Our Wonderful Journey....

Well it all started with careful planning...but seriously we never get to do anything we planned. Mostly we just come up with an idea and just get right on with it. Sometimes we just sit at home on a very boring day until someone comes up with an idea to go somewhere and have fun. At first, we would explore pathways all around town in search of a more challenging road to nowhere and end up finding very intriguing shortcuts we have never discovered before. That went on until we got bored and decided to take on a bigger challenge. We drove to the next town to discover even more and found out that there were even more roads that no one even dares to drive through. These roads that we discovered led us to many different locations such as the unfamiliar road from "Danlag" which is in the town of "Consolacion" has unintentionally led us to our hometown in "Lilo-an." Thus, this pumped our thirst for even more adventures in places not a lot of people go to. After becoming heartily familiar with these passages, we tried to track down trails even higher up in the mountains in hopes of reaching the city. This was too much for 5 people, all in the age range of 20- 25. We were so much excited and the hunger for more challenges pushed us to do even more. We were not professionals just a bunch of teenagers with 3 motorcycles and no gadgets or whatsoever.

On one very boring day,everyone felt really lousy. Nobody was doing anything and we were just hanging out. That was until we came to a decision to finally do it, to travel to the city without the help of well-paved roads and traffic lights. We started out here in our hometown, we traveled up the mountains and just followed the road ahead us. We did miss a few turns here and there but hey? It's fun! Eventually we got to a road that led us to another town called "Talamban" which is just behind "Consolacion." Soon we found ourselves in a very unfamiliar place where the roads get more complicated and hard to remember, but we were definitely up to it! We went higher and higher to the point we could see vast range of lands and mountains on the right side and the big city at the left. We didn't really think we'd get that far but we did and even farther than we planned. We were at the mountainside part of Cebu City. We reached the Central Highway which was the best road to be. The air was fresh and very cool. There were no busy traffic lights to bother the mind, no pollution to sore the eyes and no heat to dry our bodies in the sun. The sun simply shone and was very beautiful. Oh what a sight it was indeed! It seemed as if all our exhaustion from all the traveling had all vanished and in exchange came a really great feeling of contentment. We continued the refreshing trail until we arrived in "Balamban", another very interesting town in Cebu. From there we could see lots of fresh flowers being cultivated in rich soil, vegetables planted almost anywhere and yet grows with utmost beauty. I thought to myself, "In my whole life, I have never seen such richness in nature such as this place." We were so struck by the wonderful things we have seen, we couldn't get enough of it. We even bought fresh Lettuce and brought it home with us. There we got them for a very low price whilst in the market or in stores they were expensive and not even fresh.

We continued our journey and headed to "Toledo City." There we went on a short tour and observed the people that were residing there. Since we decided that it would be our last stop and it was nighttime already we would have gone home. Unfortunately, our vehicles had probably had enough and needed rest, same goes for us, we were tired and clammy from all that adventure we had and the picture taking that took most of our precious time. The motorcycle tires had gone flat and needed repair at 3 am in the morning. We haven't slept and were sore all over. Luckily a vulcanizing shop was still open and we were able to get it fixed. The problem then was, where and how were we going to sleep. We called a friend who was currently renting a small apartment in "Balamban" and thank goodness he woke up or else we'd be found asleep on the street.

We woke up at 7 in the morning and the cold air greeted us with a bit of rain. I was still very sleepy though and had quite an unpleasant morning. We all started out early so that we would enjoy our traveling experience even more with much time on our hands. After roaming around the town, we got hungry and decided to eat first before heading home. After eating a full meal we headed back. On the way we stopped by a small barangay which had a very beautiful spring coming from the mountains. We took even more pictures of the place and of course ourselves in it. Next up we traveled towards the Central Highway with the thick fog all around us. I managed to see a beautiful mountain resort and wanted to take pictures in the entrance, but seeing that the entrance fee was quite affordable i decided to treat them and we went inside. Surprisingly it was more beautiful than i imagined. There was a hanging bridge and a Zip Line. The hanging bridge made us feel a little bit dizzy and clingy at the same time. The Zip Line however was very exhilarating. It was a ride wherein you'd be tied and harnessed with a thick belt, which is of course attached to a strong cable line. Although it wasn't very far, it was deep and I was the first in line. Soon all my companions followed. Needing to muster up the courage to jump and trust your life to those secure lines and the man who controls them really turns your stomach inside out. Even though we had to force 2 members of our group not to chicken out, it was very pleasing and really fun. We roamed around and checked the resort in order for us to fully enjoy the amount we paid. We saw amazing sights and animals too.

After we've had enough of our little stop-over, we continued our travel with the fog still around us but getting thinner. Even if we had our lights on in daylight we couldn't see other vehicles coming towards or even behind us unless we hear them coming. It was dangerous but the thrill of it is really breathtaking. Slowly the fog starts to loosen and we started to see more. Finally after what seemed like hours of driving into nothing, the fog cleared out. We could see the mountains and the sun reflecting the dew in leaves and grass. It almost looked light bright, sparkly lights illuminating the whole mountain.

Finally we reached the Central Highway and stopped once more to eat delicious Japanese sweet corn which, by the way, is grown just in the seller's backyard. They plant it, cultivate, harvest and then cook it all by themselves. Some are just sold raw to people and even business owners. Right at the side of the small stalls there was another micro resort. It was more like a place with a huge area and lots of horses and a medium built venue area. They also had a small playground for children with a little pond. Horse ride for 1 round costs only 20 pesos, while the ride down to the lower part of the resort costs 50 pesos. Entrance fee is at 25 pesos per head, not very expensive eh?

Anyways, we finally and seriously decided to go home. We trailed down the same route we used and hurried home. Finally, after a very long and tiring day, we reached our town. Even more when we reached the house we raced to our rooms and lay flat in bed exhausted. Even though our bodies could scream no more in all the tiredness we felt, our minds could still recall the fun memories we had just hours before. We were sleep and yet our thoughts are all about our adventure. Hoping to go back there someday, we could only reminisce everything in our peaceful and sweet dreams....