SAGADAventures Day 2

Call time is 4am.

Woke up at 3am.

Realizing that it is 15 degrees cold.

Checks out Paula, Sophie and Grace.. still sleeping..

Goes back to bed and tap the snooze alarm.

Woke up 330am.

Decided not to take a bath because it's freaking cold!

HAHAHA. Right from the very start of your morning in Sagada, you have to decide whether to wake up or just go back to bed and enjoy the cold; to take a bath or not. But I kinda like those kind of decision making. :) CJ has been on LSS in Work by Rihanna and he wanted to annoy Paula by choosing it as an alarm tone. But he failed. First of all, I didn't allow him to do that because even I don't want to wake up in that song and hello, we're on vacation so please do not say something about WORK! :) The only motivation I gave myself is the place we are headed to. Probably one of the highlight on Sagada Tour.

Anyway, our Day 2 in Sagada started as early as 4am. We waited for our jeepney, that took us to Kiltepan Viewpoint by 430am. No one dared to sit on the top load. Maybe because of the cold wind outside. If you're not a fan of the cold then better bring thick clothing. I came all prepared with our bonnet. :) So there, we're headed to Kiltepan! Are you one of those people who knew Sagada because of the movie "That Thing Called Tadhana"? Kiltepan is where Mace (Angelica Panganiban) shouted her heart out  in front of the amazing sea of clouds view after breaking up with her ex-boyfriend.

Can you spot the crown on the lower right?

Well as expected, there are already a lot of tourists waiting for the sunset and taking shots of the sea of clouds. We thought we'd never had our chance because the place is really full. I can barely see a spot where we can take good photos. But luckily, Cj went down to check and found our own place for photo ops. We stayed there until the sun rise. 

#NoFilter

Thanks Pau! She's the one behind all these amazing shots in Kiltepan!

#Groupie

We went back to town for breakfast and decided to eat at Sagada Lemon Pie House. One of the famous delicacies is their Lemon Pie.

 We tried it out in the oldest restaurant that serves it and where it all started. The Sagada Lemon Pie House. We ordered the classic silogs and the lemon pie for dessert. I'm not a fan of citrus and sour flavor so this review might be a little biased. it's just 3/5. You can taste the lemon right at your first bite but I think it's too sour. 

Right after breakfast, we took a walk back our place. There are no tricycle or permanent jeepneys on the area. our driver said that tricycles are banned for the noise that it creates, while the jeepneys pass by very rarely. Make use of your thigh and leg muscles to explore the whole town.

We did some small packing and attire changing as we are headed to Banaue. It is not the original itinerary but our driver suggest we went there on Day 2 instead so we can go to Baguio on our way back home to Manila. We left Sagada by 830 am. We passed by Bontoc Town and the great scenery is welcoming us on our way to Banaue. Grace initially wanted to visit Batad and be really close to the Rice Terraces but Kuya Dennis said it will no longer be possible and we will also pay Php 1500.00/person for the trekking. 

The drive to Banaue is just the same as the one in Sagada but from left to right you can see the amazing beauty of nature. I never really sleep during land road trips because I don't want to miss out such views. Good thing I had a good night sleep. Of course, my travel buddy Cj is sleeping beside me while I enjoy the view.

We arrived at Banaue Rice Terraces view point by 11am. As usual, take some photos, There is an Igorot Man waiting for photo ops in front of the view point. Our group were the only one in the viewpoint at the moment so we really did enjoyed and took advantage in taking some perfect, instagram worthy photographs.

This is where I found the weaved bag that I really wanted. in Sagada, it costs for around Php500. In Banaue, I was able to bought it for Php350.00. 

Picture taken at Vigan

I bought the red one while Grace bought the green one. The owner of the store was not there at the moment, so we thought we will never be able to buy the bag. but luckily, after waiting patiently, he arrived and we immediately bought the bag. I was actually wearing/using it already even before I paid for it. :)

We went back to Sagada and arrived by 130pm. We were supposed to eat late lunch in the Misty's Lodge (my personal choice just because it was named after my best friend) yet it was closed so Kuya Dennis brought us to the Rusty Nail Cafe. Weren't able to took some pictures of our food 'cause we're too hungry already. Anyway, the food didn't disappoint, though we have to wait longer than 30 minutes again. We loved their Special Yogurt with apples and mangoes. We were so full and wanted to just take some siesta but it won't be possible because Kuya Zandy is already waiting for us in our next destination.

After lunch, we are now on again for trekking. We hiked going to the Echo Valley passing through a cemetery. 

They call it Echo Valley because...when you shout, you can hear your voice echoes after. 

From the view point in Echo Valley you can see the Hanging Coffins, from there it is still another 20-30 minutes hike. You can chose to just stay at the Echo Valley or see the Hanging Coffins closely. We chose the latter. 

This is the most tiring part for me, even more tiring than what we had on the cave. I don't know if its the steepness or because my muscles are still in sore out of spelunking. We head back up the mountains and found ourselves in this old Aglipay Church. They call it St. Mary's Church. 

We went straight to our van and ask Kuya Dennis to what we are going to do next. It was past 4pm and I asked Paula that we should reserve a table in Gaia Cafe for dinner. So I called Gaia Cafe and they told me that they do not accept reservations but they are accepting customers until 6pm. We are a bit undecided if we still would like to join the other groups on the next stop or just drop by in Gaia but we decided to finish the tour and asked Kuya Dennis if he can drop us in Gaia Cafe.

Sagada Pottery Barn is our next stop. Unfortunately, this is the only picture I took because I wasn't able to save all my snaps. But I'll try to upload the video of Ate Tessie who was really good at making pot. There will be a small discussion and demonstration inside and you have to pay for it. For a group of 12, we pay Php200.00. If you'd like to try making pot, it costs another Php 100.00.

Our last stop of the day is the Lake Danum. Kuya Dennis is a bit negative on this. He said we can skip it because the water will not be clear since it rained and we will not be able to see the sunset because it's foggy. But then again, our group still persuaded in going. So we head to Lake Danum, walked about 1.5 kms from the main road and enjoyed the scenery since our group were the only one there for 30 minutes.

I'll try to upload the Running Man Video our group made at Lake Danum, We went crazy! 

We tried to catch the last call at Gaia Cafe. We arrived there at 5pm. Yehey! 

Cute little boy. The Cashier's son.

The menu are all organic,We tried their organic Pesto Pasta which CJ really loved as well as the tablea hot chocolate that reminded him of his grandmother. Their Creamy Potato with Lemon Grass soup is the bomb. Perfect for the cold weather. We ordered 3 for our group. :)

We had no idea how we can go back from Gaia to our inn as it is about 3-5 kms apart and we couldn't walk that long anymore. Since we are really tired from all the walking tour. So we waited for jeepney and hitch. We do not know how much the fare is but we paid Php10.00 each and the driver didn't say anything about it. So it must be enough for the short trip.

We arrived at our rooms and was really curious why the people at the road are looking up. So we look at the sky and saw this...

Lord blessed us with a great trip and this maybe His way of saying, "Be home safe children".