The Journey to 100 Mountains (Part 4 of 6)

This series marks three major milestones: surviving 10 awesome years of mountaineering, ticking-off one of the Seven Summits of the World, and finally crossing out my ultimate bucket list destination: Peru's Machu Picchu - and in doing so, reaching two new continents! As I inch closer to the one hundred mark, let me run you through mountains 71 to 80 - from the African titan to the Philippines' southernmost mystical peak.

#71: Mt. Kilimanjaro (5,895 MASL) | Kilimanjaro, Tanzania

We had our first glance of Kilimanjaro on our way to our hotel in Moshi town from the airport. The sheer size of the mountain juxtaposed by the vast farms of sunflower and corn in the Tanzanian flat lands can be very intimidating. 'I'm finally here!' - I thought - watching the snow-capped titan from the roadside. It was my first time setting foot on a continent outside Asia and it was a quite a long and tiring journey from Manila to Bangkok to Addis Ababa to Kilimanjaro which took around 15 hours long (excluding layover time), crossing 5 time zones.

The imposing Kilimanjaro rising above the African plain.

Normally, Kilimanjaro is climbed at a minimum of 7 days to have ample time for acclimatization considering that the summit is at almost 6,000 MASL and if you're taking the Machame route, you'll need to gain around 4,000 meters in altitude (Machame gate is at 1,700+ MASL). But considering budget constraints (middle class Filipino mountaineers are normally stingy when it comes to climb budgets. hahaha!), we took the 6-day Machame-Mweka route which just have a dismal 75% summit success rate compared to the 85% when doing the 7-day itinerary. True enough, only three out of our 5-person team was able to reach the summit.

Almost half of the marker is buried in compacted snow! 

High altitude climbs are especially challenging to Filipinos since our country's highest peak is just at 2,900+ MASL - which is not high enough to prepare for the thin air of altitudes beyond 4,000 MASL. In fact, in Nepal, 'mountains' below 3,000 MASL are just considered 'hills' - how's that for a comparison. This climb has been challenging due to the compacted snow towards the summit assault which nearly killed me when I slipped and slid on the icy slope in pitch-black darkness at 3am. This climb will definitely be part of my campfire stories.

The Journey to 100 Mountains (Part 3 of 6)

This batch of 10 mountains will bring you to the icy peaks of Japanese central alps, the hidden treasure of Davao Oriental, Cebu's popular peak and various mountains of Luzon.

70 down, 30 more to go!

I hope my knees would still hold up until then.

#61: Mt. Tenglawan (1,943 MASL) | Bakun, Benguet

It was June 12, and I was actually holding up a Philippine flag there. 

As part of the touted Bakun Trio, Mt. Tenglawan is known for its Carrot Peak. An imposing monolithic rock outcrop few meters from the summit. The trail towards this mountain will lead you to communities nestled at the mountain side, offering you views of vibrant green rice terraces as well as imposing waterfalls during rainy season (we climbed this in June by the way). Doing the Bakun Trio (Kabunian, Tenglawan and Lubo) has been popular among mountaineers in the advent of easier access to rentable transport. But in our case, we chose to travel to this area via local transport – which can only be accessed via public bus in La Trinidad only once a day (bus leaves at 6am). Travel time to Bakun Poblacion can range from 6 to 10 hours, depending on road situation – parts of the route are prone to landslides and can impede transportation and can sometimes force you to walk for the rest of the way, which happened in our case.

Dumaran, Palawan

The municipality of Dumaran is located northwest of Puerto Princesa. Oddly, this municiaplity only covers half of Dumaran Island (the other half is under the jurisdiction of the municipality of Araceli) while some barangays are located at the mainland Palawan. 

Tagged as the world's best Island (Travel + Leisure Magazine 2016), the province has a lot, lot more to offer aside from the popular destinations such as Coron, El Nido and Puerto Princesa. This is the third time that I was back in Palawan - where we went to San Vicente and Port Barton (maybe I'll write something for this) in 2015 and in 2016 we basked at the beaches and islands in the southern tip of the province, Balabac (a blog entry for that trip can be found here). 

