Mt. Daraitan x Tinipak River Adventure

Date: July 2019

Destination: Tinipak River x Mt. Daraitan

Lodging: Kuta Bingliw Eco Lodge and Campsite

Place: Tanay, Rizal

I’m now reviving my blog again to write about our adventure last weekend!  It has been 4 years since I last went into an enduring hike.  2015, it was in Mt. Pulag.  A year after, my friends and I did Mt. Taal, not to mention, Masungi also as to include it in the count. 😊 This time, the venture is in Mt. Daraitan x Tinipak River located in Tanay, Rizal; about 2.5 hours drive from Metro Manila.

Last July 6, Saturday, we left Ortigas City around 8:30am, had heavy brunch along the way and arrived at Brgy. Daraitan at about 12:30pm.  We parked our cars and later on met our assigned guide Benji.  The parking lot has various sari-sari stores. On the other side was a land going further down to the bayan. In between these lands was a river separating it.  We had to ride this “Bangka” to get to the other side.  We’re a group of 9 people standing on it trying to balance ourselves.

Upon reaching the other side, we rode the tricycle to get to their bayan. With our heavy bags and various stuffs like food and 5 gallons of water, we managed to fit ourselves into 2 tricycles! Upon arrival, we left our belongings in a small canteen and only got what we needed for the afternoon activity. We then rode another tricycle towards the Tinipak jump-off point.  Now this is where our journey begins. 

***

Trail from the jump-off point to Tinipak River 

 From the picture it might seem overwhelming with the huge rock formations, but it was actually a pretty easy walk. The weather was sunny; very good for the afternoon activity and it took us about an hour of fast stroll to reach Tinipak Camping Ground at around 3pm.

Few steps away from the camping ground will then lead you to the main site: The Tinipak River!  The rock formations were huge and of different angles and shapes all together forming into one big masterpiece of landscape!  The water is clean and it wasn’t too cold at all to welcome the people into an inviting swim.  The level of water goes deeper as you go farther away from the land. 

Heading down the river

Group shot of the fun crew!

Relaxing in the cool water with the current pushing us to one side

We stayed in the water for about 1.5 hour, enjoying the afternoon dip and chitchatting. Time for us to go back.  This is when it rained. Good thing we just came from swimming!

***

Back at the small canteen, we got our stuffs and rode tricycle again towards Kuta Bingliw Eco Lodge and Campsite. That is where we will be spending the night.  We arrived at the Kuta jump-off point and it will take a 30-minute hike going up to the actual lodge.  The rain stopped and with all our heavy stuffs, we started the hike up and oh boy! It was a very exhausting hike!  I started thinking how hard it is to do the check-ins in their place!  My Pulag check-in was more convenient as there were porters carrying our heavy bags. Yet, we needed to focus as we don’t have any other place to stay!

***

Welcome to our “kubo” with a tent set-up!  We washed up and later on, dinner was served: a big chunk of white rice with Tuyo and Tinolang Manok.  By 8pm, we’re now ready to call it a night. 9 of us then will sleep side by side together inside the tent.  This was actually a night full of epic happenings!  Each of us had a very unique experience from the “Fried Fish in Salt” to the sleeping positions to how we can or cannot sleep to how we had restroom breaks to how we saw the starry skies to how we hear the nature sounds and the “somewhat-rhythmic” sounds and to how one of us woke up unable to feel his legs!😂  It was indeed a night to remember as we can’t help laugh about it a lot whenever we recall that evening!  Because of that, wala na kaming hiyaan sa isa't-sa lalo na pag nasa bundok ka!  I managed to sleep at around 10:50pm as our call-time for the next day was 2:30am.  3 hours of sleep. The struggle of waking up is so real!!!

***

Day 2.  Our journey begins towards Mt. Daraitan.  3 am. It was very dark and we only had head lamps and flashlights to light our path.  The weather was good; no rain, however there were parts in the beginning full of mud as the rain yesterday left the ground super moist.  It was very slippery on some parts and we had to find a stick to support us.  We had 2 guides; 1 in front and 1 at the back.  As we continued to hike, there were 2 dogs following our trail sort of guiding our paths.  They know the path very well and continued to stay with us all through-out. 

