This is a continuation of my 13days Up North Trip with BF. The third installment of this adventure trip.
**Click here for my Laoag-Pagudpud-Vigan Trip.
The Nomad Travels to: SAGADA, MT. PROVINCE.
My journey started from Manila-Laoag-Pagudpud-Vigan-Baguio-Sagada and this will not end here.
The main purpose of my northern travel is actually VIGAN. But then again, as I did my research, I found lots of travel blogs about Sagada. Thus, I changed my main purpose drastically. I still went to Vigan but the main purpose of my travel now is SAGADA. And BF was so happy!!!
My usual holidays always include sun, sand & sea. Total relaxation in style and comforts. So this is totally different. And not the relaxing sort of holiday. This is an adventure trip.
Searching on the net more about Sagada, I was just so intrigued by this piece of an adventure haven. Let's take a look at what Sagada has to offer.
HOW TO GET THERE?!?!
BUS. We started the journey from Vigan. There are 2 bus trips going to Baguio offered by Partas. Schedules are 10:30pm & 11:30pm. We took the 10:30pm. Standard travel time is 6hrs. I said standard right, you know why? Coz the bus driver took only 3hrs from Vigan to Baguio!! He drove so fast, over taking other vehicles on the long and winding, dark road. Yes! Pretty scary and dangerous. The road to Baguio is dangerous. And we were seating at the front row. I had to cover my eyes and tries to sleep coz the driver scared the shit out of me.
JEEPNEY. If you are coming from Bontoc, it's only a 45min ride going to Sagada.
**TOPLOADING. Is dangerous but fun! Not advisable for the faint hearted.
VAN. Or for less hassle and a more comfortable ride, hire a private van. It'll cost you more though. Plus you wont be able to topload and that is one experience you should try at least once in your life.
Getting around Sagada is simple: WALK. Yeah... The village is small that you can just walk around! Don't be lazy!
SLEEP WHERE?!?!
George Guest House was my choice of stay.. Sagada offers a lot of guest houses to stay so where to sleep is not a problem. Guest houses ranges from P500/night..
*Private Room, Water heater, TV & Wifi.
**Tip: Even if they have water heater, it still feels too damn cold to bath..
WHAT TO DO?!?!
Hohohoho.... This is a question that answers will surprise you! Sagada offers an array of THINGS TO DO for it's visitors. It's only a matter of WHAT TO DO FIRST?! Get the picture? For more information about Sagada please visit SAGGAS. But here's the list of things that you could do or should I say must do:
-Spelunking (Sumaging cave 2hrs or Cave Connection: Sumaging & Lumiang Cave 5hrs)
-Trekking to Marlboro Mountain (yes! They have their own Marlboro Country)
-Trekking to Ponggas Falls.
-Trekking to Bomok-od Falls.
-Trekking to Mt. Ampacao and Lake Danum.
-Sunrise watching at Kiltepan Peak. (The most breathtaking sunrise view and seas of clouds)
-Sightseeing tours
*Echo Valley & hanging coffins
*Bokong Falls
*Lumiang Burial Cave
*Underground River Entrance
*Pottery
*Walk around the village
WHERE/WHAT TO EAT?!?!
PINIKPIKANG MANOK. A must try in Sagada or in any Ifugao regions. This is somewhat like their traditional food. You may not want to see the process of Pinikpikang Manok but you'll love the taste.
Bana's Restaurant. A simple restaurant with the mountain view.
The Lemon Pie House. Is really famous in Sagada for their Lemon Pies. And if you do not like any citrus stuff on your desserts like me, you can opt for other things like their egg pie. Oh! And one serving is good for 2 people on their meals. Crazy!!
Victor RestoBar. Reggae theme restobar. Simple & cool. You can totally relax here.
The Yoghurt House. I love yoghurts! But that's not all they are serving. They also serve meals that's massive in portion! I love the Hikers Breakfast! Ohhhhhh...
