Panagbenga Festival 2008

9:27 PM | Posted by Roadtrippers




Headed North, again, this time, to the Summer Capital of the Philippines, Baguio City. For a few weeks in February, Baguio holds its annual Flower Festival; and lucky for us, February 23-25 was a long weekend, a good chance to take a break from the city life and relax.

So were we able to relax?

Unfortunately, people from across the Philippines, and even a good number of foreign tourists also thought of what we had in mind. Panagbenga really sets Baguio into a populous, live, busy city in an instant. People are here, there, and everywhere. Hotels, villas, and for-rent houses are full, restaurant seats are all taken, taxis are all hired, parks are jampacked. Fortunately, accomodation didn't become a problem for us. The boss of Anna's mom was kind enough to lend us her house with 9 spacious rooms and that helped us save a good amount of money, and have a sound sleep.


During our first day, we had our lunch in Solibao Restaurant. We ordered the Ihaw-Ihaw Delight, tortang talong, kangkong and 3 rice platters for 8 people which had only cost us a a hundred and so, per person. Later on, Sherwin, Ana, Raf and I had our merienda/dinner at Zola Cafe and Restaurant. Their Pizza Cebu was the best. Mangoes, anchovies and cheese.. yummy! Pizza Quattro (4 cheese) was sumptuous too and so as their pastas, Tomato Meat and Bolognese Spaghetti. Add up a glass of Coke and a bottle of San Mig Light, we spent only P400 for that.

The Flower Parade which happened the next day, sent all people to the streets. Despite the rain, everyone stood and waited excitingly to catch a glimpse of the floats. There were few remarkable floats, including those of People Support, Bicycle Club, TJ Hotdogs, and Cebu Pacific. But the most anticipated floats were those of Kapuso, GMA7 and Kapamilya, ABS-CBN which both contained some of today's hottest primetime stars. Richard Gutierrez, Jewel Misch, Alfred Vargas, Iza Calzado, Iwa Moto, Jomari Yllana, Jody Sta.Maria, Kim Chiu, Gerald Anderson and Angelica Panganiban were present.






The next day, some of our friends already headed back to Manila, leaving only me and Sherwin. Good thing we met up with Jeamie and Eica to explore more of Baguio. We went to Oh My Gulay, a restaurant-gallery; Tam-Awan Village, Lourdes Grotto,Nevada Square, Cathedral, more of Session Road and City Market. It was fun and we had a lot of our pictures taken.


We headed back to the house for final packing, and we computed how much, each of us had spent in that long weekend in Baguio. The average amount was P1,500-P2,500 per person. Excluding accomodation, including meals, transportation and shopping.

We left Baguio at 9pm Monday and got to Manila at about 2am Tuesday.

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The 12th Hot Air Balloon Fiesta

2:31 PM | Posted by Roadtrippers

"Like a shamanistic language, flight speaks in different idioms. We can blast rockets to the stars. We can race across the sky on fixed wings. Ballooning appeals because it is more languorous and low-tech; it's adventure in an antique mood.

What a treat to stroll through the veils of twilight, to float across the sky like a slowly forming thought. Flying an airplane, one usually travels the shortest distance between two points. Balloonists can dawdle, lollygag, cast their fate to the wind and become part of the ebb and flow of nature, part of the sky itself, held aloft like any bird, leaf or spore. In that silent realm, far from the mischief and toil of society, all one hears is the urgent breathing of the wind and, now and then, an inspiring gasp of hot air."

-Diane Ackerman, "Traveling Light,' op-ed in the New York Times, 11 January 1997


How great could it have been if we really had a chance to ride one of those balloons and experience the feeling described in this quotation; but too bad.. all we had was a glimpse of them.. being inflated, set to rise, soaring above, and have landed.

My friends and I decided to pay off a little visit to the North, to see the 12th Hot Air Balloon Fiesta. We decided to meet in 7-11 Kamias at around 3am so we can get there early and find a good spot for balloon watching, lomo photoshoot and of course.. dozing off. There were already a lot of people when we got there around 5 and like us, they were also excited to see the balloons in flight.

The weather was fine and perfectly suited for the whole process.. 21 balloons participated but one balloon unfortunately wasn't able to fly (some technical problems, perhaps). Everyone had their favorite balloons and were clapping as they were launched. The launching, I have to say is the only exciting part. The rest were just so-so. Good thing, I was with my friends and they made the stay fun and enjoyable.

We brought along a tent which was so hard to pitch. None of us were boy scouts or girl scouts, nor hikers and campers. We were figuring out our way to make the tent stand and after a long trial and error of inserting pegs into wrong holes, with the crowd witnessing our every move, we made it. There was even a woman probably on her fifties who congratulated us for having finally pitched the tent. She said, "O buti naayos na.. nakatulog na ko at lahat..". Oh well, we have teamwork!

We didn't stay there 'til the end of the day. At lunch time, we headed to SM Clark for sumptuous meal in Pollo Rico. They have good food. Wide selections, various dishes, fair serving, that will surely suit all budgets; but dining out in groups can really help you save a lot. There were 9 of us and we ordered, 4 dishes and 2 java rice good for 4, sodas and ice teas, and we only get to pay I think P1,000-P1,300. Not bad.


After strolling in the mall, we discovered Dr. Pearl. It's like Zagu but not like it on kiosks, they have nice rattan solo sofas to lounge on. So it's like being on a sort of Starbucks which offers drinks on a range of P35-P60. We really had a good time there, not because of the drinks, which btw were just ok; but because we were thinking of localizing some hollywood movies. Can you imagine Jimmy Santos as Shrek? Nora Aunor as Meryl Streep in the Devil Wears Prada.. and how about Aiza being Jubilee if ever that character will be included in X-Men's Pinoy version.



After a long day, we decided to finally head back to Manila and promise to come back next year for new balloons, more food adventures, and of course more bonding moments.

Here's a list of things that help us got along in that trip:

- a P1,000 amount of unleaded gas for the CR-V
- tent, mat, pillows, umbrellas
- some poi, RC helicopters and a kite for leisure
- pocket money (the trip didn't cost us much.. we only paid the contribution for gas (100 per person), the entrance (P100 each), and the food (prob P200-P300)

So that's it. With a budget of probably P500 per person, you and your friends can now start planning your trip to the next Hot Air Balloon Fiesta.

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