ioreth

I didn’t make it for the flower festival, but we did finally go to Baguio in April. It was better than expected and we look forward to going again. The cool weather was an added plus after the summer heat in Manila

My friend from back home just started this little store up in the past few months and I am impressed at what she has to offer…cool yarn, handmade needles, buttons, stitch markers, totes, needle cases, patterns and kits. Adding a little bit of creativeness to a town that desperately needs it. They also have a knitting group that meets at the Flying M Garage in Nampa. Check out the website if you can’t go to the store in person: http://thenewewe.com

As we were walking through Rizal Park we came across a Calesa, a horse-drawn carriage. We thought this looked like fun, but we made the mistake of not determing the fee before we took off. I had read that a 15 minute ride should be about 100 pesos, so I wasn’t too worried. But after our driver tried to drive us all over town and get us to stop at tourist attractions in Intramuros, we told him we just wanted him to take us back to the park. As we pulled up to our vehicle, he tried to tell us our trip would be 2,500 pesos. Whoa!!!! How stupid do we look? We said no way, we’ll give you a 100. hehe Then he pulled out this little card that said a trip was 250 per person for a 45 minute ride and tried to tell us we had been clopping around for 2 hours. We did not know the exact time, but knew for sure it was not over the 45 minutes. He had said our baby would be free, so the most it should have been was a 1000 P for the rest of us, which I still think was the “American” rate and way too much. He seemed very upset, but we gave him 1000 P plus a 100 tip for himself, his boy, and the tour guide we picked up along the way and refused to pay more. He still was protesting, but we just said no and walked away. I think we still got ripped off.

Here is another story I found after we visited the park.

Living in the city, there are few places that we can go where 3 young children can run, jump in puddles and explore. I have wanted to visit Rizal Park for awhile, the gardens being the main attraction for me. I love visiting gardens, their beauty inspires me. I aspire to landscape and garden my own yard, but my attempts often fall short. Its nice to get ideas from other places.

We visited the Site of Rizal’s execution and the Chinese Garden first. They are on the Northwest corner of the park. It was good to learn a little histroy of one of the Philippines’s most beloved heroes. The Chinese Garden was not what I expected. It had a few good features, but was sparsely landscaped for the most part. You might as well pay the 5 pesos and walk through while you are here, however.

If you walk down the sidewalk a bit more, you will find the Japanese Garden next. This was a step up from the Chinese Garden and had a lovely bridge and some very pretty spots within, but could still use some improvement.

The last garden we visited was the Orchidarium. This can be reached by crossing the street and is on the North side of the park, across from the large black sculpture. I’m glad we saved this one for last. It was beautiful and lush, with tropical vegetation covering every inch of the garden, secret little paths to explore and a Butterfly Pavilion which was magical with little creatures fluttering about your head. The children loved this garden and so did I. It also looked like they were setting up for a wedding in the middle courtyard. What a beautiful location for a ceremony.

On the way back, we ran across a horse drawn carriage called a Calesa. The kids really wanted a ride so we all hopped in. It was a fun ride, but make sure you negotiate before you start!! I will add a separate entry about this.

We had a fun day visiting Rizal Park today and the many gardens within. I will write more and upload some photos in the next few days.

Directly south of Intramuros lies Rizal Park, the country’s most significant park. The 60 hectare Rizal Park sits on the site where José Rizal, the country’s national hero, was executed by the Spaniards on charges of subversion. A monument stands in his honor where Rizal’s remains were buried. The big flagpole west of the Rizal Monument is Kilometer Zero for road distances on the island of Luzon and the rest of the country.

Other attractions in Rizal Park include the Chinese and Japanese Gardens, the Department of Tourism building, the National Museum of the Filipino People, The National Library of the Philippines, the Planetarium, the Orchidarium and Butterfly Pavilion, an open-air auditorium for cultural performances, a relief map of the Philippines, a fountain area, a children’s lagoon, a chess plaza, a light and sound presentation, and the Quirino Grandstand.

We love this place because of the playground. There are not many around Manila and with 3 young children we are always looking for good places to let out some energy. The mall isn’t too bad in itself and the supermarket has just about anything an expat could want.

This is a good day trip from Manila, especially if you have kids. Our children had fun climbing up and down the stairs at the viewing spot and riding the horses (in a circle). I would also recommend a trip to Sonya’s garden while you are in the area. A beautiful place with lovely little cottages you can stay in and a wonderful restaurant where they serve food using produce from their own gardens. We want to go back sometime and stay the night without the kids!

I have been to Sinai twice, and would recommend that you place it at the top of your list of places not to miss in Romania. Sinai rests at the base of some beautiful mountains and there is a cable car in the town you can take to the top. If you hike about 6 miles across the plateu you will reach another cable car that can take you back down into the town of Busteni. There is a little place (they call it a hut) at the top where you can go inside and rest and get snacks and I think even stay the night if you want. I’m not completely sure about that. Once you reach here you you can also hike down the mountain if you want to. The first time I was here, we were not planning to do this, but when we reached the cable car, it was closed. It was in the fall and already late in the day so by the time we got to the bottom of the mountain it was dark. The trail is ok, but definitely not easy and not good to traverse in the dark. There are places where all you have to get you across is a couple of cables anchored to the side of the mountain. While I wouldn’t recommend doing this in the dark, it did lend a fairytale quality to the adventure with the mist floating between the mountains and the darkening shadows creating trolls out of tree stumps.
The second time we were here, we just went to Busteni and decided to climb UP the mountain this time. I am not that athletic and it was sheer willpower that got me up the last half. This is a very steep climb (2000 m ). The crazy thing was that there were Romanian ladies climbing up this mountain with sandals on and carrying shopping bags with their picnic lunch to eat at the top. Well, when I reached the top, I collapsed in exhaustion and after 20 minutes of rest we had to go back down to meet up with the people who gave up before they got to the top. I cannot begin to describe the beauty of this place. It is something you must experience yourself.

Every year Baguio has a flower festival in February. I really want to go the next time it comes around!