Baguio Balai Bed&Breakfast, Awesomeness Beyond Expectation

The door of Balai welcomed us.

My sister Pearl & I backpacked Baguio for two nights this February. We left Manila a day before the 30th year anniversary of EDSA, the night of Madonna’s “Rebel” concert. Victory Liner’s deluxe bus is highly recommended: the wifi worked, clean, comfy, non-stop. We covered the must-have tourist spots for Pearl’s first-time: Hill Station, Mt. Cloud Bookshop, Cafe by the Ruins, BenCab Museum, Burnham Park, Mine’s View & Good Shepherd for jams and cookies, Cafe de Batirol & a tour of Camp John Hay, strawberry picking at La Trinidad and a hike of Tam-awan Village, Forest House for bagnet & pastillas, and Narda’s.

And this post is a shout out to Baguio’s Balai Bed&Breakfast at Interior A Balacbac, owned and managed by mother-daughter team: Nanay Rose and Tess. A random click of a Facebook ad turned love at first sight, and intuition says this one is for a long haul. A case of “ohmy, it’s a small world!” Serendipity. Tess happened to be a very good friend and kumare of our lovely kababayan and UPV batchmate, who also happened to be Pearl’s college instructor. Indeed, “balai,” a Visayan word for “house”, became exactly that for us, and we were grateful.

My sister Pearl on the eve of our arrival at Balai.

Our beds in the Alba Room.

A Filipino breakfast at Balai.