#naguillian

[wanderklust]

The team at Dogs Mountain

[wanderklust]

Dogs at Dogs Mountain

[wanderklust]

Dogs Mountain

Staying at Dogs Mountain gave me the chance to rest for a few days, and also do a lot of talking, learning and thinking. It's a project run by John from Brighton and his partner Shirley along with a team of people who help keep the place running smoothly along. 7 years ago they started out with a field and a couple of kennels with a few dozen dogs, since then the project has evolved into at least a dozen kennels, 200 dogs (and some cats).

I'd been there less than a day and already found myself challenged emotionally by the project as one of the dogs that had been very ill passed away in the morning. It was a hard thing to be around for, but the dog had been made as comfortable as possible in the end and had spent the morning facing out the window with the cool breeze and the sunlight.

I also jumped at the chance to do a bit of cooking and made a vague attempt at Pad Thai despite missing quite a few ingredients (beansprouts, kway teow...) and also made my awesome vegan beanburgers. I spent the rest of the time there hanging out in the kennels getting to know some of the dogs (including the puppy run - I can highly recommend the experience of being licked to death by 20+ tiny puppies)

So damn cute!

[wanderklust]

Arrival at Dogs Mountain

I wanted to head to this place right away but wound up staying the night in Baguio because I couldn't get through to them in time. This turned out to be a good thing as I found a cheap but very pleasant inn to sleep at and an amazing vegetarian restaurant right across the road from me!

Not my picture but basically identical to the meal I had. It was amazing.

The name of the restaurant is Health 100 and it's down Magsaysay Avenue, right across from Baguio Village Inn (which also turned out to be one of the cheapest places to sleep in town!)

So after my breakfast of a giant salad I got myself back to the bus station and jumped on a bus to Bauang. Bus drives are always interesting, they tend to be very cheap for the distance you travel but I chose my seat badly and ended up over a wheel, positioned with my knees approximately level with my ears. You also get a succession of hawkers selling you everything from peanuts, to corn on the cob, to fried pig skin, to entire key lime pies (made with the local calamansi limes. I was actually quite tempted to get one of those...).

I got a bit lost. Well, I misunderstood the directions, missed Bauang completely and ended up in San Fernando. Should have got off in Naguillian apparently...fortunately the owner, John, kindly came and rounded me up in the car, and off we went to Dogs Mountain.