Sagada 2023: Fulfilling A Childhood Dream

"Bata pa lang ako, pangarap ko nang makapunta sa isang lugar na malamig kapag Pasko, iyong tipong ang taas ng araw pero balot na balot ang buo kong katawan."

This would have never happened this year. After feeling under the weather for over a week, I convinced myself this trip had to be canceled. Thanks to my partner, he persuaded me to go on this trip with him, of course.

Packing for a trip had always been a challenge for us, and it's no different this time. After four hours of packing, we finally went to the bus station. As an additional challenge, taxis were nowhere to be found. So, we decided to just take a tricycle. The bus left the station at exactly 07:00 PM, just five minutes after our arrival. The trip was smooth as I expected, with occasional coughs and sneezes in the background from several passengers, including myself.

After five hours, we arrived at the Baguio City terminal, but we had to wait for almost two and a half hours for our connecting bus trip to Sagada. At the bus station, people flocked as we waited for the first trip, which thankfully left around 02:30 AM. It took us six hours to get to the Sagada Centro, after several stop-overs and many steep zigzag roads, just in time to register at the Tourist Information Center.

Our supposed check-in time was noon, but the guests before us had already checked out a couple of hours ago; that was why the receptionist checked us in around 09:00 AM. After settling in, we decided to have a late breakfast at the inn's restaurant. The food was generally good, except for some weird combinations of vegetables and mixed condiments. After, we decided to take a nap and explore the nearby establishments in the afternoon.

Around 03:00 PM, we went to the only museum in the town proper, Ganduyan Museum. It showcases things that the people of Sadada use in their daily lives. There's not much in the museum except for the catalogs with short narratives of the artifacts in the exhibit. There's an entrance fee of Php 100.00 per person.

I know that it's for the maintenance of the museum and the salary of its personnel, but I think it's a bit much. For one, the artifacts don't look well-maintained. It's as if after putting them on the shelves, that's it, no cleaning of any sort. Also, visitors have to remove their footwear before entering, which I understand was a measure to keep the place clean. But if you're exploring in slippers, good luck with the cold floor. All-in-all, it's a good experience to see what the lives of their ancestors looked like, but the museum could use some more love and care.

After spending half an hour in the museum, we decided to grab some snacks at Yoghurt House and Gaia Cafe. Yoghurt House's best-selling yoghurt was amazing. I think the coconut shreds and honey elevated this dessert, not to mention the perfect strawberry marmalade. We also ordered Bolognese pasta. I think there's nothing special about this pasta, except for the fact that the pasta was cooked al dente. Also, toasted bread could have been a better side. After an hour here, we decided to visit Gaia Cafe. From Yoghurt House, we had to take a roughly 10-minute tricycle ride. Good thing, our driver was so chatty that she informed us that it would be better if someone would fetch us after our stay, since tricycles were rare in the area. We ordered coffee and cookies while waiting, and we just basked in the cold breeze of the afternoon with the picturesque view of the fields at the back of the cafe. The cafe closed at 06:00 PM, but our tricycle driver arrived 15 minutes later because of heavy traffic.

We spent the time before our dinner at 08:00 PM just resting. I was able to catch some sleep while my boyfriend was browsing social media. Dinner at the Log Cabin was exceptional. We had to wait for almost 30 minutes while standing because many customers were still in the queue when we arrived. Good thing, the line for two people was very short. I ordered their smoked ham, and it's the best homemade ham that I've tasted so far.

For our second day, we woke up around 04:30 AM to catch the 05:00 AM bus to witness the sea of clouds at Isang Wow Cafe during sunrise. Unfortunately, the place was already crowded with other tourists, so we decided to only order a cup of coffee. It was disappointing, though, that it took them almost two hours to serve two cups of coffee. And the coffee tasted of nothing. It's as if it's just hot water with black food coloring. As for the view, it's nothing less than spectacular. We were able to see the clouds moving, and if they had moved a little towards us, we could have touched them.