So let me share three of my favorite shots from one of the not-known-now-but-soon-on-the-rise destinations in Palawan: Dumaran. 

#1. Beach-all-you-can 

Void of tourist traffic, you can enjoy this very long stretch of white sand beach all to yourself provided that you have enough gear for beach camping. There are no resorts or any facilities for tourists here as of the moment so manage your expectations, this is not El Nido. 

Maraneg Beach can be found at the southern part of the Island

In Photos - 2016

Looking at my photo portfolio for the year 2016, I just have to think back and be grateful for the opportunity to venture into some places - beautiful places - here in the Philippines and overseas. Mountains, islands and destinations that I have been looking forward to setting my foot into. Particularly Mt. Mayon, Mt. Fuji and Tokyo! 

Oh, Japan. I can recall that during high school I was just wondering if I will ever travel to the land of the rising sun. Well, cliche as it may be but dreams sure come true - and much more. Never have I thought that I would reach the summit of Mt. Fuji! 

Anyway, that was just a part of my 2016. It may as well be the highlight but let me share to you some interesting stories from that year. 

#1. Sky, 3 years old

Sky and the team traversing the grassy area towards Mayon, April 2016

The Journey to 100 Mountains (Part 2 of 6)

This second part of my journey to 100 mountains will bring us to two of the Philippines' popular knife-edge trilogy (now even claimed to be four - to include Mt. Sicapoo of Ilocos) to the icy winter trail of the Himalayas. 

Let me take you on a tour to my mountain numbers 51 through 60. 

#51-52: Mt. Sapari (592 MASL) & Mt. Binutasan (562 MASL) | Tanay, Rizal

These two mountains are situated in the province of Rizal, which is currently becoming a popular hiking destination among mountaineers mainly due to its proximity to Metro Manila. Rizal now has become what Cavite and Batangas was to me when I was just starting to climb. These two mountains are basically two adjacent hills that are fit for a day hike (or an overnight camp, I'm not sure if it's allowed). 

An introduction to the mountainous area of Rizal

Balabac, Palawan

If Palawan is the Philippines' final frontier, then Balabac is the final frontier of the final frontier. It is located at the southern tip of the province - so remote that it is already near Sabah, Malaysia. Balabac is composed of a group of islands, each of which will definitely be a great feast for the eyes. Anyway, here are three of my favorite shots on our sojourn in this part of paradise.

#1. Polvoron-esque white sand

This part of Palawan is so devoid of tourists that there are no hotels or resorts here. Be prepared to get back to the basics. In fact, on our almost one week stay here, we spent the night at our hammock. There are already plenty of write-ups written about this piece of paradise that this area in Punta Sebaring was even compared to Boracay in the 70's. I do hope that this area stays the same, and if progress reach this area, development should be sustainable. 

Thank god for tripods and timed shutter release

Batanes

Who would not be curiously enticed by the thought of visiting the last northern frontier of the Philippines? Batanes' charm is undeniably captivating that it had been part of the bucket list of most Filipinos. Since Batanes is composed of three major islands - Batan, Sabtang and Itbayat, I have chosen three photos from our trip up, up north.

Let's count to three.

#1. Batan

Batan is the capital of Batanes where you will find the province's airport. The tour around the island can be divided into north and south, which you can opt to do in a day or just chill out and do it in two. There's the imposing Mt. Iraya that seemingly serves as the island's guardian - that amidst the numerous typhoons that ravaged the province, they remain resilient and strong. 

Veering away from the usual post card-esque shots that you normally see from Batan, the light houses towering over the lush green grass with wandering cows, I will show you one of the most mystifying sunset that I've seen:

Sunset at Vayang Rolling Hills

On a clear day, this scene will soothe all your aching muscles from all the walking you did around the island all day long - including the short trek to this area. Watching this at our country's northern frontier is nothing short of amazing. 

The Journey to 100 Mountains (Part 1 of 6)

To start off this sequel to the 40 Mountains Project, let me begin with one of my favorite quotation from Lao Tzu: 

"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step" 

So I say, a journey to a hundred mountains start with a single excruciating step. In my case, that was a single step at the Babadak Ranger station in the Ambangeg trail of Mt. Pulag in 2009. A number of years and 40 mountains after, let's continue our journey to the awesome sights that the mountains can offer. 

