Mt. Pulag: The Sea of Clouds and 8-Man Tent Experience

This is a long overdue post, but I want to share my experience and a few photos from my hike to Mt. Pulag in Benguet last February. It was a last minute trip that was organized by my cousin Bea. Another cousin of mine Carlo, who came home from NYC, wanted to do something for his birthday weekend here in the Philippines. Due to the fact that the schedule wasn't flexible and Carlo only spends time in the Philippines once every two years, I was definitely up for a weekend getaway. A few emails and facebook messages later, we had booked a bus ticket going to Baguio for my first hiking adventure in 2014.

I've done a few hikes before, but I definitely do not fall into the category of seasoned hikers to say the least. The last trek that I did was Mt. Pinatubo last year, and we hardly did any physical exertion during that trip as we ended up riding the truck 80% of the time. Prior to Pinatubo, I did beginner hikes at Mt. Batulao and Mt. Gulugod Baboy in Batangas in 2010 and 2011 respectively. That pretty much sums up my track record in the mountains.

Suffice to say that Mt. Pulag intimidated me. It's the highest mountain in Luzon and the 3rd highest in the Philippines at 2,922 meters above sea level. What does that mean? Well, it means it's so high that when you're at the summit you can actually see clouds beneath you. It was an awesome thought, super mario-ing above the clouds; but when I look back at what I did while I was at the summit, I hardly moved not because of exhaustion but because it was so darn cold, I held onto Jim and my sister for body heat. More than the physical effort, the biggest challenge during the Pulag hike for me was the near-freezing temperatures at the mountain.

But I digress. Let me start from the beginning.

Bus ride date on Valentine's Day

We were supposed to take the 10PM schedule which arrives at 4:00 AM in Baguio, but the 10PM schedule was fully booked so we resorted to an earlier ride. Our group left the Victory Liner Pasay Terminal at around 7:30 PM  for Baguio on Valentine's day. Jim and I had brought the ever romantic combination of lugaw and siopao for dinner to be consumed during our 5 hour bus ride to the north. He even created a playlist with cheesy love songs that we could listen to during the ride but knowing us both, we just ended up sleeping throughout the trip. We arrived in Baguio at around 1 am and hung out at the Victory Liner terminal til 4:00 where we met up with our group, Club Travel Now. While waiting, I changed into my hiking clothes and organized my bag in a manner that would be convenient for me to get jacket and gloves when it got colder and my jelly ace/ granola bards when I needed energy. Hashtag: Takot magutom! Hihi

DENR/Visitor's Station

From Baguio, the ride to the DENR Visitor station was around 3 hours, and it was there where we got schooled by the candidly funny DENR Superintendent Emerita Abas about Mt. Pulag National Park and the rules surrounding the area and its locals. The orientation lasted for about 45 minutes because of her quips about the climbers that she encountered in all her years as a superintendent. One thing that I noticed when we were at the station was that no one from Club Travel Now was really coordinating with us. While other groups were getting acquainted with each other and having group photos we felt that we were left to ourselves. There were A LOT of visitors during that weekend--probably more than 100 climbers hitting the Ambangeg Trail had the brilliant idea of spending Valentine's day above the clouds.

(L-R) Randy, Maria, Carlo at the back, James, Me, Jim at the back, my sister Kat, and Bea

Ranger Station

It took us another 1 hour jeepney ride or so to reach the Ranger Station which is the jump off point for our trek. This is also where we had a chance to eat and do our final preparations for the climb such as restroom break and water refill. I brought 2 liters of water, some trail food e.g. jelly ace, granola bars and flat tops in my ever so reliable Jansport Backpack. At the Ranger Station, we also met the adorable sweet cheeked Kankaney/Ibaloy kids who were the inspiration for this post. I did not remember the Ranger station being too cold, but I always made sure my shell jacket and gloves were within my reach just in case it got colder during the climb.

Pretty local kids at the Ranger station

Isn't he the cutest? I wanted to hug him!

The Climb

We started walking on a paved road where jeepneys were parked and the landscape slowly changed into a dusty trail with a view of awesome greenery from below. We saw cabbage/lettuce patches, pine trees and wild flowers along the way. It was a pleasant walk on the rolling trails and I would stop once in a while to take photos. The view further changed into a mossy forest, the ground no longer dusty but covered with rocks, ferns and fallen leaves. As we did our hike, Jim and I did our usual clean up ritual: picking up trash during our trek. I love being surrounded by nature and it makes me furious to see cigarette butts and candy wrappers strewn about in some areas in the park. Mt. Pulag is considered sacred ground by its locals and is home to more than 500 species of plants including the Benguet Pine tree and 33+ species of birds. Reaching Camp 1 which was landmarked by a nipa hut, we lay on the grass, ate more trail food and rested our backs.

