Pea takes a surprise trip to Baguio City with her friend JoJo, visiting a bamboo sanctuary and exploring the lively Session Road street festival. This is a lighter travel vlog showcasing Baguio's climate, scenery, and street culture, with Pea's trademark humor woven throughout. She previously lived and worked in Baguio and treats this as a personal return to a favorite city.
Arrival and first impressions β
- Pea flew Philippine Airlines to Baguio and jokes that they were "giving out Filipino peas" on the flight
- Introduces her friend JoJo as her co-explorer for the trip
- Baguio's key selling points for foreigners concerned about Philippine heat: high elevation (over 5,000 feet), temperatures that can drop to 6Β°C, cool crisp air from vast pine forests
- The hilly terrain means brightly colored houses hang off mountainsides with incredible views
- Describes Baguio as "a very clean city with colorful flowers and well-maintained public spaces" that "really feels like a separate country within the Philippines"
Bamboo Sanctuary visit β
- A peaceful, well-organized nature trail with strict signage β "silence at all times" (Pea jokes she'll struggle with that given how talkative she is)
- Pea and JoJo bond over childhood memories of making "lutang" β tiny bamboo cannons with wet paper bullets β and the larger "lantaka" kerosene-powered cannons used for New Year's celebrations
- Pea has more fun reading the signs than looking at bamboo β one-way paths, cardio trails, etc.
- Jokes the cardio trail is "not a Japanese bamboo sanctuary β it is training for the zombie apocalypse"
- Side conversation about zombie movies: JoJo likes Korean and American zombies; Pea prefers American zombies because "they don't run fast" β unlike Train to Busan where they do contortions
- Bamboo fun fact Pea shares: bamboo has gender, and the flowers are bisexual β "I'm not kidding guys, I'm not making this up"
- JoJo tests a bamboo stalk: "It's nice and hard, so I guess it's a male bamboo"
- Paid toilets at the sanctuary β 5 pesos β Pea jokes about whether they charge "by the volume or by the weight"
Session Road street festival β
Session Road is Baguio's main strip, packed with people in costumes and street performers on this particular day
Pea and JoJo encounter cosplayers: Wonder Woman (Pea notes the Filipino version is "Darna β Darna Morena"), I Am Groot, a Minecraft Villager, Peppa Pig, Pikachu, and a giant turtle
The highlight encounter: a woman selling large crocheted penises
- Pea asks how long each one takes to make β the big ones take 3-4 days, the biggest take 1-2 days
- "What does your daughter think of your obsession with crocheting penises?" β "She doesn't care"
- No life models used β "just imagination"
- Pea calls it "80 pesos β for you girls out there, it's worth every inch"
JoJo's favorite costume was Pikachu; Pea liked the Minecraft Villager, Groot, Peppa Pig, and "that lady selling the big penises"
Teases the next episode: returning with JoJo to give conclusions about Baguio's cost of living, ease of travel, natural disaster risk, and social scene