Baguio's Diplomat Hotel
Those who live in Baguio, have visited Baguio, and have yet to set foot in Baguio should be familiar with Diplomat Hotel.
The Diplomat Hotel is an old and abandoned hotel located at the Dominican Hill Retreat House in Baguio. It was first established as a seminary and vacation house by Dominican friars some time in 1911. Prior to it being a hotel, some anecdotes would say that this structure used to be a place occupied by those who were fleeing from the Japanese during World War II. Other versions of stories would say that this was also a place of torture, which included beheading. In the 90s, the structure was acquired and then refurbished into what is now known as the Diplomat Hotel. In 1987, the hotel ceased operations for good. Whatever story was the most accurate did not really matter, all these stories contributed to the Diplomat Hotel gaining popularity for being one of the most haunted hotels in the world.
Glorious Ruins
While most regard Diplomat Hotel as haunted, this has not stopped people from flocking to the place. From paranormal experts to photographers, the Diplomat Hotel has attracted visitors from all over the Philippines and even from other countries. Quite interesting.
It was my first time to visit Baguio last year and besides the cold weather and the food (strawberry taho, ice cream, coffee...strawberry-everything!), what I was most excited about were the less-mainstream places we’d get to visit. As soon as I found Diplomat Hotel on Google, I immediately included it in our itinerary. I also figured, since Diplomat Hotel is supposedly haunted, there may not be a lot of people visiting this. A huge win for me.
By the way, we went to Diplomat Hotel during the ASEAN Summit 5-day holiday. Not our most brilliant idea. Naturally, the holiday meant the place was swarming with tourists (mostly from Manila, since the holiday affected Metro Manila the most). Obviously, after seeing the crowd, the introvert and demophobe in me almost wanted to cancel the whole trip.
Still, I am a sucker for ruins so I managed to squeeze through the crowds and take a few shots I can be proud of.
Overall, sans the annoying people who only cared about other people seeing their faces on their friends’ timelines and IG feeds, I enjoyed going to Diplomat Hotel.
Our visit reminded me of why ruins can be glorious. And that is exactly what Diplomat Hotel is.
Beauty in Brokenness
The Japanese has devised a method for repairing broken ceramics through using a special lacquer usually mixed with gold. They call this Kintsugi (or kintsukuroi). In Kintsugi, instead of throwing the broken ceramic away, you try to “recognize the history of the object” by “visibly [incorporating] the repair into the new piece instead of disguising it”.
Image source: http://www.thisiscolossal.com/2014/05/kintsugi-the-art-of-broken-pieces/
I like how one article put it: “The process usually results in something more beautiful than the original.”
I guess, what draws me to ruins is the fact that it exudes the chance to remain beautiful despite the brokenness.
In 2013, Hillsong Worship released a song entitled Glorious Ruins. I am a frustrated writer and if I may say, the song is so beautifully-written. The song basically tells us that there will be times that something that stands so majestically will fall or a structure so beautiful gets destroyed. We see this happen throughout history. Natural disasters (such as earthquakes, drought, and flood) and wars and conquests are only few of what caused some structures in our history to lay in ruins. However, the song doesn’t just speak about physical ruins of structures or buildings. Heartbreaks, challenges, rejections, lack, failure, weakness, death...these are what usually break us emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. These things tend to rob us of what was supposedly going to make us majestic. When Diplomat Hotels Inc acquired the property in 1973, I am sure it envisioned that Diplomat Hotel will eventually become one of the go-to hotels in Baguio. However, at present, we can now only see its ruins. Though that may be a sad thought at first, I am reminded of kintsugi. And so I smile.
I believe the song exists to remind us that ruins can be glorious and brokenness can be beautiful. That when you allow the appropriate people to work on the ruins, to think of ideas on how the ruins do not have to remain in its seemingly sorry state, restoration and rebuilding will actually be possible. It may not look or feel like how it looked or felt like before. The ruins, after all, speak of the days of the past. But how it will look like after the restoration is another story. A different one. And I guess, that's what makes it enthralling.
Diplomat Hotel was supposedly a hotel. I have scoured the Internet for photos of how it looked like before, but I didn’t find any. Still, who knew that its ruins would have made it become one of the most sought-after tourist spots in Baguio? I guess we’ll have to thank the brains behind whoever led the organic restoration of Diplomat Hotel.
A broken ceramic may already be no good at first glance. But in the hands of a Kintsugi expert, the broken ceramic gains a new identity, one that is restored with gold, made even more beautiful in its brokenness.
Let the ruins come to life and rise from the ashes.
It’s possible.
That’s what He does. That’s who He is.