"First Timer in The City of Pines" - Our Baguio Vacation (Day 3-B)

So, how did a 31-year-old first-timer fared in his recent fare to Baguio City?

Last time, I covered the first half of our third day of stay in the City of Pines. It was unfortunate that I had to split the post for the third day, but it cannot be helped since there is no argue that the 3rd day was our longest day in Baguio in terms of places that we visited, so I think the split was justifiable.

Moving on, the first half of the post for the third day covered our visit at the Strawberry Farms and our visit and subsequent trekking on Camp John Hay. Now, we will start the second half of the third day post in one of the places that my mom specifically wanted to visit at the camp - The Bell House.
  
The first part of the Third day post can be found HERE
To check out the second day of our trip, click HERE
And of course, if you wanna track back to the first day of our trip, click HERE

Join me after the jump for part 2 of our third Day of stay in Baguio City.


Baguio City Vacation:  Day 3-B

We ended part one of the third day exactly when we arrived (after a long trek) at the Bell House. This place is exactly what my mother wants to visit at Camp John Hay. Let us get to know why then.

The Bell House

As always, a little bit of history is needed. The Bell House is named after General J. Franklin Bell, the Commanding General of the Philippines at that time - it was his official vacation residence. Fast forward to today, after the turnover of the house to the Philippine Government, it now functions as a museum and a tourist attraction in Camp John Hay, as part of the Camp John Hay historical core.

Access to the Bell House though is not a scot-free endeavor as there is an entrance fee of 60 Php. In all due fairness, paying the entrance fee gives you the opportunity to visit not only the Bell House but the other places within the vicinity of it too like the Cemetery of Negativism, The Bell Amphitheater, and the "Secret" Garden.

Leave all the Negativity Here

Just a little over to the left after you enter the gate of the Bell House, adoring a sloped section, is the Cemetery of Negativism (sometimes also called The Lost Cemetery). Okay, hold your horses people, this is not a real cemetery so there are no dead things buried here. The place is actually a burial place of negativity instead.

In this so-called cemetery, there are gravestones that when inspected closely, are hilarious and at the same time, inspirational and enlightening. Take for example, one gravestone that bears the name "Why Dident I?" whose birthdate is unknown followed by words, “Lived wondering why. Died for no reason.”  Another one has the name "Itz Not Possible" where there was a date indicated when he/she was conceived, but turns out to be, he/she is "Still not Born."

Yeah! Why Didn't You...Eh?!

Mission: Itz Not Possible

The gravestones may come across as odd, but when you come to think of it, a lot of the names of the gravestones represents the most common excuses that we use to avoid tasks and responsibilities . I for myself felt that I am a lucky soul to have walked the grounds of this little "cemetery" as it has instilled some positivity in me when I left it. The entrance marker ends with the words "Be Positive" and I guess that sums it all up. I entered the place with some of my pessimistic ideologies and somehow buried them all there and left having a sense of positivity, and a lot of it.

After leaving the Cemetery of Negativity, we passed by a totem pole where historical figures are carved. These persons whose heads are carved in this pole are people that are instrumental in the development of Baguio and of course, Camp John Hay.

Reminds Me of  the PSP game "Patapon"

The Bell Amphitheater

Moving along, the next part of the Bell House Historical Core that we visited is the Bell Amphitheater. Seeing this Amphitheater is really breathtaking, just take a look at the picture below.

Major Bell personally designed this Ampitheater. Just looking at it, it is evident that he took inspiration from the terracing techniques done by the Ifugaos on one the structural marvels we have in our country, the Banaue Rice Terraces. This Amphitheater has a "close to nature feel" and is really a great choice if you want to have a garden-themed wedding or event. The thing is, the place can be rented out for such kind of events.

The place is so inviting, majestic, and quiet that we decided to take a breather or two here before continuing on our itinerary.

The Bell House Itself

Miniature Bell House on one of the Displays

As I have said before, this house served as the vacation quarters for the Commanding General of The Philippines at the time of American Rule - General J. Franklin Bell, the one responsible for transforming Camp John Hay into a military resort back then.

