A Splendid Vacation with Eurotel's Baguio Bliss

Baguio City - City of Pines. Summer Capital of the Philippines.

Lion's Head in Kennon Road, Baguio City

Baguio has been a favorite place of the many here in our country. With its cool breeze and wonderful sights to see, no wonder people keeps coming back to this lovely place over and over again.

I personally LOVE Baguio City. It is actually on my top most favorite places here in the Philippines. And as I went back here last week to be a part of Eurotel's annual Baguio Bliss, I can't help but to get excited, since this will be my first time to go up here with a group of bloggers, and curious as to what has changed in this cool yet very accommodating city.

Eurotel Baguio

(read my blog about Eurotel Baguio here)

This is the second time Eurotel hosted such vacation to a group of bloggers. Lucky me, I was qualified to join them this time to experience a world-class treatment here in Baguio.

The Bloggers

The treatment, the amenities, the company - SUPERB. Everything was so unexpected but really enjoyable, something that a usual visitor like me wants to have or should I say longing to experience. ^_^

We arrived at Baguio City an hour and a half before noon. We had a quick stopover at the Lion's Head, which is a must-visit spot here in Baguio because it serves as "the symbol" of the whole province. Then, after some picture takings and cups of Strawberry Taho, a strawberry-flavored soya drink that you can only buy here, we reached the 2-year-old Eurotel Baguio.

Baguio City Hall and Burnham Park

Eurotel Baguio is standing in front of Baguio City Hall, just behind Cafe by the Ruins, which is a popular cafe here in Baguio City. With its red and green colors, Eurotel can be seen even when you are in Burnham Park, SM Baguio and Baguio Cathedral.

Baguio Cathedral

Upon our arrival at the hotel, Eurotel staff guided us to our rooms where we are about to spend a 3-day/2-night vacation. Yes, 3 days and 2 nights! Exciting right? They let us have some minute of rest, then by around 12:30 p.m., they called us back to the dining area where we had our very first hotel lunch. We had soup, some noodle dish, fried dishes, a meat dish with a sauce and some vegetable dish that time. 

Baguio is also known for its fresh fruits and vegetables, so having some vegetables while you are in this lovely city is really a must-do.

Okay, after our lunch, by around 2 in the afternoon, the Eurotel Team, headed by Mr. Ivan Aoki asked us if we are all ready for the first series of Baguio Bliss. With all excitement, we said YES!

For our first destination, we were challenged to hang ourselves and zip through this Paintball Republic Zipline, which can be found inside Camp John Hay.

Paint Ball Republic Zipline

To be honest, THAT WAS SO EASY! Hahaha! *mayabang lang* It wasn't that really scary, though it was really cold up there. Hehe.

After that, the Eurotel Team took us to other attractions inside the camp, that includes the Historical Core where you can see this creepy but turned out to be so cool Cemetery of Negativism, Liberty Loop and The Bell House.

Cemetery of Negativism

Liberty Loop

The Bell House

Since, the whole place is all about hiking and breathing and hiking and breathing, we all took a break and enjoyed some "meryenda" inside the camp too. One thing we learned while eating there, we must eat our food quick, because it'll get cold fast.

After that, we went back to Eurotel Baguio to refresh and rest again. I don't have any plans of resting, really. But when they said that we'll have some videoke session later after dinner, I went back to my room and let my voice rest for a bit. Haha! Vocalization galore ang drama. Haha!

Taken during our dinner

That was a very long first day, but everything was worthy! I had a chance to bond with my fellow bloggers while singing our hearts out. This is really one treat that I will never forget.

Our second day in this blissful vacation, after having a power buffet breakfast at the hotel, our group hopped in our van and headed to Baguio City's Orchidarium.

Orchidarium

Believe it or not, it was my first time to go here. I didn't know that there's a place like this that exist just beside Burnham Park. And the thing that adds up to my surprise, the prices of the plants here are very, very affordable. They have Marigolds here that costs only Php10.00 per pot! Ain't that amazing? I mean, wow! The colors were so Baguio too, it feels so Panagbengga right then and there!

After getting so amazed to all of those plants and flowers, Eurotel Team took us up north to La Trinidad, Baguio's neighboring town, to check our The Bell Church.

La Trinidad Welcome Arch

The Bell Church

I was able to lit up an incense inside their temple and made a wish. It was my first time to visit that place too, so I made sure that I'll check out every corner of the whole lot - I mean mountain, because you have to climb to see the other parts of the temple.

