Northern Luzon (Philippines) Ride Report | GTAMotorcycle.com

Northern Luzon (Philippines) Ride Report

knowledge

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'Sup guys,

I'd like to preface the "report" by saying that I've never written one. Bear with me as I didn't set out with the intention of writing one afterwards. I suppose it's more of a picture dump with a small description.

Some of my best memories are often when I'm off the bike or don't have a camera out, so I feel like it's hard to do the trip justice through pictures.

But feel free to ask me any questions.

Please excuse the poor formatting/errors and bear with me; I don't have the most ideal workstation right now so I'll fix it as I go along. I would've liked to add a distance screen cap, but google maps is such a ***** on windows 8.


I spent the night in the seedy "Angeles City" because that's where the rental was. It turned out to be an expat town known for prostitution. I suppose that's one of the reasons why I was the only person in the hostel that night.



Aaaaaand I'm off! I wanted the cb400, but the only thing available was this xr200. Not too bad except it would mean that I couldn't take highways/was limited to local roads.






I rode through Olongapo. The plan was to make it as far as possible until it was too dark to see...which ended up being Crystal Beach Resort at San Narciso. The prices for rooms were a little steep, so I rented a tent and camped on the beach for 300 pesos (about $7.5). The picture's the day after, but I met a nice group of 5 swiss people (Sandro, Luzia, Natalie, Sebby, and Claudia) and ended up playing cards with them (we played president/as*hole using the German deck, which doesn't have cards 2-5)






DAY 2: San Narciso to Dagupan. The plan was actually to make it to Alaminos...but I didn't like the feel of the town, so I made my way over to Dagupan to spend the night.



I stopped over for lunch at a place called Mang Inasal. It's a chain restaurant here in Philippines. Unfortunately, a lot of the meal goes unappreciated with me because I rarely eat rice and it tends to be more than half of the meal.



I spent the day checking out the only 3 touristic sites in town. Freedom park, Ma-Cho temple, and their version of Brazil's "Christ the redeemer statue". I have a theory here in philippines that they call things tourist attractions just for the sake of having things. Like, "Laoay lighthouse" is a tourist attraction, and it's literally just a normal lighthouse that happens to be built in Laoay.



I decided to call it an early day and check into San Juan Circle Hostel. Partly because my *** was already sore and also because I knew it would probably be my last hostel in the next 2 weeks. Pretty cool setup and you could rent a hammock for 300 pesos or a bunk bed for a little bit more. I opted for the latter because it came with a mosquito net.


Day 4: San Juan to Vigan




I took a quick break to enjoy the scenery in Santa Cruz. I cropped my picture because there was a couple eating each other's faces out just to the right of the picture


Bantay bridge



I was making good time, so I decided to see where this road led. Fun ride, but it ended up being a dead end in some remote village.



Vigan city hall at night




Local street food in Vigan: Empanada (egg, pork, and papaya friend in a wrap) and Shrimp Okoy (basically shrimp fried in lots of batter)



The cool thing about Vigan is that it's probably the best-preserved example of a colonial Spanish Town in Philippines. It looks cool in pictures but this is actually the only strip that's been preserved. The rest of the modernized village looks out of place from afar.



I couchsurfed and ended up having lunch the next day with 2 Locals (Adam and Saldy). I shared a room with 2 ladies vacationing from South Philippines. Trying out some Vigan Dishes: Bagnet (pork that's dried first then fried), Pinakbet (vegetable medley with a with a salty shrimp sauce called alamang), and Pouki-Pouki (it's an egg-plant based salad thats only famous because the translated name is slang for pussy).




I've never really drank with Filipinos before...so I figured tonight would be the night! There are 2 kinds of absolut(e) here in Philippines


Day 5: Vigan to Pagudpud


Laoay Sand Dunes


I got to Pagudpud late at night and it was crazy dark. The room was supposed to be 1500 pesos ($30 but I talked it down to 25. The receptionist kept asking me if I was just me...I got into the room and we both had a good laugh.



I'd been having such crappy food lately, so I decided to make it up to myself by having some grilled vegetables. The food at Evangeline's resort was actually top-class and I would go back there again just to eat.
 
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DAY 6: Pagudpud To Sagada

I woke up early 'cause I wanted to read a little before heading out


Pagudpud has actually been dubbed "Boracay of the north". Although the sand isn't as white, it's still a very nice beach and a lot more empty.



I tried taking a shortcut through the mountain to get to Sagada. The GPS was wrong so many times and many roads no longer existed. The picture doesn't show it, but the water's almost knee deep and the rocks are pretty slippery. After a couple of close calls with the last crossings, I left the backpack behind, crossed over, then came back to get my pack.



