La Loma Cemetery (black and whites)

La Loma Cemetery, Metro Manila,
Philippines

Diplomat Hotel

Well, October is almost over so  it will be Halloween in about a week. So I guess it is only appropriate  that I feature something related to that.

Two months ago, I visited Baguio again.  It may be the Philippines' summer capital but it is also well know for an abundance of ghost stories.

And one of the more well known haunted sites in Baguio is the abandoned Diplomat Hotel (should have embedded horror movie music file)  It is not that easy to locate. most locals and taxi drivers know its exact location.  You can also mention the words Prayer Mountain, Heritage Hill or Dominican Hill.

The uphill path to your certain doom

What kind of ancient entities lurk behind those gates?

 Should I enter this dark and foreboding place?  I visited this place solo and armed only with my cameras.

Baguio's late afternoon fog helps improve the ghastly ambiance of this place.

Notice the right concrete post knocked down by a powerful unknown force

I have entered the place; there is no turning back

I did not capture any spectral images peering through the windows. Next time I should use film instead of digital cameras.  Ghosts and phantoms are analog, I think

As they say here "In fairness", the place offers awesome (or crowded) views of the city.

Jigsaw was here

Apparently I made it out of Diplomat Hotel in one piece as I lived to blog about it.  One more thing, Diplomat Hotel is already abandoned.  You cannot make reservations here or book online. But you can visit the place for free during the scheduled hours: 8AM to 5PM (as of August 2013)

Well it was really nice of them to not charge an entrance fee...wait perhaps the place hearkens for fresh naive souls to trap?  8)

Climbing Mt Baldy, USA Part 2

We continued with our ascent, which now seemed more like a winter wonderland instead of a frigid wasteland.

Though some of the trails still had a layer of snow, the mountain had experienced a few days of sunny Socal weather despite the winter season.  It had been bluebird-sky for a few days before our climb. Thus, snow on the ground had already begin to melt.

At the end of the Icehouse Canyon trail, you will be see some really scenic Alpine-like views as your reward for never giving up or turning back.

Why did we climb Mt Baldy? Well because ya know, its like, there.  Nuff said.

Climbing Mt Baldy USA Part 1

While it is still a few months from the official start of winter in the US, some states have already experienced some snowfall due to some early storms.  So I guess its not too early anymore to feature a snow-related travel post.

Mt Baldy (or Mt San Antonio) is actually very visible in the residential area where I used to live in Southern California.   Well how can you not notice a mountain that rises from the desert floor at about 10,000 feet making it one of the tallest mountains in California?

This massive mountain is also very accessible  from Los Angeles, as it is only 55 miles east if you Google map it.

Mt Baldy also offers  the usual snow activities
provided there's enough snowpack

Mt Baldy parking

The is the trail we took after inquiring and paying the permit fees at the visitor center  The tips and info here can also be used for most mountain trails in the US.  Note the yellow bear alert.

And remember the last piece of advice: "bury it."

During the first few stages of the trail, you would be walking through forested areas with meandering streams. It is not that difficult for experienced hikers, but some of the rocks can be quite slippery, especially after a recent winter storm.

You will see some house ruins as well, which makes you wonder how they got here. Several years ago, Mt Baldy was ravaged by a massive forest fire that gutted several houses, leaving only their stone or brick remnants.

No this is not the Blair Witch's lair

right out of a horror movie

As we continued to follow the mildly ascending trail, we reached areas still covered by some snow. Note in that in SoCal, snow usually falls only at elevations above 5000 feet.  You gotta climb if you want to experience snow.

Midway, the terrain also gets more difficult.  Plus the heat of the SoCal sun is now at full blast, which still matters, even if this trip happened during the peak of winter (January).  So remember to bring enough water for this climb.  There are no vending machines at the trail's end nor vendors hawking bottled water, soda or ice candy (like some forests and mountains in the Philippines) 

I will continue this in the next blog post to prevent long page load times.  But here is one last photo.

Camp John Hay Manor

I decided to feature Camp John Hay in Baguio, Philippines, as they currently have an ongoing promo for the 2013 rainy season.

We visited Camp John Hay during our Baguio trip last July with some friends from the East Coast. We arrived around 10AM and immediately explored the nice grounds of the Manor since the weather that morning was beautiful.

We decided to have lunch at Chef Billy King's Le Chef restaurant, located at the ground floor of Camp John Hay Manor.  It was also going to be perfect for Al Fresco dining given the nice prevailing weather that day.

Nice relaxing  Baguio vacation

Or so we thought...

Well now at least you know the advantage of coming here during the summer.  But it was just going to be a minor quibble to an otherwise awesome vacation.  We just moved to the indoor dining area of Le Chef/ and started ordering.

We probably spent a total of around P1000 (US$$23)  per person for the food items above.  It was a complete meal, from the salad up to the desert. Wine and other alcoholic drinks are not included in that amount though.  But for that amount, the food was well worth it that we were all satisfied (and also busog ) after lunch.

After lunch, the hotel staff showed us the 2-bedroom suite which according to their website sleeps 1 - 5 persons.  The room was actually spacious enough to accommodate more, but it is usually hotel policy to not let guests stuff too many people in one room.

Trivia: Camp John Hay a former R&R facility for US military personnel

Before I forget, Camp John Hay Manor's website  http://www.campjohnhay.ph/  currently has a web promo wherein a  2-bedroom Forest View suite goes for only P7000 ($163) instead of the regular rate of P12,000 ($279).

If you are coming with a smaller party, the 1-bedroom suite, which is good for 1-3 persons, costs only P4900 (US$113) instead of P8,600 (US$200).

The promo expires on October 15th, which is around 2 weeks from now.

As mentioned previously in my other posts, I DO NOT have sponsored posts here.  ALL my featured travels and food trips in this blog were paid for using personal funds.