Portion of the not-so-muddy trail

The trail we took was sort-of divided into 3 sections/parts: 20% muddy, 10% talahib, and 70% assault.  Prior to the hiking, we knew that it was a level 3/9 mountain to hike.  But on that very moment of hiking, we were all very sweaty and exhausted and some of our footwear started to give up on us! One of us was wearing only hiking slippers and imagine the demand of strength needed from him to travel by foot into the muddy part towards the assault part and not to mention going back down that you have to fight the gravity to balance yourself.  One thing is clear. Proper footwear is really a MUST! My Merrell hiking sandals also started to give up because of the muddy part!  

Along the way, we encountered this horse carrying baskets of eggplant and vegetables.  This is how they transport their raw foods from one place to another to sell.   No wonder there are horse poops on the muddy trail.

There was one resting place also with various Fire Ants.  Some of us were bitten by it. I was bitten twice as I was just wearing socks and sandals. It wasn't itchy like the normal ant bite but it left a sting for a while like a burning sensation!   After a while, it just went away on it's own with me trying not to think about it.

***

3 hours had passed and we still haven’t reached the peak.  The sun is starting to rise already and we were still making our way on the assault part.  By the time we got to the peak, it was approaching 7am. There was daylight already. Too bad we didn’t see the sunrise from the summit. The view however was very nice and seeing it with the naked eye gave us a sense of accomplishment for a moment.  We finally made it! It was a bit foggy but when you look down, you can see the lower mountains with rings of clouds surrounding it. 

Left side: Crowd   X   Right side: Bangin :))

We roamed around the peak taking pictures.  It was a bit crowded already as the roaming area up there was just on one side as seen in the image.  The guide said that it's approximately 200 people registered to hike up on that day.  They normally welcome max of 400 people.  Hence the rainy season made the count lesser.

Roaming around the peak



***

After half an hour on the peak, we made our way down back to all those parts again.  Good thing there were lots of trees along the way to cover us from the sun.  The talahib part was the only area that exposed us fully to the heat of the sun.  Trekking down ain’t easier than trekking up.  This was the part where some of us had bumps, slips, and scratches along the way.  Not to mention, trekking down was the very part where we questioned ourselves why we’re doing this adventure!😂 Nonetheless, we managed to get back to our lodge enduring a total of 7.5 hours of physical hardship; from 3am until 10:30am; and oh, don’t forget the additional 30 minute hike from the Kuta jump-off point upto the lodge itself!

Assault Part heading down

Talahib Part

Drop dead tiring na!

***

Some people ask me if it’s worth it.  In my honest opinion, it is very worth it most especially if you’re into hiking.  I like to push myself physically to explore these thrilling adventures (kahit na hindi halata as many would often tell me LOL).  I am afraid of heights.  Yet those 2 days of being able to see the people there, their way of living, the moments on the peak, witnessing the majestic view of God’s wonderful creation, having to trek with a fun crew, and being able to conquer a mountain and get back to Manila safely by God’s grace; all these things I am thankful for!  These moments are an eye-opener to me as to the life out there beyond what the busy city offers.  When we look back, these experiences help shape us out of our comfort zones and ultimately bring us in awe of God with His wonderful creations! 👌😉

Special thanks to this guy for leading and organizing! :)

**Special thanks also to Arich for the wonderful photos!

All glory and praises to God!

How to Talk & Listen Effectively to Kids

Greetings! This will be my first entry for 2014.  Come to think of it, I haven't been able to write as much nowadays.  Well, it's a new year and I have too many books here left unread, all in line begging me to make time :))  Hence, I thought of quick reading them so I can finally pull them off from staring right at me!  Now I'm inspired to share something that has enlightened me in my perspective on how to deal with kids and generally others as well.