 I was a bit tired at this point and thinking in retrospect, I figured it was because of the following reasons:

1. I was not as fit as I had hoped. (Boo!)

2. I was ill equipped with my Jansport Backpack which did not have any provision for shifting the pack weight to my hip and chest. (Ouch!)

3. I was not used to the high altitude and was in the process of acclimating to the weather. (Brrrr..)

Just a few species of flora found at Mt. Pulag National Park

Needless to say, we continued with the climb, making sure we were properly hydrated and my group called for breaks whenever it was necessary. It was starting to get chilly after we passed Camp 1 so I started putting on my second layer of clothing. We reached two water sources between Camp 1 and 2 which was a huge relief because I almost emptied my first bottle of water during the ascent. From the second spring water source, we reached the grasslands in Camp 2 after 15-20 minutes. For future climbers, the second spring water source is a really good sign!

Campsite 2 and a Big Small Tent Issue

By the time we arrived at Campsite 2 at around 5:00 PM, there was a sea of tents already put up by other Pulag goers and we had no clue where we would set up camp. I knew then that we will not have flat ground to sleep on, as we tried to look for a decent spot to settle down. After the almost 3.5 hour hike and the decrease in temperature, all I wanted to do was find shelter where I can rest and keep warm. My sister, my cousins and I sat together at one spot and tried keep warm using our body heat while waiting for our contact from Club Travel Now to provide tents.

To give you a brief background, we paid Php3188 pesos to Club Travel Now for this trip. The payment did not include our bus tickets which costs around 450 for a one way ride. I knew prior to this trip that it was a bit expensive compared to other Pulag climb organizers, but my cousins and I figured that we needed to take the offer since February 15-16 was the only free weekend we had. Included in the package were the guide, the registration to DENR station, our meals, the jeepney ride from Baguio to Ranger Station and back as well as the tents that we would be sleeping in for the night.

Carlo turning 30 and the two most uncomfortable boys of that hour

 Imagine our surprise when our group of 8 were told that we would be sleeping in a single 4-man tent! It was hard to comprehend given that we registered beforehand, and the organizers should have known how many tents they needed to bring at the campsite. It would've been fine if it wasn't freezing cold--I would've volunteered to sleep under the stars, but given our situation, it was necessary for us to stay inside the tent to protect ourselves from the elements. We immediately asked why we were given a 4 man ten, even if they knew that we were 8 in the group. It turned out that Club Travel Now rented tents somewhere else, and their supplier did not deliver. I hated complaining about things like this, and I what you may want to call a non confrontational person, but the whole situation pissed me off. To be fair, the guides were nice and apologetic about the whole thing, but it the end, I just did not get the value for my money. Safe to say that I won't be booking any trips with Club Travel Now moving forward.

Despite the extreme discomfort because of the cold (by this time, I was already wearing a shell jacket on top of my fleece sweater on top of my long sleeved cotton shirt on top of my dry fit tee) , I was happy to be sharing that experience with my sister, 4 of my cousins, my cousin's friend, and Jim. We sat together inside the tent and bonded over our leftover trail food, some stories from our childhood and more silliness while waiting for my cousin Carlo's 30th birthday on February 16th. Big three oh at the highest peak in Luzon, I think, is a nice way to spend moving up day.

Mt. Pulag gang waiting for the sunrise

Summit and The Sea of Clouds

I hardly had any sleep that night, but we all got up at 3:30 AM for the assault to the summit. I put on another pair of socks, a bonnet, my gloves, leggings underneath my hiking pants, and 4 layers of clothing to keep myself warm. I kid you not when I say that after all that layering I was still feeling like my ears were going to fall off.

The hike to the summit took us another hour and 15 minutes. In the darkness, I saw a long line of head lamps moving towards the peak of Mt. Pulag. It was a pretty sight and a bit daunting too, because from where I was, I could see a large number people ahead of me and they kept moving up up up! It was a never ending line, I tell ya. I hardly saw anything else except for their head lights and the person walking in front of me. At one point during the assault, I felt a little breathless. The slightly steep area during the assault to the peak combined with the change in altitude caused me to feel my head and chest pound for a few minutes until we reached an area for resting. At 4:30 AM, we reached the summit and strategically searched for front row seats to the sunrise and sea of clouds.

