I'm a Genetic Mutation

Remember Yuri’s Revenge game? Yuri Camp’s second superpower is the ability to turn living “items” (dogs included) into overly-muscular half-naked gray humanoids that talk like Frankenstein. When I want to do a slow kill, I would purchase a huge army of dogs and soldiers.

Their number would double since Yuri has a cloning machine. (We have the in the Philippines but so far our cloning is limited to DVDs and values.) Going back, yes I would at times end a game of Red Alert 2 with a 300-strong army of Frankies. Not even the French cannon or the closely networked prisms could stop them. Bring out all your GI’s, snipers, tanks, thunder storms, pill boxes, Tesla towers—sheer number is unstoppable.

That’s quite a long premise but that’s a pseudo-premise actually (bazinga). That’s more of a tactical tip for people who are already winning a game but still want to use some tactics. These are people who do not just go for the kill. These are people who go for murder.

 I am prompted to entitle this post thus because I foresee that somewhere in the future, a beauty pageant would go by the line of: “If you would genetically mutate, what would you become and why?” Real genetic mutation does not involve instant morphing but let us pretend that we are in a poorly researched sci-fi show.

If I were to answer that question, I would say I would mutate from being a man to a whore, which makes me a man-whore. But being already that, I proudly claim that I am a genetic mutation.

***

That’s long premise within another long and senseless premise. This post is not even remotely related to genetic mutation, save for the fact that somewhere within the text is a man-whore. This is a two-part series, because it’s Christmas and it’s the time of marathons. This is the road trip part, the second one will be the Bojo River tour in Aloguinsan. I and the Boss went into a sort-of long trip to Aloguinsan.

We did not take the direct route instead went through Trans-central Highway. It’s a mountain pass, in case you do not know yet. And like any other mountain passes, it was full of bends and fun. We rode a Honda XR. It's a 200cc dirt bike. We went home via Manipis. Our ride profile is here, courtesy of Google Maps.
 

Baguio-Sagada Bus Ride

Somehow, I find it difficult to blog about our trip to Sagada. There are tons of photos waiting to be upload, tons of explanation to images that arouse curiosity (such as why their waiting sheds have stairs on the side or why the coffins are hung at Echo Valley). I have all the time in the world to come up with lousy jokes or just some simple high-school-precision paragraph writing.

I'll settle for a photo entry for now. The trip was great, aside from the fact that it was six hours long and there were only two bus stops and we were three rows from the front seat. After my trips down to Mindanao and up in Luzon, I concluded it is only in Cebu where "near" is really near and "far" is just far. Everywhere else, near is hours of walking/riding and far is really, really far.

The Baguio-Sagada trip is the best bus ride you will have in your life so better get the one beside the driver. It's like riding a roller coaster, only that the risks are real. En route, you will pass by the Philippine Pali, the highest elevation in the Philippine Highway system. It is 7,400 feet high and just one kilometer from the first bus stop. The Piattos we brought nearly popped off because of the pressure.

There are jeeps and other vehicles you will see at the ravines--fallen vehicles nobody bothered to bring up nor steal the metal. Those places are just so deep and ragged and steep that they just let those stuff rot. If you want to have the best seat, be early at Dangwa Terminal. It is near Baguio Public Market.

Dangwa is a once-huge bus liner. They still operate buses in the Mountain Province but they share their terminal now with other passes, like the GL bus we rode. Fare is 240 pesos. Seats are assigned so be there early, like an hour before the departure. The bus we rode left nine minutes before schedule.

There are times when you think you'd nearly fall off a cliff but after a few hours you'd realize it's normal. Bus drivers take that six-hour route twice a day so don't worry--just enjoy your window seat.

Credits to Chy for the food photos and for bringing a great camera. There was more food trip than road trip so I did not exactly leave up to my previous blog post. It's difficult to be on the road with someone who is very willing to try everything edible she sees.

Update: Just remembered our guide's story about a French guy who biked this whole route from Baguio. He visited Sagada years ago and when he was about to leave for the airport, his bag was stolen in Baguio. All he had left was the bike he rented. So he pedalled the six-hour bus ride back to Sagada. He now works there as a cook and plans to stay in the place for good.

Baguio-Sagada-Vigan-Bangui Road Trip

This is the blog entry where I will use Blogspot as a Twitter supplement. I will be gone for a week--don’t miss me too much.

All is set for the Luzon trip with The Boss. Manila-Baguio-Sagada-Vigan-Bangui. I am pretty much confident about the route except the Sagada-Vigan trip.

According to the map, the shortest way is via Bauko-Cervantes-Bessang Pass (where the Yamashita Battle happened). But travelers said that it takes lesser time to go back to the longer Baguio route, than to take the more “direct” route.

There is no vehicle that can ply the route because the Cervantes bridge has not been repaired since it was damaged during Japanese occupation. There is a makeshift link of planks for people to cross. Maybe we can jeepney-hop our way to Vigan. Just maybe.

Another alternative is the Abatan-Cervantes-Suyong route. It runs parallel to the fallen-bridge route.

Update: I bet there are a few people who constantly follow this blog. We will be passing by Philippine Pali, the highest point in the Philippine highway system. I can show some love by posing there with your message. If you don't like me, the boss will do it. :P

This will be a budget trip so we decided to get cheap accomodations. In Baguio, we booked Lyn's Transient Home. It's only 350 per head. In Vigan, I have My Father's House Dormetielle in mind. I am still looking for the rates but someone wrote it's cheap and definitely a +1. It looks cozy and secured and very neat from the photos.