This book was lent to me by my co-teacher in Sunday School, Shanda.  You might be wondering why on Earth am I reading this kind of book.  Well, first and foremost, I am fond of kids; preschoolers in general. Aside from them being playful, adorable, and all innocent, I am always fascinated on how they think and learn, how they communicate, how honest and pure their language could be, etc etc. :)

This book is pretty useful as it is packed with lots of application on the how-to's and what-not's.  It mainly teaches us how to talk effectively, and how to listen effectively.  As simple as it may sound, I think that it takes skills and experience to be able to master the effectiveness of it.  Funny because I started to realize the amount of stress parents get dealing with their kids based on the real-life sample scenarios here! Yep, the book is packed with lots of real-life situations from various parents and teachers where readers can learn from.

Below is the summary that I gathered from each chapter's conclusion:

I.  Helping Children Deal with their Feelings:

• Listen quietly and attentively
• Acknowledge feelings with a word  ("Oh.. Mmm.. I see..")
• Can give feeling a name  ("That sounds frustrating!")
• Can give the child his wishes in fantasy  ("I wish I can make the banana ripe for you right now!")

II. To Engage a Child's Cooperation:

• Describe what you see, or describe the problem  ("There's a wet towel on the bed.")
• Give information  ("The towel is getting my blanket wet.")
• Say it with a word  ("The towel!")
• Describe what you feel  ("I don't like sleeping on a wet bed.")
• Write a note  (Above towel rack --> "Pls put me back so I can dry. Thanks, Your Towel")

III. Alternatives to Punishment:

• Express your feelings strongly without attacking character  ("I'm furious that my new saw was left outside to rust in the rain!")
• State your expectations  ("I expect my tools to be returned after use okay?")
• Show the child how to make ammends  ("What this saw needs now is a little steel wool and a lot of elbow grease.")
• Offer a choice  ("You can borrow my tools and return them or you can give up the privilege of using them. You decide.")
• Take Action  (Child: "Why is the toolbox locked?" //  Dad: "You tell me why.")
• Problem-Solve  ("Son, what can we work out so that you can use my tools when you need them, and so that I'll be sure they're there when I need them?")

IV. Praise and Self-Esteem. Instead of evaluating with "Good", "Great", etc:

• Describe what you see  ("I see a clean floor, a smooth bed, and books neatly lined up on the shelf!")
• Describe what you feel  ("It's a pleasure to walk into this room.")
• Sum up the child's praiseworthy behavior with a word  ("You sorted out your toys in a separate box.  That's what I call organized!")

V. To Free Children from Playing Roles:

• Look for opportunities to show the child a new picture of himself/herself  ("You've had that toy since you were 3 and it almost looks like new!")
• Put children in situations where they can see themselves differently  ("Sara, would you take the screwdriver and tighten the pulls on these drawers?")
• Let children overhear you say something positive about them  ("He held his arm steady even though the shot hurt.")
• Model the behavior you'd like to see  ("It's hard to lose, but I'll try to be a sport about it. Congrats!")
• When your child acts according to the old label, state your feelings and/or your expectations  ("I don't like that.  Despite your strong feelings, I expect sportsmanship form you.")

All these look so concise.  Reading through the book would guide you further with explanations on the principle behind each item.  I'm not a parent yet hence I wouldn't know if all these are soundful haha. So, what do you guys think? :P

Therefore, Think!

Reading the book Think, The Life of the Mind and the Love of God by John Piper gave me a whole new perspective on how our Holy Bible was intricately breathed by the Holy Spirit to contain myriad of God’s wonderful messages to us.  Some may enjoy reading the Bible, others may find it perplexing.  John Piper’s book sends out a message to all the readers to dig deeper on Scriptures, having to use our Mind as a necessity in understanding the context as well as the message. 

What is the role of our minds?  Mentally and Physically, I’d say it is mainly used to get us functioning as a human.  Emotionally, it feeds our hearts with substances that will fuel our heart’s emotions.  How about Spiritually? 

“…in 2 Timothy 2:7, Paul says, “Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything.”  So many people swerve off the road to one side of this verse or the other.  Some stress “Think over what I say.”  They emphasize the indispensable role of reason and thinking.  And they often minimize the supernatural role of God in making the mind able to see and embrace the truth.  Others stress the second half of the verse: “for the Lord will give you understanding in everything.” They emphasize the futility of reason without God’s illumining work.”  (pp 64)

It is true that we need heavenly grace to be able to grasp God’s divine complexity in this life.  Yet I was reminded with the portion above to embrace both human thinking and divine illumination as a necessity to grow in faith.  Many times we lean only on one side of the picture subconsciously and with such, there’s a danger as to the effect of how we perceive things or run our lives.     

