BenCab Museum Failed!

It was a sunny Monday morning. Paul and I decided to visit a secluded museum in Asin Road. We got up early and left the hotel around 9am and had a brunch at Soledad’s – a famous eatery beside Saint Louis University.

Around 10am we were bound to Bencab Museum. The address says it’s at Km 6 Asin Road. I was pretty sure that was far but I did not expect that the taxi driver would ask for an additional payment. That was not customary since Baguio taxi drivers were known to be very courteous. They will even give you your change up to the last cent. Nevertheless we agreed to pay additional 30Php for the ride. During our trip I silently agreed that we should really give the driver additional payment because it was far from the city and there was no possible passenger going back to the city because the people in Asin road opted for a jeepney ride instead of a taxi. (We rode a taxi because first we didn’t know where the jeepneys going to Asin Road were located and we were in a rush because we were set to meet someone in SM at 3pm.)

Upon arriving at the museum I noticed something was wrong. The door was closed. Nobody there but the security guard and an ice cream stick peddler. We alighted the taxi and proceded to the museum. When we asked the security guard he told us that the museum is closed on Mondays for day off. Bang! That’s where I failed in the planning! I forgot to check the schedule of the museum. To my dismay I sat on the stairs leading to the entrance and thought about Paul’s money wasted for nothing.

I asked the guard if he could open the museum for us. He told us he didn’t have the key of the museum. I pleaded and I even told him we were from Quezon City and we just want to see the artworks inside. He refused and told us, again, that he didn’t have the key of the museum. So we just took pictures of the façade of the museum and sat at the entrance trying to regain our strength because there was a short walk before we could reach the jeepney waiting area going back to the city proper.

Maybe the guard felt sorry for us because after a few minutes he let us enter the museum garden through the guard entrance. And we saw a paradise created by an ingenious mind. We were given 20 minutes to explore the area but I begged for another 10 minutes. The guard was so kind and agreed.

Here are some pics we took during our short stay at the museum. We will be back next time to explore the artworks inside. We will just fix some schedules and itineraries.

~till then,