March 26,

Jeff did not sleep the best he said. Also one of his teeth is bothering him… He is 'percolating' about whether or not to go to a dentist. We got up and about and had our Javas and breakfast of corned beef with onion and an egg steamed cooked on it. It turned out decent. We still are getting used to the induction burner that we have here in the place. This burner plate is not what we chose, but it wasn’t our choice. There have been a few issues with our place. We have texted our host about them and we get a reply that it will be fixed, but nothing happens. It is not a problem, except for one the trash. No one has been by to pick it up as was told to us. We don’t have a lot, but ants become a problem. Anyway…

We got around and went out walking. The sun was blocked by clouds, but not the foggy, low- lying ones of the past couple of days. We passed by The White House – The Laperal House (smiling emoji). It was built in 1930, according to the sign, by the Laperal’s out of Narra and Yakal wood. In WWII, the Japanese occupied it as a garrison. Today it’s converted into a museum, the Bamboo Foundation Museum and a fine dining restaurant, Joseph’s. It is nicknamed the “White House”, because it is- well, painted white. It was not open.

We moved on to our destination The Botanical Gardens, but we stopped just short at Forbes Park Arboretum. It was a nice outdoor walkway through many tall trees. You could still here the road noise but it was secluded and peaceful walk, listening to the birds. We thought the walkway might connect with the garden, but instead a security guard met us and told us the rest of the walkway was closed. He asked where we were going. We told him to the Gardens. He shook his head, “No Mam, no Sir,” and motioned back out the way we came. So we backtracked and he followed us… to make sure we left?? I have questions, but dared not ask.

Finally at 1030, we arrived at the Baguio Botanical Gardens. It cost 100 PHP each entry fee, which is $1.74 each. (Jeff forgot to do his senior discount.) The way in, way down the most unusual wheelchair ramp winding through stairs. Actually, it seemed hazardous to us. C’est la Vie!🤷🏻‍♀️ At the bottom of the ramp was a photo op with a sunflower painted glass gazebo. Then the Gardens opened up with an overall map and a sign telling of a Photo Exhibit being on display throughout the Gardens. We made our way through, taking in the various large photos and the many different gardens within the Garden. There was an Orchidarium; the PMSea(?) garden; a Japanese garden and a Japanese tunnel – left over from the war??; a Chinese garden; and a Korean garden to name a few. The tunnel was interesting, but it was not explained and not lit up. Where it went, we did not venture far enough into it to find out!

There were also friendship gardens of sister cities – one of Vaughan in Ontario, Canada; one with Hangzhou, China; and one with San Antonio, Texas. This last one – San Antonio, Texas – had a pair of ginormous Cowboy boots.🤭🤭  All I could think about was… 🎶“these boots are made for walking…”🎵. There was a whimsical statue sitting with a kitten. I sat and posed for a photo op, but then a family came by and had their girl do the same pose. The little girl was afraid at first, but the family talked her into it and I mentioned the kitty. The girl focused on and interacted with the kitty then. This was a much better photo – precious!

We also saw a cave with a drawing. Interesting… I have so many questions with that???? Then some entrepreneurs had plants for sale. We saw a most fascinating one. It was purple peppers! The plant is called a Purple Tiger Sili. They turn red as they ripen and the lady said they were edible and not hot. We bought one – it was only 50 PHP ($0.87)! Now we pretty much left after this, both of us saying how much we enjoyed the Garden. It was not as “instagrammy” as the one in Da Lat, and a definite second tier level to Da Lat’s Botanical Garden. Nonetheless, we liked it. It was around 1200.

We walked back to our place and had lunch of salami and blue cheese sandwiches on sourdough bread, and some green mango slices. Then we had a siesta. Around 1630 I went to take a shower and ran out of water!! Thankfully, I was able to pretty much finish, but Jeff was not able to take one! Jeff did a “wet wipe/spit” cleanup and we went to supper. We tried the place in the hotel right beside us but they did not have fish so we left and went to the same place we ate at our first morning, Cedap Lah. We had an order of Bangus with rice, an egg, and a grilled banana wedge; and an order of Bihon Canton which was stir-fried flour & rice noodles with some green veg- maybe leeks, various meat bits(?) and the small local lime to squeeze on it. The latter was the best. The Bangus, or milkfish was very small and not much there-there. I had a graham mango shake (without the graham, because they were out) and Jeff had a – super sweet – house blend iced tea.

Finished we walked the steep half block back to our place. There was still not water, so Jeff texted our host about it. Someone came from the hotel and looked at it. He went out to check the “Jet”(?). After 30 minutes the water came one and he returned to make sure. He exchanged our towels. Around ten, we were readying for bed and the water went out again. We texted the host again to deal with in the morning.☹️🤔