Sagada : Paradise of Mountain Province (Day 1)

If there is one place that I would like to return to for relaxing, meditating and experience nature at its best, it’s no other than the village of Sagada.  Sagada is a village of Mountain Province located at the northern part of the Philippines. I want to share my experience with you when I first visited the place.  It was June 2006, together with a friend (which is now my girlfriend), when we explore this amazing place.  We have researched a lot about Sagada before we depart because it’s our first time and we are not familiar on how to get there.  This is how it goes.

Sagada is approximately 12-14 hour land trip from the busy Metro Manila.  There are 3 routes from Manila to Sagada.

• Manila via Baguio City – Sagada route
• Manila via Banaue – Sagada route
• Manila via Bontoc – Sagada route

We chose Manila via Baguio City-Sagada route because we were familiar enough around Baguio City.  There are buses that will take you to Baguio from Manila but we preferred Victory liner (Pasay Terminal or Cubao Terminal).  Travel time from Manila to Baguio is around 6-8 hours for regular trip and 4 hours for deluxe trip.  Prior to our departure, I already reserved seats for the 12 midnight deluxe trip.  (Departs at 12 midnight, Saturday morning).  The fare from Manila-Baguio special trip costs php440.00 during that time. (Click the link for updated rate and schedule: http://www.victoryliner.com) We chose this schedule because the 1^st trip from Baguio City to Sagada starts at 5am.  

Mini Bus to Sagada : Dangwa Terminal

We arrived at Baguio around 4:30 in the morning. We stayed at the terminal for 20 minutes to eat then took a cab directly to Dangwa Terminal where the mini buses to Sagada were located.  We arrived at Dangwa Terminal around 5:15am and unfortunately, the 1^st bus departed already so we have no choice but to take the 6am trip.  The mini bus is non-aircon and the fare per pax is php220.00.  According to my research, today the schedule trip from Dangwa Terminal to Sagada starts at 5 am followed by every hour and last trip is at 2pm.

Travel time from Baguio City to Sagada is approximately 7 hours and there is 2 stop overs.  What to expect on this route? Rough road but breath-taking sceneries.  Rice terraces, rivers, mountains were a few sight to behold.  Make sure the batteries for your gadgets are well-charged or better, have some spare batteries with you.  7 hour of travel is long enough just to sleep. Also, bring food and water if you don't want to get starved. 

We arrived at Sagada around 1:30pm and we headed directly to our hotel.  We booked our stay at George Guest House located at Dao-Angan Sagada. The room is good for 4 pax and costs php900.00 per day. It’s a 5 minute walk from Sagada Municipal Hall.  The hotel is simple with the amenities just needed for this trip. Each private room has 2 queen-size bed and hot & cold bath.  No television and no aircon which is fine with us.  The weather is cool in Sagada especially at night time.  Sometimes it’s good to be totally isolated and no contact to the real world.  The rooms are located at the 3^rd and 4^th floor.  They also have a gazebo at the rooftop where you can take your breakfast or do your grill.  They also have a mini grocery store at the ground floor and an internet café.  For updated information on George Guest House, you can click on the following links.

http://sagadageorgeguesthouse-labanet.blogspot.com

http://sagadageorgeinn.bravehost.com

Since it’s already 2pm, we were really hungry.  For our 1^st meal at Sagada, we took our lunch at Masferre.  The ambiance of the restaurant is homey, cultural and a great view of the village and the church.  There were black and white photos posted which is taken by the owner.  One thing that disappointed me was the signage saying "Taking picptures is not allowed".  But of course, I didn’t follow that instruction.  I secretly captured some photos.  Every experience needs to be documented. lol.  The restaurant offers Filipino and American food.  As far as I can recall, we ordered mixed vegetable and grilled fish/pork.  The price was a bit pricy for a simple meal and the taste is just usual.  But we heard that they offer good breakfast which we haven’t tried.

