Tiring Tinglayan

24th December - We found a bus that heads to rugged Tinglayan of Kalinga Province. It takes 2 hours to get there as the ONE lane national road was as narrow as you can see. We sat ON the bus (it became a norm already...sitting inside just wasn't an option with the situation of the uncomfortable windy bumpy road!). As usual, the views we got were amazing...

Around Tinglayan across the river were a couple of villages in between padi fields. We ventured into the villages and found that people were amazingly friendly and welcoming. Every time we passed a house, we were always invited for coffee! What I loved most was that with the very little that everyone had to live on and how simple life was there, they were the happiest, most satisfied people I have met!

25th December 2008 - At 8 am we started our trekking plans. Not 10 minutes away from Tinglayan, we were invited for christmas breakfast with this family! I had my taste of sweet sticky rice (yummy!) and some macaroni with fruit and mayo salad. The guys had wedding proposals from the head of the family! =)

An hour and a half into our walk, we came upon another christmas celebration...this time it was "merrier"! Vodka shots anyone?

Two and a half hours into the walk, we started climbing hills...

4 hours later, came upon our first village in the mountains

The kids would cheerfully ask for sweets and the older ladies would wonder if we had matches as they needed it to light their pipe! (If you happen to be there, bring loads of it....unfortunate for us, we loss 12 boxes while on the bumpy bus ride...see, it was so bumpy things fall off the bus!) The men of the village would be making knives and machetes and the women would be tending to the babies or the laundry.

In between every village the rice padi fields acts as a boundary. Yes, you have to walk through the field...I slipped a couple of times into the pool of mud!

This was 7 hours into our walk and we finally spotted our third village high up in the clouds, on the next bloody mountain! I was starving, muddy-ied and ready to collapse! Luckily for us, due to the lack of signboards (there really wasn't any) we managed to get lost while trying to follow the electric power poles and had to ask a lone villager we luckily spotted working his rice field for direction! She must've seen how dead I was and offered some sticky rice to eat! Until today, I don't think I would have survived the last leg of the hike if it wasn't for the rice! May God bless her good heart...

We were finally on the main road back to Tinglayan by 5pm, but had another hour and a half before we reached town...in the dark as there were no street lights and it didn't help that the roads were pot holed every few meters...but guess what? I survived!!!(and was in bed by 9pm that night =) )

Total hours of walking - 11 hours

Total distance - 33 km (approx)

Total experience - priceless, gorgeous and was the best christmas ever! (no, I am Not being sarcastic here!)