Un-Paintballing at the Ruins of Diplomat Hotel in Baguio

1. Just got back from a three-day vacation from Baguio.  Me and Edge have turned five.  Whoopee!


2. For the first time visited Diplomat Hotel, thanks to a signboard near the Lourdes Grotto (which was our original itenerary).


3.  The signboard said "This way to Prayer Mountain", and because we were in the mood to pray (seriously), we trekked a whole kilometer to this so-called prayer mountain.


4. Turns out we wouldn't be in a particularly prayerful mood since there is just a hotel, or ruins of it.

5. The lady at Ibay's Silver Shop back at the Grotto did warn us that there is just this old hotel called Diplomat Hotel at Prayer Mountain, this closed-down hotel now a haunted house, which according to her, is always featured in reality TV shows during Halloween.


6.  Just when we thought it'd be a scary place, we find that there are well-taken care of flowers all around the area, and teenagers in full battlegear cosplay making poses in front of their super duper DSLR camera.


7.  For our part, me and Edge have no imaging device whatsoever.  I purposely left my point-and-shoot camera at home, I accidentally left my cellphone with just a VGA camera at home, while Edge's own cellphone is only good for texting, as an alarm clock, and a flashlight.


8.  We didn't need the flashlight because it was broad daylight.


9.  In a span of one hour, more people (living, hopefully not deceased) appeared at the rooftop of Diplomat Hotel where me and Edge have cozied up in a corner.  They all proceed to take pictures of the beautiful 360 degrees scenery of Baguio.


10. You can tell Diplomat Hotel was grand: it had two big fountains, bathtubs and fireplaces in some of the rooms, traces of parquet flooring, and a grand driveway.  But now, it's all stripped off walls, wet floors, and general decay.  


11. Three days later, back home, I Google this Diplomat Hotel and what happened to it.  The name Tony Agpaoa surfaces, a psychic physician who supervised the hotel and then died of a heart attack in 1987.  That's when the hotel started to fall into disuse.


12.  Agpaoa rings a bell.  I ask Mami if this Agpaoa is the same guy to whom she had brought Ditse, her sister, when she was sick.  I remember her telling me how they went to a posh hotel in Baguio in those days, seeking psychic-medical help there.  I remember her exclaiming over the minibar and how their friend told them they can have anything, courtesy of the hotel management.


13. Sure enough, it is the same Agpaoa. 


14.  I tell her about how Diplomat Hotel looks like now.  I even show her pictures though she can't remember if it's the same hotel.  Anyway, a lot has changed, too hard for the mind to comprehend in a single glance.


15.  Apparently, enterprising people also use the hotel grounds as their battle area for paintball combats.  There were no paintballers that day.  I don't remember seeing paint splatters either, but that's probably because the paint is water-based.


16.  Edge tells me the teenagers with the DSLR could come up with better angles.  Also, that the hotel grounds would be good for a pre-nuptial shoot.  


17.  We leave the hotel grounds before it gets darker and foggier, and because we still haven't had lunch.

* * * 

Mr. DeMartino: And why are we going to engage in simulated combat? Daria?


Daria: Because no high school education is complete until you've chased your fellow students around the woods with toy guns?




-from Daria the Hunter, Episode #202, year televised 1998