After being offered a one-way ticket and partial room accommodation by a fellow travel blogger J for a next day trip to Baguio, I was up and about on an impulsive trip for a supposed one-day affair at this year’s Panagbenga Festival which unexpectedly turned into a seven-day epic journey.
One quiet and two festive days in the City of Pines, I then travelled to the highlands of Sagada and spent three days walking its rough slopes. Low on cash and clothes to wear, I still decided to extend my journey further by spending two more days at the shadows of the massive Banaue Rice Terraces.
It’s been one heck of a week; new and old friends met on the road, hundreds of dogbarks from Sagada and Banaue, indescribable vistas seen, cheap and expensive meals from carinderias and posh restaurants, scary lodges and swanky hotels, four thousand five hundred pesos, three heavy cameras, a few clothes on my backpack and my battered trek shoes along the roads and non-roads of Baguio, Sagada and Banaue.
This has been one of my more memorable trips to date, and I’ll tell you all the dirty details in the coming months. Right now, I have to rest.
I was traveling out of town when my sister texted me asking if I ordered a Canon camera. Confused, I asked her why, as I never did buy one. She said that a camera had been delivered at our house and it was addressed to me. Opening the parcel, it turned out my photo was picked as one of the monthly winners for Living Asia Channel’s photo contest.
Living Asia Channel is a local travel station on cable TV; actually one of the five channels I’m usually tuned into besides NatGeo, Discovery, TLC and History Channel--whenever I have the rare chance of watching TV that is.
Along with Canon, they are currently running a photo contest with the theme one-shot moments; seize life with Canon. Anyone with a Canon point & shoot camera (sorry no DSLR’s allowed) can submit their travel-related photographs; four photos are then chosen from the pool every month and each winner given a Canon Powershot A490 camera as prize.
Here's a rough sketch of my three-day stay in Sagada, Mountain Province:
I T I N E R A R I E S
Day One
Manila to Baguio
Baguio to Sagada
St. Joseph Resthouse
Echo Valley
Church of St. Mary the Virgin
Day Two
Kiltepan Viewpoint
Rock Inn & Café
Hike To Bomod-Ok Falls
Bomod-Ok Falls
Bonfire Dinner At Lake Danum
Day Three
Calvary Hill
Breakfast At Masferré
Saturday Market
Souvenir Hunting
Sagada-Bontoc-Manila
E X P E N S E S
Transportation En Route to Sagada:
P450.00 - Manila to Baguio via Victory Liner
P220.00 - Baguio to Sagada via buses from the Dangwa Station
Transportation En Route to Manila:
P40.00 - Jeep to Bontoc
P650.00 - Bus from Bontoc to Manila via Cable Tours Bus
Accommodation:
P1,200.00 - Twin-Bed room at St. Joseph Resthouse
Cell Phone: (0927) 236-0344
Email: JuliaAbad47@yahoo.com.ph
Guided Tour:
Kiltepan Viewpoint, Rock Inn & Café, Bomod-Ok Falls,
Bonfire Dinner At Lake Danum
P800.00+ - Divided among the friends I met at Sagada
SAGGAS (Sagada Genuine Guide Association) Guide | Ben: 0929-5915212
F O O D
Day One
P80.00 | Breakfast at Burnham Park Carinderia
P15.00 | Coffee at Burnham Park
P50.00 | Mami at Strawberry Cafe
P100.00+ | Longsilog at Banas Café & Resto
P???.00 | Coffee at Banas Café & Resto
Day Two
P100.00+ | Vegetable Rice with Bacon and Egg
P000.00 | Sandwiches for Bomod-Ok Falls lunch (Courtesy of my newfound
friends from Bicol)
P100.00+ | Spaghetti Meatballs at St. Joe’s Cafe
P000.00 | Pinikpikan Bonfire Dinner at Lake Danum (Part of the tour fee
from SAGGAS)
Day Three
P100.00+ | Longsilog Breakfast At Masferré
P 60.00+ | Tocilog at Cable Cafe in Bontoc
T O T A L S P E N D I N G S
More or Less P4,000.00
Places that I was not able to visit:
Sumaguing Cave
Sumaguing-Lumiang Cave Connection
Bokong Falls (Small Falls)
Mount Ampacao (Trek via Lake Danum)
Yoghurt House
Lemon Pie House
Sagada Weaving
Noontime on my third day at Sagada; sadly, it was time to go back to the noisy streets of Manila.
For my way back, I decided on trying out the Sagada-Bontoc-Manila route. It’s a thirty-minute jeep-ride from Sagada to Bontoc, then an eleven-hour bus trip to the metro. The jeep fare costs Php40.00 and those who have adventure tattooed on their foreheads can ride on the jeep’s roof for a more scenic and heart-thumping view. Just be sure to wear a bandana across your nose and shades for your eyes though as the road can get quite dusty. 
Last on my Sagada series is the place I stayed in for the three days I spent on that mountain retreat, the rustic St. Joseph’s Resthouse.
The inn is owned and run by the Episcopal Diocese of Northern Philippines and has been in operation since the
Being situated on a knoll, visitors start off by ascending one hundred and eight stone steps before reaching the main house. Dotting the hill are separate bungalows that are also rented out and St. Joe’s Restaurant, the inn’s own separate bistro. It has a grand view of the town especially on its second floor terraced deck.
A vacation to a faraway locale would not be complete without the usual souvenirs, and Sagada has a multitude of stores catering to just those stuff that would take a good half of your day to check through.
