Sagada, Philippines Trip (Day 4)

27th July 2014, Sunday

Egg Tart

Woke up super early again wanting to see the sunrise, but my friend was feeling feverish suddenly and she even vomited. So i decided not to go for the sunrise, and just go to the cave only if she feel better. But my friend wanted me to go for the sunrise still but i don't feel nice to go alone. I smsed the lady from the group we met in the waterfall to let her know we are not going to see the sunrise. So we just remained in the room and slept back. I woke up @ around 7 plus again, and i heard pigs screaming outside the room. I got up and take a look, i saw there were people trying to grab and tie 2 giant pigs going to bring to market. And the pigs were struggling, they put a pole and tie the pig to it. And it looked very heavy. After that, we managed to wake up and head down to Lemon Tart House to have our breakfast. And they were having egg tart which is only available on Sundays.

We ordered our breakfast and egg tart when we arrived. It was very yummy... ^_^...and the place was cosy too. The egg tart is nicer than the lemon tart. The tables are short short, and the customers will have to sit on the floor. There are 2 table with short short chairs. And they have free wifi too...hahaha...After breakfast, we walked out to wait for the guide for the cave. The guide name Gareth, then we told us that we need to walk 2km to reach the cave. We were thinking we had already hiked 3.8km the day before, so 2km was nothing for us....hahaha....And so we started to walk, the guide also apologized to us that the sunset driver didn't reply to us. The guide told us that Sagada was once buried in the sea and it was later found.

Coffins stacked in the mouth of the cave

 Along the way, the guide showed us the hanging coffins and then we had to climb down a long long steps to the burial cave. The steps weren't easy to climb down too, but the guide was just walking down the steps like it was nothing. We were taking a longer time to climb down...hahaha... we saw the burial cave, there were alot of wooden coffins stacked on top of each other and they were stacked up on the top. The guide gave us an introduction on the coffins there, he said the coffins were already 100 to 600 years old and there were no names indicated on the coffins. So the descendants also won't know which coffin belongs to who. And the coffins were shorter than the normal coffins, this is due to the natives believe that when a person dies, he/she will be return back to the nature and the body will be put in a curl up position (like inside a womb). That's why the coffin is shorter in size. But when Christianity was introduced in Sagada, the natives changed the position of the body to lie down fully and so the coffin size changed to the normal size. To present day, the people there do burial in cemetery but there are still a small percent of the people who still choose to be bury there in this way. The people also believe the coffin is the home for the dead. The guide was telling us that this burial will cost much more and it was more harder as it required a lot of people to carry the coffin and the body down the mountain road. And there are rituals to be done for the burial too. So the people will have to separate the coffin first and re-built it again in the cave first and then they will form a line down from the top to the entrance of the cave. And they will pass the body down  from the the top, and the guide said this is called 'Basketball'. So they will say go basketball when this is required...kekekee....The guide also told us the wake can last for days, depending on how long the relatives come back and the people were more to welcome the souls of the dead to come back to visit them.

Cave Entrance

Then we made our way back up to the road, which means we need to climb the long steps up again. Finally we reached to the top, and we still need to walk to the Sumaging cave. After walking for some time and while walking, the guide had weaved rings from some small branches on the ground (he said this is what the guides do whenever they are bored), we reached the mouth of the cave and the guide told us there was 245 steps down to the bottom of the cave. The guide went down first to prepare the lantern while we slowly climbed the steps. He gave my friend a headlight where she had to wear it on her head.Then the guide told us this is called spelunking (caving), of course my friend already knew it. And he showed us that we need to go down on fours inside the cave too, he showed 2 types of crawl, monkey crawl and crab crawl. So he was telling us as the rocks were slippery too, need to be very careful when climbing down. And so we started our journey down the cave, really need to squat down to climb down the rocks, there was a part where there were bats living upstairs and so he told us not to touch on the rocks down beneath as they were covered with the bats' poo....hehehee....After some time, i had to use my hands to hold on to the rocks, regardless whether it is dirty or not. The rocks will become your support. Then we reached to a point where there was clear water flowing and there were brighter lights shinning. There were people taking photos there and we had to take off our slippers to climb on the rocks. Then the guide told us to take off our slippers n hid them on the rocks in a corner. The guide told us the rocks were flowing stones, and which the water was flowing down the rocks. At first he was telling us to climb down the rocks with the water flowing down to get to the bottom. I was scared to climb down, and my legs were wobbling too. Eventually i climbed down the rocks, and the guide showed us the different stones formations inside. And the water was very clear and cold too, i felt cooling in the water too. Then he showed us at a point, and asked us whether seen snakes before. Then he said it was a joke, snakes cannot live inside cave. It was a stone formation that looked like a very long snake...hehehee....Then the guide told us to climb down a gap down to the lower level, the guide was just climbing down without any problem. I was still wondering how i going to do that....

