came from an overnight shift. Then, the fun kalog moments came, the real kulits that the group been hiding coincides with the clear blue sky stating a good weather slowly came out. No dull moments even until we reach an eatery somewhere in Pangasinan (I think), where we took our lunch. They offer some exotic delicacies, but my girl and I chose Sinigang na baboy that we shared. After some time of rest, we fast headed to our destination.
At the transient, the tired group took their dinner and majority have taken their sleep, but I, two of my girl's officemates, and a friend of her officemate have decided to have some shots before taking ours, where two person from the other side of the transient house approached us to ask for water. We hospitably assist them and gave some of our water, we even ask them to each have a shot before leaving. Then, we ran out of drinks and decided to take our sleep. As we head back to our rooms, one of us is already indicating the he's drunk and drowsed. Then, sleeping time.
I just barely have a sleep when someone came knocking on our room's door, and I'm the first one to wake up in four of the room's occupants. As I open the door, worried faces faced me saying, "A group member has been robbed, he lost his phones! One of us saw the suspect!". We came in panic! Unorganized, the group don't know what to do. Some tried to contact the phones, got few rounds of ring until it became out of reach. We looked for the house caretaker and found out that she's not staying in the house even if there are guests around, which caused us more trouble as we cannot knock each of the rooms without her presence. As we reassessed our stuff, the poor victim had realized that his shoulder bag with his company ID and some hygenics is also gone missing. This troubled his mind more as replacement of the ID will took a long process.The light of the sun have already invaded the Baguio City when the caretaker came. We then knocked each room to ask if they can lend their things so we can check if one of them is the criminal. The witness have pin pointed to the group who the suspect is, but we decided to remain silent until we had evidences. As we check the stuff of other group, an local passed by and ask us if we know the owner of a bag he's holding, showing the company ID of the victim. We decided to not to magnify the issue anymore and don't report to the authorities since what's important for the victim is the ID and he indicated that it will just ruin our fun.
Then finally, we continued to where the "parade" will pass. It is already loaded of people when we reached the place. We decided to just visit the Cathedral since we can't have a nice spot to see the "parade" anymore. We walked, walked and walked, until we realized that going to the Cathedral is not possible anymore. So, we headed to the Bell Church, where they prayed and took some pictures, Strawberry farm to buy lots of pasalubong, Mines view for lunch, and Good Shepherd to buy the famous Ube and Strawberry Jam. Then, we headed to the market to buy stuff to cook for the dinner before going back to the transient.
At the transient, majority of us are already tires, thus many have taken their naps as I and some of my girl's officemates are left to prepare our dinner. After cooking, sleeping people were waken up to take the dinner then returned to sleep.The morning came and it's time to say byebye to the Summer capital of the Philippines. The group boarded the van. We dropped by at the Pangasinan's Our Lady of Manaoag and took our lunch at a toll plaza at NLEX. Then finally, home sweet home.
BUDGET CHECK (As of February 2013).
*We took a tour package that cost us of around Php 2,200.00, but I believe this can be reduced if you can do a DIY or do it yourself tour where you can select cheapest transient house and transportation. Estimated minimum Php 1,900.00
*We have spent around Php 400-500 for the meals, but can also reduced if you prefer to cook and market. Estimated minimum Php 350.00
Total: Php 2,250.00 (excluding pasalubongs)
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