BAGUIO

The first time I visited Baguio City when I was in college, I was captivated by the place. My classmates and I went there annually (from 3rd to 5th year) for our school-sanctioned mine visits. Those were very happy occasions and my succeeding visits do not quite measure up to those boisterous and joyful trips. Everytime I return to Baguio for official trips this time, I smile remembering the frolicsome fun I had with my college friends (FX, Mike, Allan, Leo, Ed, Dondon, Roland, Al, Junjun, Jun Lim, Fuji, Sammy, etc.) and I wonder why Baguio seemed and felt different then. (When I get home to Masbate, I will make it a point to get the pictures taken during those field trips so I could post them here.)

The pictures I'm using here were taken during a 1999 fieldwork (July 5-7, 1999). Ironically, I only realized later that I have taken mostly landscape photos and have only very few pictures taken of myself. I have observed that since my trip to Boracay, I have become interested in photographing places without me or my companions in the pictures. This, I admit, is a big and surprising change in attitude because I consider this practice stupid and a waste of film before.

The weather during our trip wasn't very ideal. It was cloudy and it rained on late afternoons. Not counting our short visit to Burnham, Mines View, and some horse-riding, we were not able to venture out much. After office hours, we just walked around to find some nice place to eat. On our first night, we found a folk-house whose singers were so good, we stayed there until past midnight. The following night, we went to a place where a live band performed New-wave music and then transferred to a jazz bar in one of the hotels later.

The first picture above shows Burnham Park and the second one, Mines View Park.

Addendum : I have discovered other pictures taken during a 1997 visit so I'm including them here.

This is Session Road which is the main and busiest street of Baguio. During my first visit, I found it unusual because it is sloping unlike the flat main streets of all the other places I've visited before. Strolling along the sidewalk of Session Road was enjoyable then but it is usually crowded nowadays. This is one of the big changes I've observed in Baguio.

I thought that this street lined with trees in Burnham will make a good photograhy subject. It actually reminds me of the street in front of the College of Engineering at U.P. Diliman.

Here's another shot I took of the lagoon at Burnham Park. I took about seven landscape shots at the park and I was thinking if I wasn't being foolish doing it.

I have a lot of photographs taken at Mines View Park since college and I found them all dull and unremarkable. The place was very small (even cramped, on busy days) so you couldn't get a picture showing a good view of the park. This one (which I think is a romantic shot), would have been good if I were not using an automatic-focus camera. The camera thought that the subject was the nearby plant so it dutifully focused on the flowers and the leaves. But the photo still came out interesting, I think.

This is Session Road on a regular day. This and the following pictures below were taken during a 1997 field work.

Burnham park again, with me in the foreground this time. :)

The Baguio City Cathedral.

The guest house where we stayed.

At the gates of The Mansion. This place used to be the presidential vacation house during Marcos' time. I'm not sure if it's still being used now.

A regular shot in Mines View Park.

Still at The Mansion.

Among the pines. Baguio is one of the rare places in the country where you'll find pine trees in abundance.

	This is Session Road which is the main and busiest street of Baguio. During my first visit, I found it unusual because it is sloping unlike the flat main streets of all the other places I've visited before. Strolling along the sidewalk of Session Road was enjoyable then but it is usually crowded nowadays. This is one of the big changes I've observed in Baguio.
	I thought that this street lined with trees in Burnham will make a good photograhy subject. It actually reminds me of the street in front of the College of Engineering at U.P. Diliman.
	Here's another shot I took of the lagoon at Burnham Park. I took about seven landscape shots at the park and I was thinking if I wasn't being foolish doing it.
	I have a lot of photographs taken at Mines View Park since college and I found them all dull and unremarkable. The place was very small (even cramped, on busy days) so you couldn't get a picture showing a good view of the park. This one (which I think is a romantic shot), would have been good if I were not using an automatic-focus camera. The camera thought that the subject was the nearby plant so it dutifully focused on the flowers and the leaves. But the photo still came out interesting, I think.
	This is Session Road on a regular day. This and the following pictures below were taken during a 1997 field work.
	Burnham park again, with me in the foreground this time. :)
	The Baguio City Cathedral.
	The guest house where we stayed.
	At the gates of The Mansion. This place used to be the presidential vacation house during Marcos' time. I'm not sure if it's still being used now.
	A regular shot in Mines View Park.
	Still at The Mansion.
	Among the pines. Baguio is one of the rare places in the country where you'll find pine trees in abundance.