Parks and Recreation: The Botanical Gardens and The Burnham Children's Playground

We've all heard of the saying "The best things in life are free", and to a certain extent, it is. For this edition of The Mediocre Wanderer, I'm featuring two places In Baguio where you could bring your whole family, give your kids a wide open space to run, have a picnic, take pretty pictures, or to simply be one with nature.

First up is The Children's Park found in Burnham Park.

It seems to me that this park has been around for forever, as far as my lifespan is concerned. Since I was 3, I could remember either one or both of my parents, bringing me here once a week, right after Sunday service.

This place, situated right beside the bicycle area, had swing sets, slides of varying heights, monkey bars and gliders, not to mention these life sized elephant statues that dad used to perch me on top of.

For a long while, this part of the park went into a slow decline, until thankfully, the City government stepped in and rehabilitated it.

Aside from the standard playground implements, there are a lot tree shaded areas on a  wide expanse of grass. As it is enclosed by a pretty sturdy perimeter fence, having a picnic while the kids run themselves tired is quite plausible. It's also quite clean.

There's actually a person stationed at this area of the park who ensures the proper maintenance of the place. Of course, the rest of Burnham park is free and still quite enjoyable to walk through.

Another park that has found a resurgence of sorts, is The Baguio Botanical Gardens.

Back in the 80s, this was known as The Imelda Park, named after our ex first lady, Mrs. Imelda Marcos. I wasn't born then, but old maps of Baguio have hinted that this was once a zoo (think 70s). According to Baguio old timers, the animals did not fare well with the cool climes of the city, and died off one by one.

Now, The Baguio Botanical Gardens is a place to commune with nature, check out local art from the Baguio Arts Guild Gallery and see the various areas that were created to match the various sister cities of Baguio.

One area also houses tourist shops and snackage. There are, on occasions, horses for rent within the park.

As most of the terrain was left unchanged, stairs or driving through a dirt road are your options in entering the grassy surface of this park. It is not stroller and wheelchair friendly. It is however, perfect for picnics.

kids have to be looked after in this place, given the terrain

Tall pine trees surround the area, and I swear, the air in this place comes off clean and crisp, and the temperature, slightly cooler than the city proper.

Prior to bringing MAX over to go on horse rides, The last time I was here was when I was around 4 years old. It was during the Holy Week and I remember someone thrusting a mic towards me with a camera pointed in my direction and my mom beside the cameraman. I had to say the words "Hi my name is Maila. Good morning Manila" (for a PTV 4 AM program) with Baby O'Brian. It took 19+ takes and it was my first tv appearance :p

Of course, while all these areas are free of charge, a visitor must always make sure to do right by it. Leave it the way it was. Don't leave anything behind, especially your trash. Don't pick flowers and take the local flora as your own, everyone deserves the chance to see them. And lastly, don't vandalize. Multi colored shades of spray paint is not a product of mother nature, it has no business coloring the area.

From TMW, may all your wanderings be better than ours!

CHAYA : Baguio's Favorite Japanese Restaurant

I’ve been trying to address all my blog post backlogs when I realized that I had this particular establishment on my “blog to write” list for almost a year. Having seen that, I am here now to rectify that error.

Nestled beyond open gates in Baguio's Legarda Road is a cozy looking stone and wood structure that houses, some say, the best Japanese restaurant in town. The place is known as Chaya.

second son and first born loving the food

Run by Koreans, it serves contemporary Japanese cuisine that everyone who's been there, seems to be raving about.

I remember my late brother complaining that most of his Manila friends who have been to Baguio have been to Chaya, while he, a Baguio native, has not.

what to eat...?

In the handful of times we've been there, the food anticipation (or just plain hunger) as often made me forget to take photos of the place. Add to the fact that it's almost always full when we get there, that taking photos with strangers in them may not be a popular move on my part.

What I have though with me is the knowledge that whatever we ordered on any of those given times was delicious. I went to Chaya not as a blogger, but as a humble diner (my explanation for the lack of pictures).

Phil trying to get MAX to eat our spinach in vinaigrette appetizer

Budget-friendly, this place is not. Allow yourself to fork out 400 php on average for a meal for one. Service is a bit slow, and that includes ordering and bill out. Expect the extra wait as food is made fresh.

Here's a look at what we got:

complimentary appetizers of spinach in vinaigrette with sesame seeds and raw fish with spring onions and nori

for starters:

Yakitori Momo - 5 sticks of Japanese style chicken BBQ (250 pesos)

It's never a Japanese meal without some Sashimi:

Sashimi Variety - contents vary depending on availabilty (580 pesos)

The main event consisted of :

 

Chahan/Japanese Fried Rice (260 pesos per plate) - we got 2 for our group of 5

Ebi Fry (350 pesos)

 Complimentary dessert of green tea ice cream with sweet azuki beans were served after the dishes were taken out.

Oh and by the way, you may want to call ahead especially during dinner time and make reservations just in case. 

From TMW, may all your wanderings be better than ours!

How KINABUCH's BAR AND GRILL Ruined Other Crispy Patas For Us

If you find yourself in Palawan, particularly in Puerto Princesa, be sure to check out Kinabuch’s Bar and Grill. 

