Lovely Sagada the 2nd time around

They say that you will appreciate more a place the second time around, and undoubtedly we proved this right after our second visit in the beautiful province of Sagada. We decided to spend our Christmas vacation (2013) here and this time we stayed at Sagada Homestay because our first choice GeorgeGuesthouse is already fully booked that time. Rate is 300/head/night for the duplex type house with 2 rooms with double bed on the first floor and 4 beds upstairs. Homestay also offers an outdoor kitchen (150/day) in their main house where you can cook your own food and usage of cooking utensils. Usage of oil, salt, vegetables, and liquid soap are all free of charge. If you don't want cooking they also have their own restaurant (Home Stay's Diner) where they offer delicious foods (lots of choices) with affordable price (not that pricey unlike other famous restaus in Sagada) and service is excellent. They have great overlooking view from the duplex house and you can also relax in their bonfire area at night.

One of the BEST things we did in Sagada that you shouldn’t miss on your visit is Spelunking in Sumaguing Cave. But first, contact a guide from Sagada Genuine Guides Association (SAGGAS) ahead of time for your itinerary and they will served as your caring guide throughout the tour. Their blog site is also very helpful since every information you need is published on their site. Guide fee ranges from 300 to 1000 depending on the destination and number of participants. Remember: The more participants, the lesser is your expenses. Moreover, there are two ways to explore the cave, one is Spelunking for beginners and the other one is Cave Connection for more adventurous people. It usually takes 2 to 4 hours to complete the whole spelunking experience depending on you or your group's speed. Make sure to get certified guide from SAGGAS to assist you well during the spelunking. We have to trek down slippery stones to see magnificent stalactites, stalagmites and limestone formations. Down the cave you will find cold waters and natural pool that make the cave so cold. It was quite challenging trek, we need to pass by slippery stones, walk like a crab, rappel through ropes, pass by waist deep cold waters, and climb up steep stones. But we surpass all of those because of our caring Friend/guide/best photographer Fred Mayocyoc from SAGGAS who always ensure our safety and serves as our big hand and human ladder. He helped us with our footing and guiding us while holding a camera and a lamp. I'm so proud of our group because we survived Spelunking in Sumaguing cave. You wouldn’t feel that you’ve been in that cave for hours already because you will truly enjoy the whole experience. You can actually see on our photos how happy we are during the experience.

Here are some of our Spelunking shots in Sumaguing Cave.

Our guide/friend Fred from Sagada Genuine Guide Association 

Look up in Sagada

Sagada's Sumaguing Cave

Sagada's Sumaguing Cave

Sagada's Sumaguing Cave

Sagada's Sumaguing Cave

Sagada's Sumaguing Cave while going down slopes

Sagada's Sumaguing Cave

Sagada's Sumaguing Cave King's Curtain

water inside Sumaguing Cave (Sagada)

Confined Spaces Sagada Sumaguing Cave

Confined Spaces Sagada Sumaguing Cave

Sagada Sumaguing Cave

Fred ensuring our safety while Spelunking Sumaguing Cave (Sagada)

Right foot, left foot as Fred guides our footings (Sumaguing Cave Sagada)

Strike a pose Fred - our human ladder (Sumaguing Cave Sagada)

Confined Spaces Sagada Sumaguing Cave

Limestone formation inside Sumaguing Cave Sagada

Limestone formation inside Sumaguing Cave Sagada

Sagada Sumaguing Cave

Other than the Beautiful Sumaguing cave, we also explored other tourist spots in Sagada like as follows:

Sagada's Small falls (Bokong falls)

Sagada's Small falls (Bokong falls)

Sagada's Small falls (Bokong falls)

Sagada's Small falls (Bokong falls)

Sagada's Small falls (Bokong falls)

Scenic view along Sumaguing Cave (Sagada)

Hangging Coffins of Sagada Mountain Province

Orange Picking at Rock Inn Sagada

Orange Picking at Rock Inn Sagada

Enjoying fresh oranges from  Rock Inn Sagada

Orange Picking at Rock Inn Sagada

Breakfast at Rock Inn Sagada

Breakfast at Rock Inn Sagada

Lumiang Cave Sagada

Sagada Rice Terraces along the way to Sumaguing Cave

Echo Valley Sagada 

Sagada December 2013

If you are a backpacker, budget – traveler, and nature – lover, you will surely love SAGADA just as how we fall in love with this province and we will never get tired of coming back. Sagada never fails us to give fresh air, picturesque scenery, lush greenery and amazing discoveries.  Getting to Sagada is always an awesome and fulfilling achievement. The best experience ever!!

Sagada – Banaue Adventure Part IV

During our last night in Sagada, we’re having some transportation issues on going back home due to fully booked bus tickets to Manila. Actually, our original plan was Sagada-Baguio trip but because of Typhoon "Mina" road from Sagada to Baguio (Halsema Highway) was closed due to several cases of landslides. We never lose our hope to have a successful trip, good thing someone called me and offer a tour to Banaue rice terraces for 300php per head which referred by the owner of George Guest House . I didn’t hesitate since trips from Sagada to Manila are all fully booked, so we decided to divert our way to Sagada-Bontoc-Banaue-Manila. Honestly, it’s out of our budget but we have no choice but to avail the tour package or else we will be stuck in Mountain Province but the good thing is we will be able to see up close the famous Banaue Rice terraces. And since there is a Florida bus station located at Banaue, Kuya who offered the tour also helped us to reserved 8pm seats to Manila.

