Discover Asia's Sagada Tours

This got my attention because it features a stop at Sagada Weaving which is owned and managed by close relatives. Don't complete a visit to Sagada without visiting this shop - the one and original Sagada Weaving.

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Want to travel North and see caves, green pastures and experience the beauty of Nature? Why not try and join our Banaue-Sagada-Baguio Tour. Where you can feel the real breeze and Chillax to the max!

Rate:

Php 2,850/person: Min of 2 pax


Travel Scheds:

1st Travel Date: October 30 - November 1, 2008
Target Slots: 24
Available Slots: 10

2nd Travel Date: November 7-9, 2008 (Friday-Sunday)
Target Slots: 12
Available Slots: 7

3rd Travel Date: November 28-30, 2008 (Friday-Sunday)
Target Slots: 24
Available Slots: 18

4th Travel Date: December 27-29, 2008 (Saturday-Monday)
Target Slots: 24
Available Slots: 20

Inclusions:
* Roundtrip Van Transfer (Manila-Banaue-Sagada-Baguio)
* 3days/2nights accommodation at Residential Lodge, Sagada
* 2 Days Tour at Kiltepan, Echo Valley, St Mary's Church, Lake Danum, Big Falls,Pottery House, Sagada Weaving, --Sumaguing Cave and Orange Farm.
* Entrance Fees and Permit
* Tour Guide Fees except at Sumaguing Cave (Php 100/person for min of 4 persons)
* Toll Fee, Gas, Driver's Meal and Accommodation
* Taxes and Surcharges

ITINERARY:
Assembly Date:
0800pm Assembly at Glorietta Makati.0830pm Estimated Time Departure from Manila to Banaue.

Day 1:
0500am Estimated Time Arrival at Banaue Rice Terraces Viewing Point. Stop Over for picture taking and souvenir hunting.
0600am Estimated Time Departure to Sagada.1100am Arrived Sagada. Check-in, take early Lunch and Rest.
0130pm Visit Lake Danum, Sagada Pottery House, Sagada Weaving
0330pm Proceed to Sumaguing Cave for Cave Spelunking. For those who doesn't want to explore Sumaguing Cave, our driver will bring them back to Residential Lodge.
0600pm End of Day 01 Tour.
0700pm Dinner and Rest.

Day 2:
0600am Wake-up call.Breakfast.
0700am Start of 2nd day of tour. Proceed to Orange Farm and Bomod-Ok Falls.
1100am Early Lunch.1200pm Visit St Mary's Church, Echo Valley (where the hanging coffins are located) and Kiltepan Rice Terraces.
0400pm End of Day 02 tour.

Optional Activities: Food Trip at Strawberry Fastfood, Yoghurt House, Masferre, Etc..

Day 3:
0600am Breakfast.
0700am Souvenir Hunting.
0900am ETD from Sagada to Baguio (Bring trail food since ride from Sagada to Baguio will take a while)
0300pm Arrived at SM Baguio to eat Merienda or Late Lunch
0430pm Depart Baguio to Manila
1030pm bEstimated Time Arrival to Makati.

For further information about this new project, please contact:
Janice Rovero
Discover Asia International Travel and Tours
123 Narra St. Sta Clara, Sta Maria, Bulacan
Mobile: 0917.502.1827
Email: jhanacer@yahoo.com
YM iD: jhanacer

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Bloggables 001 - Sapay Koma, Tapis Police, Haikus

I'm starting a list of worthy "bloggable" items in the Web that either features Sagada and the Igorots, or are works by fellow Igorots. This would be the first of such a list.

• Sapay Koma – Essay by Jhoanna Cruz posted in her blog, Dagmay. If an article makes you cry and laugh at the same time, it’s certainly worth reading. A well written piece on a non-Igorot’s marriage to an i-Benguet (man from Benguet).

• Tapis Police (Frank Cimatu, Philippine Daily Inquirer) – Read about the formation of a tourist police force in the Banaue – Bontoc – Sagada area. The article notes that women policemen wear the traditional “tapis” and high heels. These “tapis police” are apparently a hit with locals and tourists. I’d like to see a picture of them. Do they just stand behind the desk at police stations? I think so. I can’t imagine them running around the rugged terrain in high heels.

• Siwat’s Weblog - A 54-year old Igorot, and a stroke-survivor at that, shares his writings and thoughts in this blog. His haikus made me smile.
  

• Checking Up on Sagada - Ferdz Decena's latest blog post on Sagada is a photo-essay that only he can produce. I loved the photo of the young girl peeling a fruit. For one so far away from home like me, it was a nostalgic one. His blog, En Route, has multiple posts on Sagada dating back to 2005.
  

• Pentax Forum Sagada Gallery. I'll never tire of Sagada Photo Galleries. This one is a wonderful collection of black and white and colored photographs of Sagada by Ansbert, a Pentax Forums Senior Member. The photos inside the church are a must see.

