Living in Baguio does have its perks. Great weather, lush forests, fog, cheap vegetables, and a lingering scent of pine are among the characteristics most often talked about when discussing what is most memorable about the summer capital of the Philippines. For me though there is one thing usually overlooked when discussing what is good about this place — its system of winding and intertwining mountain roads. While driving around the city can be a bit of a chore during the day due to congestion around the commercial centers (as well as the anxiety when having to face the feared “hanging stop” on the steeper inclines), there is nothing quite like a peaceful drive through the near empty stillness of Baguio at midnight.
THE START UP
Last Saturday, a dear friend of mine stopped by needing advice for a slew of personal problems he was facing. After a talk that lasted several hours, a good meal (courtesy of Akazie Baum), and some video games we thought we would all go on a drive to drop him home since midnight had crept up on us. Night driving is something we do to ease our minds, and a cruise to settle ourselves for the night felt like a welcome idea. We hopped into our vehicle — a 2011 Toyota Hiace Super Grandia, a comfortable choice with more than enough seating and elbow space for the five of us that elected to ride it out. This Grandia variant has two captain seats installed behind the driver’s seat, so comfort was not going to be an issue for the road warriors seated at the back of the van during this excursion.
Upon leaving our garage, we needed to take care of two things: fuel and supplies. We headed straight to the nearest gas station, which in this case was Caltex PNR at the mouth of the road cutting through the Engineer’s Hill “talipapa” zone. After loading 500 pesos of diesel, we rolled a few meters over to the Shining 24 store and stocked up on a few provisions good enough for the drive. With everything needed in hand, we embarked for the next destination — our troubled friend’s safehouse located on the outskirts of Baguio City in a place called Tam-Awan.
MISSION TO TAM-AWAN
To cross the city to Tam-Awan we went through a narrow passage through Engineer’s Hill lined with sari-sari stores on either side. That street ends in an awkward triangle shaped rotonda that opens into Leonard Wood Road, where we made a right, then a quick left, into M. Roxas Street. This route lead us through Trancoville, an urban mishmash of residential and commercial buildings that are seemingly built on top of one another. This area is a congested mess during daytime, but it was damn near empty on this night — a most welcome change.
Coasting Baguio midnight is proven to us to be one of the most welcome types of therapy. There are sights here that are simply unmatched in our other lowland cities that feature wide multiple lane highways that stretch for long distances over flat terrain. We were greeted by hazy streetlights obscured by thin veils of mist, a late July rain that hydrated the sprawling nature surrounding the city, and then large looming dunes of light that announced to us that the ascent to Tam-Awan was upon us.
We cautiously managed a potentially dangerous ascending hairpin right from Tacay onto Long-long Road and found ourselves in the frigid outskirts of the city — overlooking La Union, Pangasinan, and the Gulf of Lingayen. Baguio’s famous night sky is blessed by a brilliant display of stars when not hidden by clouds, but we always make it a point to take note of the land’s nocturnal impression of the heavens, its own electric matrix of illumination producing a calming effect on our frayed senses whenever we take time out to sit and marvel at it even just for a few moments.
LONG-LONG LEG
We made sure our buddy was okay, and after wishing him well we dropped him off at his place. From what we could tell he was doing better— and we were all vibing with the impromptu tour and the crisp pine chill surrounding all of us. Mission accomplished. From there, we drove down Long-long Road a bit more, pausing at some nice areas to sit and contemplate.
We came across a truck painted in the obscenest shade of green with a giant “V” on the side parked near a Cimarron, an old school relic of a minitruck fitted with a double cab compartment. The Cimarron has been forgotten in most parts of the Philippines but for some reason still sees a fair bit of usage in this city. Across the street from these oddities lay the final resting place of an old Volkswagen Beetle, spray-painted with a sign pointing towards Campfolkswagen, an art gallery surfing the edges of the mountain city and one of the many reasons Baguio is considered a haven for artists and creativity. We took note to check this place out at a later date.
HOME STRETCH
This is as far as we intended to go on this drive. We pulled a “uey” and drove back to town, climbing Quezon Hill and passing another star-kissed view of the center of Baguio. We made our escape through what I like to call Legarda Road’s “Resto Row” (closed beyond 8pm temporarily due to Covid), around the BGH-Petron Rotonda, into Military Cut-Off, and finally, home. I have lived in a few different areas of Luzon and I must say that there is nothing quite like driving through the night in a place as pleasant as Baguio can be.
If you are in town and you are feeling a bit frazzled, why not get in the car, grab a gatorade or two, and set out for a relaxing ride? If anything, it will give you something better to do and hopefully will leave you feeling rejuvenated the way my friends and I did in last Saturday’s Baguio Midnight run.