Around 07:00 AM, we decided to go back to downtown to get our breakfast. We initially planned to eat breakfast at Sagada Bistro, but we found out that they open around lunchtime. We then opted to eat breakfast at Salt & Pepper. However, around this time, they only served breakfast items on their menu. There's nothing much to say about their breakfast other than marami, but your typical Pinoy breakfast items. After, we decided to have dessert at Lemon Pie House. Their lemon pie and egg pie were to die for. I will go back to Sagada to eat them again. They were perfect with their hot lemon tea.

After this, we returned to our accommodation to get some rest and resume our tour in the afternoon. Around 01:00 PM, we were already heading to Sagada Pottery. It's very near our accommodation, but since we didn't know that at first, we took a tricycle to get there. The demo they provided cost us Php 200.00 per group, regardless of the number of people in a group. I'd say it's a very short demo. It only contained a 2-minute brief history of Sagada Pottery and almost 10 minutes of telling us the basics of making a vase, pitcher, bowl, and cup. The items on sale cost at least Php 700.00. They also had an online shop, which was why we decided to only buy one item, and thought that it was better to buy the rest online since they sell them at the same price. After spending 45 minutes here, the extra 15 minutes waiting for another tricycle, we went to Sega Tours to book our Hanging Coffins itinerary.

It only took us 15 minutes to book our tour, and then we found ourselves already having a mini trek to go to the starting point, St. Mary's Church. I think this was the most challenging part of this activity since, instead of utilizing the paved road, to avoid traffic, we took some outskirt paths through the residential areas. Before we started our trek, we had to pay an entrance fee of Php 10.00 per person. While on our way to the scenic site, we passed through an Anglican cemetery. After almost 10 minutes of downhill and uphill trekking, we finally reached the hanging coffins of Sagada. As a talkative person, I was able to get as much information from our tour guide. Knowing the rich culture and tradition behind this practice was worth the breathtaking trek. After our trek, we decided to rest in front of St. Mary's Church. We just sat there, appreciating the beauty of the structure itself. Sobrang peaceful sa pakiramdam just sitting there with my partner kahit na medyo marami ring tao sa paligid. And I found myself daydreaming that someday somewhere I'll be in a place in winter enjoying the first fall of snow, holding a hot coffee in my left hand and a croissant in my right hand beside my partner with our dog. Then, I was pulled back to reality when my boyfriend said that we had to go and eat a late lunch.

So we walked to Sagada Bistro, it's just walking distance if you're used to walking. I had their pork sisig, and it's the best among all the sisigs that I've tasted. The ambiance of the place was very homey. Though I just didn't like that the place was a bit warmer than I would have wanted it to be, probably that's just because they wanted to keep the warm air inside since it's very cold during the night. But their food was very good, even the baked chicken that my partner ordered.

To cap off our day, we decided to have coffee at Bana's Coffee. I ordered their Spanish latte and it was one of the best that I've ever tasted. Although their al fresco tables were already occupied, we decided to stay for an hour while having our coffee. The place was decent enough for me to enjoy my stay while drinking my coffee, despite not being able to order any pastry.

Once we were back at our accommodation, we decided to take a nap. However, it led to a full-blown sleep, at least for me. Around 09:00 PM, my partner was a little hungry and decided to have cup noodles downstairs. I was so recharged after this much-needed rest because we had to check out around 07:00 AM the following day to catch the bus to Baguio. The trip was a bit longer than we anticipated because of traffic. We arrived at Baguio around 02:30 PM. Since a Good Taste branch was only a few steps from the Dangwa Bus Terminal, we decided to have a late lunch there. Their food was still as good as our first lunch there a few years ago. And their servings, good for two people, were still good for four to five people, just like before. As expected, we had to take out some leftovers.

Around 4:00 PM, we checked into our accommodation, City Center Hotel, which was just a walking distance from the bus terminal. Unfortunately, we were unable to participate in some nighttime activities, such as the night market and dinner, because my partner fell ill. We just slept in since our bus trip down from Sagada was also very taxing. Around midnight, I woke up and decided to eat the leftovers from the restaurant.

