MT. ULAP, BENGUET, PHILIPPINES

You can actually see these photos on my instagram @chasingmeagan.

It has been three years since I went to Baguio. I stayed here for two months, through the summer of my third year in college. I rendered my on the job training here, one month for a publishing firm for the writing field, the Luzon Morning Sun and ABS-CBN for my production experience. It was fun, nevertheless, it was so much more fun when I went here using my own money for the first time. My friend Jie invited me to this adventure (as she always do). LOL. I remember, we occupied the same place when we were rendering our OJT here in Baguio. Who knew that after three years, we’ll be scheduled to do an adventure here?

But this time, it was in Benguet in what they call Mt. Ulap. Ulap is an Ilokano word, it means clouds. So we’re free to call it the mountain of sea of clouds. We went up as early as 5:00am and was able to reach the peak at around 10am. It was a mind-blowing 5-hour trek, and that’s been my longest trail so far.

Climbing down the hills took us 1 and a half hour. And there was a station where you could buy souvenirs and shirts. On the way up, since it was dark and the light of the sun was slightly showing up, it looked like sunset more than that of a sunrise. It’s cold and you can see the skies are really just right in front of your face and up your head. We did not feel the heat until it was 8:00am, there’s also a pool of people, sea of people wandering, and people soul-searching. But me, I have one thing in mind, it’s to capture the grandeur a natural scene has to offer. I wanted to take my jackets off and show off to the nature, but it was not appropriate. What’s appropriate was that I conquered the trail and I survived the way up with the group.

If you’re asking how we went there, it was an organized trip by a travel partners Christian Anievas and Kaezen Lagrimas. We rented 2 vans, met at the Greenfield district in Pasig City. The travel time was no more than 5 hours.

We paid 900 pesos for the transpo and travel guide fee then we had to pay environmental fee at the barangay hall of Itogon, Benguet before we were assigned to 2 guides. Ours was nanay Susan. She was 55 years old and still had the guts to climb up there!

But if you go on your own, you can ride a bus like Victory Liner and Genesis that can be found in Cubao. The fare is around 400 for every way and upon reaching the city of Baguio, you can ride a jeepneu bound to Itogon, stop at their barangay hall and look for a group or a vacant guide who could take you up there. I was not able to ask how much it eas for every guide though as ut was already covered on our trip.

A good thing about going on a hike with a large group is that you laugh together and get tired together. I even encountered one of ABS-CBN’s staff, a familiar face from my OJT days, Armand Yaccib, now a photographer. We talked and took a photo, until my friends were looking for me already. LOL.

Going off the cliffs was easier as it only took one and a half hour. But it was a different ache, that was more of a squeeze at the back feet and back.
The vast space, the greenery, the best view I have ever seen out of the mountains I climbed, the sea of clouds playing at the top of the mountains and the biggest rocks which can be climbed any time to see how high we have been since we started climbing. That’s the definition of luxury and relaxation for most of the travelers. It’s how your clothes have been soaked from your sweat.

It’s the rest you feel in tiredness that comes with hiking here. It’s the perfect view that comes with the falling sweat on your face. It’s the laughter with the people you’re with that comes with the darkening of your face because of being near to the sun. It’s every second that you go up, it’s every meter that you walk and run that brings you closer to the peak. It’s the courage that you have when you tell yourself you can’t anymore.

They say travelling lets you see more of yourself, lets you realize more of your goals, and make you dream more. And to me, it feels like these adventure I’ve been doing had done more to me. I feel more vibrant, motivated, more positive, more forgiving, patient, beautiful, worthwhile and dreamt bigger.

After an hour of trip from the foggy mountainous from Benguet, we stopped over Good Taste in Baguio City. It was the most famous eatery in the city as it is near the mainstream destinations like the Burnham park, Baguio church, Oh My Gulay restau at the Azotea building at session road and the place for bus and jeep terminals going to the mountain province. The plce was quite big and the food tastes good enough for a restaurant that serves a large number of crowd. Moreover, its cheap! For a hundred and twenty pesos, it shall satisfy your stomach for bout 5-6 hours!

So after that good food experience, we went back to Manila at 6pm, because we were too tired, we were not able to buy local goods anymore and slept inside the van instead. You can call that part of adulting. LOL.

It was 10pm when we arrived in Manila. And the rest was sleep story and fatigue story in the morning.

Until next time! By the way, you can visit my IG @chasingmeagan and @meagan_streetphotography guys.
Thank you so much!