• Portraits of Sagada – Erick of Tondo writes about his encounter with the friendly people of Sagada. I smiled at his observation that Sagada locals don’t ask money if they get photographed… unlike people from that another tourist town in the Cordilleras. Well, different strokes for different folks.

• Idiosyncracies– A Bacolod-born freelance writer blogs on happenings in Baguio and the Cordilleras. Includes other topics of interest.

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1980s Sagada Images by a French Photographer - Part II

Here's the second batch of Sagada images by a photographer from Paris, France. These photos are in black and white and in poster sizes. The edges of the photographs were not scanned due to the size of the scanner used.

Sagada's Morning Mist:

Sagada's Rocky Terrain:

Sagada's Rice Terraces:

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1980s Sagada Images by a French Photographer - Part I

In 2004, I was having dinner at a Paris restaurant with 2 Filipino high school friends, and 2 Frenchmen. The first Frenchman was a client, and the second was his cousin who happened to be a photographer based in Manila, and married to a Filipina. While waiting for our fare, a man in a black suit with some folders entered the restaurant. The photographer in our group whispered that the man who entered was a known French photographer who sometimes go to restaurants to publicize his photographs. (Now, I don't remember his name - but I hope to be able to research it in the web one of this days).

Our group struck up a conversation with this photographer, and soon enough, we learned that he's been to the Philippines. I told him I was from Sagada and he quickly said that he'd been to the town in the 1980s, and have some photographs that he didn't have with him a the moment. We got his card, and promised to visit his studio soon.

A friend and a cousin accompanied me to his studio just outside Paris. Once there, he showed me some contact prints of his Sagada photos. He had more than a dozen, in black and white. I chose 10, 7 to be printed in 5x8; and 3 to be poster size. The photos were worth some hard earned euros, but I knew they'd be used to decorate my house one day. Heck, 1980s Sagada photos by a French photographer are not that common. I came back after a week to get the photographs since he developed these himself. Of course, I asked him to initialize the poster size photos, which he happily obliged to do.

Two of the 10 photos I gave as a gift to a lola in Paris. The other 8 photos I brought back home to the Philippines. We left it there when we came to the US in 2006, but through the kindness of a colleague, the photos are now with my family again. I've scanned the first 5 and are sharing them in this post. I will try to find a way to scan the other 3 poster sized photos.

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Photo 1 Above: A tree obscures a traditional hut and a more recent galvanized iron house.

Photo 2 Below: A view of the town from the the yard of St. Mary the Virgin church.

Photo 3 Below: Sagada Rice Terraces.

Photo 4 Below: Sagada Rice Terraces.
Photo 5 Below: A view of houses below the Mission Compound.

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Finding a Sagada Friend through Facebook

RC was the first Caucasian I befriended. This was during my 6th grade, way back in 1987-88. She is Australian. Her family rented a place in Nangonogan, Sagada - where I spent my early childhood years. I don't remember what her family's business in Sagada was. I know they moved from one rural place to another. Prior to Sagada, they stayed in Somalia. This means that her folks may have worked for a non-government organization, but at that time, it didn't occur to me to even ask. Her family were the first Buddhists I ever met.

I was a regular at their house; she and her brother had a good collection of Asterix and Tintin comic books. I remember playing darts with them both. And, when it was school election time, she run under my party as the Public Relations Officer (PRO). After a campaign speech in front of the whole school, she sang "Waltzing Matilda". I remember that I won in the position I aspired for; she narrowly lost to a 5th grader. (On a side note - when I worked in Paris, a French colleague was surprised that I read Asterix and Tintin as a child. He pronounced Tintin as "tan-tan".)

We had a class debate during that year - it was on the effect of tourism in Sagada. I was in the group who favored tourism, to my great surprise, she was in the opposing group. To me, she was a tourist in Sagada. Perhaps she didn't see herself as I did. She was one of five or six from that group who stood up and gave a speech why tourism is bad for Sagada.

After 6th grade, I moved to Manila to continue my high school studies. I believe RC and her family stayed in Sagada for a year or two more. After that, we lost contact with each other. Just last year, I opened a Facebook account. I searched for RCs name and I saw a profile from Australia. I sent her a message asking if she was the same RC who was in Sagada. She replied back:

"Yes!! I am RC who went to sagada elementary school, and I am delighted and suprised that anyone has found me! I would never have thought that anyone would find me from Sagada. I am SO PLEASEd you did. ...

The only thing is I have a vague memory I definately rememeber your name, and now your face has changed. I have photos of that time and I will look at them. Are you still in Sagada?"

Sometimes, the child in me wish that he is still in Sagada - a 6th grader, no cares in the world except for reading Asterix and Tintin comics, and learning "Waltzing Matilda" from an Australian friend.

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