above: Google earth view of our destinations, click to zoom.
(My friend Vei on a bus from Baguio to Sagada)
Here we go again. Biking to a route we've never tried before with no SAG vehicles, nor GPS, only maps to guide us. Thanks to Vei, my college classmate and bike buddy during this whole trip. I biked with him last Dec. during my bike trip around Banaue-Batad-Mayoyao-Bangaan and also Banaue-Sagada.
We left Manila almost 1am. Though our ticket going to Baguio indicated 11:45pm. The trip to Sagada was already sold out a week before. Arrived at Baguio around 7:30am. We boarded the G/L bus headed to Sagada which left exactly at 8:00am. The trip was quite long and the bus arrived in Sagada around 2:00pm. We already messaged Steve (aka Dayuhan) through text that we will be passing by his pad before we head off to Besao.
We unpacked our things and headed off to Steve's place. The rain caught up on us and we decided to stay for a while at Steve's till the rain stopped. Boy was the rain still freezing cold during these months up there. It was fun seeing Steve and his kids again, Joey who's an incoming freshman at UPd and Jenny, an avid American Idol fan, who was so "batugan" that day. Steve knew of our plan, this is just a continuation of our December 08 trip. We asked him again the route going to Tirad Pass and then Candon, Ilocos Sur.
After the rain, which was almost 5:00pm, we biked going to Besao. From Sagada to Besao is 8 kms. the 1st 4 kms. purely rough road, lots of rocks and lots of uphill, the last 4 kms. is a mix of cemented and rough road and lots of downhill already. We even bumped into 3 bikers from Baguio, one of the guy was named Andrei.
above: Jenny, Steve, Vei, Joey, Me
Sagada, surrounded by clouds
Besao
Upon arriving at Besao, Baranggay King'iway to be specific, we paid a visit to the Police Station, informing them of our intentions/purpose of being there etc. We asked permission to sleep at their 'plaza', where we will be setting up a tent to spend the night.After the super sarap meal (thanks to Dong - one of the locals at Besao) we setup our bikes and tent and slept early. I was awaken a number of times by the creeping cold. I dint bring any pajamas nor sweater, thinking it was summer and it won't be that cold up North. Big mistake! I put on my sleeves, socks, even my full finger gloves and used the bike bag as blanket, which helped warmed my chilling body.
Our tent at Besao's town plaza
The next morning, Dong was playing smash, but obviously he was just keeping an eye for us since we are guests in Besao and also potential customers. Dong again cooked for us and we even got to know that he's originally from Davao, his wife is from Besao and that he studied in Manila in the 90's and we exchanged a few more stories after heading off to Patiacan and Quirino. Dong gave us some tips/pointers on the baranggay and route we should be taking.No Globe signal in Besao, a weak signal in Sagada. Smart comms is the recommended SIM card here.
Vei, Dong, Me and one of Dong's kids
Awesome view of the rice terraces
We're kinda lost here, no signs going to Ilocos, good thing there was a local
It was still early but it was starting to get hot, not to mention the very rocky route we were taking. The air was still cold though, once you stop pedalling or passby a shade aircon ulet! Every sweat was paid in return by the awesome sceneries on our side. Every turn and uphill was rewarded by beautiful trees, mountains and terraces.
Then I had a flat, man! It was very frustrating by this time coz the uber rocky trails (and I mean sharp big rocks), was giving my battered tires a hard time. My rear tire had a small cut on the side. I had to patch it from the inside, rugby it on the outside and then wrap it up with electrical tape a number of times. That helped a lot. Good thing we brought the necessary tools in case something like this happened.
Then I had a flat, man! It was very frustrating by this time coz the uber rocky trails (and I mean sharp big rocks), was giving my battered tires a hard time. My rear tire had a small cut on the side. I had to patch it from the inside, rugby it on the outside and then wrap it up with electrical tape a number of times. That helped a lot. Good thing we brought the necessary tools in case something like this happened.
Then I had a rear again in front, I tell yah, the trail is quite a virgin. I patched up the interior and decided to switch the front and rear tires since the bagback (approx 40L worth of baggage) I had was causing too much toll on the rear. This took a lot of time from us.
Vei's signature pose
Chit-chatting with one of the locals, having biscuits as lunch
Then after going downhill Vei's rear derailler was sucked in by the spokes and bang! it was cut loose. We had to cut the chain so that he could go granny for the FD and set the chain at the rear at somewhere in between the cassette. This is a major pain since Vei is literally in single-speed and we are still mountains away from our destination. We're not halimaws pa naman.Then we stopped by this small ruined building beside the hanging bridge. We had a small chitchat with the locals, and as usual they asked us things like where we're from, what we're doing, where we're headed off to etc. They were generally friendly, we just smiled and greeted them, and mostly answered back with smiles and a nod.Ü
above: Vei's rd broke. below: wrapped electrical tape around the tear of the tire
Vei taking a dip, cooling our Coke too.
Our water was almost out, we rested for a bit at a house and asked for 'danum', we had a few mins. of chitchat explaining the what, where, how and why just to lessen their doubts and curiosity. There were even locals who kept on speaking in pure Ilocano though we were saying "Dyakamawatan" yun pala they just don't know how to speak Tagalog.
We have already passed Patiakan. By this time I'm not sure how many mountains and valleys we've crossed but the dark is already catching up on us. We're tired/exhausted and hungry. At the peak of this certain mountain there was a 'Y' portion of the road where there were no signs leading to Quirino.
It was already pitch black up the mountain but were still kms. away from civilization. We had no choice but to downhill the uber technical trail going to Quirino. Boy was it scarry! Scarry coz we don't know how long or far are we still going to downhill, my tires were already battered, Vei is on single speed, we're both hungry and tired. Despite those things we were still determined to make it to the nearest town. The lights were getting closer and closer and alas! We made it to civilization! It took us an hour to downhill the sharp rocks of Quirino, and it was not downhill bliss since it felt like we were jackhammering all the way down. My mech brakes really got my hands tired.We stopped by this small compound with a store. We munched on the biscuits we could down, since they told us there were no restaurants or eatery available in the area and that the way to Candon was still very, very far ahead. When we were asked if we already had dinner, we told them that the biscuits and sodas was already our lunch/dinner and that we hadn't eaten any rice yet. We asked them if they could cook for us coz we were glad to pay them for it but they declined. After a few more mins. the store owner's son was inviting us to have dinner. We declined a number of times but they kept on insisting. This time the parents and children were all inviting us to have dinner.
As in wow! thank God for good samaritans like these people, they prepared 3 different viands. It dint stop at that, they offerred us a room for us to spend a night, though we just asked a space in their compound where we could put up our tent. The Marvil family, manong Rene and manang Mildred, were very kind to provide us with more than we asked for and dint ask anything for return. We showed them our pics of our trip and their neighbors flocked and continued conversing in Ilocano. Some talked to us, curious of the why, how, what etc.
It took us 12 hours for this trip. This includes rest stops, repairs, bath, meals, and not to mention approx 40L worth of backpacks. Dayuhan even lifted my bag and gave us an evil grin saying: "This should be fun."
above:Left or right? No locals no signs going to Quirino, Ilocos Sur
above: Vei with the Marvils (Rene, Mildred and Rene Jr.)
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