Danum & Bokong (the Sagada tour, episode 4)

Danum is water, so Lake Danum if translated is Lake Water. wala lang. :)

to start our big day, we were served a heavy breakfast (in St. Joe's Cafe) of longanisa, egg, red rice (and more rice), veggies, one-to-sawa brewed coffee, and tomatoes (i love tomatoes!!!) sorry, no pictures again, except for yoghurt house, ganyan talaga ako kapag gutom, nalilimutan mag-picture, naaalala ko na lang kapag malapit nang maubos yung food hehehe. we need to be fully loaded especially with carbs as today's a big day, we need all the energy we could get from carbs. :)

taken before breakfast (para lang magkaron ng connect sa post hahaha)

first is lake danum.

it's a small one, parang ngang liguan lang ng mga baka (or toilet ng mga baka), but the scenery is amazing, parang New Zealand (naks, parang nakarating na ko hehe), the water is almost still, the reflections of the trees are just beautiful, the grass was perfectly lawned as if someone's regularly maintaining it, mountains on the other side add flavor to the serenity of the lake. with such a nice place like this, i can go nuts with my cam. here are some shots:

my preciousss

san ka pa? (the group)

under the shade (of a mountain? of trees)

yehey! (i took, via a tripod, five or six shots, and this is the only decent jump)

solo lang dapat ni lyn, me sumali

an effortless pose (go julie!)

31 (count 'em)

the last picture is the only family/group picture taken na kumpleto (and i initiated it), and i thank my tripod for being with me, otherwise, dalawa lang ang kalbo sa picture. :)

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after danum, we went to another water, the Bokong falls.

Bokong falls, or small falls as what others may call it, is part of the river that irrigates the rice fields and is the "child" of Bumod-ok falls (Big falls), which, unfortunately is not part of our itinerary as it will eat at least five hours of trekking (which is just okey, at least Big falls is one good reason why we need to go back to Sagada).

going to the falls requires a few minutes of walk, pababa ng bundok, pababa, pababa. going down, the view is gorgeous (don't you just love sagada, seems like every view is beautiful) with a few baby rice terraces on the left and on the right, grasses that you need to hold on to or else, may paglalagyan ka (sa ibaba! hehe).

according to our guides, the basin/natural pool of the falls is deep, about nine-ten feet and the running/falling water is stronger during the rainy season. how was the falls? take a look:

yabang! (i like this shot and it was taken by lyn)

we went up using a different trail on the other side of the mountain, it's still steep but at least steps were made and there's something we can hold on to.

pagod?

we didn't get to do the picking of wild berries due to time constraints. oh well, there's always next time.

NEXT: KILTEPAN VIEW POINT and ROCK VALLEY INN


PASILIP:

Yoghurt House

and the epic that is Sagada tour continues...

after what seemed to be like a never-ending bus ride and a sweet and sweaty trek to the hanging coffins, a grand dinner is just what we need.

and grand it was and intimate as well. :)

enter the Yoghurt House. this small restaurant which is just a few minutes walk from the municipal hall is a must try when one is in Sagada. along with Masferre, this should be on the top list of where to eat and where to go to. though small, as it can only seat maybe 20-25 persons, it has made a name for itself, the long line of those waiting to be seated (both foreigner and local tourists) is enough proof how popular and how good this supposedly breakfast house has become.

when we came to sagada, our group is only seven (okey, there's lyn, me, julie, mau, mark, beng and kit) and then it became 10 (add pam, yuyu, and val). see, friendly kami eh (at maingay hehe). after the caving, the 10 becomes 31, but more on that on a later post. :)

as we are a big group, we occupied three tables, the first two we combined as one while the other table is where beng and kit seated, medyo humiwalay sila kasi di na talaga kami kasya! as the attendant sensed that we may bring chaos because we're all hungry, she immediately handed us the menu, wow, veggies everywhere! (gusto ko pa sanang mangulit kung bakit yoghurt house ang name ng resto pero di ko na lang tinuloy baka palabasin ako hehe).

i ordered this, i think it's called beef vegetable rice (P120).

and lyn ordered tuna vegetable salad with yogurt bits (P90).

and the nine of us ordered the house bestseller: yogurt with banana, cereals and strawberry for desserts (val i think, ordered yogurt with banana and asked why she did that, para maiba daw and later on, nagsisi sya hehehe).

the food was served in 10 minutes, wow! considering the place is jampacked, it's way faster than masferre's, and the server can explain to you what you'll eat with her eyes closed and doing the jumping jack (kidding hehe). the food was good, the food was good, the food was good. did i say it's good? well, what can you expect with fresh ingredients? they just need to slow down on msg, you can smell it. but i'm not complaining...

and then the dessert.