After having breakfast, I went to Baguio Public Market alone and just let my partner rest in our suite. I bought our supply of coffee beans, strawberries for my homemade jam, some lemons, and honey. Around 11:00 AM, we decided to check out already and left our bags in the reception because we still had some plans before heading home.

Right after checking out, sakay kaagad ng taxi pa-Camp John Hay. Since we were only there to have coffee, we were seated in a cozy corner near the coffee bar. I had a cappuccino and jowa and I shared a slice of ube cheesecake with macapuno. One of the best cheesecakes I've tried, I must say. Masarap din na may caramel sauce. We also spent some minutes strolling around The Manor and taking some photos.

Massage at North Haven Spa

Dinner at Tsokolateria

Left Baguio at 1145PM

Christmas 2023 Before Bedtime Reflections: Preparing to Change for the Better

Just some things that I'm thankful for every day to remind me of what the Christmas season is all about. It's part of the Christmas tradition that I'm establishing starting this year.

Nov 06 (Mon): Woke up before noon today. It's a brand new week: new things to learn and new opportunities to conquer. I'm very happy that my after-job part-time called me back for my services again. Super grateful to my partner for being so supportive of my decisions in

my professional life. Also, I'm extra-craving for this Dalandan coffee from our recent trip to Boracay. This day though is going to be extra long because of the tasks that I have in my full-time job. Oh well, it's Monday after all.

In addition, bawing bawi ako sa tulog nitong weekend lalo na last night. Super thankful rin na I finally had the energy and will to clean the living room and put away some things.

By the way, nag-samgyup din kami kahapon sa Jin-Joo Glorietta. Hindi ko gaanong na-enjoy kasi parang and bilis kong nabusog tho okay na rin, at least napagbigyan ko din si jowa sa gusto niya. He had been craving for samgyup since last week. LOL.

Bumili din kami kahapon ng sourdough bread sa newly opened branch ng The Daily Knead sa Glorietta. I like it. I think I found my new go-to bakery. Looks like I'll be buying my weekly bread from them in the next few months or until may artisan bakery na mas malapit dito sa bahay.

Nov 07 (Tue): I was not able to get the amount of sleep that I wanted to have, given my busy schedule at work last

night. But thank God for coffee. I hope this mug that I have right now will be able to keep me awake until 04:00 AM. After getting up from bed, I immediately toasted two slices of sourdough bread and they were great. But I think they could use a side of scrambled eggs instead of just a spread of coco jam. Well, there's still tomorrow to try it.

My first day at my part-time after three weeks turned out to be great. I'm thankful that the executive virtual assistant of the owner is very easy to work with. Anyway, I love the workload that they gave me, I get to put another skill of mine to use.

Also, I'm super grateful for my colleagues in my full-time job. We're now able to work as a team and people are already sharing their ideas freely. I have a new project, as a contributor, that's gonna eat up the bulk of my time but it's a good avenue for me to learn new skills and hopefully be able to apply them to the project that I'm leading.

Nov 08 (Wed): Doing this after logging out from work. This morning was one of those days, to get up from bed was a challenge. So I stayed far too long and late to even type my entry for today before I started working. Anyway, I'm so thankful to my partner for being so understanding during this kind of day. Big shoutout to my colleague who is always ready to cover my tasks during these days.

Lastly, just because I'm very sleepy already, my heart is full because of the simple act that the owner of the company where I'm working as a part-timer did before I logged out a few minutes ago. He apologized and said that he felt like he let me down because of the downtime that I had in the last 3 weeks. But of course, I assured him that all was well, that I understood what he had to do. And yes, I meant every word in that. I'm just excited that I'm now back to my regular programming in this part-time.

Nov 09 (Thu): Woke up very early again today. I think I'll be able to fall asleep later during my lunch break at work. Anyway, I'm both excited and anxious for today. Just some first times at work but I'll be okay. I just need to super focus on my tasks.