I ended up backtracking and going the long way around because I didn't want to get caught on dirt roads/river crossings at night







I arrived in Sagada 11 hours later. I witnessed an accident (high-side as this guy was trying to shake me in the mountains), rode through rivers, and got lost a couple of times. I was pretty close to calling it a night and sleeping on the side of the road a couple of times. Every local I asked also had very different answers for how much longer the ride would be. I had also been raining for the last 3 hours.


Day 7: Sagada


The hanging coffins that Sagada's so well-known for. They used to be hung so that the dead could be closer to heaven than hell. You'll notice that there are chairs as well. They're for the mourning people to sit on o_O.



Scaled some rocks for a bit until it got to a point where I might not be able to get back up again. I did that once and now I know better; so I made my way back up.



This is echo valley. Aptly named because of what happens when you make loud sounds.



The entrance to Lumiang Cave



You have to hire a guide to go caving in Lumiang Cave. And I'm glad I did because I definitely would have gotten lost/fallen off a cliff if I didn't. The water was clear and we all went for a swim! I met a french dude living in Taiwan named Phil, a Filipino chick named Janneille, and 4 japanese dudes (Hatakeyama, Koichi, Masaki, and Aoto) who I later had dinner/drinks with afterwards. I met up with an American (Madeline) and 2 Germans (Klaus and Tobi) and we all agreed that the asians had to have a shot of Jager since they had never tried it before. It was hilarious.

Day 8: Day trip to Banaue



Bay-yo rice terraces




En route to Banaue Rice Terraces!



Aaaaaaand I'm here! They were constructed by the Ifugao, who are basically geniuses. It was essentially old-school irrigation. They found a way to work with the mountains/waterfalls to grow rice.











The road back was soaked. I also bumped into the 4 Japanese dudes on the way back. They were on a bus going the other way!
 
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The cost of wi-fi in the mountains is a slice at the lemon pie house



The first place in Philippines that let me subsitute veggies for rice. It actually ended up being cheaper with vegetables. 70 pesos or $1.75. It would've been 110 pesos if I had rice, instead. ALLMYWUT.JPG


Day: 10 & 11 - Batad



Batad's an isolated town that's unreachable by vehicle. You can only park upstairs. From there, you can take a trail or 400+ steps to the bottom of another trail where it's a 30-45 minute hike. It's pretty nuts 'cause the locals carry everything to their town...including construction supplies.

One of the funniest moments of this trip happened on the hike there. An elderly white lady stopped me and shouted very slowly "HELLOOOOO, ARE YOU GOING BACK HOME TO YOUR VILLAGE?!" With perfect Canadian/American English, I told her "I'm not from here" and her guide couldn't hold back her laughter. I walked away as the group of them stood there, embarassed.



The Swiss and I hoped to meet at some point, but it worked out perfectly because we somehow ended up in Batad on the same day and even at the same guesthouse! Sandro was taking a time lapse and I met the final member of their group, Stefy!


Here's a local farmer working on the rice terraces


I hiked an hour to this (unimpressive waterfall). The waterfall wasn't anything special, but it was still relaxing to be there. I sat around for 2 hours. I later found out that I took the wrong fork in the hiking trail and the one that I was SUPPOSED to be at was about 50 m tall. Meh



Hiking through the rice terraces towards the Batad village.




I'd been wondering how to get to the top the day before; I managed to find it!


There was a volleyball match at the bottom of the Batad village



After 3 days of rain, it finally stopped!



After about 6-7 hours of hiking, I suddenly remembered that it was the day of the Pacquiao fight. I rushed back to the village and it's been said that the crime rate of Philippines drops to 0% while he's fighting. I ran around the whole village trying to find a place to watch. These farmers were nice enough to let me sit in. Rios got wrecked and watching the drunk men speak a dialect I couldn't understand while razzing on each other drunk was an added bonus.



This is the final climb to where I left my motorcycle. Thankfully, it was still there. The day before, I ran to the top and back down to the bottom. I met 3 Americans who laughed as they told me I had a very different definition of "fun". Later on that night, I met 2 wonderful ladies, Shannon (from Thunder Bay) and Marielle (from Netherlands).


Headed back to Sagada was full of construction. Again, thankful that I had knobbies and a dirtbike.



I spent an extra night in Batad and met up with the 6 Swiss again in Sagada. The 2 boys went dirt-biking but I decided to go rock-climbing instead.



This is their local liquor. It was surprisingly tasty and stronger than it tastes. I would bring some "home" if I actually knew when (or where) that would be.



We ended up drinking some Bugnay before we headed off to The Log Cabin, the fanciest restaurant in town where reservations are mandatory. They're a great group to be around and we might meet up again further on down south. If not, I intend to visit them in Switzerland at some point.

We're all just minding our own drinking outside while they're teaching me some Swiss-German when we see this spider and everyone starts freaking out. The picture actually doesn't do it justice - that thing was HUGE.



I found this place a couple of days before. I told Luzia that if she woke up early, I'd take her there.


