Baguio Revisited

While Baguio has been traditionally considered the Philippines' summer capital, other Philippine destinations (e.g. Boracay and Palawan) have challenged it in recent years

Camp John Ampitheater

However this summer and months before that , Baguio experienced a resurgence due to the extra exposure given by the romantic Philippine telenovela Forevermore.

The Forevermore viewers don't just want to watch, they actually want to channel their inner Xander and Agnes by visiting the actual shoot locations in Baguio and neighboring areas

Not really an actual cemetery but this where you can "bury" negative feelings the way Agnes and Xander did in the series.

If you get tired chasing the supposedly "Forever" of your life, you can dine for around P1000 (US$22) per person at the nearby Manor Hotel (aka Hotel Grande in the telenovela).  Yes, it is expensive for the typical local tourist but you will feel like a Grande or a Saavedra during your meal.
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After your meal, you can sip coffee enjoying the view while contemplating your next business moves e.g. acquiring that parcel of strawberry farmland known as La Presa.

Hotel lobby of Manor ("Hotel Grande")

Just don't dangle someone from the balcony the way Xander did in the series

Note that I did not feature La Presa location anymore given the huge crowds, negative environmental impact and garbage left by some irresponsible tourists.

Crimson Resort Mactan Daytrip Part 1

Summer in the Philippines will be over in around 3 weeks.  That's still enough time for you guys to make 1 or 2 more trips to a nice resort before the rainy season starts.  Crimson Resort in Mactan island is a luxurious option if you will be travelling to the Cebu area.

I was actually staying in Crimson's sister property, Quest Hotel, when the latter's hotel staff gave me the option to go on a daytrip to Crimson resort.  The daytrip cost me a total of P1,867.50 (March 2015) inclusive of lunch buffet and use of the resort facilities (locker, swimming pool, etc)  Use of kayaks, snorkels and other water sports equipment is not included though.

Note that when you get your locker key for your stuff, you will be required to provide a P500 deposit which is refunded when you return the key at the end of the day.

The resort's famous three tiered swimming pool facing the seas

The daytrip is from 10AM to 5PM and the free shuttle trip takes around  45 minutes from Quest Cebu to Crimson Resort Mactan.  So by the time we got there, the lunch buffer had just opened so I decided to have lunch first.

Anyway, I will continue this article in another post to make this page entry shorter and thus easier to read using portable devices.