A walk in the park: BURNHAM PARK

"This is the Cordillera's premier park of 32 hectares located at the summer capital of the Philippines"

-pagnapagna

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-my pagnapagna-
(October 16, 2015 Friday)

Early morning at around 6:30, I stepped down from the bus, walked my way across the Rizal park and to the big gate of the Burnham park.

The bust of the the American Architect by the name of Burnham greeted everyone who enters by that big gate. That area is overlooking further down to the main area of the park.
Written in the monument was this:

In Retrospect
The message of love, amity & mutual respect was the touchstone in the construction of this memorial marker as a lasting tribute to
Daniel Hudson Burnham
A world reknown American Architect from Chicago, United States of America who in the turn of the 19th century designed the land use patterns of the City of Baguio, specifically the city's main park which bares his name - Burnham Park.
his Vision, dedication & industry helped build the reputation of this mountain resort a premier travel destination in the country. a significant episode in the passage of an act by the Philippine Commission which established the  City of Baguio as the "Summer Capital of the Philippines".
The construction of this memorabilium was initiated and coordinated by the National Correspondents  Club of Baguio (NCCB), for and in behalf of the people of the city with the invaluable cooperation and support of the Department of Tourism (DOT), the Philippine Tourism Authority (PTA) and the National Parks Development Committee (NPDC) and the other friends of the NCCB media aggrupation. 

At a road before the man-made lake were people doing their morning "zumba". They were about five groups situated side by side with individual instructors and musics that if one is at the edge of one of the group near the other, he/she may get lost to the blasting pumping music beat of the nearby group. Most of these groups caters to the more energetic people while 1 or 2 caters to the slower ones. Hmm! It looked like they were having a friendly competitions in there.

Walked towards the central part of the park which is the lake. Its waters were still covered with a kind of mist or low lying fog that looked like vapors on mysterious waters.

I walked around the lake with many joggers, early tourists and entrepreneurs alike. At one of the bench, a henna tattoo artist took its post while a woman was training his furry friend dog at another. I have seen some total of 8 dogs, if not being trained, just being walked around that early morning and not to forget the gentle St. Bernard.

Photographers were everywhere. At the corners of the rectangular lake were station areas for the various boat rides. For those who wants to look "igorotak", at one of the longer side of the lake, at its midpoint was a viewing deck and below it was a native costume rental (on a cart/counter) for souvenir photos and selfies thus photographers were also there waiting for their customers.

Walked further into a road were bicycles for rent and again there were some 3 groups of "zumba" dancers dancing their fats away but come 8 o'clock, one by one they dispersed. 
The "skating rink" turned into an amusement park with different food stalls was just nearby.

Further to the other side was the Children's park. 

Do's and Dont's 
1- Pets and other Domesticated animals are not allowed in the playground.
2- Smoking and drinking of alcoholic beverages are strictly prohibited (Burnham Park is a Smoke Free zone). City Ordinance.
3- Bicycles, skates and skateboards are not allowed in the playground.
4- No pitching of tents.
5- No playing of loud music.
6- Playing with baseball bats, sticks, rocks or similar sharp or hard objects is not allowed.
7- Picking of flowers or plants within the park is prohibited.
8- Segregated waste management.

Seen some Mother and his children on the swings while the athletic ones were busy having their push-ups and doing the monkey bars. Lots of joggers making rounds along the walkways and most of them were with their coaches. If I was in my proper gear and not with a heavy backpack (with the heavy camera tripod), I would have jogged too :-) . 
A marker in the park says:

Play is the highest expression of human development in childhood, for it alone is the free expression of what is in a child's soul.
- Friedrich Froebel
The rehabilitation of the Burnham Children's Park is the project of the City Government of Baguio and SM Prime Holdings, Inc.
This is a testament to a strong commitment of both parties to develop environment and child-friendly parks for the children of today and the future.

Afterwards, I left the area and went to the Melvin Jones Grandstand.

At the Melvin Jones Grandstand, I sat across the open field opposite the Melvin Jones Grandstand and ordered a coffee from a passing coffee vendor while football was being played at a distance. Nearby was a covered and fenced topographic scale model of the cordilleras nearby. It was somewhat neglected as it harbors some garbage locked inside and someone is sleeping beside it. 
Written in it was this:

Cordillera At A Glance
On July 15, 1987, the Cordillera Administrative Region was created through Executive Order No. 220 issued  by President Corazon C. Aquino.
It is the largest and only landlocked region of the Philippines composed of the provinces of Abra, Apayao, Benguet, Ifugao, Kalinga and Mountain Province, with Baguio City as the regional center.
In commemoration of the 26th Anniversary of the creation of the Cordillera Administrative Region this Relief Map represents the collaboration and efforts of the RDC-CAR Infrastructure Development Committee and the Higher Education Institutions, specifically: Apayao State College-Baguio, Kalinga State College, AMA University, Baguio Central University, Saint Louis University, STI College, University of Baguio and University of the Cordilleras to showcase the following infrastructure development of the Cordillera:
Road Network (Length of Roads and Bridges) - Roads: 2,024 Kms. / Bridges: 12.60 Kms.
Telecommunications: 3322 cells sites and 93 broadband sites
Power Generation Systems - 3 Hydropower plants & 13 mini-hydropower plants
Forest Covers - 46% of total land area of the region
Tourist Roads (Construction and Improvement) - 74 Kms.
Inaugurated this 15th day of July 2013

I went back towards the lake, passed by the bicycles area, the tourist police station and into the Orchidarium.

One can find some exotic plants at the Orchidarium. The pitcher plant cost some 500 pesos and the smaller ones does not come cheap at some 250 to 300 pesos. Well I just went to look around and feast on the flora, A sign says something like "taking photos pay 5 to 10 pesos".

Around 10:30 am, I went to eat at a diner near the minibus area bound for La Union just to recharge my dying camera battery. 

After an hour, with a recharged stomach and camera battery, I went back to the park and noticed that they have turned on the fountains.
It just nice to sit down and see the waterworks.
Within the day, people from all walks of life visiting the park have doubled or more.
Yeah, this was just a walk in the park and meant to end. I've got to go back to Home Sweet Home.

-end of pagnapagna-

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