I'm grateful for my energy today. Right before I took a bath, I was able to run a load of laundry and probably another one later. Also, I think I'll be able to fold the laundry that I washed yesterday.

I think the next thing that I need to try harder to get done is my daily reading and every other day workout routine.

Nov 10 (Fri): Too sick to write a full entry for today but I'm very thankful that my manager agreed to not have our 1-on-1 coaching session because I can't talk much due to my sore throat. I'm very glad too that the owner of my part-time agreed that I could just work for my Friday hours tomorrow. Despite my partner working long hours this week, he still was able to buy the roasted chicken for our dinner.

Nov 11 (Sat): I'm so thankful that I got to rest throughout the day to recover from sickness and not escalate it to a full-blown flu. So grateful for my partner, he cooked Tinola and I think it's one of the reasons I got well easily on top of Biogesic every 12 hours. After my shift in my part-time job, my boss informed me that I could also render some hours tomorrow, but of course, I'm working the hours.

Nov 12 (Sun): Thankful for a chill Sunday this week. We ordered McDonald's online and just chilled at home with our dog. I feel so rested and ready for the week. I ended my Sunday with a 4-hour shift in my part-time. I hinted to my boss that I wanted to take his project offer in one of our GCs if it's still available. And I just got a confirmation that it's still up for grabs. Now. I'm wondering if my schedule can still accommodate it. Anyway, last night, I was

mentally in this coffee shop with their Real coffee and that toast with scrambled eggs plus the view of the white sand beach. LOL. But yes, it's a fun way to start this week.

Nov 13 (Mon): Woke up around 11:30 AM, too early than my alarm at 02:30 PM, because of loud banging and drilling in our neighborhood. It turned out the public road in our street is getting jack-hammered just to be reconstructed later on. I don't know the reason but from my perspective, that road is perfectly fine. Anyway, it's been an extra challenge at my full-time job today because it's my first time actually doing the report of my colleague who is currently on a 2-week vacation. But I'm excited for him, at least he gets to rest from all the craziness going on in our team right now. Nothing bad, all good stuff but extra challenging. I just hope that when he gets back, he'll have a refreshed perspective and be able to take the challenges head-on.

Nov 14 (Tue): Too tired to actually function after my 13-hour work. But I'm thankful that my partner is very supportive of this endeavor and understanding of the things that come with these long hours of work. Also, my partner bought a comfort food for our dinner, dinuguan. Oh my gosh! I super loved the way that dinuguan was cooked.

Nov 15 (Wed): So today, I decided to ask my boss at my part-time job if I can move to the day shift temporarily, just until the construction in our neighborhood is over. I'm very grateful that he accommodated my request. Such an amazing human being! But of course, I assured him that for anything collaboration-related, I'm always available to hop on a quick call before 12:00 PM, his time. This way, I still get to maintain my flawless inputs and outputs in his company.

Nov 16 (Thu): Finally experienced having at least 7 hours of sleep. Also, it was my first time working from 08:30 AM to 12:00 AM the following day. I don't know but I felt so productive compared to working from 03:00 PM to 06:00 AM the following day. Maybe it's because I had enough sleep? Yeah, maybe that.

Nov 17 (Fri): I had to move out of the hours for a few hours to be able to think properly while working. The drilling noise in front of our house was driving me nuts. It made me happy na nakalabas din ng bahay and got to have coffee with my partner after his work. I'm excited to have a 7-hour sleep tonight. I'm also excited for tomorrow, finally another badminton game.

Nov 18 (Sat): Been a great day dahil nakapag-badminton ako. However, I didn't like the way I was paired with other players in the queue that's why I asked my badminton buddy to get us in the Saturday morning queue instead of the afternoon next time. At least the queue master in the morning already knows my level of play. My partner and I were supposed to have pasta for dinner but we did not push it because he was still full from his catch-up eat-out with his friend from his previous work. So I just had a burger and fried chicken from McDonald's.

