You may have already seen Trabia Garden or rode past it in the mobile Balamb Garden ship if you completed the Shumi Village side quest or the Chocobo Forest side quests. Trabia is located in the Bika Snowfield on the northernmost continent.
You can use the map screen to show you where it can be found or use the map below to help you find it, but check the notes below before you go inside:
Before you enter Trabia Garden you should consider engaging in some battles in and around the Trabia Garden area.
There is an enemy in this area called a Mesmerize which look like a unicorn/sheep hybrid that drops 
Mesmerize Blades. If you have been playing Triple Triad throughout the game you may not need any of these items but they are fairly useful for crafting certain weapons (namely Squall’s Cutting Trigger and Rinoa’s Cardinal).
You can also find another enemy in the snowy plains of this region called a Gayla. Using 
Mug on these enemies will get you a Mystery Fluid which can be refined into Meltdown magic using 
Supt Mag-RF ability. Note that these enemies will only appear in the snowy areas.
Head on in to Trabia Garden after you have collected some of the items noted above. Trabia Garden looks like a set of ruins and is fairly run-down looking as the missiles from the Galbadia Missile Base had a direct hit on the Garden.
Follow Selphie over the wall as she enters the garden and consider using the nearby Draw Point which contains 
Thundaga magic.
Search the ground on the bottom right side of the screen to find the 
Weapons Monthly, August Issue. It’s sitting on the ground in and among the cracks just in front of the fountain and in front of where Selphie was standing.
Work your way towards the back of the Garden until you meet up with Selphie at the cemetery. Leave the cemetery and come back to the fountain area and you will be able to walk to the portion of the screen that Selphie was standing in (and blocking off). There is an issue of Timber Maniacs on the ground in the middle of the cemetery.
Go back to the fountain area and walk to the left of the Thundaga Draw Point. In the screen with the people sitting on the ground and in the makeshift beds, travel to the right. There is a Save Point here that you can use to save your game. Continue going to the right and examine the computer screen up against the wall.
Head back out to where the people were sitting on the makeshift beds to find Selphie talking to some of the survivors. Talk to the two kids and then talk to Selphie. She will ask you to meet her by the basketball court. Continue heading to the left and then to the left again one more time to reach the basketball court.
This next section of the game involves a ton of dialogue and walking around speaking to people. It turns out that all of your team members grew up in the same orphanage but had lost all of their earlier memories through their use of Guardian Forces.
This is where the story of Final Fantasy VIII veers into the realm of plot conveniences (which lends more credence to the Squall Is Dead theory).
You will regain control of your party and automatically find yourself back in Balamb Garden near Trabia Garden. Before you leave the area though you should consider returning back to Trabia Garden to pick up the 
Selphie Card.
Triple Triad: Selphie CardThe Selphie Card is a one-of-a-kind rare character card. You can obtain the the card after visiting Trabia Garden and completing the story events there. Go back to Trabia Garden and head to the fountain. The woman that Selphie was speaking to when you first arrived at the Garden has the Selphie Card.
This can be a particularly challenging card to obtain due to the Random rule that is in effect at Trabia. Save your game before you challenge the card player. There are methods for removing the random rule in this region but it’s easier just to continue challenging her until you win.
One way that you can improve your odds of winning the Selphie Card is to refine your low level cards into items so that you are more likely to have a stronger hand with high level cards. Make sure to select “no” if she asks if you would like to mix the rules for various regions (always choose “no” when presented with this option).
You can now complete another section of the Queen of Cards side quest as well. In order to do this though you will need to have completed the Chocobo Forest side quest. Click on the link below for more information:
The rewards from the Chocobo Forest side quest include the Chicobo Card which is required for the Queen of Cards side quest (noted below).
Triple Triad: Queen of Cards and the Chicobo CardThe last time you challenged the Queen of Cards in Dollet you should have ensured that she traveled to Balamb next. She should now be in the Balamb Town near the train station otherwise you will have to complete this part of the Queen of Cards side quest later on in the game.
Travel to Balamb Town and save your game just outside the town (in case you need to reset). You will find the Queen of Cards parked out in front of the train station in her usual spot.
The Queen of Cards will speak her usual line asking whether you want to play a card game combining both “Trabia’s rules and ours”. It is very important that you select “No” when presented with this option this time as you risk spreading the Random rule if your last game played was in Trabia.
Select “No” and continue asking her until she submits to playing a game without changing the rules, and consider resetting your game if you accidentally initiated a game and spread new rules to this region.
You need to purposefully lose the Chicobo Card to the Queen of Cards. The Queen of Cards will then say “This region is getting boring. I’m going to head towards _______”. We need her to travel to Dollet following this card game. Reset your game if she says she is going to head towards Galbadia.
Note that there is only a 37.5% chance that she will go to Dollet so this may take several attempts.
This is part of the Queen of Cards side quest.
Triple Triad: Chubby Chocobo Card and Chicobo CardTravel back to Dollet and meet up with the Queen of Cards in the upstairs section of the pub. Ask her about her artist father and she will explain that her father has created a new Chubby Chocobo Card based on that card which can be found in Balamb Garden. She will also mention that she gave the Chicobo Card to her son.
Find the Queen of Card’s son and challenge him to a game of cards to win back the Chicobo Card. Then go back in to Balamb Garden and look for a man sitting on a bench to the right of the directory (shown in the screenshot below).
This man holds the Chubby Chocobo Card. You may have to leave the area and re-enter it if he does not initially appear.
It’s time to return to main plot of the game. As Squall mentioned at the end of the flashback sequence on the Trabia basketball courts, it’s time to head to Edea’s House. Her house can be found on the southern tip of the Centra continent.