Kimchi Restaurant. Sounds too Korean right?! Yup. This restaurant serves Koerean dishes as well as Filipino dishes. The owner spent quite a few years working in Korean kitchen thus the business. But the restaurant is in reggae theme.
Sagada Pine Cafe. Just beside the Kimchi Restaurant is another reggae bar. A very cool place to hang out and chill. I really really love this place.
Rock Inn Cafe. Serving an array of food items. It's quite far from the town proper. You can also do Orange picking here for P50 and you can eat all you want whatever Orange you picked. Oranges for take-out will be paid by kilo.
**Try their own freshly brewed 18 days coffee and Mountain Tea. The mountain tea is very effective for digestion as I know you guys will for sure indulge in all the good food Sagada has to offer.
Day 0. Arrival in Sagada.
From Vigan, we took Partas bus to Baguio. And since the driver drove super fast, we reached Baguio 2:30am. Unprepared for this 3hrs advance. We were so sleepy. We stayed at the bus terminal until 4am and then we headed to Dangwa Bus Station and waited until 6:30am to board the GL Trans going to Sagada. It's a 6hrs bus ride on a long and winding, dangerous, blind curve road. Yes! The road to Sagada is dangerous and scary. Just trust and have faith on your bus driver that you'll arrive in Sagada safe and sound and in one piece. The bus I should say is not the most comfortable. It's those old school buses. Non-airconditioned. But they do have seating numbers so be sure to look at the seat numbers before you seat.
We arrived at Sagada at 12:30. We knew we wanted to stay at George Guest House despite the many inns/guest houses nearby. George Guest House offers private room, hot/cold shower, tv & wifi.
After check in, we were so hungry but we opted to walk around first and just explore the little town and then off to Bana's for our late lunch.
After lunch we headed back to the guest house and fell asleep. We were suppose to meet our guide at 4pm but we overslept and woke up at 6pm!!! Dead tired.
Our guide was Kuya Omaweng "John" Justo. In Igorot tradition, they're given traditional name & Christian name. According to Kuya John, one must know the traditional name if you want to find somebody in Sagada because the locals rely more on traditional names rather than the Christian names. That's because traditional names are unique and only 1 person will have that name whereas the Christian name is so common. They also know if not all, most of their neighbors in Sagada. From North to South, East to West. And people in Sagada are very friendly. They're very nice. They're very contented people and happy.
We met our guide at about 7pm something. He came to the guest house and we talked about where we wanna go first tomorrow. We decided to do the Sumaguing Cave spelunking followed by Ponggas Falls as they're on the same area.
Dinner time! We headed to The Lemon Pie House. Best known for their lemon pies (thus the name) and ordered Adobong Manok for myself and Hot & Spicy Chicken for BF. The ambience is so awesome. The place has this rustic, country look. Low tables and chairs at the front area. Very relaxing. Food prices were P35 for the pies/pc and for the main courses P100-150. P200 for the whole pie. Very affordable. Meal portions were gigantic! Two persons can share one meal!
Day 1. Rise and Shine early! Spelunking at SUMAGUING CAVE today!!!
Breakfast at our guest house. I love breakfast in Sagada. By 9am we met up with Kuya John and walked all the way going to the cave. It was a long walk! Before going to the cave we went to this ancient burial site dedicated to women most of them died of child birth. He said, there used to be a skull placed there on top of the coffin but somebody must have stolen the skull. It sure is not one of the people in Sagada. I pretty much got tired ascending up back to the main road. I hate stairs! Phewwww...
150ft below. 13 degrees celsius temperature. But we were sweating. That's how it feels like inside the cave. The entrance at Sumaguing cave was wide with bats sleeping on top but not so many bats. The entrance is quite slippery so just be very careful. And ofcourse, bat dings are everywhere so just mind where you lay your hands. For me, I didn't mind. I'd rather hold on to something regardless if it's mud or bat dings rather than risking the fall of slippery floors.
