Thursday, December 14, 2006

Simbako...

I'm beginning to wonder... How long can I sit in a bus?

I was taking a second look at my reference/guide for the Mt. Province trip and tried summing the number of hours I'd spend in a bloody bus or jeep for the entire duration of the trip. If the data are correct, here's the rundown:

Manila - Banaue (Dec 23-24): 12 hours
Banaue - Bontoc (Dec 25): 3 hours
Bontoc - Sagada (Dec 25): 2 hours
Sagada - Baguio (Dec 27): 6 hours
Baguio - Manila (Dec 28): 7 hours

That is a grand total of... 30 fucking hours on the road! I'm so nuts to go through all that for one Christmas trip to the mountains! Simbako!

I'm not really bad at road trips. When I was working in Mindanao I went to a lot of cities taking the company car and eventually taking the bus (when the car plummeted into a cliff along the Cotabato-Davao highway). These trips were about 4-6 hours average.

The longest ride I've had is from Davao to Zamboanga, that took 24 freaking hours for two days (so an average of 12 hours per day). I've taken that trip thrice. Going home to Surigao from Davao is also 12 hours each way. I take that trip about three times a year. I manage to sleep in those rides most of the time anyway.

I'm sure I can handle this Mt. Province trip though. I SHOULD handle it because I wanted to take this trip ever since I came out from mom's pussy. I heard that the roads are bad though, although Mindanao's roads could not be as bad. I hope the view's good at least.

Bahala na, sugod pa rin. :)

**
Photo credit: DP Challenge

2 comments:

demeter said...

Hope you have time to visit the Bontoc Museum. Great pictures of the natives of old, nice artifacts. If you haven't tasted the persimmons of sagada then your in for a treat. Its sold in the market for something like 10pesos a kilo. (season ngayon kaya mura) These are not the mutated crap but real native persimmons. Just peel then slice. Medyo mapakla but made sweet by dipping them in rice wine. This gives them that "chico" smell. You can see them growing in trees all around sagada. Also, its better if you do the Echo Valley right after you arrive as its just near. The next day, start with the falls, then do the cave in the afternoon. Take a packed lunch with you kasi walang resto dun sa falls and it will take you the better part of the morning to hike down to it, then up again. This sched will let you finish all the major sites in 1.5 days. If your staying at St.Josephs Inn they charge 50pesos if you want heated water. St.Josephs is great as they have single rooms that are clean and cheap. (100 lang yata per night)

kawadjan said...

hey, thanks a lot for the tips. i'm writing them all indeed. i'm planning to see more of luzon within the coming months. certainly i know who to ask. :)

LinkWithin

Blog Widget by LinkWithin