Sagada Itinerary (in the making)

When planning to go for a trip, I always want to squeeze in a number of places in a short period of time. But always end up cancelling one destination due to time constraint: We weren't able to visit Caramoan when we went to CamSur and our Camiguin trip was also cancelled when we went to CDO.

Right now, I'm drafting an itinerary for Sagada. We booked a ticket to Manila months before so I'm hoping we'll be able to see the rice terraces this time. I wanted to visit the tattooed women in Kalinga for this trip but upon researching on travel time, transportation, etc., it seems that it won't be possible again if we are to visit the tourist spots in Sagada.

Here's my itinerary so far:

Thursday

10:00 PM  ETD Manila-Banaue (9hrs)

Friday

7:30 AM   ETA Banaue

8:30 AM   ETD Banaue-Bontoc (3hrs)

11:00 AM ETA Bontoc

12:00 NN  ETD Sagada

1:00 PM    ETA Sagada

1-2:30 PM Lunch & Rest

2:30 PM    Echo Valley Tour + Mt. Ampacao Trek via Lake Danum

Saturday

4:30 AM   Kiltepan View (Optional)

7:00 AM   Breakfast

8:00 AM Spelunking

12:00 NN Lunch + Orange Picking

2:00 PM     Bomod-ok Falls

Sunday

4:30 AM    Kiltepan View

7:00 AM    Breakfast

7:30-8 AM ETD Sagada-Baguio (5-6 hrs)

2:00 PM    ETA Baguio + Lunch

3:00 PM    Tour (strawberry farm,camp john hay, etc)

10-12:00    ETD Baguio-Manila

As usual, this is not final yet and I guess it will never be finalized.lol

I welcome tips and suggestions for this trip. Thank you!

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Summer-Ender Vacation: Baguio II

July 04, 2011

One activity that we wanted to do in Baguio was strawberry picking. So we went to the strawberry farm first thing in the morning by riding a taxi. Our fare from the hotel to farm was barely a hundred pesos so it was really a good thing that we didn't take Manong's tour offer worth Php2500. Unfortunately though, it was not the harvest season for strawberries. lol We still went to the strawberry field though and just saw a single pair of it.^^

From the strawberry farm, we went to Camp John Hay and had a sumptuous lunch at a Chinese restaurant which name I forgot.

After filling our stomach, we walked around the area, took pictures, and looked for the Tree Top Adventure. They offer some adventurous activities like the canopy ride, silver surfer, and the tree drop. The canopy ride was only scary at first but the view was really breathtaking. I was a bit trembling as I was going for the tree drop. But seriously, it wasn't that thrilling. They dropped me, yes, but I was just like sliding at the rope. I only screamed because the guy didn't warn me that he was about to release me. It was nothing compared to The Plunge at Bohol's E.A.T. Danao Extreme Adventure Tour. ^^

From Camp John Hay, we then went to Burnham Park for some biking and boating.

From Burnham Park, we went to SM to grab some dinner at Gerry's Grill. The food was good but Dencio's was better. ^^ After dinner, we planned to watch the last full show of Transformers 3 so that we can pack our things after and head directly to the bus terminal. Unfortunately, we were late for about 5 mins! They wouldn't allow us to go inside the cinema because the movie already started 5 mins ago. Duh! It was our loss if we missed 5 mins of the movie but they didn't let us in. So we just went back to the hotel and took a short rest before going to the bus terminal.

We took the Deluxe bus with wifi and CR on our trip back to Manila. It was the most expensive trip they had but if you're thinking about safety and fast travel, it will all be worth it. We arrived in Manila too early but we just went straight to SM Mall of Asia hoping for some open restaurant. Some fast foods were open 24 hours so we took our breakfast at KFC and waited at the bay area until 10am for the mall to open.

Since our flight back to Iloilo was scheduled at around 5-6 pm, we just stayed at MoA and watched Transformers 3. I felt asleep on the later part of the movie not because it was boring but I just really lacked sleep that time.lol Anyway, on our way to NAIA terminal 3, we were wondering why the taxi driver didn't turn on his taxi meter. He told us that he's charging us a fixed rate of PhP350! Richy demanded we'll just transfer to another taxi because it won't really cost us about a hundred if he turned on the meter. But Gracey agreed with the fixed rate to avoid trouble. Though we just paid PhP300 to the driver. What a scammer!

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Summer-Ender Vacation: Baguio I

From EK Shuttle Service's drop off point at Makati, we then went straight to Victory Liners Bus Station. We took the DeLuxe Bus to Baguio, aircon with WiFi (w/o CR), for PhP 700/pax. There were a few passengers in the bus and it was sooo cold. We arrived at Baguio around 3am, freezing! At the bus station, there was a man who offered us a selection of places to stay. He accompanied us to the different cheap hotels and we later checked in a family room at Ferrione II located at Fil-am Road. Since the sun hasn't risen yet, we slept for a few hours first before we explored Baguio.

We had our lunch at Baliwag Lechon Manok located near Burnham Park. We then looked for an internet cafe to check for emails and searched for things to do in Baguio. The man who helped us find a hotel offered us a whole day trip for PhP2500. Since the taxi fare at Baguio was cheaper compared to riding a jeep (for a group of 6), we decided not to take Manong's offer. It was raining so hard when we were at the internet cafe so we set aside our plans yet and went to SM City Baguio.

Living in a tropical country, we were really amazed with the weather in Baguio and that the mall needs no air-conditioning system at all. LOL Anyway, when the rain stopped, we decided to start with our itinerary by going to Mines View Park. We bought some souvenirs, took photos at the beautiful "mines view" and with Doglas Baguio, and ate banana que and corn cob.

Doglas Baguio

From Mines View Park, we went to Good Shepherd Convent but they were already closed. Fortunately, there was a good spot for picture taking in there!

From Good Shepherd, we then went to Wright Park where Ernestus rode a horse for 30 mins. Then we went up at the long stairs that led to The Mansion, the official summer residence of the president of the Philippines. Well, all we had to do there was to take pictures!^^

From The Mansion, we went back to SM City for dinner. It was a long day for all of us so we thought of a nice indulgence at Dencio's. ^^ The places we visited that day were all included in the usual tour itinerary of travel agencies or contractors. Fortunately, we didn't accept the PhP2500 offer. It was fun walking and commuting at Baguio because of the cool weather. 

Our 2nd day at Baguio will be covered in my next post. ;)

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