Hello hello! Wow, this is a change from all the international travels. I know, I travel abroad more than I travel locally. So here I am going to share some of my pictures in Sagada and all the other places we went to.
I traveled with two friends I had way back when I was working in Hong Kong. These ladies are also back in the Philippines now, and one time, we just decided to take a weekend trip to Sagada cos we've never been there.
Actually, one of my friends is from Mountain Province, so me and the other friend took the Ohayami bus on a Friday night and traveled all the way to Lagawe, met up the other friend, and traveled on.
The nephew of my friend from Lagawe drove for us, and he brought his family along with us as they also haven't been to Sagada before. So off we go on another adventure, this time locally!
We arrived in Lagawe early Saturday morning, and we were hosted by our friend's brother's family. They fed us breakfast, and after breakfast, we started the journey towards Sagada. The beauty of having a private vehicle is that you can stop anywhere you want whenever you see something nice, and that's what we did.
It was a bit rainy that day, so it was also very foggy. Lagawe is only an hour away from Banaue, and of course we were gonna stop and see the famous rice terraces.
We kept praying that the fog would lift so that we could see the famous rice terraces and this is what we saw. The weather was quite cold too, so it was like we were back in Hong Kong again. :-)
Suddenly, we arrived, and indeed, the fog lifted just long enough for us to take pictures and marvel at the sight! It was beautiful indeed!
The thing I saw from textbooks when I was in elementary school was suddenly before my eyes. I still marvel at the way they turned these hills into ricefields.
As you can see the fog returned immediately after we took pictures.:-) Grateful for the five minutes the fog lifted. We traveled on for a few more hours and arrived in Sagada.
Sagada is a small town, and we took a few minutes to walk around the town center. After eating lunch, we went to the tourist information center to look for a guide to take us into the caves.
Since we were gonna be there for just that one day, we had to do everything we could in the time that we had. So right after lunch we went on the cave exploration.
The place we stayed was just a few minutes walk from everything which was nice. We walked to the entrance of the cave for about 20 minutes, and since we were walking, we got to see some interesting things on the way.
The dog didn't move an inch even if I was taking a picture. He did not give me a glance, he could not be bothered in the least by a passing stranger.
According to our guide, although they are not really visible in this picture, on the cliff hang several coffins, a burial tradition practiced by the Igorot people. The departed assume the fetal position, as it is believed that souls should leave the earth the same way they entered it.
Some coffins are visible in this picture, but they are partially covered by the shrubs. Just look for the rectangular shapes hanging on the cliff. Our guide said hanging the coffins is no longer as widely practiced as they used to be, because now people know that it is not hygienic to do so, and a lot of the people have now been introduced to Christian beliefs.
In this picture were coffins on the ground, and according to our guide, these coffins belonged to children. Only coffins of married men are hung on the cliffs, apparently.
The cave we went to is Sumaging cave, and the guide said since we were gonna be going down the cave without any ropes, and it's gonna be in pitch darkness save for the light of our guide, our hands had to be free.
So the only camera we had was my trusty iPhone 4S, which we could fit into my friend's beltbag. My friend's two nephews, us three and our guide went into the cave together. We descended a few steps to get into the entrance. We chose to do just one cave because one of my friends had surgery a few months back so she could not over exert her body.
This is the entrance of the cave. From here on, everything is pitch black, the only light that illuminated our trek down was the gas lamp our guide was holding. He told us beforehand that we were not to hold hands, and that we should watch him closely, step on where he steps, hold on where he holds, because a mistake could lead us to sure death as we don't know what's below us. Most of the time we used both hands and feet to move, and there were also bats inside! It helped that we did not see our surroundings, otherwise we might have seen bat poop everywhere and we wouldn't have the nerve to go down, ha ha!
You see how dark is inside. The light from the gas lamp only lights up what's in front of us, nothing more. And, to make matters worse, the gas lamp chose to turn off when we were inside the cave! And the extra gauze that our guide had had a hole inside so it wasn't working. He left us in the cave, in pitch darkness, to go back and fix our gas lamp. Since we did not know how long he was gonna be gone for, we took turns turning on the flashlights of our phones so that we could somehow see inside while we were waiting.
