Sagada... :D

My friends and I have planned to go to Sagada, Mountain Province since last month. We almost canceled the whole outing because of the typhoons before the weekend. Fortunately, we were able to push through with the plans because Albert already bought the bus tickets. :P

The bus ride going to Banaue was the longest and COLDEST bus ride ever! We boarded it on Friday evening. I was already wearing a jacket, a cap, and I had to get a towel from my bag to cover my arms. The aircon was on full blast. I wasn't able to sleep at all. T_T The bus ride took 10 hours and we were in Banaue by 8am.

When we got there, we booked our tickets for Monday afternoon. Then we got inside a van going to Sagada. We stopped over at Banaue Rice Terraces viewpoint to take some pictures. It was a beautiful Sunday morning. The rice terraces were amazing! :D

Going to Sagada was a long and bumpy 3-hour ride. I slept for about an hour and just watched the mountains for the remaining time. We were brought to our destination, George Guest House. Chrissa picked this place because it has hot/cold showers! (Very important when going to cold places. :D)

After eating lunch at Haddekus and resting for a while, we went to the municipal hall to register and get a tour guide. We went spelunking in the Sumaging Caves. It was one of the most dangerous and coolest thing I've ever done. I never thought I'd be able to use my amateur rock climbing skills to hang on for dear life. There was a pool of water at the bottom of the caves and the water was freezing! It was fun to take a dip in that pool, it was like facing your fears and just trusting the people who are there to help you. Sounds like a team building experience. XD

After that, we were completely exhausted. We went back to the guest house to take a shower and change clothes before heading off to Bana's Cafe for dinner. We stayed there up to 10pm. When we finally got back to the house, we finished planning for our adventure for the next day then plopped on the bed and went to sleep.

The next morning, we woke up around 8am. But we finished taking a shower and having breakfast around 11:30am. Then we went to the municipal hall for our tour guide for the day. Turns out it was still Kuya Ruben who helped us at the cave. First on the list, we had a 2-hour trek down to Bomod-ok Falls. The falls was so beautiful, it was just... awesome! I took a dip in the cold waters before we decided to go back because it was raining. It was another 2-hour trek going up which was definitely harder. I was so tired when we finally got back to the van. But we still went to our next destination, the Kiltepan Viewpoint. It was a 30-minute trek up the slopes. The view from that place was great! You can see the whole Sagada. We took a few pictures and videos before going back to the van. Next stop was Lake Danum. It was unfortunate that the water was murky when we got there because of the rains. There was also a lot of cow poop... haha! XD Anyway, we just went to our last destination... the Echo Valley. We saw the famous hanging coffins and we took lots of pictures. We also tested if the valley would live up to its name and shouted lots of silly things. XD

By the time we went back, we took a shower and went straight to Yogurt House for dinner. I had tuna fried rice and strawberry yogurt. Yum! :D Servings in Sagada were good for 2 people but you had to wait for an hour for your order. @_@

When we got home, we watched American Idol reruns, the movie 300, and played cards before going to sleep. I couldn't sleep so I just packed my bags. The next day we woke up and washed up before getting ready to leave. We had brunch at Masferre and bought a few souvenirs.

By 11:30am, we were already inside the van going back to Banaue. It was another bumpy ride and the roads were a bit slippery because it was raining. At least I think it was raining, or maybe it was because we passed by a rain cloud? :P

I was quite disappointed when we got to Banaue viewpoint because we were not able to buy choco flakes and other delicacies. So we had to stop at the local market to buy some. I bought a few vegetables and other things that my Mom told me to get. It was fun to go shopping there! XD

We finally boarded the bus going back home around 5:30pm and we were back in Manila by 3am. :)

Some pictures can be found here. I'm still waiting for pics from my friends cameras because I was only able to bring a video cam. :) It was one of the most memorable trips ever. I have a deeper appreciation for the beauty of nature after that adventure. ;)