My third time in Cebu for a convention-seminar, and we had a free day to do as we please before the lectures began. So what do we do? Look for a feasible side trip. The thing is, most of those side trips take hours of travel from Cebu City. And since we were short on time, we chose the one that’s closer. Ergo, Moalboal.
Continue reading “One Sunset at White (Basdaku) Beach in Moalboal, Cebu”
“Save the best for last” is definitely a phrase that applies in this situation, because as we’ve come to the last waterfall in our Chasing Waterfalls in Bakun adventure last June, it also happens to be the best one. For me, personally. This is my second visit to Mangta Falls, and dare I say that it felt like the first time, but even better?
Continue reading “Chasing Waterfalls in Poblacion, Bakun Pt. 4: MANGTA FALLS”
Who said chasing waterfalls is a piece of cake? It definitely isn’t, especially when you have to do it under a drizzle, progressing to a shower, then to a downpour. But here’s an upside: once you arrive at the waterfall, getting soaked is no longer such a big deal. In fact, you’d most definitely welcome it. As I did once we got to Pattan Falls.
Continue reading “Chasing Waterfalls in Poblacion, Bakun Pt. 3: PATTAN FALLS”
“If you are scared, you can’t see beauty. Fear kills your ability to see beauty.” These were words uttered by actor Will Smith in one of his vlogs of a family vacation they had somewhere in Italy. And I’d have to agree with what he said, because I have seen a lot of people fail to appreciate nature because they are afraid of this or that when, in the first place, they haven’t even tried it, much less stepped one foot out the door.
Continue reading “Chasing Waterfalls in Poblacion, Bakun Pt. 2: PIKAW and SAKUP FALLS”
Strong – and seemingly nonstop – rains, combined with relentless winds, is one of two things that, in my opinion, can put a damper on a most anticipated adventure. (The other one would be “lousy company”, in case you’re wondering.) I’ve had my fair share of being caught in the middle of an adventure or exploratory trip with the rain pouring, and I gotta say it does screw up even the best-laid plans all around. But there is one adventure that we can still totally rock, yes, even in a downpour. In fact, I think it can actually make the view better. What adventure, you ask? That would be chasing waterfalls.
Continue reading “Chasing Waterfalls in Poblacion, Bakun Pt. 1: TEKIP FALLS”
It’s the first of July! I can’t believe half of the year has officially passed and, in less than another 6 months, it’ll be another year. Wait, wait, I’m getting way ahead of myself, aren’t I.
Dropping by briefly to drop a throwback video of our last morning in Iloilo some months back, where we went to the La Paz Public Market to have a breakfast of authentic La Paz Batchoy at Netong’s, then capped it off with some iced coffee from Magde Cafe. Then, after another short jeepney ride, visited the Jaro Church. Enjoy!
The other day, on the way home from two days of chasing waterfalls, I found myself on familiar roads, and not just because it happens to be in Kapangan, my father’s hometown. There was the Amburayan Bridge where I rappelled off of some years back; the roadside store-cum-coffee stop where we leisurely waited for time to pass… and then I was reminded about my most recent visit to the area, and how I haven’t made a post about it. Yet.
Continue reading “The Longog Cave in Balakbak, Kapangan, Benguet”
I miss the sun. Often we take for granted how the sun just makes everything warmer, brighter, that we complain when the day is becoming “too hot” or her glare is too bright for us to see anything. And then she doesn’t show up for a couple of days and we again complain why that’s the case, then start praying for her to come back, as if we didn’t shun and even curse at her before, when we were all sweaty and kinda dehydrated.
But with every raindrop comes rushes of remembrance, so that we recall things we thought were forgotten. Like that time we became part of art in “Art in Island”.
Continue reading “Being Part of Art in “Art In Island” in Cubao, Quezon City”
Over the past several months, I have been high-key missing the great outdoors, specifically the mountains. It’s just that time was a bit short and there weren’t a lot of opportunities for me to do so. Or the lack of time made it so that I wasn’t able to spot those opportunities. But on one of those very few times that I actually bothered reading through my Facebook feed, I saw an event organized by The Cordilleran Sun, and thought, “why the hell not?”
Continue reading “A Day Hike Up Mt. Pigingan in Itogon, Benguet”
For all her natural beauty and mass media appeal, the one thing that you can never take away from Sagada – and her neighboring towns, if I might add, if only you’d care to venture out of its borders – is tradition. To this day, despite modernization easing its way in none too gracefully, the place is enveloped with it that you can practically smell it in the air when you step out of your ride. You breathe in, and just know, you are somewhere steeped in tradition. Continue reading “At the Echo Valley, with the Hanging Coffins of Sagada”
More than design and architecture (which I really know next to nothing about), the one feature that intrigues me when visiting notable churches is what they are made of. Modern churches, especially, now seem to look commonplace, and so we turn to seeking out older churches to somehow fill that curiosity for something novel or not usual. In this case, stones. Churches made of stones never fail to impress me, regardless of their scale or size.
Continue reading “The Church of Saint Mary The Virgin in Sagada”
After welcoming the day at Kiltepan Viewpoint, we made that short drive to do some damage, I meant, orange-picking. Since I can remember, “Sagada Oranges” have become something like an institution in our region, kinda like how you’d identify other produce as “Baguio beans” and “Baguio strawberries” which, IF I MAY, I have a couple of things to say about. First: beans and most other highland vegetables are NOT from Baguio, you guys. Neither are strawberries. Continue reading “Orange-Picking at the Orchard of Rock Inn & Cafe”
There are only two instances when you can look, or stare, directly at the sun (without hurting your eyes, that is): when it rises and when it sets. So we take our chance as much as we can. The sad thing is that, we wait for the sun to rise, but we don’t always see her in her full glory. I know. I’ve had several experiences where I woke up real early at dawn in time to watch the day break, only for the sun to be her moody elusive self, and hide behind clouds. The upside? The knowledge that even if she does not show herself fully, SHE IS THERE.
Continue reading “Waiting for the Sun to Rise at Kiltepan, Sagada”
The Sumaguing Cave in Sagada, Mountain Province is my first cave experience, and that was way back in 2007. Since then, I’ve been to a few others, and no matter how you try not to, you cannot help but make comparisons. Fortunately, the time that we explored Sumaguing Cave was a period where only a few people knew about it. Between then and now, of course, the place practically blew up and practically hundreds of visitors drive up to Sagada every weekend. That was certainly one of the shocks I received when I set foot in the place anew. Continue reading “Lumiang & Sumaguing Caves: The Sagada Cave Connection”
Every single day we wake up and go about our daily lives the usual way, our minds occupied with schedules and meeting objectives, there just seems to be room for, well, not much else. Most of us go online, and check out what’s going on in the world or with other people and, if curiosity strikes us, even try to learn about them: their cultures, their quirks, and even the most random things about them. So it is quite a bit of fresh air when, once in a while, we are reminded of how our own culture – our own quirks and randomness, even – are just as interesting, perhaps even more so, than that of some strangers’ in another side of the planet.
Continue reading “Drive-by: The Bontoc Museum in Bontoc, Mt. Province”
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