Our guide came back after half an hour, and we continued our trek. We had to rappel at one time to get to the stalagmites in the cave. This time we went barefoot as the rocks were slippery.
We finally got to the bottom to see this 'turtle head' stalagmite. The water was knee-deep, and it was cool, so we had fun wading in the water after all that near-crawling we did. There was not a lot of formations, only this and another one.
They say this resembles the curtain of a theater, and it does, to some degree.
There was also this, and there were no stalactites to be seen, just the stalagmites.
We took our time to take pictures, and then we had to go back up again.
Going up was a lot easier than going down, and we went back to our lodging, took a shower, rested a bit and went in search of dinner. We just walked around until we saw a place where we could eat, had dinner, and went back to sleep since we did not sleep properly in the bus.
Early the next morning, feeling refreshed, we went out to explore the area and also to look for breakfast. We came to a church and took some pictures.
The whole town looked sleepy, if you know what I mean. You just get that laidback vibe as you walk around.
I loved how foggy it was in the morning and I loved the cold weather as well. It was so refreshing compared to the heat in Metro Manila.
This was in the church vicinity as well although I can no longer remember what it was, ha ha!
We even checked out their public market but there was not a lot of things on display.
The fog makes it look mystical and magical as well. I'd like to go back again soon, if given the opportunity and time.
We finally found a place to eat breakfast where we can drink coffee to warm up our bodies and get ready for the day.
An old bell at the church grounds.
The church in Sagada. After breakfast, we checked out of our lodging and traveled again. We visited a place where they sell some crafts and we bought some souvenirs, and then we traveled on to Bontoc.
On the way we passed by another rice terraces but the view was 'marred' by houses,so it was not as picturesque.
See what I mean? We still stopped, just to look at it, take pictures for comparison, and then we went on our way again.
Along the way we passed by several waterfalls, but this was the biggest we saw, so we stopped to take pictures again. Like I said, this is the beauty of having a vehicle at your disposal as opposed to just commuting, because you can stop whenever and wherever you feel like it.
We couldn't pass up the opportunity to touch the cold water. Nature at its best! Loved seeing the untamed surroundings.
We also saw the dangers of driving in unfamiliar roads, as there could be landslide just about any point on the road, so it pays to be very alert and watchful and not go zooming to avoid accidents.
The road has the mountain on one side and cliff on the other side, not to mention the constant zigzags. One careless mistake and your vehicle could go dropping on the cliff below.
The view is spectacular most of the time though. There's greenery everywhere you look, so it's always tempting to keep stopping and taking pictures. Our driver was so accomodating.
We also came upon this hanging bridge, and there was no way we could just pass it by, so as soon as we found a parking place, we ran!
On closer look, it looks as if it was beckoning us to step on it.
It was wobbly, which made it all the more fun, and we tried to shake it as much as we can to scare off our other companions. :-)
Had to do one wacky or ridiculous pose, ha ha.
This was the view from the hanging bridge. Ah, to see nature and its beauty.
After all the stop overs, we finally got to Bontoc proper, we visited the Bontoc Museum and the local market to buy some vegetables to bring back home.
Bontoc Museum offered us a glimpse of the life and culture of the Igorot people, as well as the history of the development of Mountain Province. Cameras were not allowed inside, so no pictures to share.
Bontoc looked quaint, and this time it was no longer rainy, so we were able to see the blue skies.
This is how a typical Mountain Province residential area looks like. Houses on mountain sides, like they would fall off if you see them from a distance. All these add to the beauty and charm of the place.
We had lunch somewhere and then traveled on to Kiangan, another town in Mountain province, and we stayed in my friend's brother's house to rest, have dinner and from where we took our bus back to Manila.
We also visited this place, but mostly we just rested and waited for dinner and our bus back home.
There were too many things to see, but so little time. We did all these things in 2 days, and yes, it was hectic, so if I ever go back there, it would be nice to stay a little bit longer to enjoy and explore the places more.