The Bell House is majestic and at the same time, charming. As it now serves as a museum, it exudes a lot of American colonial architecture and lifestyle in its design and overall feel. Upon entering the house, a wide and spacious living room will greet you, complete with a fireplace and a grand piano in it.

I wanted to play Moonlight Sonata on this, too bad it was prohibited

Adjacent to the living room is the dining area. Like the living room, it is also spacious. One thing noticeable about the design of both the living and dining room is the adjacent large mirror and fireplace on the partition wall (I checked it, they are back to back). Nice touch, eh?!

From the spacious living room, a hallway stretches that leads to the back of the house and passes a number of rooms along the way. If you look at the number of rooms this house has, I gotta say that it looks bigger on the inside than the outside. (Hah! See what I did there? A Whovian Reference!)

The hallway is a little bit creepy, IMO

Now, I don't know if they are doing maintenance or housekeeping at the Bell House when we visited because when we peeked at the rooms of the house - the Guest Room and The Commander's Bedroom respectively - a lot of picture frames and paintings are off the walls and are on either the couches or the beds. I know it is not a big deal, but it is not that "picture friendly" and honestly, I do not expect it to be that way too.  Anyway, not taking anything away from the rooms, they are both spacious and given Baguio's weather, it will be a treat to be able to sleep in these rooms.

The Guest Room (Pardon the Picture Frames, can't do anything about them)

Following the hallway will lead you to a room at the back of the house where a lot of art pieces are displayed (Paintings, sculptures, etc). Personally, I felt an eerie sensation inside this room. You know, the kind of feeling that makes the hairs on your skin stand up on one end - "goosebumps."  It may be just me, but still I took no chances and convinced everyone to leave the room after some snaps.

After exploring the inside of the house, we moved on to exploring one of the Bell House's proud feature - The Veranda . The terrace/loggia of the Bell House extends all the way to the back thus giving you a good view of the amphitheater and the surrounding forest and hills on one side and a breathtaking panorama of the mountain ranges of Benguet on the other. Too bad, I haven't got to chance to photograph a lot of the veranda and the view at that time because my daughter decided to have a "Milk break", and as a good dad, I have to attend to that matter first, LoL!

Check Out the Polished Floor, Good Job, Cleaners!

The Secret Garden

I then asked a staff at the Bell House where is the Secret Garden (Me and my sister are fond of Mary Lennox and The Secret Garden so the name rings a bell on us) and he answered; "Kaya nga po sir Secret eh!" Hell, I was about to put him in a headlock if not for him eventually pointing to me the entrance that leads to the History Trail which you need to traverse to be able to get to the Secret Garden.

The Entrance to the History Trail, but we are in a hurry so...

...we will take the shortcut instead. Lazy eh?

Additionally, the staff also pointed out to me that if you just want to go to the Secret Garden, there is a shortcut at the side of the Bell House which we all agreed, was a time saver since we only want to go visit the garden itself. (Nakabawi si kuya sa akin sa banat niya earlier, huh!)

Taking the shortcut, we passed by some parts of the History Trail and it just took us approximately 5 minutes to reach the Secret Garden. It is really not that "Secret" as it can easily be seen.

On the site, there is a very well placed Gazebo which serves as a view deck to the surrounding mountains on the vicinity. The gazebo reminds me somewhat of the one in "The Lovely Bones" film as it has this ethereal aura in it. We decided to stay here for a while to enjoy the view and the temperature.

After a fair amount of time, we noticed that it is getting late in the afternoon (as I have said, time flies when you are enjoying) and it is getting dark so we decided to conclude our visit to the Historical Core. We traced back our steps which led us back to the Bell Amphitheater and after some last photo-ops of the Bell House, we bid farewell to the staff, who had been so accommodating to us.

Along the way back, it is noticeably starting to get a bit late and we are greeted by some fog descending to the hills of the camp (kinda like "The Mist" if you will ask me). 

The Mist..eer I mean the Fog on the descent

Before we go back to Burnham Park, we all agreed that we should visit the other branch of Glenn 50's Diner that is along the road back (Isn't it obvious that we just can't get enough of the 50's Diner?). With that, we hailed two cabs and we bid goodbye to Camp John Hay.

