misstinapie

As planned we went out of Sagada as early as we can. We weren't able to do lots of stuff here but I intend to go back anyway. Plus there is a concert I need to go to right after this and that I can't miss :-D so we have to make do on the time limit we have. A lot of people recommend Kiltepan Peak for sunrise but I think we had a taste of it somehow when we snaked out of Sagada. Higher above the clouds it's a breath taking view. There is no sun yet but cloud rising beneath (yes you read it right) the mountains is something you have to see in real life to appreciate. Everyone of us was just in awe. Two things we weren't able to do going down was eating breakfast and filling up gas. We suppose that there are lots of choices out there since we're not the only ones travelling, right? Well. Sort of. This station right here doesn't have rice meals but we were greeted by friendly dogs and chickens. We left without eating anything (except my youngest sister...

It was the only inn that would take us for reservation 2 months before Holy Week and I am more than glad in getting anything at all. A night for 4-5 people will cost you 1000 pesos. We got a double deck and a larger bed fit for four. Initially our reservation entitles us to 6 beds but we switched with the other group of guests (they have not come yet but the keeper told us about that while we have missed one guest, they added another so they needed more beds). There is also no private bath so you have to wait for others to finish before you can even shower. I took mine as soon as we went back after our tour but it took a while to actually bathe because all are taken. The shower is as simple as it will get, a toilet and a shower of death. It doesn't have any heater installed so basically you are bathing in ice. You can choose to not take a bath if you're such a winnie but I chose to since we planned to get out of Sagada very early in the morning so I can skip taking ...

It's still early to retire for the day so we went to the Church of Saint Mary the Virgin. It's a good place to tone down the roughness of the caving earlier. We looked awfully muddy but thought that being a tourist is an excuse :-D Imagine the campfires here: While we were walking around, a couple of kids said we can pay them up so they can take us to the hanging coffins. What the hell??!! Why didn't anyone tell us that?! We hurriedly followed people who just went by. My father was joking that this was already it: But going further, other tourists attest to the said coffins, but with much caution. The walk was quite narrow and is in a ravine. By this time a lot of them are turning back, my sister hurried more. While I know we can make it there before night time, it's like as if nature wants to hold us back.  That's my sister and father shielding themselves from the huge downpour Since it has gone more dangerous now, ...

Our tour guide have already left us and we are late for lunch. We are so hungry that we don't really need to look for more choices as we head on to Lemon Pie House . Lunch goers have already found their way out of the restaurant so we still have to wait for them to cook rice. Initially we just want to eat lemon pies but seeing how their meal plates are so humungous, it made us drool more. From what my sister saw on tv, Drew said that he much rather prefer egg pie than lemon pie (both were served) so while my other sister and my father chose both lemon pies, me and my youngest sister ordered a lemon and an egg pie for us to share equally. Egg Pie  Lemon Pie Both are really good and the slightly sour taste of lemon pie is loveable too! Find the prices here below: I ordered Chicken Curry and at one look, it does look like chopseuy: For 130 pesos this is more than I could ever eat for lunch!!! The serving of the viand is too much that if you...

We are provided one guide to take us for the rest of the day. I can say that 500 is enough for 4 people who are only up for a day in Sagada. First stop was Sugong Hanging Coffins Viewpoint : Our tour only allows us the view and if you squint a little, yes you can see a few hanging coffins there. Second stop was the Lumiang Burial Caves : For Cave Connections, they start here and end up at Sumaguing. Since we're not on that track, we simply gazed at it for a while so we need to retrace our steps back to Sumaguing. The trek going here is strenuous for sedentary people like me and my sister and going to and fro is an extreme effort.  Third stop was Sumaguing Cave We haven't recovered that much from the earlier trek and yet we are here again on another trekking activity. Don't let your eyes deceive you with this stairs as you won't have any of this once you're in the cave. It looks like it's our tour guide's fir...

As you can see on the map, from Bontoc, Sagada is quite near already. While we cruised around mountains, cold air hitting our face, we anticipate our very destination. It's unfortunate that we haven't explored Bontoc (they have hotsprings and treks too!) so for now I kept the brochures Bontoc guys gave me. It looks like next time I have to prepare a longer time to stay there too!  The first thing any tourist should do is visit the community center. It's hard to miss as almost everyone's car is pointed there. There are two things that are I didn't like upon arriving Sagada: the morning sun is just too hot and the traffic nightmare of Vigan looks like this only steeper :-(.  Tip If you can plan on your trip, plan it before summer. The streets aren't as full, and the weather would be nicer  When we got there, we learned that each visitor needs to pay (20 per person) for environmental fees. I think they use it to pay up people who cleans the tre...

The ride from Banaue to Bontoc is a long exhausting drive especially if you're the driver. For 2 hours you'd be subjected to numerous curves and long trails of solace. The stretch and remoteness of the drive adds to the very reason why most take this road in mornings. With that in mind, if you drive on your own you can imagine for a long time be the only person left on earth. Kinda scary. We didn't bother getting any breakfast at Banaue because we were in a hurry. If you're following the episodes of this road trip you will even notice how I don't have a photo of the iconic 1000 peso bill Banaue Rice Terraces. We saw it alright but we chose to commit it into memory for now :-D The first restaurant we saw didn't offer rice so we went to Mountain Hotel & Restaurant. It is near a community center where you can ask for directions and maps, next to it is a gas station. We had 500 php worth of gas which my father estimates to get us to and fro Sagada THEN b...

Like I've said, there's a trick to to this Banaue View Points. If I remember correctly there are 4 view points wherein each view can give you a different perspective of the Rice Terraces. I can't help but use tilt shift effect, it's so cute!  If you're blown away by the first one you'd see, imagine your grin when you see the last of the view points. Your old 1000 peso bill and the iconic view is such an amazing experience I don't think that I will stop holding my breath each time I will get a chance to see it.

When we planned our trip I never imagined we would need somewhere to stay in Banaue. I did inquire for Sagada hotels, and this is quite misleading because Banaue is a bit far from Sagada proper so if it's your first time going up to Sagada, make yourself a favor and reserve a room in Banaue if you're going to visit Banaue and vice versa. There's only a handful of inns in Banaue and primarily because tourists are much more concentrated in Sagada. Most of the time, inns here cater to travellers who just needed somewhere to spend for the night. Perhaps one of the rare things you could ever find here up in the mountains is parking. There are few cheaper inns but we chose to stay in Spring Village Inn because they have ample parking that will make us comfortably sleeping in the night :-D The room they gave us have two beds and a hot shower. We even have a balcony that overlooks the Cordilleras. The price of the room (2k) makes up for the earlier inn we went to (pri...

From the Banaue Museum, we asked if there is anywhere we can go that is within range. You see, what most bloggers don't tell you is that Banaue is filled with places to go: hotsprings and treks and old villages that I hate it that I didn't know earlier or we would have set the roadtrip earlier so we would have gone. Anyway, the curator said that Banaue Hotel is just around the corner and we can have our dinner there. So we did and sure enough this is the only hotel in the area that has much space for cars to park, and enough space for more rooms than other inns. The reason why we didn't booked here is well, you guessed it, it's because of the price. It's just too much for a stop over. Before dinner, we went around, which is okay even if you're not a guest and were able to spot their souvenir shop. We didn't get to see their so called village, we only saw one Igorot house and that was it. I was able to buy myself a bag from the shop as souvenir ...