Baguio, The Philippines

Caught a bus from Manila to Luzon province and Baguio. There was not much here to see and do but it was a stepping stone to the World Heritage Site of the ancient rice terraces in Banaue. The city is always coverered in mist and so it was quite cold in the evenings. We didn't need an air-conditioned hotel room!

Unfortunately we got stuck in Baguio because there were two typhoons in the province. We had a nice enough room in a clean hotel with cable TV so were able to stay put and watch the typhoons progress through the province. They even had piped Christmas music in the corridors. We also managed to get some postcards written and John got hooked into his Sudoku book again. Banaue is a small place in the mountains at the end of dirt roads so it was not a good idea to go there after the typhoons because of the slips and fallen trees etc.

In Baguio we felt comfortable walking about the place at night and found a huge shopping mall called SM where there were many restaurants, a foodcourt, supermarket and internet shops to keep us busy.

We thought it would be nice and peaceful in the mountains and away from Manila but the jeepneys and tricycles cause as much congestion, noise and pollution as they do in Manila.

There was also a 6.1 earthquake near Baguio but we seemed to have missed it but some other travellers we have met felt it.

One of the favourite dishes here is pork intestines and a favourite snack is fried pig skin which they eat with a hot spicy sauce.

Baguio is a university town so it is full of younguns canoodling in the parks and chatting in the internet shops.

(Photos to come as soon as we find a place that has the equipment to load them!)