TRAVEL SNIPPET 2011:Destination Mt. Province

I grabbed my ‘travel cologne’ then squeezed it in my bag and left home…

  

The Banaue Rice Terraces known as the "8th Wonder of the World"

I left home for at least three days to visit the Mt. Province as my second layover of traveling this year. I wear the same scent every time I travel, at least until that cologne runs out. I am very much in touch with my senses and we all know how a scent can bring back memories. Traveling is one experience I would always want to remember.

I never thought I will get to experience Sagada. It was just a dream until I decided to make it happen. I signed up for a group travel because I know I will not have the time to create my own itinerary. I know that being a backpacker is fun but I just don’t have the time to be one. I can only afford to be away from work for a couple of days so every minute should count. Besides, am not really a backpacker. I am more of a flashpacker.

The Sagada trip was supposed to be my ultimate test of independence because I originally planned to travel there alone; but, I just can’t hide the excitement to myself so I shared my plans with friends and tagged along two of my closest, Sugar and Phil. We realized it was a significant travel for each of us because the opportunity came in a perfect timing of both ‘a beginning’ and ‘an end’ of a certain phase in our lives.

It was a long drive. We were on the backmost seats of a Nissan Urvan. Needless to say, it was a pain in the butt! And am not cursing!

We left Manila 830 PM of a Thursday and arrived at the Aguian View Deck 5AM the next day to see the stunning Banaue Rice Terraces as seen in the one thousand peso bill. Did I say it was stunning?

My closest encounter with Banaue Rice Terraces was when I was in grade school in all my Philippine History subjects known in Tagalog as Hagdan-Hagdang Palayan. It was an amazing man-made wonder of the world – carved into the mountains by our indigenous people. The detail, the art, the function, the precision, the irrigation and everything else looked so perfect.

George Inn Annex

We checked in our Inns. We were assigned to the Annex location of George House. It was a nice cozy place with an amazing view of the municipality of Sagada.

I decided not to read any blogs about Sagada Travels. I restricted myself to just checking on photos of where I’m headed. I wanted to surprise myself; and boy! Did I?!

Bana's Cafe & Restaurant

Right after our lunch at Bana’s Café and Restaurant, we headed to the Lumiang Cave to see the entrance and the hanging coffins. We decided not to do a ‘cave connection’ because we were really tired coming from a shift the day before. We thought we already saved ourselves from body pains. We were wrong.

Splelunking @ Sumaguing Cave

Sumaguing Cave was the coolest cave I have ever been into. The tour guides oriented us on what we need to do and remember as we explore this famous cave. I have been into other caves. I have even survived a cave in Nicaragua where I experienced bats passing flying in front of my face so I thought, “Am sure I’ll do just fine in this cave.”

Well, I came out fine but it was one of the scariest things I ever had to do - to SURVIVE Sumaguing Cave.  If you are an adrenalin junkie, which I suspect I am and I just can’t admit it, then you wouldn’t ask me to write more but you will start planning your own itinerary to experience it yourself. During the course of exploring the cave, I told myself many times this - "Someone can actually die here".

After Sumaguing we headed to Log Cabin Restaurant to make a reservation for dinner after cleaning up our muddy and dirty selves. Log Cabin, to me, is one of Sagada’s finest restaurants. Their pasta was superb. Their host speaks English when serving and is a fan of Prince William and Kate. I can tell you the juicy details over a cup of coffee.

Log Cabin Restaurant

Our first night in Sagada was the best rest ever – pitch-black outside, very cold weather, deafening silence, extremely tired bodies, and minds trying hard to stay away from Manila. I slept like a baby.

Day Two – We left the hotel very early to catch the sunrise viewing at Kiltepan Rice Terraces. I have taken many shots of sunsets and I have always been a fan of looking ‘UP’.

My first close experience of sunrise was while on an airplane going to Amsterdam. I saw the most beautiful sunrise and I closed my eyes to smell it; at least in my imagination.

We got there on time and truly it was a breathtaking experience. I was surprised by the number of people waiting to welcome Mr. Sun. We were not disappointed. It was very quick. Both the cloud formation and the cool breeze joined us in welcoming the sun.

Kiltepan Rice Terraces

I closed my eyes and smelled it, again, at least in my imagination.

Sunrise as seen from Kiltepan Rice Terraces

What an amazing God I serve!


We had our breakfast after at Café Bodega near the Orange Farm which we didn’t care to visit since it’s not in season. We headed to the next adventure – trekking Banga-an Rice Terraces to see the Bomod-ok Falls and back for four grueling hours under the heat of the sun. All my running efforts during weekends paid off. I survived the trekking with a smile and sore muscles.

Lunch was served a little late in Saint Joseph Restaurant so we were still full when we started 

4 hours of trekking in Banga-an Terraces

walking to St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, Echo Valley and Hanging Coffins. The group is scheduled to see the small falls and the museums in town; but Sugar, Phil and I decided to immerse ourselves in the community. We went to the town proper and walked the streets to find food to eat, things to bring home and see the people. The food trip started with a reservation at Salt Pepper Diner for our dinner for that night. We, then, visited what we have been dying to visit, The Lemon Pie House and The Yogurt House. Needless to say, we were so full that we had to take our reserved Salt and Pepper food home.

