I’ve been to some of the most beautiful places here in our country, experienced the most thrilling adventures and death-defying stunts and witnessed our most vibrant festivals. But what I'm missing and wanting to do is to climb a mountain, but I've never had a privilege for I don’t have a companion who will share their expertise in mountaineering so when Kaiz a.k.a the Miss BackPacker invited me to join their day hike at Mt. Talamitam with Christine, Jerome and Drew, I said yes in an instant.
Our meeting place is at Crow Bus Terminal at 4:00AM. It's in the area of MRT Taft Station, beside the Mc Donalds and Hotel Sogo. Since I’m from the very far Fairview, I left the house 1:00 AM for I thought that the estimate travel time from Fairview to MRT Taft is 2 hours, but heck I already at the meeting place by 2:00 AM, I'm two hours ahead of time. Isn’t it obvious that I am really excited for my first hike? I just spent my time chatting with the aling tindera ng kape in the bus terminal; she also let me nap inside her mini sari-sari store.
04:00H – They all four arrived. We took the bus bound for Nasugbu, told the conductor to drop us at the jump off point of Mt. Talamitam which is at Sitio Bayabasan, Brgy. Agra, unfortunately the conductor is a newbie so we just spotted the route marker which is the KM 83.
07:00H – We finally arrived at the KM 83, a shed few meters away from the highway is the registration for the hikers, the fee is 25Php. The barangay implemented a tour guide policy; we paid the 350Php for 1 tour guide for our group, 70 each.
07:15H – Started the ascend, 15 minutes of walk then we found a untrustworthy bamboo bridge, so we went down and crossed the river instead.
Our day hike started right, it was sunny, we passed a variation of trails, from woodland to grassland to plateau.
Do not show threat to the cows for sometimes they can aggressive.
Do not show threat to the cows for sometimes they can aggressive.
Finally, I’ve seen the mountain from where we're standing, it was like 60 degree uphill course, talahib are prominent in the slope trail.
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| with my idol, Kaiz |
09:30H - Reached the summit after 2.5 hours of hiking. Atop, ice cream vendors are present and also dogs with dislocated bones in their legs maybe due to everyday hiking to Mt.Talamitam. We sat down for few minutes, rest and ate ice cream.
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| The summit. |
Epic Fail Group Picture: This one is supposed to be a group picture but Jerome didn't make it to the frame. Thanks to Manong who volunteer to snap a shot.Yes, I'm being sarcastic!
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| Me, Kaiz, Christine and Drew |
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| Jerome |
10:15H - Started our descent with the same trail, I had no problem with the ascend but due to inexperienced mountain hiking, going down was a major disaster. It was a knee breaking experience for me because I put all my weight in my knee while slowly stepping down which made my toes in great pain.
12:00H - Got back at the registration, next thing we did is treat ourselves a generous lunch at Magohany Market in Tagaytay, we ordered beef bulalo and tawilis with 2 rice each. Our bill for the luch is 1150Php and paid 230Php each.
01:00H - We went to Drew's family rest house in Tagaytay where we spent a decent rest and made our shower.
03:00H - Finally decided to go home, we waited bus just outside Drew's village. The fare going back to Manila is 104Php.
06:00H - Arrival at Cubao.
It is supposed to be a twin hike to Mt.Batulao but we didn't push. It was a fun climb with my new set of friends. I'm hoping to have another hiking experience with them.
Breakdown of expenses:
Bus to Sitio Bayabasan - 124 Php
Registration fee - 25 Php
Tour guide fee - 70 Php
Lunch - 230 Php
Jeepney to Drew's rest house - 8 Php
Bus to Manila - 104
Total = 561 Php
Ikaw kaya idol ko! :D
ReplyDeleteAlam mo naman Kaiz, ikaw ang isa sa aking mga inspirasyon! lels
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