Baguio Botanical Garden

One of the most popular tourist attraction in Baguio City is the Baguio Botanical Garden. The garden is also known as the Igorot Village where you can find authentic Igorot Nipa huts set in a picturesque landscape adorned with well cultivated landscape of plants, trees and different species of highland flora and fauna. Japanese Tunnel, Chinese/Korean friendship park and different stores that sell different items and "pasalubong"can be found inside the garden.

At the main entrance a group of Igorots are dressed in their authentic native attire and they are more than willing to pose with visitors for a souvenir picture. 

How to Get There:

1.) From Baguio City ride a jeep that passes Leonard Wood St. (Mines View, Pacdal and Itogon)

Manaoag Basilica Minor Church

Manaoag is a first class municipality in Pangasinan bordered by Pozorrubio in the north, Urdaneta City and Mapandan in the south, Laoac in the east, and San Jacinto in the west. Manaoag came from the Pangasinan  word "Mantaoag" which means "to call". The town is a popular local pilgrimage site for Catholics as it enshrines a 17th-century ivory statue of Mary under the title of Nuestra Señora del Rosario de Manaoag.

All sorts of Pasalubongs, religious relics and local delicacies are sold outside the church's premises such as Tupig - a popular native delicacy which is made out of ground glutinous rice and coconuts strips wrapped in banana leaves then cooked over charcoal  &  Patupat - an Ilocano version of suman, a glutinous rice cooked in coconut milk and sugar then wrap in banana leaves and steamed.

Eventhough I am not a Catholic, but as a traveler and photographer I admire the picturesque facade of the church - it is  comparable to European renaissance structures. 

(Patupat)

(Tupig)

How to Get There:

1.) There are buses bound for Manaoag from Cubao.

2.) It is a popular stop over from Baguio.