I fully recommend going there! And I think Sagada has been made even more popular by the movie 'That Thing Called Tadhana', so before it gets too crowded, why not plan your trip and go explore? Enjoy!
For more travel articles, please read here.
I traveled with two friends I had way back when I was working in Hong Kong. These ladies are also back in the Philippines now, and one time, we just decided to take a weekend trip to Sagada cos we've never been there.
Actually, one of my friends is from Mountain Province, so me and the other friend took the Ohayami bus on a Friday night and traveled all the way to Lagawe, met up the other friend, and traveled on.
The nephew of my friend from Lagawe drove for us, and he brought his family along with us as they also haven't been to Sagada before. So off we go on another adventure, this time locally!
We arrived in Lagawe early Saturday morning, and we were hosted by our friend's brother's family. They fed us breakfast, and after breakfast, we started the journey towards Sagada. The beauty of having a private vehicle is that you can stop anywhere you want whenever you see something nice, and that's what we did.
It was a bit rainy that day, so it was also very foggy. Lagawe is only an hour away from Banaue, and of course we were gonna stop and see the famous rice terraces.
Suddenly, we arrived, and indeed, the fog lifted just long enough for us to take pictures and marvel at the sight! It was beautiful indeed!
The thing I saw from textbooks when I was in elementary school was suddenly before my eyes. I still marvel at the way they turned these hills into ricefields.
As you can see the fog returned immediately after we took pictures.:-) Grateful for the five minutes the fog lifted. We traveled on for a few more hours and arrived in Sagada.
Sagada is a small town, and we took a few minutes to walk around the town center. After eating lunch, we went to the tourist information center to look for a guide to take us into the caves.
Since we were gonna be there for just that one day, we had to do everything we could in the time that we had. So right after lunch we went on the cave exploration.
The place we stayed was just a few minutes walk from everything which was nice. We walked to the entrance of the cave for about 20 minutes, and since we were walking, we got to see some interesting things on the way.
The dog didn't move an inch even if I was taking a picture. He did not give me a glance, he could not be bothered in the least by a passing stranger.
According to our guide, although they are not really visible in this picture, on the cliff hang several coffins, a burial tradition practiced by the Igorot people. The departed assume the fetal position, as it is believed that souls should leave the earth the same way they entered it.
Some coffins are visible in this picture, but they are partially covered by the shrubs. Just look for the rectangular shapes hanging on the cliff. Our guide said hanging the coffins is no longer as widely practiced as they used to be, because now people know that it is not hygienic to do so, and a lot of the people have now been introduced to Christian beliefs.
In this picture were coffins on the ground, and according to our guide, these coffins belonged to children. Only coffins of married men are hung on the cliffs, apparently.
The cave we went to is Sumaging cave, and the guide said since we were gonna be going down the cave without any ropes, and it's gonna be in pitch darkness save for the light of our guide, our hands had to be free.
So the only camera we had was my trusty iPhone 4S, which we could fit into my friend's beltbag. My friend's two nephews, us three and our guide went into the cave together. We descended a few steps to get into the entrance. We chose to do just one cave because one of my friends had surgery a few months back so she could not over exert her body.
This is the entrance of the cave. From here on, everything is pitch black, the only light that illuminated our trek down was the gas lamp our guide was holding. He told us beforehand that we were not to hold hands, and that we should watch him closely, step on where he steps, hold on where he holds, because a mistake could lead us to sure death as we don't know what's below us. Most of the time we used both hands and feet to move, and there were also bats inside! It helped that we did not see our surroundings, otherwise we might have seen bat poop everywhere and we wouldn't have the nerve to go down, ha ha!
You see how dark is inside. The light from the gas lamp only lights up what's in front of us, nothing more. And, to make matters worse, the gas lamp chose to turn off when we were inside the cave! And the extra gauze that our guide had had a hole inside so it wasn't working. He left us in the cave, in pitch darkness, to go back and fix our gas lamp. Since we did not know how long he was gonna be gone for, we took turns turning on the flashlights of our phones so that we could somehow see inside while we were waiting.
Our guide came back after half an hour, and we continued our trek. We had to rappel at one time to get to the stalagmites in the cave. This time we went barefoot as the rocks were slippery.
