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| Looking over Sagada from Echo Valley |
It’s
Thanksgiving Holiday in the US so this means it’s a 4 day weekend for us BPO
workers (ones who cater to US clients) here in Manila. The morning of Thursday, I see multiple check-ins
at airports, bus terminals or simply the “travelling to” status in Facebook of
friends who are off on a vacation.
This was a
last minute trip that Karl luckily booked for us. This was a group tour offered
by one of the local tour operators in Manila.
This is my
second time joining a group (1st time was a tour I took to Mount
Pinatubo, that is also blogged here), and although I’m not really a fan, I
thought this was already convenient since this was last minute. We don’t really
need to figure our transportation logistics, where to stay, do research on the
activities, etc. The tour was inclusive of the transportation, accommodations and
the tours (except for the cave connection tour which was a separate payment).
Meeting
place for the group was 8PM Thursday night at the Mall of Asia area for
departure. The trip was definitely long with multiple stops along the way.
We reached
Banaue at around 8AM and the first stop was the sign “Welcome to Banaue” that
greeted the travelers as they entered the town.
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| Welcome |
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| Me, RJ, Karl, Joy and Raf |
Just in time
for our arrival was breakfast. We stopped by a local eatery that has a nice
view of some rice terraces. Ofcourse I had to take some shots with the actual
rice paddies.
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| Coffee with a view of Banaue |
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| Breakfast with a view |
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| Rice Terraces at Banaue |
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| Me at the rice paddies at Banaue |
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| Rice Terraces at Banaue |
After
breakfast and taking multiple pictures (this was only the first stop and we're already depleting our batteries with selfies), we headed to Bontoc for a bathroom break before reaching our
destination, Sagada.
We stayed at
a quaint house which was a little farther from the actual town center. Good
thing was that it was not as noisy and we had privacy, plus it had a nice view
of the town. The thing about it was that it’s a hike so you’ll need to buy everything
once you’re at the town center unless you want to hike back down and up again.
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| Far from the town center, the way to our lodging |
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| View from where we were staying |
After
settling in and changing our clothes for our tour, we got some lunch at Sagada Brew. The place
was nice, something I could possibly see in Manila. I got their orange chicken and it
was yummy, not to mention that the serving was generous and red rice was served. It was a little pricey
at Php 200 but the meal included some salad and did have a crinkle cookie J.
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| Sagada Brew |
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| Lunch is served |
Good thing I
had a good meal for lunch because we were going spelunking next. By definition, it means
the sport or practice of exploring caves. Cave connection as they called it is
where the group would descend at Lumiang cave and exit at Sumaguing
cave. The tour generally would take about 4 hours passing through some
difficult terrain.
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| Entering Lumiang Cave |
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| Ready to go deeper inside the cave |
For someone
like me who goes to the gym for about 1 – 2x a week and takes a morning walk
for an hour for about 2 – 4x a week, I honestly had a difficult time. I’m not
saying you should be an athlete to lessen the difficulty but I can vouch for
everyone in our group when I say half way through I wanted to quit already. I wish I can just close my eyes and when I open them, I'm comfortably back at our lodging, unfortunately, that wasn't the case. All you can do is to suck it up and pray your grip holds J.
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| The group and our guides assisting us |
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| Inside the cave |
Generally I
was in awe of how huge the complex of caves was. We passed by steep drops,
small passage ways and some water which was scary to me because you can’t see
how deep it was. Inside there was a pool where you can swim in and some of us did. The water was cold
and it was deep (it’s like a scene from one of those movies were from the murky
water a monster would pull you down or suddenly appear of some sort, hahaha).
I felt like I was Golum from Lord of the Rings. Me inside the cave crawling (because I was afraid of slipping and hurting myself), all I needed was a ring and to say "my precious".
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| Me crawling :) |
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| Playing around inside doing some shadows |
We were
inside the mountain for about 5 hours (and counting). We have yet to discover
one part of the cave complex however all of us unanimously agreed that we’ve
had enough and that we wanted to go already. We weren’t able to explore more of
Sumaguing cave but our bodies were already tired. After grueling hours, it was
already night time when we exited the cave. To celebrate, Karlo, RJ, Raf, Joy
and I got some beer at a sari-sari store near the exit to celebrate
for completing the tour.
After
dinner, we got some supplies (alcohol) so we can have some drinks. We
thought that since all of us were tired from the cave activity, that we’ll be sleeping early. But since we invited our tour guides from the caves for drinks, we had to muster up
some strength and host our inuman. Funny, once we were drinking, it seemed like we were all
recharged because we were all laughing and having fun. That was the time all of us
bonded and got to know each other more. What I also liked was that the guides
were also answering our questions and providing as insight on the Igorot culture.
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| Time for a bonfire |
The next
day, after breakfast, we had our echo valley and hanging coffins tour. As if we
haven’t had enough exercise yesterday, to reach the hanging coffins, we had to do hike down (and back up
again ofcourse). We had a guide who briefed on the culture and
history on the burial practices and the reason behind the coffins. This was greatly appreciated and everyone on our group seemed interested and asked questions.
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| Taking pictures around town while waiting for breakfast |
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| Into the woods at Echo Valley |
There’s
photo traffic at the place, meaning the group can’t really stay long since
there’s already another group waiting to take some pictures.
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| Resting at Echo Valley |
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| The group's already leaving and I'm still taking pictures |
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| The hanging coffins of Sagada |
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| Anglican church near Echo Valley |
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| Market day at Sagada |
For lunch,
we were advised that there was a wedding and as a tradition, we were told that
we can eat there as guests. Who wouldn't want to experience a tradition and get free foo at the same time? J
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| My free meal: pancit, adobo, dinuguan and rice |
When we got
to the venue, we were greeted by guests dancing twhich was very nice. I wanted to join in but I was too shy, if I
only had the courage.
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| The party is getting started |
While we
were there, Joy and I also greeted the bride and groom well wishes and to thank them
for their generosity (we got lunch for free).
Next on the
itinerary was Bomod-ok falls. Part of the group (specifically my friends) didn’t
want to join the tour anymore (especially that RJ has gone already), but I
still decided to go (even though my body was aching all over from yesterday’s
spelunking activity). The trail was fairly easy (in the sense that it wasn’t
jagged or slippery rocks), and almost all of it was paved, the only challenge
is it’s really far (and you’ll need to do it 2x so you can go back).
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| The trail to Bomod-ok falls |
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| Beautiful scenery going to Bomod-ok falls |
The only
compensation was the stunning views and landscapes. Mountains, rice paddies, wild
sunflowers, plus you’ll pass by a small barangay and get to see how the locals
live.
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| Beautiful scenery going to Bomod-ok falls |
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| Beautiful scenery going to Bomod-ok falls |
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| Beautiful scenery going to Bomod-ok falls |
It was such
a relief when we got there, the view is gorgeous (sans the number of people who
were also there). Since I wasn’t able to eat lunch since earlier and I was
carrying it the entire time (together with my bottle of water), I was able to
find a spot where I can eat, some of us also ate while the others tried to dip
in the cold water.
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| Finally, we're here |
After I ate
I put on my slippers, and went around taking pictures. I put my feet in the
water and it was refreshingly cold. The
place also has a small sari-sari store that sells some snacks as well as some
souvenirs.
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| Bomod-ok falls |
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| Selfie |
We stayed
for like 30 minutes before heading back because we didn’t want to go back when
it was dark already (but going back there were still people who were still
just going to the falls).
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| Beautiful scenery going to Bomod-ok falls |
Since this
was our last night, we decided to pitch in and have dinner at our lodging since we had a working kitchen anyway. Our guide was kind enough to
cook sinigang (soup is always welcome especially when the temperature is cold)
and an all-time favorite, adobo.
We had our
bonfire set-up again and ate around the fire. I was so hungry from the
walking we did earlier that I came back for seconds.
After
dinner, it wouldn’t be complete without sharing some drinks! Good thing I
bought marshmallows earlier in the market so we have something to cook on our
bonfire. We also had some hotdogs to make our bonfire bonding complete.
Although we
knew we had to get-up early the next day to view the sunrise at Kiltepan point,
we had a fun night. Like last night, we invited our tour guides again and it was
fun, we learned more about their culture and practices. We even tried to
dance around the bonfire which was cool.
We ended at
around 3AM already (and we were supposed to leave at 4:30AM). So that I’m ready, I took a
shower and changed so that I can pack my bag. I slept with my clothes
on which was effective because when it was time to wake up, I was ready to go.
We left at
around 4:30AM but when we got to Kiltepan, our van wasn’t allowed to
enter anymore since the parking area was already full. We had to hike
(again!) around 15 to 20 minutes to the viewpoint and instead of the “sea of
clouds”, we dubbed it as “sea of crowds” because there was a lot (I mean a lot)
of people already there. I think most is after getting that selfie shot to say “I’ve
been here” rather than enjoying the view. Although I expected it already
(because of the growing popularity of the place), I didn’t expect the sheer
crowd that was there. After much walking, we were able to find atleast a spot
to take photos of the beautiful scenery (and the crowd that watches it J).
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| The crowd |
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| Everyone trying to get a picture |
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| Sea of clouds at Kiltepan |
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| Sea of clouds at Kiltepan |
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| Panorama shot of Kiltepan Viewpoint |
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| On top of the world at Kiltepan Viewpoint |
After taking
some photos, it was time to go to Baguio but not without taking some souvenirs
from Sagada. The others got some nice bags and coin purses, I didn’t get any
for this trip since I felt like that the experiences and the photos alone were
enough souvenirs and memories for me.
The trip to
Baguio was long, it took us around 5 hours or more to reach it. On route, we stopped by a marker that signifies that it was the highest point in the Philippine highway system.
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| Highest point marker |
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| With the group |
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| View from the marker |
The ride was
also not a pleasant one because of all the turns I felt like almost getting
motion sickness, and that wasn’t something I wanted. Good thing I took some anti-drowsiness
medication (I always bring some every trip together with other essential meds)
and by the time we reached Baguio, I was feeling much better.
It was
already afternoon when we got there and since it was a long weekend Holiday (it’s
a Philippine holiday the next day), traffic was moving slowly. The only stop we
did was to buy some famous Ube at The Good Shepherd. I didn’t buy ube but
instead bought Ifugao and Benguet coffee for my dad.
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| People lining up at The Good Shepherd |
From Baguio
we left for Manila (most of trip we were asleep) and it was around 9PM already
when we arrived.
One good thing about joining a group tour (other than convenience) is that you get to meet new people. Lucky for us, the people we were with were fun and easy to get along with. Good times and memories were definitely shared and now, time for us to add each other in Facebook and tag each other for the pictures! J
Follow me on Instagram at @cjsohot
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