Baguio Insider

Will the real lion please stand up? This large rock naturally-shaped like a lion’s head was the original landmark that greeted all visitors to Baguio City. The Lion’s Club commissioned in 1971 the sculpting of the much larger one made out of limestone a few meters past it.

Kennon Road remains the Baguio locals’ preferred access route to Baguio City. Not only is it a more familiar road, it’s also, in my opinion, way prettier than Marcos Highway. The route is shorter by about 15km, plus the bends are easier on your vehicle. Those cars outfitted with inclinometers can tell, for example, that when the road curves to the left, the road also tilts to the left, thus making it easier to navigate.

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Pardon the long silence, please. What, you may ask, has gotten in the way of blogging? Hmmm, lemme see, how about we call it — LIFE? Isn’t it ironic? To be able to blog effectively you need to live life fully and, when you do, there’s just not enough time to blog! I take hundreds of photos, say of Malaysia, and then get too tired to edit them and publish a post about the fun trip my family took late in June 2007.

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I know I mentioned before that living in Baguio City is like being on vacation all the time. But since I decided to run a bed & breakfast inn, everybody’s vacation time is when we work the hardest. Personally, I hardly took a day off for about 3 months and was on call 24-hours a day. And it’s during the off season that we in the hospitality industry can take real time off.

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We had a guest over the Easter weekend who wanted to go to Kabayan, Benguet and explore Baguio City before attending a seminar in San Fernando, La Union. When Ian showed me his Lonely Planet map, I immediately noticed that it was near the highest point of the Philippine Highway System on Halsema Road in the Cordillera Mountain Range. So I knew it was just a few hours away from Baguio and that a day trip was possible. What I did not know was that it is the location of the Fire Mummies of the Philippines. (more…)

Although visitor volume figures aren’t in yet, judging from the bumper-to-bumper traffic on almost all major roads in Baguio, especially Leonard Wood Road (connecting Session Road to Mine’s View Park — with Wright Park, the Mansion, Botanical Garden, Teachers Camp, Baguio Country Club and Camp John Hay, etc. in between), all I can say is that Baguio is back as the favorite Holy Week destination in Luzon.

And the weather cooperated very nicely, too! April showers were just right: two minute drizzles enough to cool the city down by a few degrees and get rid of the dust but light enought not to make Baguio muddy (important for the horseback riding areas). It was cool enough at night to light up the fireplaces for that “total Baguio experience.”

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