Because it’s so humid and hot this summer, here I am again longing to go up to the cool misty mountains of Baguio. Shot in 1910, the photograph above shows Kennon Road (formerly Benguet Road) with De Dion-Bouton classic cars. Believe it or not, these cars used to climb up the steep and snake-like road of Kennon.

The road itself, now one of the three access roads to the city, was built largely by immigrant Japanese nationals followed by the Fil-Chinese, Americans and Filipinos beginning in 1903. Col. Lyman Kennon lead the road-construction project (yep, he’s an American colonel, in the backdrop of the Philippine-American War) with around 1,500 Japanese workers, most of whom, stayed on in Baguio after the road was completed. Many of these Japanese influenced Igorot farming, namely organic farming which some farmers in La Trinidad still practice today. When the Japanese Occupation ended in 1945, many Japanese in Baguio, even the long-time residents, were suspected of treason and were forcefully deported to their country. 

I had an oral history interview with an old Filipina lady in Baguio who married a Japanese. When her husband was deported after the war, it was so sudden that she never had the time to say goodbye. They never saw each other again.