The original plan after completing the Eco Trail at Camp John Hay was to have coffee. The only problem was we were on the wrong side of the trail. Having started the trek inside the camp, we emerged near the outside gates of John Hay near The Forest House.

On our left was the gate leading outside and on our right was another road that leads further in. I’m actually unsure where this road leads, but I have an inkling that this would eventually lead us to the area near Starbucks at Camp John Hay.

We decided to check it out.

I’ve been looking for a walking trail in Baguio City for the longest time. One would expect that this wouldn’t really be a problem since the city is surrounded by pine-laden hills and all, but you’d be surprised that there are hardly any trekking grounds in the area at all.

So before heading to Baguio this time around, I Googled high and low for trekking grounds and at last stumbled upon a blog post regarding a  trail run held at Camp John Hay. Where exactly at the camp this was, I’m not so sure, John Hay is not exactly small and the post did not include a map of the run.

Camp John Hay is where it all started for Baguio developing into what it is now.

The Americans first took interest in Baguio during the early 1900’s due to its cool climate, erecting Camp John Hay as a recreation facility for their troops in the Pacific. The resort was then exclusive to American soldiers but was later opened to the general public. It was used as a military headquarters during the Second World War and was later turned over to the Philippine government after the RP-US Bases Agreement in 1991.

Call us overly commercialized consumers, but we’ll never let a visit to Baguio City pass without having our caffeine fix at the McDonald’s of coffeehouses, Starbucks Coffee.  [Check out my previous Starbucks Camp John Hay post]

But make no mistake, the Starbucks branch at Camp John Hay is far from the usual ones we see in the metro. Nestled against soaring pine trees, it is housed in a light-green clapboard bungalow reminiscent of the quaint American houses that probably once populated this camp.

I am normally not a Starbucks person.

I’d rather have those fifteen-peso coffee in styro cups than purchase hundred-or-so-peso ones from a highfalutin coffeeshop. But Starbucks aficionados or not, the Starbucks branch at the Camp John Hay will just draw you in like gravy to potato with its country charm amidst the majestic pines.

Situated at one of the park’s niches, it is housed in an elevated light-green clapboard bungalow, reminiscent of early American houses. Surrounded by towering pine trees and quite a bit out of the main thoroughfare, all you can hear are the whispers of the chilly wind as they pass through the leafy canopy overhead. It just mixes pleasantly with Starbucks’ tasteful jazz music and customer chatter. A crow calls on occasions, gracefully interrupting the lulling sounds of the park.

It was way past midnight and the moon was at its zenith, shining brightly against the deep blue heavens, illuminating the towering pine trees just a few feet from where we were sitting. It was the year’s coldest night yet, with temperature almost hitting the single digit mark. But there we were, struggling to fight off the cold at Le Monet Hotel’s restaurant deck, enjoying bottles of beer and swapping stories like there’s no tomorrow.

LE MONET HOTEL SPARKLES DURING THE EVENINGS

We arrived in Baguio City the previous night, backpacks in tow, ready for a weekend of nothing but leisure and luxury. And there’s nowhere else we’d rather stay than at Le Monet Hotel inside Camp John Hay. To its door, our feet led us.

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I cannot believe that I’d be staying at Baguio City’s premier hotel for one night.

I always fancy staying at The Manor every time we visit the City of Pines, but its rates are too steep for mere mortals like us. We’d usually just saunter in their lobby, checking out the fireplace, the quirky political chess pieces at one of its nooks, then head over the gardens at the back for some photos.
The air was chilly as we alighted from our Lakbay Norte bus and unloaded our baggage at the hotel foyer. Warm lights illuminated the expansive wood-paneled lobby, the blazing central fireplace warming the nippy Camp John Hay night coming in from the hotel’s open doors.

Designed by Architect Ruben Payumo, the four-star hotel is instantly recognizable with its Canadian fir logs façade. It sits on a hilltop, the former location of the camp’s main clubhouse, emulating a classic European Manor towering over the land.

