Stories Covering " UNUSUAL "
Showing posts with label UNUSUAL. Show all posts

at 6
Stories of town explorations.
"They left an evidence to let us know they once existed but the complete details on why they have to do this is a thing only known to them."

The Cordilleras is so shrouded with fascinating events from the past that have made their way to survive and show up in our contemporary age. Time might bury the memories of the past but the early mountain inhabitants were just intelligently resilient, enough to allow the future generations to still learn about their ways in the past. It is a battle of the mortal and the immortal. To date, these artifacts have crossed the realm of immortality when it survived the infinite power of the timelessness of time.

Jar Burial practice in the Philippines

Spotted! A jar in the grave


One intriguing discovery I encountered in #BONTOC

#BONTOC

FAST FACTS: The capital town of Mountain Province, #Bontoc hosts majestic ancestral rice terraces, a prehistoric village, burial caves and the melting pot of culture in the province.

Photo: Palali Rice Terraces @ Alab Oriente, Bontoc is a mass grave with evidence of jar burial. In fact burial caves in the Cordilleras is not uncommon. However, burial caves with evidence of jar burial is unusual.

This burial rite, though a bit unusual in the Cordilleras has also been practiced by the ancient people in some parts of the Philippines like in Palawan (Manunggul Burial Jars).

Jar Burial practice in the Philippines

Jar surrounded with pine coffins


It is mysterious why the early inhabitants have to bury the dead with earthenware. My guide told me that the dead person placed inside this jar must have been special.

Of course, I didn't want the opportunity to just pass by me. So I have to get up close with this special jar to see what's inside it. Whoaahh! Skeletons...

Jar Burial practice in the Philippines

Jar with skeletons!


The person placed inside this jar is thought to be someone who is special, with special role in the society: could have been a leader, or a person with great influence. Well, everything is just a theory. No one can seem to puzzle this mystery accurately.

The ancient past will just give us a glimpse of what have happened during those times. But the rationale behind these events remain as a question. They left an evidence to let us know they once existed but the complete details on why they have to do this is a thing only known to them.

Jar Burial practice in the Philippines

With the jar inside the Ganga burial cave (background)

Jar Burial practice in the Philippines

The burial jar still in good shape


It was a great fulfillment for me to be able to discover, learn and understand the ways of the past. Doing this is completing the missing link in my life. 

I have just learned and discovered a lot in this village and I believe I am still going to discover more. I left Ganga Caves fulfilled, contented and tired but another site is actually, still, waiting for me. 

It is a stone house, no longer a cave, also located in the mountains of Alab Oriente. There are huge stones, impossible (or almost impossible) to carry in our time even if we use machinery, shaped like a pyramid standing on a steep, hidden portion of the mountain. Uh! I am so overloaded with mysterious things! There are even formations, made up of rocks piled over the other that is showing a message, and a BIG mystery, again... and again! /to be continued...

*ALAB ORIENTE DOCUMENTARIES SUB-SERIES | 1

Alab Oriente, Bontoc | An Ancient Village with Sacred Grounds

TEASER: "Prehistoric mountain dwellers inhabited this place leaving a mark that became an evidence of their existence." | 2

Mt. Gotong, Mt. Data | Hiking the Mountains of Myths and Urban Legends

TEASER:"...there is still a little regret in me that I didn't just even notice the summit of the first real mountain I ever climbed." / Photo: Photo: Mt. Gotong | Bontoc, Mountain Province | 3

Alab Petroglyphs | Prehistoric Etchings, Mind-Boggling Patterns

TEASER: "It was carved inside a space of time from another dimension of civilization even far from the dawn of Christianity..." | 4

Finding Shelter in Alab's Mt. Data: Happy Memories with Strangers

TEASER: "By time, I may forget them, so, I have to write a story about that experience that I may still remember those precious memories every time I do the recalling of happy moments." | 5

Ganga Burial Caves | Mystical People, Mysterious Grave

TEASER: "I experienced goosebumps upon entering this area of dead bodies that made me feel I was in a different dimension." | 6 | 7

Ganga House, the Ruined Pig Pen and Goodbye Mystical Mountain

TEASER: "Still, it is significant because it is an ancient mark, an evidence of prehistoric civilization. The trek continues..." | 8

The Last Generation of Overt Igorots in the Cordilleras

TEASER: "Each second counts, and each second that has passed means losing another second of their generation."

