Valentine’s in Baguio 2025

My wife and I traveled to Baguio City for a quick 3-day getaway, looking forward to a refreshing break from our daily routines. It was great to just go and decompress with no agenda in mind, allowing us to explore the beautiful city at our own pace. For this trip, we didn’t stay in our usual Camp John Hay area and instead booked a new place called BPod Baguio, which was a series of townhouses that range from one-bedroom houses to multi-bedroom units. Each unit comes complete with its own living room and mini kitchenette, providing us the perfect homey atmosphere for our stay. The place was really nice and clean, reflecting the care and attention of the management. It was centrally located near many restaurants and attractions – Mansion House, Wright Park, CJH, Baguio Country Club, Mines View, and near the city proper as well, making it convenient for us to venture out and enjoy what the city had to offer. We took leisurely strolls to explore the vibrant local markets and sample delicious food, which added to our overall experience. The only complaint we had of the place we stayed at was that we had the unfortunate situation of having neighbors who decided it was okay to party and have a videoke session up until 2:30 am, disrupting our sleep. Despite this minor setback, we made the most of our trip and enjoyed every moment. But overall, this location is highly recommended for anyone looking to experience the charm of Baguio.

I recently acquired a Ricoh GRIIIx, and this trip was the perfect chance to delve into its capabilities. Having used earlier GR cameras, this is my first brush with an APS-C sensor and a 40mm lens (35mm equivalent) equipped GR camera. Adapting to its color rendering and focal length presented some challenges, especially without a viewfinder—transitioning from my Fuji and Sony systems, particularly the 35mm of the X100 series. While I can’t provide an exhaustive review yet, after two weeks of ownership and one week of focused shooting, I can state with confidence that the GRIIIx features an incredibly sharp lens that outperforms the X100 series lens when it comes to sharpness. But this sharpness gives my photos a more digital look when compared to Fuji’s files. The color science differs as well; I can tweak colors to match Fuji with some post-processing, but the Fuji palette clearly offers that extra depth, leaving its files with a more “organic/filmic” essence. However, the more I work with the GRIIIx, the more I value it—it’s effortlessly portable, easily fitting in my pocket even with skinny jeans. The lens delivers exceptional sharpness and contrast, presenting warm yet subtly muted colors that I genuinely appreciate. I see the Ricoh GRIIIx evolving into my go-to everyday pocket camera, particularly for bike rides. I am certain that as I continue to use it, my results will keep improving. Just imagine having both the GRIII (28mm) and GRIIIx (40mm) together! That would create an outstanding lightweight travel setup, especially if they introduced a weather-sealed version to tackle the persistent dust issue.

Here are the shots I captured during this trip. Although they may not be showstoppers, considering I was mainly getting acquainted with the camera, I’m quite pleased with the results and eagerly look forward to using this alongside my X100VI as my primary daily carry.