The King's Curtain

Then after the guide went down and placed the lantern and bag, he came back and told us to climb down by stepping on his legs to help us down. After we climbed down, he showed us the formation named, The King's Curtain (There was a queen, king, princess and a prince 'hippo' previously and turtles too). Then he asked us which way we want to go, 1 is the shorter way and the other way is the longer way and we need to climb inside and the water level will come up to chest level. He also told us that some people they just stop at the center point and don't continue into the cave which is like a waste there. So we chose the longer way as i thought it will be more fun. And there was a really small gap that we need to climb to get inside. Then we walked down along the rocks, it was filled with rushing water too. Then the guide showed us a stone formation that looked like a big bear lying on fours. After that we came to a point that the water was rushing down very strongly and we need to use the ropes to help us climb down. After we climbed down, the water level was quite high and it was icy cold. I was shaking in the water and we had to walked in the water to get to the other side. Then we came to lowest point in the cave. It was cooling and it was beautiful inside. The guide helped us to take our photos too. Then we made our way back to the center part by more climbing on the stones. Then when i saw the rope to climb up, i was so happy that i shouted that we made it back....hahaaa..We climbed up by using the rope up and the guide asked me to crawl inside a small area. But actually, you can walk by it. When i came out, my friend was laughing happily at me, then the guide told me that's what they do for every first timers in the cave. As my friend was not the first time in the cave, she knew it along too...hahhaa....After this, we need to climb back the same route with the same rocks back up to the cave entrance.My friend had a slip on the rocks while climbing. It was really tiring to climb up, as i was really tired from the climbing up and down but it was fun. We completed the whole journey in about 2 hours and i enjoyed it...hehee.. :).....And i survived!!!
My friend was saying we should go for the cave connection instead but the starting point is from another entrance....heheheee

My Lunch

After we climbed back up to the surface, we were all wet and tired. I washed my hands using our water bottle. Then the guide asked us ready to walk back down to the town. Luckily there was a guy driving a pickup and the guide asked him whether can give us a ride down. We managed to get a hitch ride on the pickup, so we don't have to walk down. i just sat there, looking around while my friend chatted with the guide. Then we went back to the hostel first to shower once we got back. The hostel owner saw us and asked whether the caving was fun. After the shower, we headed out again to have our lunch. We went to Sagada's Especialty, there was no other customers except us. And the dogs' smell was very strong in the place. But still, we ordered our lunch to eat. The fried chicken was super nice...After the lunch, it started to rain again. We walked back to our hostel and we ended up sleeping again.....Hahahaa....the weather was so nice to sleep...Woke up @ around 5 plus and waited for the rain to stop. Then we went out to walk around the town and went to the shop opposite our hostel. It was selling their bags made from weaving by hand, and there was a lady doing the weaving too. This is their local products that people will buy, quite good quality too. I bought 4 coin purses and then we left. We then passed by Salt & Pepper cafe again and we went up to have blueberry tart (My friend was niaming to have it when she woke up from her nap...hahaa). After the tart, we went down to the sausages stall again and bought hotdog & sausage again....yum yum....Then we walked along the street...till we reached Maferre country inn. There, there are photos of the old natives villagers inside, where customers can view them but cannot take photos of them. As we were not so hungry, we ordered a soup and a sandwich. The soup was quite nice but don't find the sandwich nice. There was a angmo couple who ordered 2 plates of spaghetti there (1 after another). After the dinner, we went back to our hostel to rest and my friend tried to do some packing as we will be leaving Sagada the next day. Tonight, it was very quiet, there was no dogs barking or crickets singing.