Hotel 45 Baguio

... friends.
After sailing on the high seas, which were not that high at that time, we began to approach our longed for sea port, on the Isle of Mindoro and then gradually the shore line began to take on clear images of many people waiting at the pier, for our boat to moor along side, and unload its passengers.
Finally our ship began to dock at the wharf and the gang plank lowered to the awaited ferry pier. I could wait no longer and ...

... our overnight bus journey the weather got worse and raining more and more, but we could see the scenery getting increasingly eye catching as we rode along the more bumpier dust roads through countryside and up the mountains. As soon as we got there we found a lovely hostel overlooking a valley and Fran and I squashed into a small tricycle and went to the two lookouts. When we got there it was so foggy we could hardly see ...

... son anglais, lol. Plus loin, la route se gate, plus de route, du chemin, de la grimpette, aie les gambettes, Joel me taille un baton. Moi qui ne suis pas grimpeur, je reconnais la vertu du baton, element essentiel donc du trip. D'ailleurs, ce n'est pas aux pieds que j'aurais des ampoules, mais a la base du pouce, la ou je tiens le baton. Comme quopi la marche fait du mal aux mains... Le chemin pour Cambulo etant effondre, nous irons directement sur Batad, de jolies ...

... evidemment. Je poursuis ma route, je n'aime pas faire un chemin en sens inverse, bah nan ! En fait de route, il s'agit de suivre un chemin, plutot un trait de 30 cm de large, parfois cimente, parfoiis de terre, qui delimite les terrasses. La pluie commence a tomber, je continue, je ne sais pas ou aller non plus, je demande, la pluie redouble, parfois ca grimpe dur, essoufle, je me trouve tres con parfois, je continue, je demande mon chemin, on me dit "par la ...

... terraces. It is inaccessible by any vehicle, hence the hour long hike... but very much worth it. We were lucky enough to be picked up at the drop off by Francis, who is the brother of Ramon - the creator of Ramon's home stay. Francis and his family (Ramon was absent) provided us with EVERYTHING we needed for the next 24 hours. Francis guided us along the ancient ...

Salut tout le monde Nous allons bien. Aujourd'hui 5 heures d'autobus pour revenir a Baguio. Nous sommes retombe dans l'anonyma. Rien de bien particulier sauf que ca fait la 3 ieme fois que nous voyons le meme films dans l'autobus. On comprend pourquoi ils ont appele ca "rush hour 3". On devra peut-etre le rebatise si on le vois encore une fois. Bisouxxxxxxxxxxxx France et Rejean

... it was sparsely populated and surprisingly comfy. The lack of foreigners made us think we were in for a bumpy ride. Very quickly I was taught the lesson not to judge the bus by its mud stained, window cracked, upholstery torn cover. This was simply one of the best bus journeys in the world. The scenery was absolutely amazing, the mountains stretching away into the infinite distance, bright and deep greens as a thick cover of rainforest covered them from head ...

Finally at the end of our trip. Baguio is a very mountainous place in the Philippines. It used to be called "The City of Pines" because of several pine forests, but most of those are now gone due to many people living in Baguio. It used to get very cold (enough to see your breath in the mornings), but it doesn't get that cold anymore because of all the people. It's still cooler than the low lands, so it's now called "The Summer Capital of the Philippines".

... Baguio ist eine Urlaubsstadt in den Bergen fuer die Einwohner Manilas (um der Hitze im Sommer zu entfliehen), ist aber nicht besonders sehenswert. Habe dort zu Mittag gegessen und bin dann in einen Bus nach Norden an der Kueste entlang (die man aber nur selten sieht) nach Vigan gefahren, die letzte erhaltene koloniale Stadt der Philippinen. An der Kueste war ...

After some days in Manila drinking beer generally not doing anything we decided to head North. So did Andrew and as he had the guidebook we decided to follow so that is why I have transited to this town in the middle of nowhere with hardly anything to see? Little did we know that Baguio was our last stop for civilisation before the mountains. To get to Sagada from the Baguio we traveled by public bus for 7 hours amount ...