And again, since that activity was very tiring, our next destination led us to one healthy and very artistic haven called Oh My Gulay!

Oh My Gulay!

We went back to Baguio City, down to Session Road, just to have a taste of the Baguio's freshest and most delicious vegetable dishes! This is another activity that I would love to do over and over again because everything was unbelievably delicious! Hihihi! 

I had an inside scoop about the place. According to a friend, the chef of this very unique restaurant is a member of the band Session Road. I just can't remember if it is the lead guitarist or the drummer. :-)

At Strawberry Farm in La Trinidad, Benguet

Next to that unforgettable lunch, our group continued our exploration, and this time, we went back up to La Trinidad to check out the star fruit of the city - strawberry!

During my last visit here in Baguio, I wasn't able to enjoy the place because it wasn't  strawberry picking season. But this time, since its just February, strawberries were propping up like the one in the online game Smurfs! It was, really, really, really beautiful!

There was a large crowd of visitor enjoying the fresh strawberries when we arrived, but that didn't stopped us from seeing the farm. It's been ages since I saw this place like this, and it was a delight to see all these red fruits all over the place again! Indeed, strawberry is the life of Baguio City and I love them!

The moment we were done with our strawberry excitement and more pasalubong-buying, Eurotel Team asked us to hop back inside the van because the fun and thrill of this Baguio Bliss is not stopping there.

We drove further north of the province to check out one of the most visited and well-protected ancient villages of Benguet Province. With a little clue as to where we are going next, I'm worried that my outfit that day wouldn't fit to this activity, but then, again, there's the excitement there so Rammmpa lang! :-)

Tam-Awan Village

Tam-Awan Village is nestling to some Ifugao houses of the province. With its lush green view and steep staircase that will lead you to, I believe, highest peak of La Trinidad, traversing such challenging trail was nothing compared to the view that it offers. It was literally and figuratively breathtaking - something that a visitor would love to witness by him/herself.

And since the whole lot of pine trees was really captivating, we didn't let the moment passed. Together with my fellow bloggers, as well as the Eurotel Team, we posed for some souvenir photos that I would love to share to all of you. :-)

Pang pre-nup na ba? Hahaha!

We spent some minutes up there enjoying the serenity of the whole place and the cooler breeze, it was a refreshing place, believe me.

When we noticed that fog were starting to cover the whole mountain, we decided to go down and hit the village's cafeteria.

There were some men enjoying some beers when we arrived, thank God, the cafeteria was huge enough to seat more people. We had some "meryenda" there first before deciding to bid farewell to Tam-Awan Village.

I remember telling the group that we were fooled by the idea of this place being a village, because for me, it was more of a mountain. With its steep staircases going up, it was really tiring, good thing there's a wonderful view up there as a reward. Hehe.

The group decided to return to Eurotel Baguio afterwards, to rest and to do the mini game that they prepared to us.

The game was actually like an Amazing Race only we have to find the locations and take an exactly the same pictures of the postcard that they gave us. It was a fun and interesting game, in my opinion, because we were able to explore Baguio on foot, and made us love the whole city more.

O' Mai Khan

The announcement of the winners happened over dinner at O Mai Khan, which offers an eat-all-you-can Mongolian dinner. And guess what again, I won! Hahaha! But I only placed third. Still a winner, right! Wee! :-)

Spa Du Soleil

Eurotel Baguio really gave the best to us on this Baguio Bliss - we were spoiled right from the very beginning til the very end of this vacation. And the sweetest thing of all, on our last night, an amazing and truly relaxing spa treatment from their spa neighbor, Spa Du Soleil, was waiting for all of us.

On the following day, though it was a sad day because it was our last day in Baguio, I must say that I am truly blessed to be a part of this Baguio Bliss. It is the break that I'm longing for and it made more amazing because of the cool company that I'm with.

Thank you Eurotel, for this super awesome treat! I will never forget this! Thanks too to my fellow bloggers who made this trip super fun and exciting. And lastly, thank you to Baguio City, for the inspiration and the push to keep me going in life!

Eurotel, you are the best! :-) Thaaaaaaank youuuuuu!!! Muah!

P.S. I'll posting a separate blog for the destinations that we've been on this Baguio Bliss, so please stay tune or subscribe here. Thanks! *wink*