“…Both-and.  Not either-or.  The word “for” (in the above verse) means that the willingness of God to give us understanding is the ground of our thinking, not the substitute for it.”  (pp 65)

I would like to quote a passage from the book that would somehow sum up how thinking could get us to understand more.  Aside from this, I also had goosebumps after discovering a wonderful thought underneath. 

Matthew 7: 1-12 (NIV)                      ⁷ “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. ⁸ For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.  ⁹ Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? ¹⁰ Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? ¹¹ If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! ¹² So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.”

“… did you notice the word so at the beginning of verse 12?  Did it send out a clear and compelling message about the relationship between Jesus’ teaching on prayer, on the one hand, and the Golden Rule, on the other hand?  It looks like this:  “How much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him! So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them”.

The word so is not a throwaway word here. ...  “God will answer your prayers and give you what’s really good for you; therefore treat others the way you would like to be treated.” (pp 52)

What is the relationship between God’s answering our prayers and our loving other people?  Could it be that part of God’s granting request is based on a “so / therefore” as seen above?  It got me thinking more about the nature of prayer.  Yes we know that we should ask and seek, that God answers us in His timing, and that when we pray we should not doubt as to receive.  Yet this new discovery literally got me thinking on a whole new level on how God answers our prayers.  Do you have petitions left unanswered?   Could it be because of something relevant with the Golden Rule?

“Does Jesus promise that our heavenly Father always gives just what we ask for?”  “Does it say he gives exactly what his son asks?”  Why did verses 9-10 specify what Jesus would NOT give instead of what He will give from what we ask?  . . . Questions, questions; Think, think.

Hence, the word “so / therefore” is a key to many treasures.  There are numerous passages in the bible with a connecting “therefore” thought.  That's why the next time we try to seek for answers, always strive to include the “therefore” context in your search as it may just be your key to be able to get some answers.

I haven’t finished the book yet but I’m pretty sure it will render me more unraveled meanings and purposes.  For someone who likes to think and over-think, I strongly recommend this book to get us in the right track of thinking! J

Volcanic Wonders

Welcome to Mt. Pinatubo! written Nov. 9, 2012 images were self-photographed :) Panoramic Shot on top of the Crater :)

An active stratovolcano located on the island of Luzon, near the tripoint of the Philippine provinces of Zambales, Tarlac and Pampanga. We all know what happened during the 1991 eruption that led to the formation of a lake on its crater. I've been so blessed to be able to journey through this historical wonders of nature with friends. Before my hangover fades away, let me write it all down to preserve the intricacies of our journey :)

Our day started last Nov 5, 2012 at 3:30am as our wake-up call. Everyone only had 3hrs of sleep from our previous agenda (church service > funny incident at lunch celebrating Alvin's bday > zoobic safari > dinner celebrating Alvin's bday again > groceries > 1.5hr drive to the villa in clark > panic mode > Jath finally arriving from his joyride). As we departed the villa around 4:45am, the road was still dark and empty. We were pointed to a different direction from someone who's not "tiga-dito" hehe. Few hours later, the sun begins to rise.

 

We made it to Sta. Juliana at 7am; registered at the local tourism's office, applied sunblock, geared up our things, then off to the 4x4 ride!

My group was lucky enough to have the roofless 4x4. We stood the entire trip on the bumpy road of lahar shouting, clinging on the bars, poking fun on each other, laughing, eating up all the fresh air taking pictures and just being mesmerized by the beauty of the surroundings. We still haven't gotten to the hike part yet!

The other group in their "roof-full 4x4" :p

Toblerone Hills ~ a foreigner naming it such. Obviously why :)

Notice the mountains behind and the hills? The latter are not really hills but are formed out of lahar

An Aeta community living in the middle of Lahar

Trailing up, you'd find more communities and schools

Our "roofless" 4x4 got stuck in this stream of water!