Once you've passed the bat entrance, behold the grandeur of those stalactites & stalagmites. There's gonna be lots of physical work inside the cave and fitting yourself on small holes, rappelling & cold cold water. So better do some warm up and stretching and don't forget to bring water & some bites.
Wear tights & dri-fit clothes. Day packs are advisable. We brought dry bags which was helpful in keeping our gadgets dry but not great with our activity. Maybe a dry bag & day pack combo would be better.
It took us 3hrs to finish spelunking altogether with 2 stops to rest for about 10min. and pictures.
Decending is not a problem for me, it's ascending that I really hate. Ughhh..
So after our exciting & breathtaking spelunking, we decided to go ahead with the Ponggas Falls as it was on the same area but with quite a distance. We decided to skip lunch and just took 30min to have some snacks at the store nearby. Kuya John went back home to store away his lamp & probably to have a quick lunch. He came back with a friend and motorcycles. I felt so happy coz if had we walked, it was gonna be a long walk! 5km walk to the starting point of the Ponggas trek. Yey!! We started our trek at the drop-off point passing a local Elementary School, passing houses, passing lots of tomato plantation, and some serious ascending, narrow pathway fit for 1 person only, and cliffs just beside the narrow way. Kinda scary way but there's no other way. Just focus on your little walkway and don't look down the cliff.
The scenery was absolutely beautiful!! Once we reached the falls, we climbed up the rocks and chilled there maybe for an hour. We didn't swim. The water was wayyyyyy toooo cold. Brrrrr.. We just enjoyed the view.
After packing up, it's time to go back to civilization. And back to the trail where we started. Dark clouds were starting to loom ahead. And just nice, when we reached our drop-off point it started to rain heavily. We just waited for the rain to stop so we hanged out at the store talking. After the rain has stopped, off we go back to our guest house. Bathed and rested for a while then off for dinner.
After an exhausting day of physical activities, my body was starting to feel it's painful reward. Body ache. For dinner we headed to Victor's Restobar. I love the reggae theme. Simple restobar but it was very relaxing. I had boneless Bangus (Milkfish) and it was huge with some veggies and rice.
I'm loving Sagada's food portions.!! After dinner, we walked back to the guesthouse and BF did some laundry while I was beginning to be bed-ridden with my very sore body. I fell asleep.
Day 2. Rise and shine early!! Breakfast time @ Yoghurt's House. The big Hiker's Breakfast & hot chocolate for me, Tapsilog & Mountain Tea for BF.. I love love love my Hiker's breakfast that I am actually craving for it every single day now!
9:30am we set out for another day of trekking. This time we're heading off to Echo Valley end point will be the Underground River Cave. My body, still beaten from yesterday, at first I was still feeling the pain but after a while of trekking I didn't feel it anymore. Weird. It was quite a trek coz it rained in the wee hours of the morning thus it was quite muddy and slippery.
By around 10:30am we reached the underground river entrance. Rested there for a while and then continued trekking back to town. After the trek we went to visit the Sagada Weaving House and saw how they manually weave each cloth. So don't ask why it's expensive because they put love in their labour. They don't finish one cloth in one day, it will take them at least 3days to an week to finish one masterpiece. We bought some souvenirs and then off we go for lunch back at The Lemon Pie House.
After lunch, off we go to Mt. Ampacao Peak and Lake Danum. On the way there we stopped at the Sagada Pottery and got to watch a full demo of how pottery making is. Frankly, it's quite difficult. Hehe.. When we reached there it was freezing cold! And I was still with a jacket on but it was the wrong type. I wore clime-cool instead of a wind breaker. And BF was too confident that he's now a part of Sagada coz he doesn't feel cold back at town didn't bring any jacket. And so, finally, he felt the chills! I had to give him my lovely scarf. LOL. Started the bonfire quite early coz it was very cold and windy. We stayed by the lake and waited for the sunset. Once the sunset was nearing we started walking up towards the view point and behold! The beauty of Mother Nature.. We tried taking that perfect shot but what we took wasn't perfect enough for us. Sigh... After sunset we stayed at the lake for about an hour more with the boys drinking bear and I didn't. We started our descend with the ascend of the moon. It was a long dark descend.