whoa! it was yummy, it was yummy, it was yummy! first, for P80.00 i thought the serving was small, but i ate my own words as the yogurt and all its accessories (lol at accessories) i thought were expanding in your stomach as they were very filling that after eating half of it, i am already full! hmm, it is only then that i observe (ang slow ko naman) how the yogurt is thicker than what we have in the grocery, and with that thought (aside from the fact that it is creamy) nauumay nako!! but despite the sawa effect, i was able to finish it, yes! next time, share na lang kami ni lyn sa isa (sweet!).


it was a perfect dinner, good food, good company, nice restaurant, smart attendants, and when we're about to leave, i just realized para palang United Nations sa loob, me pinoy, me japanese, koreans, caucasians, hmm, ibang level ito hehehe.


we left at around 8:30, it was cold outside and so it's just natural to wear our jackets/sweaters, i don't know if it was funny and/or insulting, habang kaming mga pinoy ay balot na ng jacket, bakit itong mga koreanong ito ay mga naka-spaghetti strap at short shorts? naka-sando pa sa lamig na ito? nasa beach? hahaha, malamig nga pala sa kanila at summer na ito sa kanila. :)


there's a 9 pm curfew in Sagada, so we need to be back in the inn by that time because when the church bell signalled it's 9 pm, doors will be closed, our inn included. hindi na kami nag-pasaway kasi hindi kami tagarito, we just obeyed the rule as what a good tourist should do.


we bought a rice wine and tried it in the inn, i don't know the alcohol content of it but it tastes like vinegar and i didn't feel any tama from it.


and while we're doing a rice wine tasting, i snap these shots.


we rested earlier than scheduled as the next day will be one big and tiring and exciting and suspenseful and hanging kind of day.


NEXT: lake danum

online movies - for free!!!

a discovery too good that i need to share with you blogfriends and have a bit of Sagada break.

i didn't discover this, a friend of mine shared the information/website so i am just passing on the good news. hehehe

have you ever heard nabolister?

if you do, why didn't you share it earlier? LOL

i watched 300 again and the devil wears prada (half only, i'll finish it tomorrow over lunch) today. and guess what's available online?

drum roll please, SPIDERMAN 3!!! but the film is better seen on the big screen, trust me. your monitor will not do any justice to the action sequence and high flying web squirter, i mean, yeah squirter. hehe. but saying it's a good movie is another thing hehehe.

oh well, try this link, i saw Pan's Labyrinth and the Pursuit of Happyness in the list, and they also have tv series such as CSI, Simpsons, FAmily guy, South Park, Smallville but no Heroes (damn!), and also online games. coolness!

i only tried it today, and this post is not glorifying piracy or similar thingy, but this thing is free and it's entirely up to you whether you're going to click the link or you're going to click the link. hehehe (parang sa gusto mo at sa gusto mo)

sakay na!

Sagada tour - first day high (second half)

a little past 12 noon, we checked in at St. Joseph's Inn, a nice and warm accomodation overlooking the Sagada town.

afterwhich, we immediately grab a bite at Masferre, a photo-gallery cum restaurant cum souvenir shop, i ordered the masferre chicken (their specialty), lyn got a boneless bangus (dalawang bangus na malalaki ha), and the rest of the group got a pinakbet, adobo, sandwich, etc. the food was good though a bit salty for my taste, but their serving is huge and can feed two hungry people, fortunately i am hungry (that makes me two) and i have left in manila whatever diet i have to splurge on good sagada food, and wow, the red rice is really filling! the lunch was P160, don't raise that kilays yet, it's like you've got two servings of World of Chicken set meal for the price of one, not bad. i didn't take pictures, i am so hungry i forgot the camera in our room.

we went around a little and i observed, there are a lot of tourists (why i am not surprised to see koreans here?) and the saturday market is teeming with vegetables (a kilo of brocolli is only P40).

at 3 pm, after a bit of siesta, we went to St. Mary's Episcopal Church, it's a beautiful church, not as grand as some of the cathedrals in Manila, but very serene to the point of being mystical, bagay na bagay sa sagada.

our group of seven is just part of the 31 individuals who joined the tour

we went to the public cemetery on the back (or was that the front?) of the church, it's on the top of the hill, it is also known as the Calvary hills and it is the "modern" burial grounds for Sagada. following a trail, we went to the Echo Valley (why it's called echo valley? go figure hehe) and from here a little downward trek (yung mga oldies medyo umurong na dito kasi mahirap nang bumaba dahil medyo madulas) and we were greeted by a steep limestone cliffs and the famous Hanging Coffins. photo-ops here and there followed.

we are just waiting for the go signal to go down and see the coffins closer, but we didn't hear any. naturally, i asked our team leader kung bababa pa ba kami o kung pwede pa nga bang bumaba, pwede raw but the two guides told us that it's going to be hard like a 30 minute trek going down and then 1 hour going up, it's okey, we don't see any problem with that, but it seems that not everyone is sold to the idea of going down. so we asked who are willing to go down and it was only me, lyn and julie who raised our hands.