Echo Valley & Sagada Weaving

Yougurt House

The next day, which was our last, we tried the lemon pie again and claimed our reserved boxes of pie for friends. We passed by Sagada Weaving House where I bought my favorite Sagada bag. We headed home after.

Lemon Pie

We passed by the highest point in Atok Benguet, and then bought fruits in the Strawberry Farm and ate lunch in Baguio.

As I travel to different places, I thought I’d feel the satisfaction ‘traveling’ can bring. I was wrong. It only ignites the excitement, the longing, the desire to experience more.

Off to Zambales for my third layover for Attraversiamo 2011...

Do Not Forget the Lord

Do Not Forget the Lord

Deuteronomy 8

Banaue Rice Terraces, PH

1 Be careful to follow every command I am giving you today, so that you may live and increase and may enter and possess the land that the Lord promised on oath to your forefathers.

2 Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the desert these forty years, to humble you and to test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands.

3 He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teaching you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.

 4 Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years.

5 Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the Lord your God disciplines you.

6 Observe the commands of the Lord your God, walking in his ways and revering him.

 7 For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land—a land with streams and pools of water, with springs flowing in the valleys and hills;

8 a land with wheat and barley, vines and fig trees, pomegranates, olive oil and honey;

9 a land where bread will not be scarce and you will lack nothing; a land where the rocks are iron and you can dig copper out of the hills.

10 When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the Lord your God for the good land he has given you.

11 Be careful that you do not forget the Lord your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day. 

12 Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down,

 13 and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied,

14 then your heart will become proud and you will forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 

15 He led you through the vast and dreadful desert, that thirsty and waterless land, with its venomous snakes and scorpions. He brought you water out of hard rock.

 16 He gave you manna to eat in the desert, something your fathers had never known, to humble and to test you so that in the end it might go well with you.

17 You may say to yourself, “My power and the strength of my hand I have produced this wealth for me.”

 18 But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your forefathers, as it is today.

Gloria al Dios!

The Lives of Dave and Grace: The Song

Photo from Bryce Kiguchi.

He had been talking about this song he wanted her to hear. She didn’t have the time or more like they didn’t have a chance to actually listen to it until that night he brought her home after a tiring trip to places she had never been to. He wouldn’t let this day end without her hearing it. He grabbed her laptop and searched for it.

He played it.

She was in awe and secretly catching her breath but she couldn’t stop the tears that fell from her eyes as if they have a mind of their own. So she laid on his lap and cried like a baby with thoughts of sadness filling her. She knew it’s going to be the song she’s gonna listen to when all these end.

A day before her last day, they went out to eat. There was an unbearable silence when his Ipod started playing this song. 

“Will we ever see each other again?”

“Will there be an ‘after’ after this?”

“How can I stand here with you and not be moved by you?”

“Would you tell me how could it be any better than this?”


She heard the word she wanted to hear from him. This isn't the first time he said it but it always felt like it was. 


"Stay", he said while keeping his eyes glued to the road which worked to her advantage. 


She knew she probably couldn't say 'No' to him. She didn't say anything. At least not aloud. "I want to. I wish I could."

Just the thought of it brings unexplainable combination of acceptance and resistance. They both knew it could be the last but somehow somewhere in that acceptance is a little piece of resistance so powerful that it could change everything if they were just willing to give it a chance.

But they knew better. “Some of the best moments in life may not be meant to be forever but they can be if we choose to keep them in our hearts no matter the ending”, she thought.

It will be the song that will bring her back to the memory of him and their journey closer to God whether or not they end up together. It was song of faith, a song that honors the One. 

God, You're all that we need. You are more than enough. You are everything.

EVERYTHING

Lifehouse

Find Me Here

Speak To Me

I want to feel you

I need to hear you

You are the light

That's leading me

To the place where I find peace again.

You are the strength that keeps me walking.

You are the hope that keeps me trusting.

You are the light to my soul.

You are my purpose...you're everything.

How can I stand here with you and not be moved by you?

Would you tell me how could it be any better than this?

You calm the storms, and you give me rest.

You hold me in your hands, you won't let me fall.

You steal my heart, and you take my breath away.

Would you take me in? Take me deeper now?

How can I stand here with you and not be moved by you?

Would you tell me how could it be any better than this?

And how can I stand here with you and not be moved by you?

Would you tell me how could it be any better than this?

Cause you're all I want, you’re all I need

You're everything, everything

You're all I want your all I need

You're everything, everything.

You're all I want you're all I need.

You're everything, everything

You're all I want you're all I need, you're everything, everything.

And How can I stand here with you and not be moved by you?

Would you tell me how could it be any better than this? 

How can I stand here with you and not be moved by you?

Would you tell me how could it be any better than this?

How can I stand here with you and not be moved by you?

Would you tell me how could it be any better than this?

Would you tell me how could it be any better than this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjDojEOiMcE