Travel: Our Sagada (mis)adventures!

Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from an indomitable will.
-Mahatma Gandhi
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How does an inactive, couch potato survive Sagada spelunking? Well, read on and find out...
 
The hubby and myself were on our home leave and we promised the nieces and the nephew a Hongkong or a Singapore trip. Poor planning, however, made it impractical to see Disneyland or Universal Studios. But a promise is a promise (and with these kids, it's a covenant!) so we had to provide an alternative.

The searing heat of Philippine summer made the choice quite easy - go up north where the mountains and the cold weather are. My fascination with UNESCO Heritage Sites brought the 7 of us to the municipality of Sagada in the Mountain Province.

Sagada is located 275 km north of Manila and takes around 10 hours from our place in Pampanga. We took a 10PM bus to Baguio and the 6:30 AM GL-Lizardo Trans arriving in Sagada at around 1PM. The commute itself was strenuous but the majestic views of mountain stretches, rice terraces and roadside waterfalls made it bearable. 

Breathtaking view on the way to Sagada

Exhausted, hungry and with little sleep, we found our way to the municipal tourist information center where we registered ourselves and paid the PhP 35 environmental fee. We found a place to stay at the Isabelo's Inn and Cafe for PhP250 per person a night (with free wifi!).

Now, we are officially registered Sagada tourists....

Lunch at the famous Yoghurt House. Sagada is known for its delectable specialties that we just had to try some of them. The Yoghurt house is touted to have the best, well, yoghurt! :)

Delicious fares at the Yoghurt House...

Lake Danum and a majestic sunset at Mount Ampacao. After catching a few winks, we opted to book the Lake Danum/sunset tour. The lake is, well, unimpressive but it gave us an opportunity to take some nice photos. As for the sunset, it was majestic in its own rights but not really comparable to that of Santorini. :)

Goofing around Lake Danum...

Aspiring models all...

Sunset at Mount Ampacao...majestic in its own rights...

Day 2: Spelunking at Sumaguing. I was warned! But everybody said you have not been to Sagada if you don't do the cave tours. There were actualy 2 cave tours you can choose from - the Cave Connection and the Short Course Caving. Having been warned of the difficulties of the former (and simply reading the description in the brochure), we opted for the short course caving...not without some precautions, I tell you. 

Q: We have kids with us, can they do this? 
A: If they're older than 7, sure.  

Q: CAN I DO IT? 
A: (Guide looked at me from head to toe and said...) If you set your mind to doing it, then you can do it! 

Bah!! That sounded like a challenge. 

The short course caving tour actually includes a Dokiw hanging coffin viewpoint, a Lumiang burial cave entrance, rice terraces viewpoint and of course, the Sumaging cave adventure which promises to treat us with " awesome rock arts, a wade through waist deep water, rappelling and boulder climbing". Not bad, huh! Sumaguing is also home to hundreds of bats and yeah, you would need to go through the bat dung section to go to the next part. Still interested?! :)

So, with our petite but really awesome guide, Dalifer...off we went to our great (mis) adventure of the day (of my lifetine, probably)!

First stop, the Dokiw hanging coffin viewpoint. After a  few minute-walk, we were treated with gorgeous rock formations and of course, some of the hanging coffins. Sagada is famous for this traditional way of burying people which is still practiced by some. We were told that not everyone can be buried this way; one had to be married and have grandchildren to qualify (among other things). So there goes my chances, no grandchildren to boot. :)

Hanging coffins and awesome rock formations...

Next was a visit to the Lumiang burial cave. The challenge started here as you need to descend about hundred feet down and go up the same way. It was an eerie experience, what with old coffins and skeletal remains around in the darkness of the cave...

Oh yes, these are coffins, alright!

View of the rice terraces. The rice terraces in Sagada are not the most breathtaking but they are not less than remarkable.The trek to Sumaguing cave is made bearable by these fantastic wonders of human ingenuity.

Ingenious wonders indeed!

Now, comes the Sumaguing cave adventure. The cave has a huge opening and you would need to go down a number (hundreds!!!) of steps to proceed. It's like a descent to the unknown. Next, is the overpowering smell of bat dung and if you shun anything icky, this one is not for you...its like, eeewwww, as my nieces exclaimed. The only thing that prods you on is the excitement of what's next. If you're lucky too, you will have spots of dung droppings as you proceed. :) Totally, eeewwww....

Having fun still...

That was the easy part...next you have to continue your descent with only rocks to hang on to and slippery boulders to contend with. My sister-in-law almost slipped all the way through but was saved by our guide. My brother jokingly said "Sayang...". Hehe...

Shoe off now...the hubby declined to proceed further claiming painful corns and calluses...so he opted to wait for us. Where is your sense of adventure??!! Well, he probably had common sense...:)

Those are extremely slippery boulders...

So, we waded through cold cave waters...slippery boulders...had,  at some point, needed to descend by stepping on the shoulders of the guide (yeah, yeah...poor him)..But yeah, the rock formation are a sight to behold - we saw the mother and kid elephant, the Queen (giving birth), the King (the reason for the queen's form) and the Prince. We also saw the cake and the curtains...:)

Now, rappelling!! What?! I thought there's another route?! Well, the other route requires wading through neck deep water. So, what now...the kids say - rapelling! I was outvoted. So, be it (with an uttered prayer)!! I was so worried that I cannot lift my own body weight that I vowed at that point to lose some...Did I honor that vow? Well, the camel ride in Dubai made me rethink...but that's another story... :p

Not my best shots, but hey, these are proofs...:)

Ok, I rappelled. I survived. Me: What?! Another one?! Noooooooo!!!!!  Guide: Oh, yeessss!!!

So, we had to go back same way we came, so back to the point where we left the hubby....and seeing what we needed to climb still, I almost cried!! I saw the vertical climb that I feared for everybody's survival. It was so steep with only rock protrusions to help the ascend. You then come to the realization that this is what you survived climbing down and that there is no other way up. I probably called all the saints beseeching them to just get us through this...please, please LORD! Sabi siguro ni Lord  "Ginusto mo yan eh...".

And then we saw the light....no, silly, we survived!!! ! ...that's the entrace to the cave...a few more climb...one..two...a few more steps...three..four...don't care about the bat dung...$%$&....slide through it...hundred more steps....bring it on!!!!

Then, FREEDOM!!! Halo-halo treat came next...:)  :)

Survivors all...yipppeeee!!!

  
  Can't imagine how we survived this (mis)adventure...how I survived it! But I did and I AM PROUD!!.. Will I do it again?! Nooooooo.....not in this lifetime!!!
 

It was indeed an adventure of a lifetime and memories I will always share with my brother's family. Let's do this again...the vacation I mean, not the spelunking...:)

Take a (Turkish) bath!

...an insanely relaxing experience!
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It was for official purpose, for sure. Our Turkish colleagues decided to hold their task teams inventory workshop for the Turkey National Implementation Plan (NIP) update and review project in Antalya, the country's biggest international sea resort. I won't bore you with the details of the work I do, but one of the perks of the job is being able to go to gorgeous place like this... for free! :).

Get a glimpse of this Mediterranean paradise...

Fantastic views from the Mirada del Mar Hotel

Enjoying the place

Anyways, I felt really exhausted on the second day of the workshop. Well, who wouldn't?! I came from a two-week long duty travel in Manila and Sao Paulo - attending high level meetings to find solution to some frustrating issues, enduring 14-hour drives (both ways) to go to Bicol to present a paper on the work we do in the Philippines and suffering a 28-hour haul from Manila to Brazil to attend a very important workshop of the Stockholm Convention Secretariat. Add the (happy) pressures of celebrating your birthday, attending a family reunion, attending to the needs and whims of the nieces and the nephew...wheeewww!!!  By the way, I "passed by"  our Vienna home, arriving at 3 PM last Saturday and leaving for Antalya at 7AM the next day.

The hotel's wellness center...

Now, back to the main story. One Turkish colleague apparently noticed the constant stretching to relieve soreness and recommended that I try the Turkish bath offered by the hotel spa. So, of course I had to ask "What is a Turkish bath?". She simply shrugged and replied, "It's best experienced than described." with a hint of a naughty smile. Hmmm, curiosity...curiosity!

So after the usual "thank you's"  and "see you soon's", I marched down the spa center and booked myself the luxury  spa package with a Turkish bath, a hot stone and facial treatment and a Balinese massage for a whooping price of  70 Euro!!! (hahaha...gosh, this is definitely a steal!!)

So, there I was at the spa promptly at 5:30 PM,  welcomed with an unknown tea concoction. I was led to a personal dressing cubicle, made to strip down to my undies, gave me sandals and a colorful checkered cloth (I initially thought its a table cloth :) - I learned later that it's called a peştemal to be tied around the body for modesty) and led to a dark hallway and  taadaaahhh....the Turkish bath!


Called hamam, the bath itself is interesting. It's like going back to the Ottoman Empire and reliving the time when emperors bathed in their naked glory ( the naked is obvious, the glory needs to be checked :)). The bath is hot (think sauna hot) and completely made of marble with raised platforms (sorry, the comparison that comes to mind is a raised marble tomb). Again, with little research, I learned that these platforms are called  göbektaşı. This is where you relax and sit or lie down, sweating it out to the soothing piped-in music.

Since I  was not able to photograph the actual bath in the hotel, for obvious reasons, I googled some photos to give an idea how the bath looked....

Thanks Google for the photos...

After probably a lifetime (its just about 15 minutes but I hate heat, so it felt like a lifetime), an attendant entered and asked me to lie down in the göbektaşı.

And the surreal bathing experience began....

In a rhythmic trance, the attendant began pouring deliciously warm water all over my body and lathered me with foamy soap. Then, the scrubbing began. She wore a sandpaper-like wash cloth and started scouring away dead skin cells and accumulated dirt (?). She then worked up a lather and the satiny feeling and delicious scent of soap suds enveloped my body while her gentle massage rocked me to an almost orgasmic sensation (ehherrmmm, pardon the loss for adjective) . Then, very gently, she started the rinsing ritual with warm water. I was still in dreamland when the shocking sensation of cold water touched my skin!  Asked to relax still for a few minutes, I savoured again the hotness of the marble platform. After 5 minutes, she re-entered the bath and asked me to stand...and then, again splashes of warm water to the "sensitive" parts completing the rinsing ritual. She then dried me up, gave me a fresh towel and led me to the "cold room" to cool down a bit...

O-M-G!! So this is how babies felt when being bathed! It was surreal, dreamlike - with the attendant taking control of the whole experience...


The Turkish bath alone melted down all the physical soreness and mental exhaustion of the last few days and I still had the hot stone and facial treatment with the Balinese massage! What universal good have I done to deserve such karmic reward?!!

Also, I was told that, traditionally, male attendants usually give the bath...tssskk, I should have known. :)

Nonetheless, I should profusely thank the Turkish colleague who advised me to give it a try and my stars and planet for appositely aligning to allow me to experience this realm of physical pleasures.

By the way, the spa has a Cleopatra package....hmmmmm..... next time, next time....