Nov 19 (Sun): It's Miss Universe 2023 coronation! I'm happy that the Philippines bet got into the Top 10 but it felt and looked like she deserved to get into the next cut, Top 5. I honestly still can't move on from that until now. Anyway, MERALCO decided to do their maintenance on this same day so my partner and I had to rely on the data from our mobile phones. That's why our viewing experience kinda sucked. Since it's kinda hot inside the house without electricity to run our fan and AC, we decided to go to the mall and compare prices of the newest model of iPhone from different retail stores. We also had a satisfying lunch at a Thai restaurant plus a coffee sesh at CBTL.

Nov 26 (Sun): Had a blast day with my best friends and their girlfriends. Kasama din sana namin si Art pero meron siyang plano na lakad prior to our day out getting finalized. We had lunch at Din Tai Fung. We also had coffee bago pumunta sa condo nina Migz to surprise Vic for his farewell party. We watched some movies and ordered pizza and wings for our dinner. It's a happy experience for me, at least napakita namin kay Vic how much we appreciate him as our best friend.

Nov 27 (Mon): Today lang nag-start mag-sink in sa akin na aalis na si Vic and will live overseas for good. Nalulungkot ako, I guess I'm just not really used to saying good bye sa best friends ko. Since 2010, kasama ko na silang dalawa. They witnessed all my ups and downs ever since naging magkakaibigan kami. Ibang-iba yung feeling na lumipat lang to a different province or city for work yung kaibigan mo. At least kapag ganito lang, we can still see each other as often as we want kasi ang dali lang ng commute at sobrang mura lang ng pamasahe as compared to moving permanently overseas. I mean yeah, modern na ang communication ngayon pero yung opportunity to have coffee, drink alcohol, or have lunch or dinner any time na gustuhin namin eh mahirap na. Haist, I'm sad but I'm very happy for him kasi at least marami sa mga pangarap niya ang matutupad with this move. I hope all good things for him and sana palagi siyang safe doon. As for me, I don't know kung hanggang kailan ko mararamdaman ang ganitong sadness.

Nov 28 (Tue): Kinda feeling lost with my part-time job. My boss has not been responsive since Friday last week. I feel like he is gradually ghosting me. LOL. But still, I'm doing what's expected from me and creating my own tasks that I think are aligned with the major tasks that he plans to hand off to me once we have new clients. As for my full-time job, I had to go to the nearest site to get my laptop reformatted because some of the installed apps were not working properly. Despite

this, I was still able to learn a certain process that's very important to our ongoing project. At home, my partner cooked a delicious dish for our dinner. I'm so thankful for my partner. In the midst of everything that happened at work, I have him as my rest and comfort.

Nov 29 (Wed): I cooked spaghetti for dinner. Unfortunately, my intention to cook it on low fire almost made it burnt pasta. Masaya na akong hindi tuluyang nasunog at nagmukhang baked spaghetti lang siya kahit na walang melted cheese as ibabaw at naging black pasta ang ilalim. HAHAHA. I'm still thankful naging maayos pa rin ang dinner namin. Lesson learned: Never leave the kitchen if you're not yet done cooking. Also, balik-loob na kami sa cucumber in our drinking water. Ang refreshing pa rin talaga ng may cucumber compared sa basta lang malamig na tubig.

Nov 30 (Thu): I don't know what's with me today, sobrang wala akong energy and drive to move around and even work. Mabuti na lang my boss in my part-time informed me earlier today that I could take the day off. Maybe I'm just getting overwhelmed by my tasks in my full-time job. Ewan ko ba. I probably need to reset my perspective at work. My partner and I cooked together a veggie dish for our dinner. Aminado naman ako na I love planning what to cook, prepare the ingredients, and put them together sa pan or pot. Sadyang hindi ko lang talaga forte ang paglalagay ng tamang amount ng condiments. LOL. A lot of instances, yung matabang habang niluluto ko eh nagiging maalat kapag naka-serve na. Good thing, my partner has an impeccable sense of taste.