Sitting on the grass on what felt like the top of the world, I had an epiphany: I wanted to collect mountains while I have the desire, the health and the time to do so. My track record at the mountains is not impressive, but I'm definitely excited to add more hikes to my short list. And so I added a new goal to my bucket list for 2014: I will do more hikes (at least 3-5) and spend more time with nature this year. (This prompted me to stalk follow Doc Gideon Lasco of PinoyMountaineer.com, days and weeks after the Pulag Climb and I can see myself referring to his experience for my future climbs as well).

Sea of clouds and hiker party at the summit

After a few minutes, we saw the horizon light up. A small yellow line of the sun that slowly converged with the blueness of the sky--it was like looking at the vignettes of a lomo photograph. Then I noticed the clouds, like dry ice emerging from below and I knew it was a blessed day. A mountaineer friend mentioned that some people aren't so lucky. After the whole journey to the summit, some hikers end up with just the bragging rights of hitting the summit, but not the privilege of seeing the sea of clouds. Sure you can see them in photos and yes, I can tell you the story, but they don't do justice to the experience because you had to be there and see it for yourself.

Cheesy photo op! Haha

Our Mt. Pulag via Ambangeg Trail Itinerary

Day 0
7:30 Take bus to Baguio City - Victory Liner Pasay Terminal
Note: You can take the 10 PM bus, but they ran out of seats, so we had to take the earlier schedule

Day 1
01:30 Arrive in Baguio City. Breakfast, freshen up, sleep til 4:00 AM
04:00 Meet up with climb organizers
07:00 Take chartered jeepney to DENR Station
10:00 Arrive at the Mt. Pulag National Park Visitors' Center for registration/orientation
11:30 Leave DENR for Ranger Station
12:30 ETA and lunch at Ranger Station
13:00 Start hike
15:00 Arrive in Camp 1
17:00 Arrive in Camp 2. Set up camp
19:00 Dinner at campsite; socials
21:00 Lights out

Day 2
03:30 Early morning trek to the summit
04:45 Arrival at summit
05:45 Sunrise and sea of clouds
07:00 Start descent from summit
08:00 Arrival at Camp 2 and breakfast
09:30 Break Camp and start descent to Ranger Station, freshen up/restroom break
12:00 Back at Ranger Station; Settle guide fees; jeepney descent
13:30 Back at Visitors' Center; tidy up and log out
15:00 Head back to Baguio City
18:00 ETA Baguio City. Dinner at Vizcos, get Strawberry short cake!
11:40 Head back to Manila via Victory Liner

Day 3
05:00 Back in Manila

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Art Stalking: Molly Hatch Furniture and Ceramic Paintings

So if you're one of the 5 people who read this blog (hi sisters, Jim and Mom!), you've probably read a recent entry about my brand spanking new apartment to be turned over to me within this month. I'm due for final unit viewing next week, before I receive the keys, so I'm absolutely excited about this milestone and the process of buying furniture, decoration and finally moving in. I've been Pinteresting for HOURS for ideas, and I've been going gaga over my awesome discoveries in the cloud.

Today, I discovered ceramicist, printmaker and painter, Molly Hatch and I absolutely covet her work for my apartment!

Just looking at it makes me soooooo happy! It's not even mine! 

These chairs were hand painted based on historical prints for *drumroll please* The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Anthropologie! Can you imagine being in collaboration with THE MET and ANTHROPOLOGIE? Geezus, this lady has mad skills.

Apart from designing and working with furniture, Molly is also known for painting on ceramics. Photos above are the the installations that she made at her solo exhibition last year during London Design Week. I absolutely love the idea of using plates as canvas. And and her use of space is very clever. The ceramics can be used for display as an one unit on the wall, or individually for, well, serving food. But of course, these pieces are not for sale (as if I can afford them), but it's pretty cool that she makes art that's both decorative and practical.

Less colorful, but still equally awesome works from her exhibit Reverie at the Philadelphia Art Alliance in 2013. She is very influenced with history and a lot of her paintings are reminiscent of those 18th century drawings from Europe.

Check out more of her work at her official website and her process at her blog

Photo credit: www.mollyhatch.com

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Watercolor Weekday: Exercising Creativity

I started this blog with the goal of documenting my creative pursuits, artistic activities and design projects outside of my day job as an I.T. Consultant. Since childhood, my love affair with art has never wavered despite the smorgasbord of interests and life events that have come my way during my adult life. There was always this need to create, to play with color, to scribble, doodle and draw, even if they were on scraps of paper, the back of receipts or an artist grade watercolor paper. I've kept notebooks of sketches/doodles and journals for calligraphy, and as a toddler, I also used to draw/paint on walls (to my mother's horror), but that's another story. 