We finally got to the bottom to see this 'turtle head' stalagmite. The water was knee-deep, and it was cool, so we had fun wading in the water after all that near-crawling we did. There was not a lot of formations, only this and another one.
They say this resembles the curtain of a theater, and it does, to some degree.
There was also this, and there were no stalactites to be seen, just the stalagmites.
We took our time to take pictures, and then we had to go back up again.
Going up was a lot easier than going down, and we went back to our lodging, took a shower, rested a bit and went in search of dinner. We just walked around until we saw a place where we could eat, had dinner, and went back to sleep since we did not sleep properly in the bus.
Early the next morning, feeling refreshed, we went out to explore the area and also to look for breakfast. We came to a church and took some pictures.
The whole town looked sleepy, if you know what I mean. You just get that laidback vibe as you walk around.
I loved how foggy it was in the morning and I loved the cold weather as well. It was so refreshing compared to the heat in Metro Manila.
This was in the church vicinity as well although I can no longer remember what it was, ha ha!
We even checked out their public market but there was not a lot of things on display.
The fog makes it look mystical and magical as well. I'd like to go back again soon, if given the opportunity and time.
We finally found a place to eat breakfast where we can drink coffee to warm up our bodies and get ready for the day.
An old bell at the church grounds.
The church in Sagada. After breakfast, we checked out of our lodging and traveled again. We visited a place where they sell some crafts and we bought some souvenirs, and then we traveled on to Bontoc.
On the way we passed by another rice terraces but the view was 'marred' by houses,so it was not as picturesque.
See what I mean? We still stopped, just to look at it, take pictures for comparison, and then we went on our way again.
Along the way we passed by several waterfalls, but this was the biggest we saw, so we stopped to take pictures again. Like I said, this is the beauty of having a vehicle at your disposal as opposed to just commuting, because you can stop whenever and wherever you feel like it.
We couldn't pass up the opportunity to touch the cold water. Nature at its best! Loved seeing the untamed surroundings.
We also saw the dangers of driving in unfamiliar roads, as there could be landslide just about any point on the road, so it pays to be very alert and watchful and not go zooming to avoid accidents.
The road has the mountain on one side and cliff on the other side, not to mention the constant zigzags. One careless mistake and your vehicle could go dropping on the cliff below.
The view is spectacular most of the time though. There's greenery everywhere you look, so it's always tempting to keep stopping and taking pictures. Our driver was so accomodating.
We also came upon this hanging bridge, and there was no way we could just pass it by, so as soon as we found a parking place, we ran!
On closer look, it looks as if it was beckoning us to step on it.
It was wobbly, which made it all the more fun, and we tried to shake it as much as we can to scare off our other companions. :-)
Had to do one wacky or ridiculous pose, ha ha.
This was the view from the hanging bridge. Ah, to see nature and its beauty.
After all the stop overs, we finally got to Bontoc proper, we visited the Bontoc Museum and the local market to buy some vegetables to bring back home.
Bontoc Museum offered us a glimpse of the life and culture of the Igorot people, as well as the history of the development of Mountain Province. Cameras were not allowed inside, so no pictures to share.
Bontoc looked quaint, and this time it was no longer rainy, so we were able to see the blue skies.
This is how a typical Mountain Province residential area looks like. Houses on mountain sides, like they would fall off if you see them from a distance. All these add to the beauty and charm of the place.
We had lunch somewhere and then traveled on to Kiangan, another town in Mountain province, and we stayed in my friend's brother's house to rest, have dinner and from where we took our bus back to Manila.
We also visited this place, but mostly we just rested and waited for dinner and our bus back home.
There were too many things to see, but so little time. We did all these things in 2 days, and yes, it was hectic, so if I ever go back there, it would be nice to stay a little bit longer to enjoy and explore the places more.
I fully recommend going there! And I think Sagada has been made even more popular by the movie 'That Thing Called Tadhana', so before it gets too crowded, why not plan your trip and go explore? Enjoy!
For more travel articles, please read here.
Thank you! It was really nice up there!
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