We bought tickets in the Victory Liner terminal in Pasay a few days before the trip. There are only two trips from Pasay to Baguio everyday -- 1:15AM and 11:15AM. We opted for the 1:15AM trip. The travel will be about 5 hours and we will be in Baguio at around 6AM. 

And we did. We went to Forest House from the Victory Liner bus terminal in Baguio. We were informed that we need to pay Php250 per hour for early check in. I kind of don't understand this kind of rule because if no one is actually occupying the room, why would you just let the one who booked it use it? Anyway, we just left our bags and decided to have breakfast at Cafe by th Ruins. Note that Forest House doesn't serve breakfast unless you are checked in.

So we went to Cafe by the Ruins to give it another chance. The last time we were here in 2011, it took them an hour to serve our breakfast only for us to find out that they forgot to prepare it. If I wasn't hungry at that time, we would've left. So this time we went there a little early and the cafe was still closed. We decided to walk up the road to the newly opened McDonald's to have coffee. If I'm not mistaken, it is McDonald's Assumption. Thirty minutes later, we walked back to Cafe by the Ruins and it's already open. Cafe by the Ruins has redeemed itself. This time, we were the first customers for the day and they served our food in less than 20 minutes. We ordered the same thing we ordered before -- bacon!

After breakfast, we walked to the market and Burnham Park. I felt tired and sleepy so I told Jeff to go back to Forest House and just pay for the early check in rate. We were welcomed by the staff and helped us settle in our room. We got the Kahlil room which is Php4,950 per night for peak season and Php4,600 for off peak season. 

Forest House is located along Loakan Road, between Nevada and Camp John Hay. Nevada is walking distance but Camp John Hay is not! We tried walking to the Technohub in Camp John Hay and I regretted it. It was so far! Haha!

Here are a few photos of the room that I took.

It is a nice, big room. The bed is very comfortable but comes with two pillows and two throw pillows only. There's an LCD TV with cable, from which we watched the Boston manhunt haha! The bathroom has a bathtub, hot and cold shower (and of course you won't use the cold), and they provided strawberry scented toiletries. Jeff was very happy with the car key chain and wanted to take it home, so we ended up buying one from a shop in Mines View. The room doesn't have aircon because you don't really need one when you're in Baguio. The rooms in the bed and breakfast is just below the restaurant so when it opened, imagine our horror when we kept hearing footsteps upstairs. The floor upstairs is made of wood which is exactly above our ceiling. 

We went upstairs for some light snacks. We ordered pizza and coffee. While waiting, I looked around and again to my horror, I noticed that the ones who are walking with heavy steps on the floor are the restaurant staff. I mean, come on, they should know that some people occupy the room downstairs! Ugh.

The next day, Jeff made a reservation for our anniversary dinner before we went to the Strawberry Farm in La Trinidad, Benguet. We took the public transport going there and cab going back. 

Before dinner, Jeff checked if our table is ready. One of the staffs told him that our table was also downstairs. When I came out of the room, I found a group of people, who I believe is a big family, laughing and talking loudly. If it wasn't our anniversary, I can take that noisy crowd, but I'd really like some quiet time with my husband so I do mind. I had to ask another staff if we can transfer upstairs because it is our first wedding anniversary. Unfortunately, the only table left was a corner table for two, which I gladly took because I had no other choice. Jeff ordered fillet mignon and I had steak with some creamy sauce and shirmps. While waiting for our food, I went to the comfort room and found a very interesting framed photo.

With all due respect to Forest House's food, it was really good. The steak I had was perfectly bloody. I loved it! Though Jeff was a little disappointed with his steak because it was almost dry and well done. Still, it tasted nice. And then it was time for dessert. We were surprised when they served two desserts when we only ordered one. They say the second one is complimentary. It was a very pretty chocolate cake with 'Happy Anniversary' written on the plate. Too nice of them. 

And because we were too full, we only ate a few of it and decided to bring it in our room. Downstairs, we found a few staff cleaning the living room area. Just when we thought that the surprise was over, we found this again in the bedroom --

The next day, we checked out at noon and went to Good Shepherd to buy ube jam and other pasalubong. We discovered that they are now offering sugar free peanut brittle. It was waaaay better than the original. We also had late lunch in a Thai restaurant near Wright Park while waiting for our friends, Chuck and Yen. We also went to Choco-late de Batirol. We went back to Forest House at around 4PM to charge our phones, have dinner, and finally get our things before our 8PM trip to Manila.

We discovered an alternative way of going back to Manila. When we came to Baguio on April 19, we tried to get deluxe tickets going back to Manila but Victory Liner personnel said that they are already fully booked. I had to be in Manila by Sunday because I have work the next day, so just got an ordinary bus ticket. On our last day, we noticed the bus terminal of Genesis Transport near Victory Liner. We asked the taxi driver if they also have deluxe buses and he said yes. So we went down in their terminal and asked. They actually do have deluxe buses! Joy Bus has more trip schedules than Victory Liner and is cheaper. The ticket only costs Php650 (as of April 2013) compared to Victory Liner's Php715. They also have small blankets and more snacks. I was not able to take photos of the bus because I was a bit scared at that time because it was raining so hard. The bus also goes to NAIA Terminal 3 and Resorts World before going to their terminal in Pasay. Best for those travelers who need to catch their flights. The following photos are from Genesis Transport's Facebook page. 

Going back to the hotel, it was again, a very disappointing experience. When I asked one of the staffs where I can charge our phones, they said that the first 15 minutes is free and they will charge us Php80 for the succeeding hour. That was it, I snapped. I'm like, what the h*ll man?! We just checked out a few hours ago and our things are still even there downstairs. I told Jeff we should go to Starbucks and charge our phones there for free when we get a one hundred peso coffee rather than charging in the hotel where we stayed and paid Php15,000 for two days. I don't think it is fair to charge people money just because they've already checked out. One staff, with I assume have a fake smile on her face, said that we can stay and charge our phones. Yeah right. 

Here are the rest of the photos of the hotel. 

So should we go back to Forest House? Maybe. Food is nice, so we might just eat there again.