North-Bound 2.1: SAGADA – Bomod-ok, Sinakop!

As mentioned in my previous post, our trip’s main destination was really SAGADA, with Banaue and Baguio on the side hehe! Right after the Batad Trekking, we negotiated with our tour guide for a ride to Sagada, where we planned to spend the rest of the night. We hired a van, which approximately could accommodate about 11 passengers, and then off we went to a 2.5-hour Banaue-to-Sagada travel!

[By the way, a week before this trip, we already made a reservation at George Guest House for two nights. This place is among the most popular inns suggested by Sagada visitors.]

While we were in transit, we communicated with our contact (Ate Dora) and asked if we could order food for our super-late dinner at George’s. We were lucky enough to know that George serves late dinner (late as in our estimated time of arrival was around 10pm hehe).

Below are some photos of us taking the Banaue-to-Sagada ride and our arrival at George Guest House:

Our original itinerary included waking up at 4am to prepare for the sunrise-watching at Kiltepan Viewpoint, but due to the exhausting trekking that we had at Batad, my teammates woke up at around 6am already! Of course I woke up at 4am but I felt like lying in bed to rest my super-tired legs! :) We had our breakfast at George’s—bread with strawberry jam + 3-in-1 coffee (tipid-mode! hehe!) then one of my teammates negotiated for our Sagada Day Tour. Below was our actual itinerary for the Sagada Trip.

Sagada Trip Itinerary :)

SAGADA TRIP PART 1: BOMOD-OK, SINAKOP!

First half of our second day was Trekking (what??? again?! hehe!) along the Fidelisan Rice Terraces going down to Bomod-Ok Waterfalls (a.k.a. The Big Falls). The usual process, register first and choose whether to rent a walking stick or not. This time, I can already feel the strain in my left knee; it didn’t heal overnight! From a group of 10, only 8 of us decided to go with the trek; the two decided to stay at George’s because they were too exhausted already hehe!

Our tour led us thru a very steep trail (accordingly, a more difficult trail) on our way to Bomod-Ok! It was kind of a torture to my right leg that I was like hopping already with my left leg, not wanting to aggravate the pain I feel in my right knee. Thanks to my walking stick again! It took us about one and a half hour to reach Bomod-Ok (this includes camwhoring of course! hehe!); when normally (well, according to the tour guide), the trek will only take about an hour). Below are some of our pictures while we trekked our way down to Bomod-Ok (click on the images for a full view).

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Fidelisan Rice Terraces is actually among the many rice terraces in Sagada (Kiltepan Rice Terraces, Tanulong Rice Terraces, Suyo Rice Terraces, Bulongan Rice Terraces, Bangaan Rice Terraces, Ambasing Rice Terraces).

My shot of the Fidelisan Rice Terraces :D

After an hour and a half, we finally reached Bomod-Ok! Holy cow! It was such an amazing sight! We can’t help but take a lotsa pictures! :D

One of my teammates, the most adventurous of all, climbed up to a not-so-high jump-off cliff, with the local kids of course, and jumped into the cold water of Bomod-ok! Good job! :D

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The Bomod-ok Falls – or simply the Big Falls — is one of Sagada’s most visited and sought-after attractions. The falls is a 200-feet tall column of water that splashes down on the cold pools below. It’s a very good opportunity for shutter-bugs like me hehe! :)

Capturing Bomod-Ok Waterfalls! :)

When we arrived at Bomod-ok, there were actually a lot of visitors already and some photography enthusiasts as well. The falls was surrounded by boulders of rocks, some were really slippery, so you gotta be extra careful. We rested for a while and took some pictures among the boulders of rocks.

After then and due to the exhaustion felt during the trek, we didn’t have second thoughts on dipping into the super-cold waters of Bomod-ok hehe! It was really freezing cold!!! Brrrr!

After the fun (swimming and picture-taking) at Bomod-ok, we decided to head back to our starting point. The trek uphill was more difficult as we have to go against gravity this time hehe! Plus, the pain in my right knee got worse! tsk tsk tsk! But to pass the energy-draining moments, we just continued with our cam-whoring!!! hahaha!

When we reached the point where we bought our drinks earlier (see above photo of us in a sari-sari store), our tour guide informed us that we’ll be taking a different route (easier than than the route downhill); we ended up at the opening of Banga-an Rice Terraces. The trail was a bit easier as the stairs are not that steep and continuous.

We rested, while waiting for our jeepney, for about 30 minutes Banga-an viewpoint (i forgot the exact name of the place hehe). To reward ourselves from another tiring trek that we had, we decided to have lunch at Yoghurt House! Oh yeah! There’s a resto in Sagada called Yoghurt House; it’s actually at the town proper, near George Guest House-Extension.

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The food at Yoghurt House tasted good–I’ve tried the spicy chicken something (sorry, I failed to take note of the exact name of the dish), whew! It was really spicy, but tasted great! hahaha! Thumbs up on that! Prices of the food and yoghurt are the almost the same as some resto around Makati though :) (no-tipid-mode for us! hehe!).