Finally!! Reached civilization! Hungry. We went to check out the Kimchi bar for our late dinner and off to Sagada Pine Café for some drinks. I tried the San Miguel Apple. Didn't liked it at all. Probably I had about 5 small sips and quit. Not my type. It was a pretty tiring day. And another early day tomorrow for our Kiltepan ascend for sunrise.
Day 3. Rise and shine. The early bird catches the biggest worm! Woke up at 4am prepped up and geared up for our Kiltepan ascend. It was extremely cold and heavy fog was everywhere. Finally we reached the peak and waited for the sunrise. It didn't happen. The fog was too thick. Not even a sea of cloud was visible. Finally, at about 6:30am we began our descend and stopped over at The Rock Inn for breakfast and Orange Picking.
It was bf's first time to see Orange trees. Hehe.. Breakfast was nice, the portion at least was not as much as back in town. After breakfast, we picked oranges for P50 you can eat all you want and if you guys want to bring home some oranges you can do so too. They charge I think it was P16/kilo. Very cheap! After much picking and getting high on oranges, it's time to go back down to the town and back to our guest house. Packed up and rested for a while. It's gonna be another long trip back to Baguio City. We took the 10am trip.
From Sagada to Baguio trip would start from 5am-11am hourly and last trip would be at 1pm.
Please do take note that if you want to take home pie from The Lemon Pie House, do order from them 1day ahead before your trip. 1 Lemon/Egg Pie is P200.
We had a very exciting trip in Sagada and we totally fell in love with the place. The people were so nice and friendly and damn they could speak English wayyyyyyy better than Tagalog.
WHAT TO BRING AND NEVER TO FORGET:
Camera. (DSLR & GO PRO HERO 3 BLACK)
Extra batteries and chargers.
Cash. (There's no atm's available except for Rural Bank but not for my bank)
Dri-fit clothes.
Tights/Leggings.
Gloves.
Thermal Wear (it gets extremely cold at night)
Windbreaker.
Trekking Shoes/Sandals.
Day Bag/Dry Bag (to keep your important stuffs dry)
Flashlight and Head light.
An extremely fit BF.
And a determined self to challenge.
SURVIVING SAGADA EXPERIENCE
This trip is a test of strength and endurance. Not for the faint hearted. Be prepared when coming to Sagada. The activities here are not for those relaxing holiday kind of sun, sea, sand holiday. The activities here requires physical strength. I am not the most physically fit girl but I did my part of preparations. Although not enough unlike BF who really prepped himself (being a mountaineer himself).
The trick here is to wear the proper clothes. Our choice of clothing were dry fit clothes topped with regular clothes. And at night, the temperature drops drastically, be sure to have thermal wear with you. Fleece or a thick jacket and windbreaker.
Be sure to have a good trekking shoes. I've spent a month finding my trekking shoes. And I also got myself a pair of hiking socks. It is totally different from regular socks. Hiking socks are specifically made for long treks. The material is totally different form regular socks with Hiking socks constructed with THOR-LON fibers.
When spelunking be sure to wear leggings that clings to your skin, dri-fit clothes, dry bag to store all those gadgets and cash, towel to use after spelunking, a head lamp just for extra added light although the guide will light your way and what me & BF treasured a lot, GATSBY DEODORANT PAPER WIPES!!! I loaded up loads of this stuff because I think Philippines don't have this. We also have the Gatsby facial wipes. This totally cooled us down and help us cleaned up.
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| Gatsby & The Diablo 3 his new game. |
My Up North Trip doesn't end here! On the next episode of The Nomad Travels, I am going to Subic, Olongapo City. Stay tuned.
Have a safe trip my Nomadic Traveler Friends! Enjoy!
WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN TO LATELY?!?!
Much Love!
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