My volunteering week in Bohol in early January

Since I am a huge fan of paper and any surface that you can draw or paint on, my recent victim is a 2014 Starbucks planner that my sister Kat gave me at the start of the year. It was an extra planner that she had no use for and I, being on the receiving end, was happy to have another one of those planners that have a lot of space for doodling and less space for, well, planning. I've kept a bunch of planners before and while they have been useful for jotting down my to do list, most pages were used to document events after the fact, with tons of swirls and shitloads of block lettering.

Baguio doodle

Marker crazy with my Mt. Pulag entry

This year's planner is no different as I've been really enjoying with the daily activity of sprucing up my planner's weekly pages. I've improved with actually using it as a planner as opposed to only using it as a doodle notebook (yay me). Maintaining a planner has helped me in my productivity and in keeping my appointments, making sure that I accomplish what I had set out to do on a particular day. A concrete example is my weekly runs that I carefully indicate on a particular date based on my training plan. I write them in nice big letters, to make sure that I do not back out from my intended target. Mahiya naman ako sa lettering ko, diba? Plus, I get a kick out of ticking off each item on my list when I finish them. 

Since I have a perennial aversion to white space, I make sure to use up some blank pages in my planner to play with watercolor. This painting on the starting page of February was my mindless relaxing doodle when I had a couple of hours to spare on a particular weekend. I went into do not disturb mode and started painting. I love making mandalas even if sometimes I don't really know what my strokes mean. I enjoy the spontaneity of these paintings because I never have a preconceived idea on how it would turn out. 

A mindless watercolor doodle to fill in the white space

Last night, I had an urge to do something different not on the pages of my planner, but on its cover. There was something about having a planner with a generic looking brown faux leather cover that did not sit too well with me. With all due respect to Starbucks and their amazing ability to start a phenomenon on Filipinos' annual obsession with planners, I wanted mine to look a bit different because every second person in Manila probably has a card filled with peppermint mocha and toffee nut latte stickers somewhere. I remember attending a training at the office one time and I think 5 out of the 8 participants brought their Starbucks planners with them. I brought my red Mercury drug (!!!) notebook, coz I use that and not my planner to jot down notes at work. Thank you Mercury Drug, gamot ay siguradong bago.

Anyway, I took out my Reeves Acrylic paint set, and without a plan or a specific design in mind, I started painting little triangle patterns on my planner. I dunno why, but I've been crazy about these geometric patterns lately (see blog header!). Unlike watercolor, acrylics tend to adhere to different supports other than paper, so it really integrated well with the planner's cover. The dark colors were really opaque and brush strokes were hardly visible. The yellow pigment however, was bit transparent, so I had to apply triple coating. I kinda like how it turned out. There is some sort of tribal vibe to it, don't you think? I can't decide if I want to fully cover the whole thing with paint or keep it as is. Either way, I'm happy that my planner doesn't look like anyone else's.

So you see, exercising creativity can be done by anyone every day. Whether it be doing a full painting, doodling on your journal or writing down your plans and things to do for the day, everyone can practice being creative. It does not require any qualifications or a degree in art. Make a mess, play with color, go crazy with all sorts of materials! There is no real formula for it. All you need to do is open yourself to the possibilities. 

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Project Condo 2014

The previous post about our beloved Whitney's passing away was kinda heavy, I feel like I needed to look at the brighter side of life and celebrate the better things that are happening or will happen this year. I will be going through a big leap these next couple of months, because I am set to move into my new apartment by mid May!

Three years ago, I invested on a condo unit for my 25th birthday. It's not really big--just a one bedroom apartment in the city so that I can save commute time by not having to pass along the South Super Highway everytime I go to work. My place is a few minutes away from Ortigas, Makati and Taguig, which is perfect for me since my office is located at McKinley Hill. I have already submitted all the necessary paper work, my bank loan has been approved, and I'm just waiting for the keys to be handed over by end of March. Ahhhh, my own space and my own real estate! While I have experienced living alone when I travel, I still think this is quite a milestone, because aside from moving out of our home in B.F., it's I am perfectly aware that my lifestyle is going to change. I'm going to cook for myself, buy groceries for myself, clean the condo, do my own laundry, rely on my own alarm clock to wake me up in the morning... Haha. It's surreal, but at the same time, it's reality--I am indeed a grown up. *oh snap*

I've been Pinteresting for the longest time about how I imagine my bedroom and living room would look like. The plan is to keep it as minimalist and as neutral-colored as possible. White walls and then white, grey and black furniture. The key pieces of my new home will be in neutral colors and other decorative elements such as pillow cases, wall art, bed sheets, curtains can be changed into brighter colors depending on my mood.