Here's a rough sketch of our four-day stay in Baguio:

I T I N E R A R I E S

Day One
People Watching at Burnham Park
Burnham Park’s Orchidarium
Ukay Ukay Stores Revisited
Zola Resto Café
50’s Diner

Day Two
Veniz Grill Breakfast Buffet
Walking Around Tam-Awan Village
The Art of Tam-Awan
Tam-Awan Café
The Architecture of BenCab Museum
The Art Inside BenCab Museum
Café Sabel
Café by the Ruins
Night Market

Baguio City has been called a lot of things—the City of Pines, the Summer Capital of the Philippines—but what it is, really, is my favorite city in the Philippines.

It is arguably the hub of tourism in Luzon, especially during the month-long festivities of the Panagbenga Festival every February. It has the best thrift shopping places with its ukay-ukay stores. A food trip paradise with its numerous restaurants lining Session Road. And a weekend-getaway haven with its numerous tourist spots and general accessibility from Metro Manila. Its year-round cool and temperate weather only adds to its charm as a tourist destination.

I know I’m not alone in nominating Baguio City as their favorite city, but if you’re still unconvinced, here’s a travel guide to convert you to become a certified Baguio Junkie.

Please do not consider us gluttons if we were again at a restaurant somewhere in the vicinity of the Baguio City. It just so happens that D of Tracking Treasure was celebrating his birthday and we, of course, have to indulge him as he treated us for a little pre-dinner snack at Choco-Late de Batirol.

I first took notice of this little café when it was still located near the Historical Core of Camp John Hay. We always made it a point to visit the place when in Baguio City even though their dishes are a bit expensive (it ranges from Php160.00 to Php300.00). It was after all their tsokolate batirol, a rich, slightly bitter drink made by manually mixing a concoction of chocolate on a metal jar using a wooden stick, that we were really after.

Tucked unassumingly on one corner of the zigzagging road to Camp John Hay is one of Baguio's fancier restaurant, the Forest House Bistro and Cafe.

The outer facade of the resto is quite unassuming, but once you enter the foyer, you know that this place is not your run-of-the-mill type of bistro.  Visitors are immediately greeted with colorful stained glass windows, vintage looking tiles and tall wooden columns supporting a vaulted translucent ceiling.  Past the portal, the interior is styled like a homey log cabin complete with a fireplace, wooden furniture and warm comforting sofas.  The place looks inviting even if the table set-up calls for a formal dinner.

Heading to the airport for my flight to Thailand, I heaved my enormous backpack and boarded the MRT. A storm warning was being announced on TV as I went out of house about an hour ago. Now the rain fell, not all at once, but a slow pattering that incessantly pelted the train’s window, blurring EDSA from my view.

I was mulling over the invite I received a week ago to revisit Baguio City when my mobile phone rang. Visions of pine trees melted into a train full of early evening passengers. My Manila to Phuket Flight just got cancelled.

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This is the mug that started it all, Baguio City was my very first Starbucks Global Icon City Mug.

I first saw this at Camp John Hay’s Starbucks branch some years back but hesitated in buying it. I was torn; it looked so nice but I have too many coffee mugs already and at Php425.00, its hefty price tag was not helping at all too.

I definitely know that once I bought this, the collector completist in me would surely emerge and I would have no choice but to buy each Starbucks Global Icon mugs in the country.

The Diplomat Hotel is one of Baguio's darker locations.  It sits atop the Dominican hill, one of the higher parts of the Baguio.  Reportedly haunted, the abandoned hotel looms ominously over the city. 

The structure has a long history associated with it. The Dominicans, intending it as a rest house, completed it in 1915. It was then converted to a school, and then back to a vacation house. The hauntings, supposedly started when the building was used as a shelter and was bombed, killing a number of persons inside it, during the second world war.

Philippine National Artist Benedicto Reyes Cabrera, more popular known by his shortened name, BenCab, has carved his own place at Baguio by erecting his very own museum on a top of the hill at the outskirts of the city.