Bontoc #TownExploration Series

Map showing the Location of #Bontoc

Click map to view latest articles covering Mountain Province

MORE POSTS FROM THIS CATEGORY: *UNUSUAL*

Unscripted Off-Road Back-Riding to the Chocolate Mountains

TEASER: "This is no longer a part of the script but it is essential to make the story worthy. This is purely an escape and a beautiful way of getting lost!"

The Most Beautiful Town Hall Location I've Ever Seen

TEASER: "As I leave this town, I know by myself that I will always cherish all the memories it gave me. I don't know when should I be back but I am sure, San Quintin has been written in my heart."

Iriga City | Cool Militarized Tricycles from Nora Aunor's Hometown

TEASER: "I call them militarized not that they are under a military command but because their designs were just so cool which looked like a military vehicle before my sight!"

Urdaneta City | Jeepneys, Tricycles Fully-Booked

TEASER: "...next time you want to commute in this part of the city, never attempt to get one. Although they are empty, they are already fully-booked."

Rice Terraces | Turning to Vegetable Terraces Too

TEASER: "...no time is wasted, their limited farming fields at the slope of the mountain become productive all year round."

Palm Sunday Trade | Buying 'Palaspas' on a Holy Week

TEASER: "Around 50 weavers were situated along Liberation Boulevard waiting for cars and motorcycles to drop by along the street and purchase directly from the vendors without going out their vehicles."

Rice Field at the Middle of the River | Battling the Drought

TEASER: "This place is I think the most popular site along any highway traversing Ilocos Sur. It is about 20-30-minute drive from my city Vigan."

Manabo Bridge | Bridge of Stupidity in Abra

TEASER: "The question is when are they going to wait? It will be finished soon. But how soon is soon?" NAGUSTUAM DIAY NABASAM/NAKITAM? MABALIN MO MET I-LIKE.
Continue reading

at 4
Stories of town explorations.
"This is no longer a part of the script but it is essential to make the story worthy. This is purely an escape and a beautiful way of getting lost!"

The path was not easy. It requires that you must get physical and brave. And I said, it is unscripted because it is not the type of off-road riding designed for packaged/paid-tours wherein the things you are going to see and the so-called "off-road" you are going to take is like a script of a movie that is already written and anticipated and it mainly caters the thrill designed for tourists paying for the touristy off-road rides.


Licuan-Baay,

I call this natural wonder as Chocolate Mountains.


So this pick-up back-riding adventure has a different script. The script is on the spot and it requires a driver who can go on the spot and a guide who is knowledgeable enough about the destination to keep the story going.

The destination is the town of Licuan-Baay, a place not recommended for solo travelers (as per assessment) and an overnight stay for strangers is a scene that should be cut by the director of the movie. If you haven't heard about that town, I have made an introduction post to help you get an idea what to expect there (click here) but of course, that intro post is just the surface. We will explore this town deeper in the upcoming posts of this series.

...and I miss these instant friends!


I was riding at the back of a pick-up. It was a personal choice. Although I was given a chance to ride like a prince, I preferred to savor the view of this first-time-to-see destination. I wanted a bigger space where I can rotate my body 360degrees. I practically didn't want to miss any good thing.

With me at the back are two men whom I have met for the first time. We don't know each other but an instant friendship was established.

We devised ways to make our stay at the back comfortable and adaptable. But it turned out to be more memorable than comfortable.

The fast-running car has left us awed as we pass the road amidst wide post-rainy season brown grazing fields then slowly but surely, the road has been successful enough to conceal that we are already ascending to a higher altitude.

