Killing Jet Lag

 

I have always found the best way to cure jet lag is to find plenty of things to do that first day to force brain to be active until normal sleeping hours in my new time zone. So after a partial night's sleep and some morning hours reading until my Filipino family were awake, we ate some breakfast and headed out to explore some new sights around town.

Our first stop was the Diplomat Hotel which after years of being empty, is slowly starting to be fixed up and marketed as a haunted place. Although I don't believe in ghosts, I can see how people might think there are ghosts here due to a somewhat sordid history. It was built by Americans after the Spanish War and became a seminary. During World War II, it was a place of refuge for Filipinos until the Japanese invaded it and turned it into a head quarters. Within it's walls, many a Filipino native along with the priests and nuns were tortured, raped and executed. During the later days of the Japanese occupation it became a "comfort station" until the American's bombed part of it which caused the Japanese stationed there to commit suicide.

Despite all that history, it actually did become a hotel for some time before being abandoned in the 1980's. However as recently as 2022, there has been some interest in turning into some sort of tourist attraction. 

It was closed to tourists on the day we visited so I guess I can't confirm that ghosts haunt the place but it did provide some interesting sights to photograph.

It is just hard to beat the patina of the building.

As happenstance goes, the largest ten commandments building in the world was just across the street. I walked over to it with the intention of walking in but it sounded like there was some sort of function going on at the time.

Next we stopped at a "artisans" village. Perhaps a bit naive, I was hoping to find some local made objects that I might take back with me to hand out as souvenirs but instead it consisted of about a dozen small huts selling cheap Chinese made trinkets. About the only thing I found interesting and likely made locally was the sign at the entrance of the village which you can see above.

Our next stop for the day was Igorot Stone Kingdom which is the definition of a tourist trap. Essentially is was built in 2021 by an engineer supposedly using customary building techniques by the Igorot which is the indigenous tribe of the area.

It is built as sort of a large amphitheater into the mountainside with pathways to walk around it.

As common now it seems, there are plenty of places along the paths where you can stop to take your picture on a horse, with a St. Bernard dog or to dress up as an Igorot and get you picture taken with others dressed up as Igorot. Above is the backside of a typical caricature of an Igorot warrior.

Honestly, other than occupying my mind so I wasn't thinking about jet lag, the most interesting thing there were the young kids down below dressed up as Igorot and supposedly dancing a traditional dance every 10 minutes or so. I assume it must have been fairly authentic because later on, I saw a local old man join in and pretty much mimic many of the moves.

Our final stop of the day turned out to be the most interesting one by far, at least in my eyes but since this post is already long, I'll save that story for next time.