The third post in the Tribute to Summer series details the trip I took with my family to Baguio City on a warm, sunny day after a meet-up with my endocrinologist.

(Related: The first post from the Tribute to Summer series can be found here.) 

The Philippines, being a Southeast Asian country, only has two seasons: Dry and Rainy; there is no in-between-- just these two extremes of temperature. Filipinos try to escape from the unrelenting heat of the sun by going to the pool/beach, staying cool indoors, or climbing to places in high altitude-- and Baguio City is one such place. Dubbed the "Summer Capital of the Philippines", Baguio City in the Cordillera Administrative Region of the Philippines is about 1,500 meters from sea level. It is close to the sun, but it's cool and crisp most of the year. From my experience living in Baguio for almost two years, temperatures can go up to 33° Celsius during dry season to as low as 9° Celsius during the rainy season. February and December, in my opinion, are the coolest months.

The Cotai strip in Macau, all lit up at night.

When people hear the word "Macau", they take it as one of China's special administrative regions (SAR) and just a popular side trip from its sister SAR, Hong Kong. Macau is relatively small, about 29.5 square kilometers in area size, so it comes as no surprise that potential travelers just assume that activities and attractions there will be little to none. This entails the possibility that even when they do decide to visit, they just allocate a few hours or days.

This will prove to be a travel faux pas, as any non-Tripadvisor subscribing traveler would later find out.

It looks like a quaint little bahay kubo from the outside-- with the bamboo works and stained glass and all!

I've been curiously driving through this establishment for a few months already, but I only stepped into it for the first time today for some late lunch with the family. KamBak Kambing at Baka (a play between the two Filipino words that literally meant "goat and cow") Grill and Resto is a small restaurant by the highway that held my fascination because it looked like a little but quaint Filipiniana-style native restaurant on the outside with majestic green mountains and rice paddies as its backdrop.

In short, it looked cute.

Aside from the food above, we also ordered a pitcher of iced tea (Php140.00). We saw that the diners on the table next to ours ordered ensaladang gulay (it was served in a very small porcelain dish; I know I won't be ordering this in the future), pork barbecue (skewered in bamboo; I thought these were very large), and fresh coconut juice (comes with the shell; the waiter informed me that this does not come cold).

One of the things we found convenient for us is that there were not many diners by the time we arrived (5:30 PM). People only started to pop in for dinner at around 7:00 PM and there were still a lot of seats to spare!

Upon coming home, I immediately told my family all about the dining experience and recommended the place to them and to some of my Facebook friends. Aside from the charming interior and the affordable and delicious food, the service was very exceptional! We didn't wait for too long for the food to arrive. The servers were very courteous and well-mannered, always wearing a smile on their faces. They even offered to take pictures of us, and our water glasses were always promptly refilled. It was a delight to dine while being served by them! I'm sold. I love this restaurant so much and I'm definitely coming back! Yep, I definitely am! 

**Patio Elmina Grill & Restaurant is located at Inn Asia along Jose de Venecia Avenue, Dagupan City, Pangasinan.