To pick up where we left, let's start counting at number 41, the most beautiful mountain in the Philippines - Daragang Magayon!

#41. Mt. Mayon (2,463 MASL) via Lidong-Buyoan Trail | Albay

We had the chance to have a first-row seat to see Mt. Mayon up-close during Daragang Magayon festival. The group we piggy-backed in was granted a permit by the local government to climb the restive Mt. Mayon (permits are rarely given, if you do the climb legally). Don't associate Mayon's beauty with an easy, breezy hike since climbing this beauty is far from it (there are no easy mountains to begin with). Take note that this mountain is an active volcano and active volcanoes can erupt without much notice. While many are drawn by its astounding beauty, Mayon has already claimed numerous lives - local and international mountaineers alike.

Mt. Mayon as seen from the water source just above camp 2.

Burdeos, Quezon

Our trip to Burdeos (part of Pililio Island) in Quezon was my first beach backpacking trip with my newly upgraded Fujifil X-T10 (from Nikon D3200). Managing my expectations, I did not really thought much about this trip. It's just the normal "go to the beach, relax, tinker with the camera and shoot" kind of weekend. Never did I thought that it has surprises hidden behind its sleeves.

Let's just skip to the daylight beach and island life. Let me show you what this island has in store for us as the sun went down.

Let's count to three.

#1. Thor's day at the beach

There are numerous islands at this part of Burdeos, but we chose to camp at Pandanan Island. I chose to hang my hammock on a small open hut facing the seashore. As I prepared to go for a shut eye, I set up my tripod, focused my camera at the stilted house by the sea and set its interval shooting at one shot per 30 seconds with 30 seconds exposure each for a total of 15 shots (with 30 seconds gap per shot). 

f/5, 30 sec., ISO 1600, 52mm (5/14/2016 8:29 PM)

It was starting to drizzle that night and I just slid inside my hammock and took a nap. The roaring thunder and occasional lightning woke me up then I realized I left my camera on interval. I scanned through the shots and as it turned out, I got this one - my first time to capture lightning! 

Sea of Clouds

Many are enthused to try mountaineering in order to witness the elusive sea of clouds. I know this because I too was curious. Mt. Pulag was my first-ever mountain since it has been well known for catching the sea of clouds. I'll share to you my three favorite shots of the sea of clouds, shot over the years in different mountains. 

So, ladies and gentlemen, Let's count to three.

(In order of date taken)

#1. The Calm Before the Storm

Our Mt. Pulag climb in December of 2014 was my 4th time in this mountain and this time, we tried the Akiki-Ambangeg traverse. Towards the tail-end of the ascent towards the saddle camp, you will be treated with a beautiful view of the rolling grasslands and since it was already late in the afternoon, the clouds started to set at the lowlands, treating us with this view:

Mt. Pulag (at the grasslands just above the mossy forest ascent in Akiki Trail), December 2014

Taking the Torch: 40 Mountains Project (part 4 of 4)

FINALLY! The last of the 4-part blog entry for the 40 Mountains Project. I Started writing about this 2 years ago and did not really thought about any time frame to finish all 40 mountains. At that time, I already had 17 mountains, mostly minor climbs on destinations near Metro Manila - Bulacan, Batangas and Cavite. I really had no goals in particular about trekking in the mountains. I just wanted to take photographs, and where else can you see great subjects? The mountains.

...and the beautiful beaches and islands of the Philippines, of course.

So this journey to complete the 40 mountains brought me to the peaks of the Cordilleras, the northern island of Itbayat, the imposing peaks of the Negros Island - Kanlaon and Talinis, the great mountains of Mindanao - Apo, Dulang-Dulang and Kitanglad, up to the mountains of our neighboring countries.

