Being Part of Art in “Art In Island” in Cubao, Quezon City

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”.

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Jeju, South Korea: Hiking Halla-san (Eorimok Trail)

The drizzle seemed like a constant, albeit intermittent, coming in spurts every few minutes or so. But compared to when we first started our hike up Yeongsil Trail, the hike down Eorimok Trail was much friendlier, so we could afford to stow our raincoats away and take a leisurely stroll, so to speak, largely pretending there weren’t droplets raining on our parade, so to speak. Because isn’t that what we all should do? Keep walking, keep moving, forward, until we reach our destination.
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Jeju, South Korea: Hiking Halla-san (Yeongsil Trail)

So the plan went like this: wake up early, climb Halla-san via the Seongpanak Trail, reach the summit, then go down via the Gwaneumsa Trail. In my head, everything would go like clockwork, and we’d have climbed this esteemed mountain of Jeju and beheld the crater lake, or the Baengnokdam. Alas, it was not meant to be… not when Mother Nature herself decided to cry buckets of tears that day.

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A Day Hike Up Mt. Pigingan in Itogon, Benguet

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?”

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At the Echo Valley, with the Hanging Coffins of Sagada

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” →

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The Church of Saint Mary The Virgin in 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.

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Orange-Picking at the Orchard of Rock Inn & Cafe

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” →

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Waiting for the Sun to Rise at Kiltepan, Sagada

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.

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Lumiang & Sumaguing Caves: The Sagada Cave Connection

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” →

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Drive-by: The Bontoc Museum in Bontoc, Mt. Province

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.

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Jeju-do, South Korea: The Manjanggul Lava Tube

After a long time, I just spent the entire day yesterday on a dayhike – a major one, at that – and I’m feeling all sorts of sore and achy, especially in my muscles that haven’t seen some mountain action in what seems like forever. And I loooooove it. I’d do it again in a heartbeat. But I won’t say no to a visit in a dark cavern or cave somewhere, because that is fun, too. Like this one “cave” that we visited when we were doing a taxi tour of Jeju.

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Jeju-do, South Korea: Maze Land

I’m not claustrophobic, or at least I don’t think I am, but something about the thought of going around in circles and feeling trapped, even in a wide open space, is something that gives me the heebie-jeebies. That’s why you won’t see me entering a haunted house (not even in an amusement park, no) or a maze all by myself. Because I don’t particularly relish the thought of not being able to find my way out. But Maze Land in Jeju made me see the fun side of the concept.

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Jeju-do, South Korea: The Jeju Stone Park

If I am going to be completely honest with you, I never enjoyed going to museums very much when I was younger. For me, they were mostly a fixture or a building housing rare stuff that has some historical or cultural importance, and that my only reason to visit them was because I need the credits at school. I blame that noncommittal attitude towards museums to the fact that, well, there weren’t much fun to be had at the museums around me. They all practically looked the same, so how was I supposed to get excited over a visit to one? But visits to South Korea (and Japan) changed that.

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Jeju-do, South Korea: Saryeoni Forest Path

Imagine having to wake up to a breakfast of just cereals every single day. After a while, it is very likely that you’d forget how rice tastes like. So when, one odd day out of the blue, you are presented with a bowl of steaming rice, you get a spoonful to taste it, then bam! You’re reminded how good it is, and how you really loved it in the past. … Where am I going with this? Well, imagine a person that has gotten used to living in an urban jungle, with tall buildings instead of trees, and concrete instead of dirt to walk on. Then he is transported to a spot where he is surrounded by them tall trees and hard, packed solid earth. That was what I was thinking while walking along the Saryeoni Forest Path.

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