From the get go, the locals have been raving, yes, RAVING about how good the food is in that place.

We were holed up in a resort a little bit further from the city proper, compounded by bad roads that heading out wasn’t something we were looking forward to. 

 

"bummed out about the cancelled flight, yet looking forward to dinner" look

Having our flight canceled at the last minute because of Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan), we were a bit bummed out (not understanding how bad the storm was at that time). The resort’s driver had errands to run so we had ourselves dropped off at Kinabuch, just because it was the first restaurant we could think of.

When we got there, the place was 90% full, which was saying a lot, given the dismal weather and the fact that the place was not just a hole in the wall.

Upon seeing our van arrive, a wait staff and a security guard rushed to us with ready umbrellas, seating us in less than 3 minutes soon after, with our menus and an electric fan pointing towards our group (how’s that for fast service huh?).

Looking through the extensive menu,  (CLICK HERE TO VIEW MENU) we decided we wanted something with soup (coz of the weather), something local or exotic and a lot of meat (hey, if we were going to be stranded by the storm, we might as well be well fed). Here’s what we got:

I must say, after having their crispy pata, no crispy pata to this date can ever meet up to Kinabuch’s standards. The skin was thin and uber crispy, the meat, tender and oh so moist. I swear, Phil, myself and the 3 kids were in pork nirvana :-) 

The fried tamilok (which we had tried earlier in the trip) tasted like fried oysters. Lightly battered then breaded; crunchy on the outside, yet nice and soft on the inside, you’d forget you were eating woodworm.

going through half, that's when we realized we forgot to take food  pics

Lastly, the bulalo. Perfectly seasoned beef broth, not greasy, filled with huge tender beef pieces and slightly firm marrow, waiting for you to suck it out whole without falling apart, best describes our eating experience at Kinabuch’s.  

While eating we noticed that the turnover was also high. After one group leaves, another one takes its place. Clearly our tour guides did not disappoint with this recommendation. The dessert was A ok too. 
 

Much too soon, the meal ended and our driver was set to pick us up in a few. Yet, somehow, our thoughts lingered on the meal that was. The kids and us grownups could not stop wishing for a Kinabuch's here in Baguio, and it’s been a couple of months since we got back. Try it. It’s really a great place to sit back and inhale (it seemed that way when all the food disappeared) your meal :)

Check out their Facebook page at this link for more information: PLEASE CLICK HERE

From TMW, may all your wanderings be better than ours!

IMPERIAL HOTEL MIRI : A Hotel Review

If like us, you decide to throw caution to the wind and head out to a place you’ve never been before and somehow end up in Miri, Malaysia, head on out to the Imperial Hotel, right in the heart of the city.

 

Part of the Boulevard Group of Companies (I say this because they have another hotel that has the words “Imperial” and “Hotel” in its name too, which gets kinda confusing), it has a mall attached to it and a high end one being filled up with tenants, a walkway away.

225 rooms may be found in this , the hotel has at most, 4 star facilities. Not bad for the mediocre traveler. Housing a gym, a rooftop pool, a café and a restaurant, it really is quite convenient…which is good, because not a lot happens in Miri.

There are 6 elevators in the elevator lobby, a couple of which can only be accessed with your hotel room key card. 

No stale smell of cigarettes or human BO can be detected from the huge lobby up to the hallway leading to our room. The establishment clearly takes pride in ensuring cleanliness.

We got a standard room on the 8^th floor. A good 60 sq meters or so, the room had a decent view from its clear picture windows. 

they use a UV-C roo sanitizer on top of the housekeeping duties

The carpet was always clean, likewise with the king sized bed. Mattress, pillows and the duvet covers were comfy and the air conditioning in the room was almost always colder than was indicated in the thermostat (always a plus).

Slippers, a coffee/tea making set, a fridge and a hairdryer were other amenities provided along with the complementary toiletries. 

The ensuite bathroom had a slightly dated tub, but everything else seemed to have been newly refurbished.

Cable was available; with BBC and HBO as the only English channels (I think we’ve watched Les Miserables 4 times in 5 days already).

We didn’t get to use the gym, where trainers are available and fitness classes happen daily; but we did get to try out the pool. There's a kiddie pool and the main pool right smack beside each other. 

Being on the rooftop, in can get quite hot, but with the ever cool breeze allowed us to tan without feeling the sun on our backs.

Along with the room comes free breakfast. Halal food was available, hence no pork. There was beef bacon though, which wasn’t bad. 

Continental and Asian breakfast choices were the staples along with some strange looking concoctions. 

We didn’t try any other meal from the place, as mentioned earlier, being at the city center allowed us to have fast food and other restaurant food options. 

The staff was quite helpful and courteous. Checking in and out was a breeze and the cleaning staff was punctual, thorough and honest. 

We had a lovely stay, and I could think of a million worse things to do than being holed up in the Imperial Hotel.

For more information on the place, check out their website (PLEASE CLICK HERE). You could also find them on Agoda.com for great discounts.

From TMW, may all your wanderings be better than ours.