Prelims: Pine-clad mountains, Eucalyptus-topped hills

Pine trees growing naturally along the road

Eucalyptus-topped post-rainy days brown hills.

The start of the ride will not allow you yet to see the Chocolate Mountains as I call it because those preliminary mountains host pine trees naturally while some are intentionally planted with eucalyptus that give a menthol-y smell to the air.

But if you try to notice them, mostly are low-rise mountains and hills already covered with post-rainy days brown grasses. 

The smooth start

The start of the ride was smooth. As you go farther, the scene becomes different. Totally different from the capital town -- empty road that gradually turns rough and those mountain views not seen in the capital town.

I was just enjoying the smooth ride as we gradually ascend to the mountains. All I know that time is I will be seeing heavily-forested lush green mountains of December.
_______________

As we were going farther, more remote than ever, I was expecting that the mountains must have thicker woods and hardcorely verdant mountains but the script of the real-life movie where I was a part was just unpredictable. 

You don't know what will happen next and how the story will end because as I go deeper to the Cordilleras, the mountains start to become brown.

"Oh, where am I going?" I asked myself. The place becomes more strange every second and the movie has turned oblivious for the ending.

However I know, this will be more exciting. I have erased all the expectations in my mind and just waited what will happen next - not certain but I think it is much better. At least, I know I am in good hands and I am safe wherever they will take me.

The real score has come. The flow is no longer smooth, it starts to become bumpy and dusty as the environment starts to turn brown and the sun has poured out heat to indirectly squeeze out our sweat.

It becomes tiring and more challenging I know but it becomes more thrilling. This is no longer a part of the script but it is essential to make the story worthy. This is purely an escape and a beautiful way of getting lost!

Licuan-Baay is the name, the home of this brown paradise. These natural features are higher/taller than Bohol's Chocolate Hills but they are less known, undiscovered and too remote to see. As the off-road back-riding becomes more intense, the reward becomes more alleviating.

There it appears and this is now real! The pine-clad and eucalyptus-topped mountains have just diverted my expectations. It was like a tremendous mound of chocolates!!!

The view is surreal! I can't help but to take cycles of deep breathes and it took me few minutes before sinking-in to the point that what I was seeing is real.

Actually the town is too huge that a day is not enough to explore the place and it could be costly and butt-numbing. My white shirt has turned cream and my dark skin has turned whiter because it was totally covered with dusts.

Endless mound of chocolates, that is. But I am not telling that all mountains in Licuan-Baay look like this. There are also green mountains and mind you, these chocolate mountains (a personal name I coined for these mountains) turn green during rainy days. Check out the photo below.

There's nothing to lose, rain or shine, there's something magnificent to see. If this is the price, I would not mind traveling off-road once again and every now and then.

As we were winding the off-roads in the Chocolate Mountains, I thought I have already penetrated deep the Abrenian Cordilleras but I was wrong, we are still going deeper and those brown mountains were just a grand welcome. We're still at the surface of the town! The town is really huge and it is composed of two unofficial districts called Licuan and Baay.

I was able to penetrate more of the Baay side and it is another story as the road is getting intensely excruciating and the challenge is getting exclusive for the brave and the determined. For those who can not take a more extreme level of off-road traveling, think twice.

Military escort turned photographer (photo op)

The adventure was made possible through these people (Candid shot)

Look at those mountains at the back!


The story doesn't stop here. The scene got more intense and thrilling as we go deeper in the town. This is the real sense of adventure. Now I am feeling how to get really lost wonderfully! 

I discovered great things in Baay, but before reaching the inner barangays, it requires that we have to survive the next part of the challenge. To be continued...

Map of Abra showing the location of Licuan-Baay


Licuan Baay Series: Part 1 | You are Reading Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7
NAGUSTUAM DIAY NABASAM/NAKITAM? MABALIN MO MET I-LIKE.
Continue reading
Subscribe to: Posts ( Atom )