I had a work trip and some free time so I made arrangements to meet with my college roommates. We have not seen one another in 12 years. I stayed for one weekend in the house of one of my roommates and we agreed to meet my other roommate who lives in Laguna. All of us needed a break from work and school. We brought my roommate’s kids. Laguna is a perfect escape from Metro Manila.
Because my roommate spent her high school in the University of Philippines Los Baños’ Rural High School, she is familiar with the campus and toured us. We were all roommates at the University of the Philippines in Diliman (UP Diliman). I love the UP Diliman campus but I have to say UP LosBaños (UPLB) has its own charm. I should have cross registered and took some subjects there for one summer.
I’ll take you to some places we visited though my photos. This is the park near the entrance.
UPLB has a Thai Pavilion. I do not know what the structure is for but anyone can hang out here.
One of my roommates and I at the Nihon Koen Steps. It looked like we’re in Japan, eh?
If you get tired after waking on these steps, there are benches where you can rest.
Going up the mountain, there is the Boy Scouts of the Philippines Jamboree Site.
This site is near the entrance to the National Art Center of the Philippines.
On our way up, we passed by this open church, where a wedding scene in one of Aga-Regine movies was shot.
These are the buildings of the Philippine High School for the Arts. Artistically-inclined scholars study high school here.
The topmost area in this route is the National Arts Center.
On this plateau, we can see the Alligator Lake, parts of Los Baños and Calamba. I think.
All the touring made us thirsty. We dropped by the College of Agriculture. They sell delicious fresh milk, yogurt, pork and beef products!
We still have a lot of time in our hands so we visited IRRI (International Rice Research Institute). This is the Ipil drive on the way to IRRI.
We visited IRRI a month before Bill Gates did. (Not an important information, I just want to mention that. Hahaha) IRRI is the premiere institution in the world that conducts research on rice. The top rice scientists from all over the world work here.
They study different varieties of rice from all over the world.
They have different enclosures that mimic the climate of a particular country.
At the end of the road at IRRI, we found the UP Open University Oblation.
After this tour, we hung out at the open field in UPLB near the fertility tree. The fertility tree is just a large acacia tree. It is called as such because a lot of things happen underneath the tree. What are those things? Your guess is as good as mine.
We had dinner at Dalcielo inside the campus and we called it a day.
It was a wonderful day with friends.
A really cool and silent place to relax and empty our minds. I wish Cebu is closer to this place.
It’s been years since my last visit here in UPLB, I just accompanied my husband in getting his diploma. I agree that UPLB has its own charm.
Thanks for the tour, Kat. Ang ganda pala sa UPLB. 🙂
We used to pass buy UPLB whenever we go to Los Banos to buy milk, Kesong Puti and other goodies. It’s been years since I last went there. Ganda pa rin!
I haven’t been in UPLB for such a long time. And the only time I went there was for a workshop. I hope someone can tour me around the place. It looks great.
I have never been there and i agree with Jess that it’s beautiful there. It looks so clean and quite charming. It has its own personality!
Welcome to UPLB! My workplace.hehe
Oh,cool! Such a wonderful workplace.
How I wish I could experienced such dayout with friends. 🙂
When we were still in the Philippines, we used to frequent different parts of Laguna, Los Banos in particular, but we’ve never been to UPLB. Thanks for sharing your photos. =)
The fields and greenery are so beautiful! I’m always amazed how you guys get to take such nice photos!
You guys look like you had a ton of fun at UPLB! Hope to see it myself one day soon! 😀
yass!! Nikon Koen Steps reminds me of a gate in Japan. is there any stories about this gate and Japan? ^ ^
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I read somewhere that it is a symbol for the cooperation between UPLB and Japanese universities.
Meeting with people that you haven’t seen in a long time feels really rewarding. It’s nice to catch up and learn what everyone has been up to during the years you’re not together.
Haven’t been to Los Banos, Laguna unless it was a field trip back in my highschool days which I vaguely remember as well haha. So, that’s what the IRRI looks like, hope they don’t give in to Bill Gate’s GMO push, natural is the only way to go. Pesticides we can’t wash off just makes me shudder. I would love to visit there someday just to buy kesong puti, heard it’s great!
Wow! I’ve never seen UPLB the way they look in your pictures! My husband grew up a stone’s throw away from UPLB so back in the days when we were younger, we would frequent the grounds and I never really knew to appreciate that. One of these days, we’ll take the kids to see it again.
Thanks for sharing!
Ive been in uplb way back in 2000. Japan inspired structures and thai, cool eh? I wanna visit uplb again!
What a nice university you have here. Been hearing and reading about UPLB and looking at your pictures I can say that this school is very unique & different from what I pictured. Nice to have a field trip in this campus.
Thanks for taking us there. I have a cousin who graduated vet from UPLB. I should ask him to bring us around the campus one day like you did.
UPLB is a place I treasured much. My daughter studied there and rented her own apartment with three of her friends. so I stayed with them just to act as their live-in security guard. Ha,ha,ha..
Ang ganda pala sa UPLB, I’ve heard transferees from UPLB to UPM (where I studied) who always whine that the UPM campus is too small and cramped in comparison to UPLB. Now I can see why, the land is huge, very green, charming and fun to hang out in.
UP Campuses are nice. haha #loyaltyaward I’m sure UPM has its own brand of charm, too. I should visit the campus one day!
I love the site overlooking the Alligator Lake at nakakabilib yung mga enclosures mimicking other countries’ climate.
It’s always lovely catching up with old pals. And with the pretty backdrop, this must surely have made a lovely weekend. Thanks for sharing.
Wow! I didn’t know UP LP is this amazing. Splendid photos! I would love to visit UPLB too. Been running around UP Diliman and was just astonished by the Campus’ set up. Looking at the photos you’ve posted makes me wanna visit UPLB too. 😀
UP los banos has refreshing scenery. It also has a lot fresher air and has nice structures in it.
wow the view is so nice and looks calm! Wish to go there one day 😀
Thanks for sharing your pictures. They are beautiful. It’s always good to spend time making memories with old friends.
Ang ganda din pala ng UPLB, I’ve never been there before, mas malapit kami dito sa UP Diliman..
It must have been wonderful to see friends you had not seen in so long. That is always special, but to do so in such a gorgeous place! Wow, I would not want to leave, LOL.
Looks like it’s a nice place to visit… Really looks very amazing in the photo!~
Para na akong nag-filedtrip sa UPLB. UPLB is like our university. There so many trees, old trees pa. You got really nice photos Kat.
My favorite is the photo of Alligator Lake, very beautiful view. I’ve visited UPLB a loooonnggg time ago.
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Ano inuwi mo; Lety’s or Original?
Cream puffs from Dalcielo. 😀
It must have been great to be able to spend some time with your friends. I haven’t visited that place before but it looks like a relaxing place to visit.
Super ganda naman pala ng UPLB and that fertility tree is simply amazing! so perfect, so beautiful. Thanks for little tour here at your blog.
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I haven’t visited UPLB ever since. Hopefully, we can set a tour in there pretty soon! Nice photos by the way. Thank you very much for sharing your one of a kind experience.
Laguna is my hometown, lagi ko nadaanan UPLB but I have never had a chance to visit the place. It’s nice pala
I didn’t realize UPLB is this beautiful, it looks like it has everything in one community. I was only able to pass by IRRI last year during the Palarong Pambansa so I was really surprised.
A friend of mine told me that they used to call the statue near entrance as “Flame of Recca”.
I think I can guess the reason why they call the acacia tree there are fertility tree. hehehe
some said it is called the kwek kwek tower hehehe