Looping around North Luzon
Leaving Sagada behind us a week or so ago, we headed further north on another of these typically infuriating Cordillera mountain roads – which are often paved for about 500m at a time, then not again for another 10km – to Tinglayan in Kalinga province. Filipino tourists don’t come here, and few foreigners do either, so it was nice to visit a pretty untouched place after the well-trodden villages of the rest of the Cordillera.
From Tinglayan, we did an all-day hike through the mountains and three villages, passing many rice fields, bathing in hot springs and a chilly river and generally enjoying the scenery. We met two Australians who have just begun a five-month volunteer stint living in one of the villages and documenting its culture and customs. It was a tiring day, but an enjoyable one, and we’re glad we got to experience Kalinga.
Faced with the prospect of 18 further hours on Cordillera roads just to get in and out of Kabayan (not to mention the subsequent five-hour hike each way to see the mummies), we realised that since we’ve already seen mummies on three different continents, it probably wasn’t worth the effort. Instead we headed our of the Cordillera towards Tuguegerao to the north – the quickest way out of the mountains – and soon found roads that were both paved and straight, a relief to this motion-sickness inflicted traveller. This new route allowed me to celebrate my last 20-something birthday at a nearby cave-church rather than on a bus, and we were then able to travel all the way around the picturesque northern perimeter of the island en route to Vigan.
Vigan is hailed as the best example of a colonial city in Asia, and even though it cannot compare with the great Spanish cities of Latin America, that’s still a pretty accurate description (Luang Prabang in Laos is nicer, but isn’t really a true colonial town). Vigan is a World Heritage site, and when you stroll down cobble-stoned Calle Crisologo and past horse-and-carriages, you can almost imagine the conquistadores doing the same thing 500 years ago (minus the antique souvenir shops). We’ve spent the last three days taking things pretty slowly, relaxing in our colonial hotel and using non-colonial wi-fi to plot various future visa/flight/work/travel schemes and download many podcasts.
With only four more days remaining until we leave the Philippines, we only have one more thing to accomplish: climbing to the crater of Mt. Pinatubo, which sounds very impressive and hopefully will meet our expectations.
Tags: Asia, Kalinga, Southeast Asia, The Philippines, Vigan
Nick