The last few hours of my Sagada trip were spent browsing through such stores; checking out shirts, ref magnets, keychains,
I ran across a very unique Sagada t-shirt store on my first day here and promised the girl watching over the makeshift boutique that I would buy from her on my last day. A local Sagada artist owns the store and the shirts they sell are really quite different in that they are all painstakingly hand-painted, each 
A long stretch of Sagada’s main road transforms from a concrete byway to a bustling marketplace every Saturday. This is apparently the Sagadan way of doing their weekly shopping. 
Placed on burlap sacks are beans of every kind; spread on tarps, cabbages, potatoes, and other root crops; live chickens on wire mesh cages; clothes, housewares, toys, and almost everything a regular market has, they have it here.
I was strapped for cash the whole time I was in Sagada. Never expecting that my lodging would cost me a thousand plus pesos a night, I brought just enough for a Php250.00 to Php400.00 budget for my nightly accommodations. I had to scrimp on food just to have enough cash to
At last Saturday came and I finally got some hard cash. Time to dine on the many restos dotting the streets of Sagada.
Even after my exhaustive second day, I was again up early for my third and last day at the mountain town of Sagada.
It was part of my plan to visit the cemetery I passed by on the way to the Echo Valley at dawn. I asked a guide if the area would be covered with mist in the morning, and she said, 
I let the darkness of the dawn disperse a bit before leaving St. Joseph’s Inn as per my experience the previous day of almost groping in the dark during the Sagada dawn.
Following the tiring hike up and down the Bangaan Rice Terraces, Lake Danum was the last stop for the day.
It was already past five when we started for our last rendezvous. We were chasing the sunset at the brown placid waters of Lake Danum as our van tackled the uneven clay road up the lake.
We arrived around six in the evening. There were already patches of campers surrounding the shoreline setting up their bonfires for the coming evening. 
The sky was heavily overcast and the sun was unfortunately unable to break through the the thick flat clouds that covered the heavens. Dusk was slowly settling over the silty lake.
After a brisk hour and a half down hike, we finally reached Sagada’s Big Falls at around eleven in the morning. It being the Holy Week, Sagada’s peak season, there were already a lot of people swimming 
I have already been warned of the number of tourist flocking the quiet town of Sagada during these times, but since its quite hard to secure a leave in my line of work, I had to make do with what I have.
The Bomod-Ok Falls or the Big Falls as it is more popularly known to Sagada tourists is our next stop after chowing down a full breakfast at Rock Inn and Café.
The 
Besides the Falls, Bangaan is also famous for its UNESCO World Heritage Rice Terraces. As a side-trip, visitors can also check the native Ifugao huts and cool off at the Guihob Cold Springs. There is also a local inn for the road-weary via the Bangaan 
After the sunrise hunt at Sagada’s majestic Kiltepan Viewpoint, it was finally time for a hearty breakfast.
Having no meal yet since getting up at 4:30am (all the stores in Sagada it seems open in time with the rising sun), I was
The place looks really promising. A flowered trellis path leads visitors to its simple wooden doors, the kind that your grandma’s place might have. Walk through it and you will be greeted by the cozy sunbathed wooden interiors of Café Bodega, Rock Inn’s restaurant.
My second day at Sagada started very early. I got up at 4:30 am, had a quick shower and packed my gear up.
The street below St. Joseph’s Resthouse was dark, deserted and deathly still. There were hardly any streetlights and I almost went past the designated meeting place. I arrived before 5:00 am; 
After my afternoon trek to the Echo Valley, I was really not up for another adventure since the light then was starting to dim out. A stroll through the town streets, a few fishball sticks, and a refreshing halo-halo later and the town was fully dark. With very few streetlamps illuminating the road, I was expecting an array of stars from the heavens, but no such luck, the sky was too cloudy. 
Having regained a bit of my strength, I decided to check out the massive church I passed by earlier on the way to the Echo Valley.
I arrived at Sagada at three in the afternoon. The sun was shining brightly but the air still felt cool to my skin. St. Joseph’s Resthouse was just a stone throws away from the bus station so it was just a quick climb up its stairs and I’m onto my lodging.
While negotiating my boarding fees with the desk clerk, I overheard one of the guests talking about a hike later that afternoon. I politely asked 
There are actually three ways to reach Sagada from Manila. The Manila-Baguio-Sagada route via Victory Liner buses, the Manila-Bontoc-Sagada route via the Cable Tours or Kasilen Transport buses, and the Manila-Banaue-Bontoc-Sagada route via Autobus or Florida Bus lines.
I chose the most convenient of the three, the Manila-Baguio-Sagada route by Victory Liner as this was my first time to visit the place and I really don’t want to complicate matters by getting lost. 
After my brief rendezvous with one of my most favorite city, Baguio, I immediately headed out to the Dangwa station to catch my ride to Sagada.
I don't usually write about the transits to and from my trips, but my recent outing to Sagada made me think twice regarding this aspect of travel writing. The fifteen-hour bus trip to the highlands certainly did get my attention. So without 
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My original plan for the coming Holy Week was a three-day trip to Bicol, unfortunately, the people we were supposed to go to in Camarines Sur went to Manila and visited us instead, leaving me with three whole empty vacation days. With just a few days left ‘til my pending days off, I was left 
It came down to two places; Ilocos, which I have already visited before, or Sagada, which I know absolutely nothing about. As I got deeper into researching about Sagada, Ilocos seemed to fade into nothingness. Sagada appeared to be so beautiful and magical as was testified by the many sites dedicated solely to that Shangri-La in the sky.