It enabled me to see awesome things - in exchange of buckets of sweat and excruciating body pains (hey, this is an awesome way to lose weight!), money spent on mountaineering (and photography) equipment as well as travel and climbing costs (taught me how to save and budget my meager salary as well as to juggle work-climb balance). So in essence, this is an expensive and very tiring undertaking. HAHA! As what they say, experience is the best investment. And that numerous unforgettable experiences are definitely worth every penny.

Anyway, feast your eyes on these mountains for this last installment.

Life begins at the mountains. Here are the mountains 31 to 40.

In Photos - 2015

2015 has been quite a ride for me, my camera and the people behind the insanely beautiful places that we've been for the year - both figurative and literal. From the scorching heat of the lahar track in Central Luzon to the insane tides of the northern-most islands of the Philippines, up to the shores of our Southeast Asian neighbor in the west. 

For 2015's installment, I picked people as the subject for this In Photos entry - quite a deviation from my usual landscape shots (which I prefer actually). These three photos provide a narrative on their own which, in one way or another has made my journey through 2015 remarkable. 

So here it is.

#1. Unexpected Conclusion

The Aetas of Pampanga, on a lazy Sunday afternoon. April 2015

In Photos - 2014

As I continued to wander around, my camera in tow, I was just as amazed as the first time I captured a great scenery. Awe-struck and just stood there and took it all in, all the beauty of it - both nature and moments. 2014 took me to places - unimaginably great places that led me to capture great moments that I would never forget.

Where, in 2014 was the best place I found myself you might ask? At an empty ditch on a subdivision still under development somewhere in Sto. Tomas, Batangas! haha! Read through as I walk you through three photos that defined my 2014. In no particular order (numbers for enumeration purposes only). Here it goes!

#1. "Horizon Mirror"

Biri Rock Formations, Biri, Northern Samar. May 2014

Taking the Torch: 40 Mountains Project (part 3 of 4)

Now for this third installment of the 40 mountains project, we get to see more of multi-day, multi-mountain trekking expeditions. From the famed D2K (Dulang-Dulang - Kitanglad Traverse) of Mindanao to the Kibungan Circuit of the Cordilleras. And oh, I would also like to introduce you guys to Fighter, the mountain dog. 

Let me bring you to the peaks of Mindanao, to the Cordilleras and Taiwan's highest. 

Life begins at the mountains. 

In Photos - 2013

Well actually I was planning to complete this last year. I already selected the pictures and then put them here, pending some captions and descriptions - since I had no time to do it. Kidding. I was just lazy to think and type. haha. There are no particular criteria in choosing the photos, capturing them just picked my interest - further pushing me to go farther, click my camera some more and capture even more moments. 

Anyway, since I was planning to do a 2014 edition of this, I felt I had the obligation to finish this first. So, here it goes! 

#1. "Simple Joys"

Nagsasa Cove, Zambales. January 2013

Taking the Torch: 40 Mountains Project (part 2 of 4)

So here's the second installment of the 40 mountains project, which, as stated in the first part,
(you can find it here: http://bentambling123.blogspot.com/2014/02/taking-torch-40-mountains-project-part.html) is my little contribution to the preservation of these wonders, through photographs (well, and a brief description of each).

Life begins at the mountain. Here's mountains 11 to 20.

Zamboangeño ₱20 and Below Quick Eats

Okay, so here's the deal. Let me just walk you through my gastronomic memory lane. I grew up in Zamboanga City and stayed there up until high school, before moving to Los Baños for College. At that time, my daily allowance was ₱20, which was surprisingly enough to get me by (today, that same ₱20 will just be gone just for public transportation fare only. Well, here in Manila at least). So yeah, trips at Jollibee to get Yum Burger or Chicken Joy was just reserved on Sundays, when we do our weekly grocery trip. 

So, during "research" and "project" trips at the pueblo, I had to budget what I had saved for the week in these three items: a.) legit research/project b.) counterstrike/starcraft c.) food. As the title suggests, let me walk you through with the three cheap quick eats I try not to miss out every time I go home.

