Weekend at the Summer Capital

at Burnham Park

Some are called jet setter but me; I’m ok with being a bus setter. After a relaxing weekend by the beach last week ...This time, Adrian and I headed to the cool mountainside of Baguio, last weekend. A great relief from the heat of summer sunshine of Manila. We were invited by Erwin, [Adrian’s former pad mate] who’s now living in Denver, to visit their newly renovated house. His sister also recently graduated from high school and the family is having a party for her. We arrived around 6 a.m. in Baguio, which is a 6 hours drive from Manila. I was so sleepy to get out of the bus, so we stayed for a while in the bus terminal, puffed some cigs and drank a cup of coffee to wake me up a bit. Afterwards, we took the taxi to go to Hillside, trying to recall where Erwin’s house was [last time we went up there was February 2002 during the Panagbenga Festival]. Good thing we still remembered that their house is near a basketball court and the taxi driver immediately recognized the place. We were greeted by Yammy and Sasa, then Ate Rheema and Tita Thelma. After breakfast, Ate Rheema gave us Erwin's gifts, and gave her the Buddha that I bought in Thailand for Erwin. [Erwin got me a Couch wristlet and a kenneth cole cologne for adrian].They were busy preparing the food for the party and we also learned that aside from Yammy’s graduation party, it’s also their house blessing.

bed time: trying out Adrian's bonnet

After some of the guest left, stuffed with delicious food, Adrian and I decided to go to Burnham Park to burn those fatty and oily food that we ate during lunch. We took pictures of ourselves with the man-made lagoon as our backdrop. [Additional collection of pictures for our pre-nup photo album]. We walked around the park with the camera at hand, ate grilled corn and puffed some more cigs. We walked from the park to SM Baguio [SM is a chain of Mall here in PH] and drank latte at Starbucks. Adrian bought 2 dri-tech shirts from Giordano and had dinner at Don Henrico’s. We were supposed to indulge to some Thai Massage but we were advised that having a massage after meal is discouraged. So I guess we have to get that massage here in Manila. We just decided to have a few drinks [when I say few, I mean 1 bottle of Vodka ice each] at Padis Point. The slightly hot feeling [due to alcohol] was so much welcome since the night breeze is stating to get chilly.

at the view deck of Mines View Park

The next day, we went to hear mass at St. Joseph’s Church and headed to Mines View Park where we bought our pasalubongs. Baguio is also famous for its silver works, so we bought an identical ring so Adrian could practice and get used to wearing a ring on his finger. We also went to Good Shepherd Convent where they make delicious Ube jam and Strawberry Jam. Adrian also bought a bonsai for his pad [He named it Woogy]. Then we headed to the Market to buy some lettuces and walis and some strawberries and crinkles cookies. So exhausted with the heavy load of pasalubongs, we stop by at McDonald's to eat lunch [it was around 3 p.m.] before going back to Hillside.We rested for a while and watched the qualifying race of F1 in Bahrain and left for the bus terminal around 4:30 pm. I actually slept quite well while we were passing the newly renovated North Luzon expressway. Adrian had to wake me up when we were in Ayala and about to disembark around 11:00 p.m.