EN ROUTE | Toploading from Tuguegarao to Tabuk

Thursday, April 26, 2012

The bright Lakbay Norte bus lights went out and night lights turned on. We slept the ride from Pantabangan to Tuguegarao with Victory Liner’s aircon chilling everyone to the bone. Our bus rode rolled through the asphalted roads of Northern Luzon for seven long hours.

I awoke at five in the morning, it looks like we stopped and I don’t have the slightest idea where. The sky was still dark as I alighted from the bus; shaking sleepiness off, trying to wake my legs and bringing back some warmth into my rigid body.
It turned out we’re in Tuguegarao already and we’re gonna be staying at the Las Palmas Hotel ‘til tomorrow. That doesn’t mean we got to rest on their soft beds though. After moving our bags, a quick shower and a quicker breakfast, and we’re on the road again; this time on a jeepney bound for Kalinga. We’re gonna rough out raging waters of the mighty Chico River.

The mood was light, with E of SoloflightEd taking the lead on the chitchat department. A quick mechanical break had us photographing the sunrise creeping across a verdant field along the highways of nowhere.

Everyone was excited to ride topload, and as soon as we reached the town of Tabuk, everyone got on the roof! Well, almost everyone. The roofdeck was limited to six persons, so a few was not able to make the cut. Lucky, I was able to climb up; this was gonna be my first time to ride topload-style!
We soon rumbled down the road, passing swishing tree branches and carved highway rocks. The ride was very scenic, with the grounds dropping off on our left revealing the river that we’re soon gonna push through.
The roller coaster ride lasted for almost an hour but felt like only twenty minutes. We were at Malaking Bato, the starting point of our whitewater adventure, much too soon.

       LAKBAY NORTE IS AN ANNUAL MEDIA FAMILIARIZATION TOUR AROUND NORTH LUZON
       ORGANIZED BY NORTH PHILIPPINES VISITORS BUREAU

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13 comments

  1. Ahhh.. Lovely photos as always! :D Grabe, lagi kayong on the road and having an adventure sir Christian! Hope I can travel more too :)

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  2. Ganda ng photos as always Christian. Congrats on your first topload experience! Iba talaga ang feeling at views kapag nasa topload. :)

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  3. wow, na-miss ko tuloy sumakay topload style. river rafting? gusto ko yan!

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  4. How fast does the vehicle move when there are passengers riding topload? Is this legal? Where I live it is not even legal to ride inside any vehicle without a seatbelt.

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  5. ganda ng view sa Tabuk noh. yung nag stop tayo. kaka miss! :)

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  6. riding topload seems like a lot of fun! excited for your river rafting post! =)

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  7. I love the photography you've created out of this post. You really are a pro! You inspired me to start photography lesson. And I'll do it soon. Thanks a lot for your unparalleled contribution to the blogosphere.

    Directions on Web

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  8. Christian, this made my day! That ride was awesome :) Miss everybodyyyyyyyy huhuhu

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  9. Sumi
    Thanks Sumi! Kung mura lang sana mag travel, araw araw akong nagta travel :)

    Josiah
    Yeah!!!

    Mar
    River rafting, the best!

    BertN
    Pretty fast Bert! I'm not sure if this is illegal as there's really no law against this as far as i know :)

    Thepinaysolobackpacker
    Oo nga, pero mas na miss ko yung pag rumaragasa yung jeep eh haha

    MarLiesTravels
    Posted!

    Lagalag
    Thanks man!

    Hannah
    Yeah! Topload-mates pala tayo nun no?! :)

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  10. Ang galing nung panoramic photo sa loob ng jeep!!!

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  11. pwede bang sumali sa barkadahang ito para naman makalakbay din ako ng bongga, hahaha... nice photos especially the first and the last one.

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  12. Marjorie Gavan
    Try to apply next year Marjorie, baka sakali diba :)

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