Dec 01 (Fri): Nothing much happened today. I still don't have the energy that I used to have. I felt like I was getting drowned with my tasks but lacked the drive to start them at all. Anyway, I cooked our dinner tonight since my partner had an event at his workplace and he had to go home very late. My boss in my part-time job decided to pause my employment since he said he had to catch up on the tasks that I finished. Right now, I'm really just looking forward to the weekend. I wanna have long hours of sleep, play badminton, jog around our neighborhood, visit a museum, and catch up on some of my video-creation items at work.

Dec 02 (Sat): I was able to clean the house and re-arrange the fixtures in the living and dining areas after our late lunch. Around 06:00 PM, I decided to ask my partner to go to the mall and buy some treats for our dog. There were a lot of items on sale and we're able to grab some with 60% to 70% discount. After that tiresome run of errands, we decided to have our dinner at Pepper Lunch in the mall's food court. It's kinda funny because a lot of the customers at the table that we chose ordered the same dish from the same restaurant. If you've dined at Pepper Lunch, you can then relate to eating your food with smoke all over the place.

To cap the night off, we decided to grab chai latte and dark mocha at Starbucks. When we got home, we both couldn't sleep. While my partner was browsing through social media, I decided to run the laundry and start a new Korean series on Netflix. I super like Strong Girl Nam-soon. I hope there are still more episodes to come aside from the current 16 released episodes.

Dec 03 (Sun): We did not to a lot of things today. Just plain chill at home: sleep and Netflix, mainly because my partner has been feeling dizzy since he woke up this morning. I had to buy him a few cans of pineapple juice and some chips to snack on while watching Netflix. I decided to end the night around 02:00 AM because of one-more-episode syndrome. LOL.

Dec 04 (Mon): The main event of my day was my appointment at DFA to apply for my passport. My appointment was between 01:00 PM to 02:00 PM. Unfortunately, I was able to finish the application around 04:00PM already just because the queue of the data capture step was so disorganized. After that, I decided to go to Mall of Asia to grab a very late lunch and coffee. Before I went home, I grabbed a cup of iced milk tea and some takoyaki for my partner. Although I filed an emergency leave at work today, I can say that I'm pretty much productive.

Dec 06 (Wed): This day has been a bit challenging. Since I don't have part-time work this week, I woke up around 01:00 PM and had to log in for my full-time at 03:00 PM. During my shift, a lot of things were happening and my mind was just running in different directions. Being too stressed by the events of the day, I logged out at exactly 12:00 AM. And to destress, I watched a Korean series on Netflix until 05:00 AM. I kinda didn't like how my day went but here's to hoping for a better Thursday.

Dec 11 (Mon): Thank God, my left foot no longer hurts. It had been hurting since last Friday. Finally, after two tablets of Flanax and multiple cold compresses, I can now walk properly. This day for my full-time has been a lot. I worked on a lot of aspects of my 2024 goals while realizing a lot of possible roadblocks. As for my part-time, I still have no shift this week just like last week. I just feel sad. I've been looking forward to working my extra hours this week but it looks like all I can do is use them to watch Netflix, read books, and update this blog.

Dec 13 (Wed): Ramdam ko na ang sinasabing busy days ng dati kong supervisor sa current role ko. I have a lot of projects to start. However, I am excited more than overwhelmed despite the number of tasks that I have to do. This day has

been extra compared to Monday and Tuesday. Financially, this is what's taking a toll on my mental health. Managing our household's finances is very taxing. I feel as if my energy is getting sucked out of my body every time I see the deficit that we still need to work on. On the good side, I am now done with the 16-episode Korean drama series that I've been watching since last week.

Jan 07 (Sun): Closing this Christmas Tradition for 2023. I'd say I'm 50% successful with this last project of 2023. Things got in the way, life happened as they said. I had been very busy at work, caught flu that made me bedridden for almost two weeks, and was demotivated to write anything for the rest of this project.

I hope to be more productive with next year's Christmas reflections and for the rest of 2024 in general. Happy New Year, friends! It's another opportunity to better ourselves.