Finally! Jump-off Point

Minutes past 9am, we arrived at the jump-off point. Here comes the challenge! The sun was high up as we trek our way. It was still a smooth one. Everyone was enjoying the sun and the rocks, picture here and there. Imagine a vast open land with high walls on both sides; in the middle is a straight rocky path of around 20 meters (?) wide. Sometimes the terrain will take you through streams of water with current so strong it will push you along it's flow (similar to the one where our 4x4 got stuck). The streams of water we crossed was average of knee height. Hence, im proud to be wearing a Merrell sandals instead of rubber shoes (special mention to puma shoes haha).

    And the trek begins!

  And the picture never stops hehe..

Come 10am, we were so drop dead tired, or at least was I! The sun was already scourching my skin and the terrain was sloping higher with bigger rocks and a more narrow unlevelled path! We kept on asking Kuya Arman (our tourguide) how far the crater is. He said: "1/4 na tayo...ng 1/4"...  O.o

Bigger rocks ahead 

Come 11am, we sighted a rest station where we ate our packed lunch and had CR breaks. There was even a tank full of spring water, not to mention it's cold and free! Guess how much manong was selling a bottle of cold Coke up there? P80! "Kayamanan ang tubig dito!"

*No picture in this stop, I was so hungry!!*

Before 12nn, everyone was quite excited as we reached the signboard. This is it!! Stairs towards what we've been dying for!! But man, those were no ordinary stairs as they were so high reaching knee-height!!  Finally minutes after we exhausted all our strength, there I saw the gateway towards Heaven!! (With Jath sitting there as if claiming the first spot haha).  Everyone was elated! Exhaustion all drained away instantly!

 Not as elated as we look but really, everyone was proud of that moment!! :))

The crater was so much of a majestic view. The green-blue lake was like jewel to the mountains surrounding it. It is shallow on the shore side until there's a complete drop few meters from it. The shore with boats on it gave me a chance to rest there as I absorb every detail of this beauty. The bright sun added light to the colors of Mt. Pinatubo right before my very own eyes. Simply put, im in awe of God's infinite creation..

View from the top of the crater

My topmost fave shot!  All-Nature!

 Panoramic Shot on the shore inside crater :)

 Panoramic Shot :)

Winner Shot!  (Wena and Kris missing lang :c )

 

Time tells us now to get up and start trekking back before night reaches us. It's around 1pm when we started to head back. For me it was a lot easier than trekking up. However, some of us started encountering injuries like slipping down the stream and bumping onto a rock. I myself had toe cramps and both of my Achilles' heels were bleeding due to the scraping of my sandals on the sunburnt skin. It was a long exhausting trek going back plus our longing made it even seemed longer.

 Moses with the cane and Joshua :p

Imagine my feet now with the tan-line of that sandals O.o

At last, we reached the jump-off point at 5pm. We already sat on the entire 4x4 ride exchanging stories and painting the nature in our memory bank for the very last time. That was, for me, my 2nd best memory of Mt. Pinatubo with sunset views on the wide mountains.

Picture with Kuya Arman, our ever-ready tourguide :)

P.S. Sabaw na kami lahat during that time hehe..

Everything was amazing. Even the people who lived there were really warm and accomodating, esp Kuya Arman who assisted us the entire trek to the point that he might be risking his own life in that kind of work. He earns P400 on a day-trip aside from his carpentry profession. He told us stories about Mt. Pinatubo, the eruption, the experiences with other trekkers, and many more sentiments. He was fast to aid us of our injuries. The locals there were friendly enough to wave at every stranger they see.  The Aeta community we saw have banana trees around their nipa houses as their living.  It's really humbling, at least for me, on how they can live with such simplicity in touch with only what nature offers. They also wanted to experience Manila life.  As we crossed the middle of lahar with a nice sunset view, Kuya Arman was also in awe of it. I then told him that there's not much of that in Manila. Somehow deep inside of me, I would also like to experience their kind of life where everything is just simple, where you wake up each and every day to the wonderful creations of God surrounding you, where you are reminded almost always that God is the beginning and end of all things. Other than that, almost everything is meaningless already :)

We travel, some of us forever, to seek other states, other lives, other souls.

-Anais Nin (french-cuban writer)