After taking our lunch, we proceed directly at the Sagada Visitors Centre.  According to our hotel owner, we need to register and record our arrival and target date of departure.  This is to ensure that they track tourists coming in and out of Sagada and for record purposes just in case something happened.  This is also where you can book your tour itinerary.  We booked the Sight Seeing Tour (3 spots: Echo Valley, Underground River, Bokkong Falls) and Spelunking at Sumaging Cave.  1 tourist guide is allotted per 4 pax which costs Php800.00.  Since we’re only 2, we paid Php400.00 per head.  For more information on tour sites and rates, you can visit the link below.

http://sagadagenuineguides.blogspot.com

After booking our tour, we headed directly at the famous Log Cabin Café and Restaurant.  We read a lot of good things about this café especially their famous Saturday dinner buffet.  The cafe is owned by a French chef named Aklay which is already an adopted son of Sagada.  The cafe offered French cuisine and the menu varies depending on the availability of raw materials and what the local market can offer.  Aside from the regular   Saturday buffet, they also have a regular menu which you can choose from.  Pastas, salad and meat dishes are also available but you need to inform them since the chef is busy preparing for the buffet.  Reservation here is a must.  We reserved our seats for the nights dinner which starts at 6pm.  The rate varies defending on the menu prepared by the chef.  Ours costs php180.00 per head.

The Church of Saint Mary the Virgin

Since it was still early afternoon, we took a look and explored The Church of Saint Mary the Virgin.  The church is an Episcopal Diocese of Northern Philippines.  It was founded in 1904 by the Rev. John Staunton under Bishop Charles Brent and became a parish in 1962.  The church has a brick floor and wooden ceilings.  At the altar, you can see a beautiful crafted stained glass.  We took some pictures and around 4pm, we decided to return to the hotel.  The weather is already cloudy and it’s about to rain.  Since we were also tired from our trip and we haven’t got a good sleep, we decided to take a nap.

Log Cabin Cafe

We woke-up around 6:30 pm, just in-time for dinner.  We dressed-up and headed directly to Log Cabin, excited about the food prepared by the Chef.  We arrived at the cafe exactly 7pm.  We entered the cafe and the ambiance was calm and cozy. We noticed that customers on that night were foreigners.  We were the only Pinoys.  We went straight to the buffet table to check the food.  When we approach the table, what's left were salad and some bread.  Dinner started at 6pm so it's pretty obvious that we were late. Another lesson learned.  It saddened us because we were really excited about the food.  We talked to the receptionists if we can make a reservation again for tomorrows buffet but there is one problem.  The buffet is only served on Saturdays.  "How about we'll just order what's on the regular menu for Sunday night?"  She replied, "The cafe will be closed tomorrow (Sunday) because Chef Aklay has some errands to do.  His family will be coming from France."  That's just it, no single spark of hope.  We were already leaving Monday and no chance to try the best restaurant in Sagada.  The lady saw how frustrated and sad we were.  She excused herself  but  told us to wait for her.  On our delight, she told us that she talked to Chef Aklay and he agreed to cook dinner for us before he leaves on Sunday afternoon.  We were like children going crazy on what we heard.  We ordered pasta for tomorrows dinner, Penne in Sausages and Wild Mushrooms and Zucchini Linguine pasta. (not really sure about the name of the pasta but this is what I remembered) We were really happy, thanking the lady endlessly for the favor.  So we left Log Cabin and find another resto for supper.

Yoghurt House

On our way to our hotel, we noticed a café named Yoghurt House.  We decided to take our supper there.  The café offers Filipino and American food but their specialty is Yogurt.  We ordered fried chicken and hash with salad in yogurt dressing and sautéed pork and vegetable with rice.  The price was fair, damaged us around php300-350, and the taste was quite ok.  The fried chicken tastes good but the sautéed pork and vegetable was a bit sweet.  We love to try the yogurt for desert but we were already full.  We decided to return before we leave Sagada to try their famous yogurt. 

After dinner, we return back to our hotel since we’re still tired and we need to take a good rest for our tour the following day.  The tour is more on walking and trekking so we need to regain all our strength.  Call time  is at 6am.

We ended our Day 1 happy and off to bed early.  Excited for what’s in store for us once the sun rises.