Another 50's Diner - Same great food experience 

The "Other" 50's Diner

After the downhill cab ride, we arrived at the other branch of Glenn50's Diner here in Baguio, just around the bend. This one is situated at the Military Cut Off Road and when compared to the one where we dine in a day ago (The Upper General Luna branch), it still has the same retro diner vibe and ambiance although a bit bigger in real estate (or smaller, depends on how you look at it). We were surprised that when we arrived, the place was not packed with diners and we were able to choose what table we want to seat in. I even had the chance to take interior photos as well; a lucky strike, I guess.

Of note, compared to the main branch, the Military Cut-Off branch has its neon lights working in all its glory. A thing of beauty, if you will ask me.

Those Neon Lights

Contrary to the other day - that we chose to eat rice - we all agreed to try their popular "Famous 50's Burger" this time. Oh boy! Little did we know that we are in for a treat..huge ones in fact.

Describing these burgers as BIG can be considered as an Understatement

As you can see, these burger servings are like the 50-foot woman in size huh?! Honestly, I was so stuffed after I ate one of these 50's Burger. Definitely a "Big" bang for your buck, if you will ask me.

Baguio after dark - A boat ride in the night and the Night Market

Since, this is technically our last night at Baguio (before we go back to the Metro the next day), we decided to try out some of the stuff and things that Baguio has to offer at night. Our first stop is a boat ride at the Burnham Lake - at night.

The man-made lake occupies a large area of the park and home to paddling and boating activities during the daytime. However, these activities are still offered even at night and we tried it at this time because we can enjoy it without the hassle of all the noise that is present during the daytime. For a very affordable price of a hundred pesos or less, you can enjoy boating for half an hour.

They may be smiling, but this is a tense moment to be honest...LoL!

Boating is a bit challenging at night as paddling is a chore and visibility is low. However, the solemnity of the place at night and the cool breeze seems to be a  fair trade-off.

After that fun (and uneventful) boat ride, we then proceeded to Harrison Road to have a look and experience  Baguio City's famous night market. During the morning, it is just a normal road; however, come nighttime, it transforms to a kilometer-long market where the nighthawks and night owls of the city congregate. Vendors here sell all kinds of items - from clothing, shoes, decorations, electronics, toys, and even more. Consider it like "Ukay-Ukay: The Baguio Way." Oh I almost forgot to mention, the prices here can go as low as "dirt cheap"  especially if you have exceptional haggling skills. If you are a compulsive shopper, then this place is for you.

Image courtesty of gmanews.tv.

Aside from the different kinds of items that you can buy, one of the best parts of the Night Market is their street food. Are you a sucker for local street foods such as squid balls, fish balls, barbecues, adidas, batchoy, kwek-kwek, and the dreaded balut? Well, at each end of the night market, vendors of these delicacies are abound and the variety that they offer is staggering. As for me, nothing beats the cold weather than a balut or two so I ended up having a fill of those.

If you are wondering, beside the squid balls are one of those odd delicacies - Barbecued Chicks...Yum!

Hey Manong! That's a Lot of Balut, alright?!

After that trip to the Night Market, we all agreed that it was getting late and indeed, it has been a long third day for us so we decided to call it a day and go back to Ina Mansion as we will be leaving early the next day.

Calling it a day and concluding our short but sweet stay

Parting Time

All in all, it was a very long and fun day that really highlighted our multiple-day stay in Baguio City. We all could have wished we could have stayed longer, but that is not the case. However, we can always come back if we get the chance right?

As for me, being a first-timer in Baguio City, I was really happy that I was finally able to visit Baguio City (Even though I did in my early 30s already). This will go down as one of the best vacations I had and even though we visited a lot of places in our stay here, I felt that there were a lot more that this city has to offer that really guarantees a return trip, if I get the chance. This will not be my last visit to Baguio City, I am sure about that.

And so, this concludes my four-part feature of our visit to Baguio City. To all of you who stuck until this last part. I really appreciate and thank you for the enthusiasm and the patience you have shown in reading my blog post/s. I do hope to catch your attention again in my future post/s.

If you want to track back and read the previous parts of this multi-post entry, you can read about our first day HERE.
To see how we fared on our second day, click HERE.
The first part of the third day can be visited HERE.

Until next time,

Visit places, keep safe, and enjoy!


Ciao!