south-east asia → philippines → benguet → la trinidad
la trinidad, the capital city of benguet, is about 256 km north of manila (around 290 km from home..) and is famous for its unique crops like strawberry, baguio string beans, broccoli, and cauliflower, which local farmers were able to produce because of the relatively cool climate year round. la trinidad is the next town after baguio, and the farm is just a few kilometers away. we picked some strawberries (for 200 pesos a kilo). we decided to pick just a kilo and share (just for the sake of experiencing picking, hehe), and just buy more strawberries from the market where it’s cheaper (80-150 pesos a kilo). i have some friends from the office asking for a kilo, so i bought 2 more kilos of strawberries nearby after farming. unfortunately, these goodies are very delicate that you have to carry them very gently and avoid bumping it against other things. but even being extra careful in handling them, i still end up with more than half of my strawberries bruised. 
the farm is elevated and surrounded by mountains. a lot of houses in these areas are along side mountains as well. also, people here speak tagalog so no problem dealing with them. another good thing is that most of the farmers are not camery-shy! during our strawberry picking, the sun was high. luckily, i’m wearing a hooded sweatshirt so not much direct sun but still i got some sun burns.. and that being said, i realized how hard must have been a day is for our farmers. under the beating sun, tinkering the soil, cultivating the land, seeding, watering, and growing and finally picking the crops. these folks are truly doing a lot for a living and that itself is amazing.
on the way back to baguio, we passed by a chinese buddhist temple called ‘the bell church’. the architecture is great, really like you’re in china! the bad thing is, i ran out of battery so not much picture there.
several photos -> here
PS
this is the final entry of benguet travel. and as summer is fast approaching, hope to see more of our wondrous country (if budget permits). 
All comments are moderated. Your comments will not appear here unless approved by the blog owner. Thank you.
I’ve told this to some kid already but all I got was “if I ate these veggies would they make then grow easier?”
Sorta witty lol Kids these days.
Peace.
Posted by Ozy at April 28, 2008, 4:21 pm