It was actually completely foggy when we got there. Luckily, it cleared up for about 10 minutes (I asked the Universe very nicely to let us see it :D). It was my third morning coming back to this spot, and this one was easily the most beautiful. I also taught Luzia the basics of meditation!
 
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4/4

Day 12: Sagada to Baguio


Just some cool rest stop art







I had one day to make it to Manila from Sagada so I could extend my visa. Aaaaaand just my luck.



The culprit. 5 bucks for a new tube and a buck 25 for labour. I made sure to tip 'cause the mechanic was honest and even though they knew I was from Canada.















Then I got rained out close to Baguio I've spent all most all of my trip with wet socks, so I decided to call it a night in Baguio.



Terrible picture, but this is the market that Baguio's famous for. Personally, I think Chiang Mai, Barcelona, Italy, etc. have more impressive markets. But it's always still pretty cool to walk through one.



Finally in Angeles and returning the bike. it went better than I expected. I was a little scared to take it (terrible clutch, engine had a slght rattle, it sometimes wouldn't find neutral/start/etc.) , but I'm glad it got me around Luzon and back. The mechanic warned me about its tendency to eat oil, but I didn't have to top it up once in the 13 days that I had it. It actually had new tires on it and they only had about 1 day of tread left when I returned them :D Only other work that had to be done apart from the tube change was a chain adjustment for 2 bucks.



Conclusion: I've only ever toured Northern Thailand extensively, so I can only really compare it to that. But I think that driving in Philippines is safer as the chaos is a little more predictable (or maybe I'm just a little more experienced). There are better twisties in Thailand, but the crappier road condition sort of evens it out. You can have more than enough fun in the mountainsides in Philippines, but it's often raining where the best twisties are (Sagada/Banaue area).


Feel free to ask any questions. I'm In Palawan right now and thinking about renting another motorcycle. But I'm tempted to just save it for a rental in Cambodia (you guys are welcome to sway me in either direction, if you've rented at either part!)
 
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This is awesome! Thanks for sharing! As a filipino, I can definitely apprecate this. Gives me ideas on my next trip back home ;)
 
Good stuff!
Haven't had the chance to read everything but curious how you got funding for all your trips

Sent from my tablet using my paws
 
Great job. Really enjoyed the read. I would love do to something like this but it's just way out oft character. On my bucket list for sure.
 
This is awesome! Thanks for sharing! As a filipino, I can definitely apprecate this. Gives me ideas on my next trip back home ;)
Np - glad you enjoyed it. You're welcome to message me if you want itinerary suggestions. I haven't even done Mindanao or Visayas, but I've heard good things. I also think that Southern Luzon is underrated.


Good stuff!
Haven't had the chance to read everything but curious how you got funding for all your trips

Sent from my tablet using my paws
As it stands, I work for 4-6 months and travel for 6-8 (or until the money runs out; I'm hoping to be gone for almost a year for this one). But I get better at each trip and it's actually cheaper for me to travel than it is to live in Toronto.

Great job. Really enjoyed the read. I would love do to something like this but it's just way out oft character. On my bucket list for sure.
You know, it was actually a GTAM member (Toshison) who gave me the final push. I had all these places I wanted to see but always had work getting in the way. He said that "being scared to do something is often a pretty good reason to try it". If it's out of character for you and makes you uncomfortable, I think it's worth exploring. If I never took my first trip, I never would have gotten the travel bug and decided to change my lifestyle so drastically.
 
Great job. Really enjoyed the read. I would love do to something like this but it's just way out oft character. On my bucket list for sure.

+1. Great read-through. If you're looking for tips and pointers on how to write these "journals", give a look at the "completed expeditions" section of the following website, and (prepare to waste hours) read through a few of threads with the most views.

Choosing the right words and structure can lure an audience like cats to catnip!

CAUTION: EXTREME TIME WASTER IN THE FOLLOWING LINK




http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/forums/38-Completed-Adventures-and-Events
 
OP - thanks for sharing. Great pics and write-up !

+1. Great read-through. If you're looking for tips and pointers on how to write these "journals", give a look at the "completed expeditions" section of the following website, and (prepare to waste hours) read through a few of threads with the most views.

Choosing the right words and structure can lure an audience like cats to catnip!

CAUTION: EXTREME TIME WASTER IN THE FOLLOWING LINK




http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/forums/38-Completed-Adventures-and-Events

Nobody is publishing a prospective bestseller here. I think putting in research and extra time for a trip write-up is a waste of time.
 
You know, it was actually a GTAM member (Toshison) who gave me the final push. I had all these places I wanted to see but always had work getting in the way. He said that "being scared to do something is often a pretty good reason to try it". If it's out of character for you and makes you uncomfortable, I think it's worth exploring. If I never took my first trip, I never would have gotten the travel bug and decided to change my lifestyle so drastically.

