Sagada Adventure 2016

[katie23]

@BLD - cheers! People who aren't at the peak of fitness can still do the caves, but I would recommend Sumaguing cave only (~2 hrs) and not the Cave Connection (~4 hrs). I've been to other caves, but so far, the Cave Connection in Sagada has been the most challenging.

@fishlocker - no, unfortunately there wasn't any convicts house there. lol

[katie23]

Time to update this thread a bit. Was very busy the past week.

So after lunch and a short rest after the caves, we took a walk to Sagada Pottery, which is on the NW part of the town. Saw these scenes along the way.



Km 0 marker is at Rizal Park in Manila, so this area is 396 km from Manila.

[katie23]

Passed by a school


and a souvenir shop

Bawal magtapon ng basura dito = throwing of trash is prohibited
No spitting of "momma" = momma/moma is the betel nut

[katie23]

Passed by a waste segregation area


These are glass bottles. It's good that they segregate & take the trash issue seriously.

[misskit]

Great thread.

Katie, I love it that you make travel a priority in your life. Keep at it, woman!

[katie23]

Passed by a retreat house, the House of Soledad


House is nestled in the woods. My friend said it wasn't there in 2009.

[katie23]

@misskit - thanks for the luv. Good to see some girlpower here.
I travel when I can, because I can.
Who knows, I may even visit you in CM! (I haven't been there)
I travel now because I may not be able to do caves or mountains when I'm 60!
Cheers!

[katie23]

This was our destination for the afternoon, Sagada Pottery.
We wanted to go to Lake Danum for the sunset, but it was cloudy so no good.
So we looked at pots instead.


This lady demonstrated how the pots were made. She spoke in English.
Some Igorots speak English better than than Tagalog, since Tagalog is not their mother tongue. Both English and Tagalog are learned in school, but they usually use Ilocano or other tribal dialects for their mother tongue.

[Davis Knowlton]

^Love places like that!

[katie23]

These are the "raw" pots

[katie23]

These are the "finished" pots, in another room. Both the raw & finished pots are for sale.

[katie23]

After viewing the pots, we walked back down the road. We were a bit worried about the weather, since we heard thunder while we walked. Fortunately, we were able to hitch a ride on an old minivan which dropped off a passenger along that road. The enterprising minivan driver asked us if we had seen the Mt. Kiltepan sunrise already. We replied that we hadn't, but had signed up at the municipal office to join in a ride share. So he offered us his services, as he was also taking another tourist up there the next morning. Win-win for both parties! Great!

So after the pots, we had an early dinner. We wanted to taste the lemon pie from Sagada Lemon Pie House, as it seemed to be famous. Unfortunately, the pies were all sold out. The resto was also full that night. Lots of yuppies.

[katie23]

So we left that resto and ate here instead.


More yuppies

[katie23]

They didn't sell pies by slice, but by the box. Since we wanted to eat pie badly (lol), my friend and I bought a box. We took home the leftovers.


It as a meringue type of pie. It was good, not too sweet (which I liked).


This was my dinner, sizzling beef.

[katie23]

@davis - cheers! It was a great demo.

One of the highlights of a Sagada trip is to see the sunrise at Mt. Kiltepan. We got up VERY early (ugh!) just to see the sunrise. The driver said that he would pick us up at 4:30 am, so we had to wake up earlier than that. It was ~30 min drive from the GH to the sunrise viewpoint. Along the way, we saw some people walking. The walk must be 1 or 1.5 hours (on cemented road). When I saw them walking, my thought was, it's good that we had a ride! lol

When we got to the viewpoint, it was ~5am and there were lots of ppl already. Lots of selfie sticks too.



Here's a pic without those pesky selfie sticks. lol

[katie23]

I haven't explored all the functions of my digicam, so my dim light pics aren't too nice. This came out blurred.

[katie23]

We arrived at the viewpoint ~5am and there were lots of ppl already


At times I felt like we were in a concert, lol.

[katie23]

More ppl


We found a place where there's less ppl, and the view was breathtaking. Sunrise and a sea of clouds...

[katie23]

More sunrise pics. My pics don't do them justice since I'm not that good of a photographer.

[katie23]

It was a good hair day for katie.

to be continued...

[misskit]

Who knows, I may even visit you in CM! (I haven't been there)

Give me a shout when up in this area of the world.

I travel now because I may not be able to do caves or mountains when I'm 60!

That's right. Do your rough travel while you can. When you are 60, you'll be perusing the cruise brochures!

[Davis Knowlton]

That's right. Do your rough travel while you can. When you are 60, you'll be perusing the cruise brochures!

I don't know about cruises, but I do know I'm not teetering through those caves.

[katie23]

^^yup, will do, if ever.

Ya, when my friend and I were walking like old ladies the day after the cave tour, we said - we will not be able to do this when we're senior citizens, so it's good that we did it now! (the cave tour) lol Prolly when that time comes, I'll take cruises, or just look at castles or temples and do easy-walking city tours. Cheers, misskit!

My friend is also well-traveled, and has gone to the US (for a training). She's also been to many parts of SEA and PI. We're not hi-so, we're just young professionals who like to travel. It's good that more young people (esp SE Asians) are traveling now because of blogs, sites like Tripadvisor & wikitravel, social media and cheaper airfares. In my SEA travels, I've met mostly white backpackers, but there are more & more independent Asian travelers too. All good, and I've met lots of great people with interesting stories.

[Bettyboo]

Nice pics, Katie - that lemon meringue pie looks very nice!