End The Year Ride

Right, I mean.

December 27-30, 2013. It was an uncomfortable 9-hour bus trip from Manila to Bangued, Abra. We were having breakfast in Chowking when we checked Google Maps for the day's mileage. There it was: 110kms. We did a double take and I refreshed the page every so often but nope, the distance didn't change. 110 Cordillera freaking kilometers.

This was all part of the adventure of course. We said yes to Sir Paul (SPV) when he invited us to ride the northern part of the Philippines for the Christmas to New Year break. The plan was to start in Bangued, Abra, make our way to Balbalasang, Lubuagan and Tinglayan (all in the Kalinga province), then to Bontoc (in Mountain Province). From there, I would take the bus back to Manila so I can make it to New Year's Eve with the family. Pen, SPV and LA would meet up with G3 and Levi in Bontoc and celebrate New Year in Sagada. SPV only e-mailed us the towns we were staying in but we had no idea how far apart they were. Looks like we were about to find out.

Bangued - Balbalasang

Good spirits and rolling hills.

Uphill battle with not a store in sight.

We found a jeep that had no trouble convincing us to ride topload to Balbalasang.

Weddings in Balbalasang last 2-3 days where lots of pork and coffee are served,
and saying no is not an option.

The beautiful, raging Saltan river: the setting of many emo moments and future karaoke backgrounds.

Balbalasang - Lubuagan

The next day, our bikes rode topload again. It was an uncomfy 5 hour ride to Cagaloan.

From Cagaloan, we biked 10km uphill (what else) to Lubuagan, Kalinga.

Cloudy skies and cold weather are the norm in Kalinga

We were ambushed on our way to the inn by the locals who insisted we eat and drink with them.
They were genuinely excited to see bike tourists in their town. 
They're especially grateful to former President GMA for paving the roads.
They serenaded us with "Fools Rush In." They were quite drunk.
This was our third cup of coffee for the day.

Morning broke. We had to bike 65kms from Lubuagan to Bontoc.
I needed to catch a 3pm bus to Manila.
But there were too many opportunities to take pictures.

Long and winding downhills to Tinglayan. Not a car in sight.
This place is beautiful.

The Chico river down below. And more roads for us on the right.

The mostly paved road gave way to muddy tracks. 

Cattle / kalabaw here and there on the road.

And pigs too. Poop was a fairly common sight.

Luckily for us, there were so many natural springs around.
We took advantage of these springs to clean our bikes and refill our water bottles.

Thank you to Larga for our bike bags and Lagalag for our apparel.