Baguio Insider

Christmas for me is always spent in Manila while New Year’s Eve, recently, has been celebrated in Baguio. Thus I will be heading down in a few hours to celebrate the noche buena with my family.

I wish to take this occasion to wish all of you a Happy, Happy Christmas filled with family and memories, with gifts of love, and a Christmas table brimming with goodies. I thank you also for all the togetherness this little blog family has enjoyed on my first year of blogging about Baguio. Your comments have warmed my heart for a whole year and this is the best gift any blogger can ever hope to receive.

For those of you visiting Baguio, thanks for spending the holidays here, keep warm, enjoy the bonfires, buy some sausages and marshmallows to roast, check out the EPZA-Loakan Bazaar and take lots of photos before the fireplace. Have yourselves a chilly green Christmas and we hope you visit us again in February for the Panagbenga.

See you in a few days’ time!

You may have noticed how silent this blog has been for the past two weeks, and may think me a terrible blogger! I’ve been quiet because I’ve been looking for something nice about Baguio to write about (of course there are two restaurant features in the wings that require more research). “If you have nothing nice to say, don’t say anything” applies to Baguio and me these days.

However, I did find this unfinished July 2007 post that was held in abeyance pending more urgent (political) matters. And I felt its release for those visiting Baguio this Christmas season very timely. Here goes…

Why Riding a Cab in Baguio is a Very Pleasant Experience

The taxi service Baguio is pretty good. I wouldn’t say exceptional, like the ones in Singapore, but nevertheless way better than Manila’s, for the following reasons:

1. The taxi drivers give you the exact change. (more…)

Politicians have been calling for the development of the Baguio La Trinidad Itogon Sablan Tuba areas (BLIST) for a Metro Baguio, but they are proposing only residential communities there. All big business is still concentrated in the Central Business District — and I’m not talking about hotels and restaurants.

Baguio Schools Must Move Out of the Center of Town

The big businesses that contribute greatly to the congestion of Baguio would be the schools, with small campuses relative to their extra-large populations. The students have to be transported, fed and housed on a daily basis. Thus all auxiliary services such as carinderias, dormitories, copy centers, school supply stores, internet gaming shops will mushroom all around the schools. (more…)

We had as very special guests last weekend Adarna House, a publishing company based in Metro Manila, Philippines — my neighbors in Quezon City actually — who were launching for a Baguio civic organization a wonderfully written and illustrated children’s story that had as its subject child abuse.

I met Ghani Madueno, the illustrator of the book and I was instrigued, “You illustrated child abuse in a children’s book! How?!” and sorry that I missed the book launching (’twas a busy, busy weekend) … (more…)