The Great Holiday Escape 2016: Baguio Day 1

NORTHERN ROAD TRIP! Wooohoooo! It was my first time to drive to Baguio (ever) this Christmas season, as our family decided to pack our sweaters and coats and head to the summer capital of the Philippines–para magpalamig. LOL. 

My mom is the queen of spontaneity, and she proposed the idea of doing a road trip for the holidays in our family group chat. It was a month before Christmas, and given that Baguio Country Club is always fully booked at peak season, it was a miracle we were able to book 2 beautiful rooms just in time for Christmas! Praise G! 

I was so tired when we got to Baguio Country Club. It was my first time to drive for 8 hours straight with minimal stopovers to stretch our legs and pee! And it's my bad I slept really late that I only had 3 hours clocked in before the long drive. 😑   Never doing that again! 

View from our room

Not our suite. Ginulo na kasi agad ni mama and Danah yung room namin, so I took a photo of this room where my aunt and uncle stayed. 😅

After lunch, I just took a long nap. Woke up pretty late so I didn't have enough time to do my eye makeup! Oh well. Actually I was also feeling lazy cos I was PMSing really bad due to 2 months of not getting my period! Kalurks. 😔 😞

Our family loves to take photos. Minsan mas "blogger" pa sila sa amin! Haha!

For dinner, we were invited to eat at The Coffee Library, located in Rex Hall. Apparently, the owner, Stephany, was one of our childhood playmate back when we would stay in our tita's house in La Union! Small world! When she heard the news we'll be in Baguio for the holidays, she invited us over to their 1-year-young restaurant and cafe.

I liked the vibe of The Coffee Library. Place was full of families and friends, bonding together over GOOD FOOD and COFFEE!

I was stoked to see their menu with all the different cuisines they offer. But more than that, I was surprised to see the prices of each dish! It was very affordable! This beautiful bowl of chicken pho is only PhP150! And it's huge! I don't eat noodles anymore (because carbs) but I had some of the soup. Super tasty. Malasa. Ang sarap!!! Tastes like legit pho, and when I talked to Stephen (co-owner), he said they really traveled to Vietnam to study how to make it!

My wellness coach advised me to eat more seafood, and that's what I've been doing every chance I get. For dinner, I saw they had tuna steak, and I love tuna! In the menu, this comes with veggies and rice, but I told them to exclude the rice. The waitress gladly asked me if I'd like to replace the rice with veggies, and I said yes!!! The tuna was cooked perfectly—soft and buttery. And look at that side of veggies! Abundant with cauliflower and broccoli! I rarely get a plate of veggies like that in Manila. Laging puro beans and carrots yung mas madami because cauli and broccoli are so expensive in the city. 😕   I LOVE BAGUIO FOR ALL THE CHEAP AND ORGANIC PRODUCE HUHUHUHUHUHU

So I was a bit takaw mata this night, that I also ordered their bacon and eggs from their "all day breakfast" menu. I had this as my midnight snack back in the hotel na lang. Mwehehe. The bacon was still crunchy when I ate it. I didn't enjoy the omelette that much because it was full of onions that it overpowered the eggs. Gusto ko lasang itlog pa din itlog ko eh. 😝

The family with Stephany Zarate, owner of The Coffee Library 💖  Thanks for having us and feeding our family! We enjoyed our dinner!!!!

The Coffee Library is a name that speaks for itself. They offer a wide selection of coffees, from beans straight from Turkey, Vietnam, America, and our very own that's locally sourced. 

Tinamad ako mag-ayos. Meh. This will do for now. 

What I wore

Some imported overrun coat from Greenhils | Some imported dress na overrun, from Greenhills too | Cotton On sneakers

After dinner, we headed to The Manor Hotel to reserve seats for the Noche Buena buffet dinner!

By the gingerbread house in The Manor. The decors were made with real icing!

Kunwari walking away shot, pero papunta naman sa wall. Shonga. LOL

We dropped off the oldies (lola, mom, tita) back to BCC before heading out to Baguio Craft Brewery. Danah met Gabe Mercado a few weeks back and apparently he's also in Baguio so nagyaya siya to hangout for his birthday salubong! He invited us to this bar that has no name, basta it's the speak easy that's on the ground floor beside the brewery. Cool ng vibe. Too bad our camera ran out of battery, didn't get to take much photos of the place!

Overall, it was such a great night. Being back in Baguio just brought so much memories. Ang saya pa ng conversations namin while drinking some scotch in the nameless bar. We jumped right into talking about life, past mistakes, shitty relationships, and all that. I love genuine conversations. :)