October weather in the Pearl of the Orient can be inconveniently unpredictable.
A lot of the times days start with bright and happy sunshine. But the afternoons almost always roll along with a merciless downpour of rain and unstoppable flooding.
The Philippines is in typhoon season in October, but I was strongly determined to squeeze in a trip to Palawan while I was there.
Because, well, why not? I was already there, and it probably wasn’t going to rain for three days straight, which is how long I planned on staying.
I watched the weather like a hawk, but decided, against my intense desire, that I would have to skip Palawan this time around. I was as gloomy as the afternoon weather upon canceling the trip, which I did the day before my cousin and I would have flown out.
It’s a good thing traveling teaches those who wander to be flexible and adjust to any necessary changes in plans.
It turned out that the unpredictable rain reportedly kept hitting Palawan on the days I wanted to visit. Plus, there was also the risk of getting stuck at the airport due to weather.
In lieu of my failed plan, my uncle pushed for a day trip to Baguio!
Baguio is about six hours north of the Metro Manila area. A bulk of the drive to get there involves three tollways: the NLEX, SCTEX, and TPLEX. The total cost of passing through the roads amounted a little more than P400 each way.
Although I prefer staying in destinations for a few days at bare minimum, I think it’s always better to seize an opportunity (like visit Baguio for several hours) than not. And a good thing was that we accomplished a lot in the brief number of hours we were there.
What were you able to do in a few hours in Baguio? 🙂