Thats awesome! Im going to go ahead and give myself a pat on the back for that.

Great photos + trip notes. I've been to the Philippines a couple times but I never really did get that far off the beaten path and I still haven't been to Palawan which everybody talks so highly about. Will be waiting for your trip notes on that one.

Cambodia is great and its going to be even cheaper than the Phils. Its only really "pricey" (which it still isn't) around siem reap/angkor wat but its super dirt cheap in the south.

Keep it coming.
 
As it stands, I work for 4-6 months and travel for 6-8 (or until the money runs out; I'm hoping to be gone for almost a year for this one). But I get better at each trip and it's actually cheaper for me to travel than it is to live in Toronto.


.
Who would've guessed


Sent from my tablet using my paws
 
Awesome ....great read.
 
Thanks, guys.

Nobody is publishing a prospective bestseller here. I think putting in research and extra time for a trip write-up is a waste of time.
He wasn't kidding, though. Check out some of the photography in the write-ups there. On a side-note, writing this thing was a ****ing headache. I would be more enthused to write one up in the future if it weren't so needlessly time-consuming/I knew of a better way.

I uploaded the pics to photobucket, then imported the pictures to Microsoft OneNote so I could write stuff underneath the pictures. There's gotta be a better way.

Thats awesome! Im going to go ahead and give myself a pat on the back for that.

Great photos + trip notes. I've been to the Philippines a couple times but I never really did get that far off the beaten path and I still haven't been to Palawan which everybody talks so highly about. Will be waiting for your trip notes on that one.
I wouldn't be too worried. To be honest, getting off the beaten path does't seem to be exciting here like it is in Europe or the rest of SEA. Every town is actually "same same" with (imo) the lowest-tier SEA cuisine.

Palawan seems beautiful, but most of it goes a little underappreciated since I don't have my PADI. The vans have even less leg room than Thailand so a plane's well worth the coin if you're not on a budget. I went island hopping/snorkelling all day in El Nido today and I'm considering a job offer bartending just for the perks (place to stay, thousands of islands to explore, BBQ on the beach, meet a ******** of Europeans, etc.).

20131211_135350_zps1058aed1.jpg


I'm headed off to Boracay tomorrow to see what job options are like. My visa expires on Christmas, so I have to decide if I want to keep traveling or relax for a bit.
 
He wasn't kidding, though. Check out some of the photography in the write-ups there. On a side-note, writing this thing was a ****ing headache. I would be more enthused to write one up in the future if it weren't so needlessly time-consuming/I knew of a better way.

You know those ppl, who forget to enjoy the view/scenery, because they are too busy recording, I believe they are those ppl.
I'd hate to come to a view and think first thing "oh yea this will be a great write-up tomorrow" lol

Whatever pics you're taking is already spectacular.. no need to try make it spectacular-plus, but that's just me =) My choice of camera during my moto-trip to Cali was my cellphone lol as I see yours is too =)
 
Thanks, guys.


He wasn't kidding, though. Check out some of the photography in the write-ups there. On a side-note, writing this thing was a ****ing headache. I would be more enthused to write one up in the future if it weren't so needlessly time-consuming/I knew of a better way.

I uploaded the pics to photobucket, then imported the pictures to Microsoft OneNote so I could write stuff underneath the pictures. There's gotta be a better way.


I wouldn't be too worried. To be honest, getting off the beaten path does't seem to be exciting here like it is in Europe or the rest of SEA. Every town is actually "same same" with (imo) the lowest-tier SEA cuisine.

Palawan seems beautiful, but most of it goes a little underappreciated since I don't have my PADI. The vans have even less leg room than Thailand so a plane's well worth the coin if you're not on a budget. I went island hopping/snorkelling all day in El Nido today and I'm considering a job offer bartending just for the perks (place to stay, thousands of islands to explore, BBQ on the beach, meet a ******** of Europeans, etc.).

20131211_135350_zps1058aed1.jpg


I'm headed off to Boracay tomorrow to see what job options are like. My visa expires on Christmas, so I have to decide if I want to keep traveling or relax for a bit.


I wanted to write a ride report but if I don't finish in one seating, i would end up not writing it.
Thanks for sharing and my hats off to those who share their rides.

The XR was my first bike back in the Phil and your trip brings back memories.

If you're in Palawan, you can rent an XR fro 100$ or less to go to El Nido. and use it to explore the area. Road going to El Nido is great except for the last 60kms of powdered dirt. In my last visit I we rented the 125 scoots and two-upped to El Nido- and we had a blast.

If your back in Luzon island I suggest going south to Bicol and hitting up good roads in Quezon National Forest and Bitukang manok (chicken intestine). Swim with the Whale Sharks in Donsol, ATV to Mayon volcano and riding to Bulusan lake.
 

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