Taking the Torch: 40 Mountains Project (part 1 of 4)

I do not want to ride the bandwagon, posting stuff about Tado (and 13 others) and the tragedy that befell that Florida Bus in Benguet, I just wanted to say my well-wishes to him quietly as he makes his way to paradise. But one thing just caught my attention as I browsed through my morning dose of news (http://www.rappler.com/nation/49972-comedian-tado-among-dead-in-mt-province-bus-accident). This one:

There's something magical about mountains, really. That's what draws us, mountain enthusiasts (I would not even consider myself a mountaineer) to sacrifice physical comfort to bask in the beauty of the mountain. Actually it's just a very basic concept of risk and rewards. Right from the start, I just wanted to enjoy the mountains and did not want to count how many I've climbed (Ayokong magmukhang mayabang. Climbing many mountains is in no way something to brag about). I did not want to be a peak-bagger. But on hindsight, I think Tado has something in mind in doing this project. I may never know what it is, but trusting his uncanny wit, I decided to just go with it. 

Anyway, I think this project of Tado is interesting and downright noble. So to pick up where he left off, I will make my own contribution to this 40 Mountains Project. My objective is simple, let people have a peek at the beauty of the mountains through my camera's lens. It is my fervent hope that I can share with you my admiration of the beauty of nature and somehow contribute to its conservation and an overall awareness for the environment. I may not be able to justify the beauty of the mountains through my photographs, but I do hope that this small contribution can instill in you, the readers, the need to conserve these wonders. Hey, capturing them in photos is in one way preserving them, right?

I'll be posting 10 mountains per post so be patient as I complete this project. I don't have a concrete time frame on when to complete the 40, I just enjoy the company of the mountains as opportunities arise. The mountains are posted on chronological order, on when I first climbed it. 

Life Begins at the Mountain and my journey starts here.

The Pimp Daddy of Philippine Mountains - Mt. Apo

So... we decided to climb the highest mountain in the Philippines - Mt. Apo (9,692ft) last November 14 to 16, 2013. Actually, I had no plans of doing this in the first place but that plan was ruined early this year. This is why:

I was just restarting my climbing career (as if I have one. haha!) December last year after a 2-year hiatus. We were trekking Mt. Romelo last February when Hannah told me that they were going with Deo (our lead climber in Backpackers United) on a November Mt. Apo climb, then she added, "sama ka na rin!". She could've asked me this question on a better time, because at that moment, I was already sweating huge cold droplets because 1.) my legs are already cramping and 2.) I really need to poop - my mind's circuits are already going haywire and I could not think clearly. haha! So, without thinking through, I just replied: "o.. oo sige."

Weeks later, Deo booked my ticket. I paid my dues. Then come November, I find myself pooping at about 1,000+ meters above sea level, at the emergency camp of Mt. Apo. hahaha! Enough of the poop talk. I was just trying to ruin your appetite with the hope that you'll be disgusted and discontinue reading this blog.

Just kidding.

Anyway, since it is named so, I have selected three pictures that best describes our Mt. Apo climb. Ladies and gentlemen, let me start our count-to-three with this:

Nope. This is not the set of Lord of the Rings. This is THE BOULDERS, where dreams goes to die. HAHA!

Mt. Pico de Loro

To start off, let me manage your expectations. This blog is not a mountaineering blog, nor a travel blog so don't expect me to hand over itineraries and whatnot. I am just a happy hitch hiker who goes from one adventure to the next without thinking things through. So don't expect much from me. haha! To put it simply, this blog is where I dump off random brain farts accompanied by three pictures I shot. Kaya nga count-to-three title ng blog na to e. hahaha!

I know you're bored. Why else would you be here? So let me waste some of your time once more. Let me present to you: In Photos - Mt. Pico de Loro!

Pico de Loro or Parrot's Peak can be found in Ternate Cavite. It is about 660 meters above sea level, which can take you about 6 to 8 hours to the summit and back if you are planning to do a dayhike. Story goes that Spanish Galleons passing to and from the Manila Bay noticed this stickin-like-sore-thumb of a mountain that looks like a parrot's beak waiting to be fed with a gigantic earth worm by its equally gigantic momma parrot.  

Look at that. I really think something's fishy here. I think a Parrot Super
Mega Zord is hidden there waiting to be called by a Power Ranger.