BenCab, has been tagged by writer Jennifer Lapira as "arguably the best-selling painter of his generation of Filipino artists." Born in Malabon, Philippines where he was influenced by his brother Salvador into the arts.  He migrated to London after marrying a British writer and from there his career in painting blossomed.  Doing exhibits from London to New York to Macau.  He went back to the Philippines after a divorce and finally settled in Baguio, forming the Baguio Arts Guild with film director Kidlat Tahimik and sculptor Ben Hur Villanueva.

Like Edgar Allan Poe’s Purloined Letter, one of Baguio's best kept secret is openly located on its busiest district; the Session road.

The first clue in locating this gem of a restaurant is by finding the La Azotea building.  Being one of the older buildings in the area, it has that old Manila building feel to it.  Do not be daunted though, enter the building and ascend five flights of its darkly lit antique staircase until you reach the very top.  Then stop, and have a breather; for in the next minute your breath will surely taken away again as you find yourself transported into a landscape as playful and colorful as Lucy’s diamond sky.

Mines View is one of the oldest and most famous attraction in the City of Pines. The park got its name from the Benguet mountain range where gold, silver and copper were once quarried.  It was a mining area for local diggers before the Americans discovered Baguio City.

During the early seventies, local children used to wait far below the viewing deck to catch coins being thrown down by tourists using makeshift sticks with baskets on top.  However, due to the extremities of the location, accidents did occur and the local government finally forbade the practice.  A memoriam is erected on one side of the cliff to commemorate those children that lost their lives in making a living in the area.

It was unlike any other waterfall I’ve seen. Gushing from a solid rock wall, the Bridal Veils Falls in the town of Tuba, cascades down from a great height before rumbling into a dark pool surrounded by craggy boulders that looked as though it has been carved eons ago. From afar, it indeed looks like a very long white veil, resting on a towering rock face.

When they said that there’s a waterfalls in the vicinity of Baguio City, it was wrong of me not to believe them.

THE VIEW FROM KENNON ROAD, EN ROUTE TO BRIDAL VEIL FALLS

Azalea Hotel introduced me to the Bridal Falls. It was part of our Baguio Itinerary, and it was my first time to visit a waterfall near the city. But near is really not quite the term for it. Located at the border of Camp 1 and 2 in Tuba—Barangay Twin Peaks—Benguet, it was a good hour of a drive along Kennon Road before we reached the hiking point to the falls.

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It was the same as my last visit, this time with the folks from Le Monet Hotel in Camp John Hay. Everyone was constantly asking if we’re there yet. No, we are not there just yet.

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For years, I have always been unconcerned about my health since even though I’m overweight, I have never once felt anything out of the ordinary. Until I decided to have an actual full physical exam. The results were all marked in red—my body, it turns out, was in terrible shape. And that got me to start my fitness journey—I calorie-counted, removed red meat as much as I could from my diet, added more greens on my plate, and exercised daily.

After a year, my health started to normalize. My blood sugar, uric acid, and cholesterol count went down, and I lost weight. However, I’m still unsatisfied with my current weight—a little over the BMI standard—so, I still exercise daily.

I usually alternate between doing static step-up exercise inside the house and walking 10,000 steps outside. With all these, I usually just use my phone to count my steps and the calories I burn. Pretty limited, since it can’t really read my body stats like heart rate and all that.

That was until I was given a chance to use the Samsung Galaxy Fit3. It just might be the perfect smartwatch that can help me achieve my desired body weight. I received the Galaxy Fit3 just right before BG, Kid A, and I embarked on an eleven-day trip to Baguio City—the perfect place to test it out since it’s gonna be one heck of a walkathon for us.

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Warmth emanated from the hearth as its embers crackled and hissed. It was a cold December evening, and evenings doesn’t get much colder in the Philippines than in Baguio City. We were at a residence-turned café, found on a lonely road en route to Mines View. We were at Café Yagam and we’re here for two things, their coffee and Cordilleran cuisine.

CAFE YAGAM IN BAGUIO CITY

Away from the maddening crowd of Baguio City, Café Yagam sets its ambience right before you get there. Twisting and climbing our way across a pine-laden road, we turned left and followed a narrow path that seem to lead nowhere. We held our route until a small sign told us we’re finally at our dinner place.

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