After finishing our last itinerary for the day we started packing our things and prepared our lunch since our service to Banaue will arrive 2 in the afternoon. We travel almost 3 hours from Sagada to Banaue with a bit of delay on the road because there’s a clearing operation due to minor landslide. It was an exhilarating ride since the cliff road is too narrow and rain started to pour…but eventually your mind will be diverted on how gorgeous the landscape you will see; full of rice fields, trees, mountains and fogs.  Our first stop was the Bay-yo Viewing point which exposes few rice terraces, but equally breathtaking views. After few minutes of enjoying the coldness of the place and few snaps on our cameras to capture scenic views, we continue our travel up to the jump off point of Banaue Rice Terraces.

Bay-yo Rice terraces

Bay-yo rice terraces

Closer look of Bay-yo rice terraces

When we finally reached the magnificent Banaue Rice Terraces we were so amazed; we didn’t expect it to be that stunning. So breathtaking, it’s an amazing creation of God.  Banaue Rice Terraces is actually claimed as one of UNESCOS’s World Heritage Site and considered as the 8th wonder of the world. It is one of the country’s most admired and most visited tourist attractions. This panoramic beauty was built over 2000 years ago by the Ifugao tribes with only primitive tools such as stones and woods. This exquisite beauty gives a glimpse to everyone who visits the place. While staring at the terraces you will be amazed on how intelligent, having great engineering skills of native Filipinos in building this wonderful creation. You will never get tired of gazing at this masterpiece again and again, that’s how wonderful it was and we’re so lucky to see this masterpiece. Truly God is so amazing in creating such lovely chef-d'oeuvre. While staring at it, you’ll realize that our country is truly rich with this kind of treasure and we should raise awareness to conserve this national treasure because it’s a part of who we are as Filipinos. 

Banaue Rice Terraces

great engineering skills 

Rice Terraces

Magnificent Banaue Rice Terraces

  

Banaue Rice Terraces

Rice fields of Banaue

Wondrous Banaue Rice Terraces

Breathtaking view of Banaue Rice terraces 

Overall, our trip to Mountain Province was a great experience! Nothing really beats in discovering such wonderful places, good people, rich culture, best food and wondrous interaction with nature. Sagada and Banaue in Mountain Province are among the best beautiful places in the Philippines you shouldn’t miss visiting.  Words are not enough to describe the scenery, you should see it yourself, it’s just so amazing! 

Sagada – Banaue Adventure Part III

We started our 3rd day journey at Sagada in the wee hours of the morning because we wanted to witness the beautiful sunrise in Kiltepan Peak but weather didn’t permit us to see Mr. Sun. Still, we continue the trip and even in the middle of the fog we saw the beauty behind the clouds, it's overlooking a river and rice terraces. 

Pine trees + cold breeze = perfect place

So foggy

pardon me for this blurry photo

Fog on the trees

And since we arrived at the viewing station with gloomy weather and high fog, we just took pictures in the area then proceeded to our next destination, the Lake Danum. Lake Danum is not that far from the town. It is located in the borders of Sagada and its neighboring municipality Besao. It looks like a big pond than a lake, however, one cannot deny that it's one of the most beautiful places to visit in the region. Feels like you're in a foreign land while staring at its enchanting beauty. The water in the lake turns into different color depending on the season, sometimes brown and sometimes green.

Lake Danum

Lake Danum

Lake Danum

Enchanting beauty of Lake Danum

After cam whoring at Lake Danum we then proceeded to our next destination, the Lumiang burial cave. We travel for about 15 minutes from Lake Danum and stopped over at an observation deck offering a view of Echo Valley and  panorama of its jagged limestone rock formations. From the viewing deck you can also catch some oldest hanging coffins in Sagada with skull in the middle coffin. 

  Jagged rock limestone with hanging coffins in the middle.                                              Closer look.

From the drop off point, we trek down 30 minutes of slippery slope aided by a steel railing up to the cave’s entrance. Even if it’s raining a bit, we enjoy trekking down because of great lush green scenery and sounds of the humming birds. 

Amid pine trees (Sagada)

going down

Magdagdag ng caption

refreshing (Sagada pine trees)

After arriving at the cave the feeling is so eerie, as more than 200 wooden coffins that is about 500 years of age are exposed and stacked up at the very entrance of the cave. Once you’re there you will notice that the coffins are a little small for a full-grown adult. According to our friendly tour guide Fred of SAGGAS, the coffins are carved out of pine tree trunk and dead should be forced to a fetal position in order to fit in the coffin. Addition to that, we saw some coffins with gecko carvings which Fred described as a guardian spirit for highly-respected leaders. The place is so sacred and only the privileged can be buried here. People of Sagada believe that the higher they are physically buried, the faster they will reach heaven.

lumiang cave entrance

Stack of Coffins in Lumiang Burial Cave

Lumiang Burial Cave

Coffins in Lumiang  Burial Cave

Bones! - Sneak shot in a slightly opened coffin

Coffin arrangement in Lumiang Burial Cave

Close look of coffins in Lumiang Burial Cave

Sagada's Lumiang Burial Cave

What’s really creepy on our trip is upon reviewing our photos and videos back in Manila, we noticed an unusual howl while trekking down the cave. We don’t know if it is a kind of bird (but too loud howl for a bird) or something else. Maybe some element is welcoming us to the place. But in general, the trip to the Lumiang Cave was really worth it. Given the chance, I will surely go back in here with my friends. You will not just enjoy the scenic view along the way, but you will learn a bunch from Sagada's majestic tradition. A dream come true for us and it is so fulfilling!