The Sagada Adventure

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Last April 4-6, 2009, Dan, Lor and her officemates, Tiff and her boyfriend Lionel, Lionel's friends and I joined The Travel Factor's (visit their official website here - The Travel Factor) Conquer Sagada Tour. If I am not mistaken, there were actually more than 50 of us in the group. We were led by The Travel Factor's Tikoy Tan.

Our adventure began April 3, friday. We all met up in the terminal of Cable Tours Bus in E. Rodriguez Ave in Quezon City. This bus would take us to the Cordillera Region and up to Sagada in the Mountain Province. We left at around 9pm and at around 8am the next day, we made a brief stop at the NFA-Aguian Banaue Rice Terraces Viewing Deck. This is actually the view printed in our 1000 peso bill :D. I have only seen the Banaue Rice Terraces in pictures, so finally seeing it in front of me was such a surreal experience.

Banaue Rice Terraces (taken April 4, 2009)

After a few photo ops with the terraces, we continued our journey to Sagada. We passed through zigzags and very rough roads, but the view was just amazing.

Almost one-way roads up to Sagada (taken April 4, 2009)

The view on the way up (taken April 4, 2009)

At around 11am, we arrived in Bontoc, the capital of the Mountain Province. We had our brunch there. And we were also given our Travel Factor shirts and IDs there. After eating, we continued our trip to Sagada.

We finally arrived in Sagada around 12nn and we were sent to our respective inns. Our group stayed in Alibama Inn. After freshening up, we went to trek the Bomod-Ok Big Falls. If I am not mistaken, it took us around 1-2 hours to reach the falls. We went through the rice terraces, a small village and some streams before finally seeing the falls. It was raining hard during our trek, so yeah that made things more difficult for us. We did not stay long in the falls since it was getting late already.

Trekking to the falls (taken April 4, 2009)

Bomod-Ok Big Falls (taken April 4, 2009)

It took us another hour or so to trek back to where our jeepneys were parked so when we arrived in our inn, it was already dinner time. The host served us with yummy food and very fresh vegetables. After dinner, we decided to go to the Lemon Pie House to eat (you guessed it) Lemon Pies!

The next day, we got up at around 4am to view the sunrise at Mt. Kiltepan. I think it was my first time to see a sunrise from the mountain top so I was really really excited. It was such a beautiful sunrise.

Sunrise at Mt. Kiltepan (taken April 5, 2009)

After viewing the sunrise, we went back to our inn to eat breakfast and prepare for the most challenging part of this trip - the Lumiyang and Sumaguing cave connection adventure. I knew beforehand that it was gonna be a hard since this is my first time exploring a cave and I've heard many stories saying that it is not for the faint hearted. And they were right. We had to go through small rock openings and steep climbs and descents. We had to do this while enduring the cold air and the smell of bat poop. The hardest part for me was having to go into cold cold water inside the cold caves. I was freezing when I got out of the water. But our guides were really very helpful. They assisted us every step of the way. They even offer their legs or arms for us to step on. Thank you SAGGAS (Sagada Genuine Guides Association). Since there were many of us in the group, we spent around 8 hours going through the two caves. Just imagine how starved and thirsty, and not to mention dirty we were after this. Even if it was hard, it is a must-do for everyone who will visit Sagada. It was a difficult but very very fulfilling experience.

Coffins in Lumiyang Cave (taken April 5, 2009)

Inside Sumaguing Cave (taken April 5, 2009)

Because it took us 8 hours (instead of the usual 5) to navigate the caves and rain was pouring really hard, Travel Factor decided to cancel the sunset viewing in Lake Danum. So we had the whole night to rest.

Since we were not able to go to Lake Danum because of the rain, Travel Factor took us there in our last day. After Lake Danum, we walked around Sagada and visited St. Mary Episcopal Church and the Echo Valley. The Echo Valley is home to the hanging coffins, but due to the lack of time, we were not able to get close to the coffins.

Lake Danum (taken April 6, 2009)

Echo Valley (taken April 6, 2009)

St. Mary's Episcopal Church (taken April 6, 2009)

We left Sagada around 12nn and made our way to Baguio to eat dinner. En route to Baguio, we passed by the Baguio-Bontoc road and the view from here is just magnificent. We arrived in Baguio just in time for dinner and after dinner we went back to Manila. We arrived at around 2am the next day in Manila.

If you love nature and adventure and you don't mind getting bruised or dirty, then Sagada is the right place for you.

Access:
1) From Manila, take Cable Tours Bus in E. Rodriguez Avenue in Quezon City.
2) Via Banaue: From Manila, take Autobus or Dangwa Tranco to Banaue and from Banaue, take a jeepney or minivan to Sagada
3) Via Baguio: From Manila, take a bus to baguio and from Baguio, there are hourly buses to Sagada.
** Just a word of advice, roads can get slippery and landslides may occur during rainy months. **