hah! surrender? me? not yet! some were saying what's the worth of going down anyway? we already saw the coffins so why go down? and it's going to be risky according to them. i told them since we're here, why not maximize the opportunity? dedmahin daw ba ako. bwahaha

while walking towards the exit trail and a couple of pictorials here and there, i am thinking of asking again. and when we re-joined the group in the cemetery, i asked again. this time, i felt that the other young members of the group are also inclined on going down with us, i saw an opening (ha, parang basketball? hehe) and from the willing three we are now 14! yes, i don't give up that easily you know hehehe. Patrick, our team leader told me "Masyado kang desidido, bro hehe".

and our trek going down started in less than a minute (while those who did not join went back to the inn or gone shopping) and it was so easy! asan yung 30 minutes na trek pababa? eh 10 minutes pa lang yata nasa ibaba na kami?? mukhang tinatamad lang yung mga guides! anyway, here are some of the pics of the coffins (fast fact: the latest burial or should i say, hanging, was made last august 17, 2005, it was the one with the big cross).

the trek going up is also easy. see?

the trek going to the coffins' worth the sweat, and while on the cemetery on our way back to the church i saw this:it's possible that he's a son of Gen Yamashita as the famous japanese general had stayed in Sagada before he was captured and executed. trivia yan ha. :)

while resting in the church's ground, i went around the church and took these:

and this is the Sagada sunset, it's the best that i do could as i need to be in a higher place (mt. ampaclao maybe) to see and/or capture a better shot (this is not the beach anyway, not my territory hehe)

next: DINNER AT YOGHURT HOUSE

PASILIP:

Sagada tour- First Day High

after weeks of waiting, we've finally conquered Sagada!

the almost 15 hours of travel (via chartered Cable Tours Bus) that plied the dusty and rough zigzagging road of the ifugao and mountain province was all tiring, breathtaking, and all other adjectives that describes beautiful and exhausting, add that with fog and an early morning drizzle, and what do we have? adventure!

we left manila 8:05 friday night and by 5 am (saturday), we stopped by in a certain town in the Ifugao province as the tires of the bus need some air, and while waiting for it, i went down the bus and witnessed this beautiful sunrise by the mountains:

and there you have it, the torch has been lighted, let the adventure and endless photo ops begin!

first was a side trip to Banaue (our first of two, actually) for the viewing of the terraces, a Unesco World Heritage site, but since it was foggy and raining (i am not really sure if it's really rain or the moist in the air is just so heavy, it feels like raining), we stayed for only three minutes and went our way towards Bontoc. but even for only a few minutes, i was able to go down the viewdeck and took a snapshot of the foggy mountains/terraces (in a way, since i was the last one to board the bus, it also signalled the birth of the pasaway of the group at ako yun hehehe, you'll know why later).

the cemented and well-paved road ended in Banaue and the rest of our travel will be on a long, winding, dusty, very narrow road on the side of the mountains with a very steep cliff on one side and rocky formations on the other, in other words, leave the driving to the expert! at kung gusto pang makapanuod ng spiderman, pirates of the carribean, harry potter at transformers, wag nang pangaraping mag-drive dito hehe.

we had a mini-stopover in Mount Polis, visited the CR with Erap and Gloria as the "He" and "She" (forgot to take pics hehe), first taste of the mountain province brewed coffee (it taste better than starbucks, promise) and the giant statue of the Virgin Mary is silently standing besides a tower (see that fog? add some wind blowing and we're all chilling while sipping and savouring that coffee)

on our way to Bontoc, our eyes feasted on the spectacular view of the mountains, from the "lifting" of the fog to the grand display of the sun exposing the breathtaking sights of endless lines of pine trees (and of course the very steep cliffs) and later on wowed by terraces that seemed like to have been cut by machines and not by hands, the view was so good we forgot about the cliffs hehehe.

we passed by a little community and we were thrilled when we got a closer look of the terraces as the bus drive thru the road in the middle of these stone-walled rice fields.

we were enjoying the sights and before we know it, Bontoc, the capital of Mountain Province, greeted and surprised us with all the busyness and business (hey, there's an ATM over there, an internet cafe, and whoa, destiny cable??) unimaginable from a "remote" place such as this. we had our breakfast in Cable Cafe (the stir fried beef with veggies is good, yum, yum) and another cup of coffee (hindi mahilig sa kape ano? hehe), rested for a while, and went on with the tour.

we visited the Bontoc Museum and got a glimpse of the history of the place, picture taking is not allowed inside as there are some precious artifacts on display, so we just satisfied our hunger for pictures on the outside museum.

there are authentic native houses outside that show how igorots live (they even have a wild pig for a natural feel). we went in on some of the huts and it was cold inside.

30 minutes later, we are again on the road, this time to Sagada. if the Banaue-Bontoc road is narrow and steep, the Bontoc-Sagada is narrower, steeper and nay, dustier.

ibitin ko muna kayo, as this is going to be a looong series.

next: SAGADA. :)