I've been doing a mental checklist of the things that I need to buy, I only have the top 5 things that I plan on buying by May 2014. 

1. A bed, preferably double bed size or if my space permits, queen size. I've been staying in a single bed for most of my life, I want a change this time! I'd like to have a cushioned headboard so I wouldn't need a pillow when I read. If I can't find a cushioned one, then a headboard with a shelf would be nice, so that I don't have to put side tables. Oh I'd invest on good white and grey bed sheets too, and get pillowcases of different colours! 

2. A work table and a work chair - I plan on putting this near the window for more natural light. Solid wood with drawers for my art materials and crafty trinkets. It would be against the wall so I can put my own pinboard/mood board for illustration ideas

3. A book shelf where I can put more books and CDs. Since I don't have a lot of space, I probably would only bring art/design books with me and a few fiction reads and leave the rest of them at our house in Paranaque. I want to make sure that the things that I bring to the condo are functional and would help me remain inspired. 

4. A sofa and coffee table. I want my sofa to be grey or black, with changeable throw pillow cases for pop of color or maybe patterned design if I get bored with seeing stuff in neutral colors. I want it to be a 3 seater sofa, because I will be scrimping on dining room space. I probably won't even buy a big dining set! 

5. A dining set for 4 or 2. Visitors, let's just have pizza na lang! Or sandwiches! Or shawarma! Anything that you can just hold while eating! Haha. 

I'm very excited about this new phase of my life. Now if only I have enough moolah to buy them all at once!

Check out my pins for Project Condo 2014 here!

Disclaimer: All photos in this post are borrowed from: Planete Deco | A Merry Mishap Blog

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Charcoal Drawing: 14 Years of Loyalty

I've been restless the whole day, so in my attempts at reclaiming what's left of my sanity and my deteriorating attention span, I went out for a while to draw. Workload is easy these days, it's bordering on boring despite the steady trickle of enhancement requests from our clients. To take a break from staring at Functional Design documents and emails, I headed out for coffee and did a sketch of my dog Whitney, as a tribute to the 14 long years she has been with my family. 

We got her when I was in 4th year high school, circa 2000 (And yeah, I just kinda gave away my frickin age, but I don't care). She was adorable and playful and sweet as a puppy and as she grew up to be the big black labrador that she was meant to become, she never lost that gentle playfulness. She passed away on March 1, and I could tell prior that she was in pain. I was already researching on the possibility of euthanasia, because she has not been responding well to the food that we were giving her, and she could hardly get up. I regret not seeing it sooner and spending more time with her, really.

A few hours before her death, I stayed by her side and talked to her. I was trying to comfort her and I said my thanks for being the loyal dog that she's always been. I said sorry, too, because I couldn't bring back those times that I missed spending time and playing with her. She looked at me gently, with blinking black eyes and whimpered, adjusting her head so I could pat it. That night, I went out for an hour to get a massage with my mom. She had this voucher that was going to expire on the same day and we didn't want to forfeit the free shiatsu. I went with her and as the masseuse was trying to ease my tense muscles, I prayed to God that Whitney would be eased from her suffering as well. 

We arrived home and Whitney was gone. My mom said with a sigh, "Inintay ka lang niya magpaalam."

Then I burst in tears.

You were such a sweet dog, Whitney. Thank you for everything. I'd give anything to give you another hug and stroke your fur again. Have fun in dog heaven, sweetie. We will miss you. 

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Watercolor Feature: Happy Days Studios

Kristine of Happy Days Studios contacted me a few months back about creating a header for her newly launched Photography Website: www.happydays.ph. She sent me her pegs--nature inspired with use of calligraphic font. She gave me her original logo for reference.

Happy Days Studios' logo: Bright, yellow and, well, happy!

I reused the original font from the logo called Janda Stylish, and for the tag line, I used a Sans serif font to balance out the swirls of the header title. Then I simply added yellow and orange flowers for a hint of nature. The original elements were hand drawn and painted using watercolor, then I scanned it and re-edited using photoshop.

I came up with initial designs--very simple and no fuss, then based on her feedback, I came up with a revision which she ended up using on her website! She requested for a white background and a lighter color scheme. I created a new set of flowers and added a tinge of pink to balance out the yellows and oranges. 

So thrilled to have my work on someone else's virtual store front! Good luck and more power to you, Kristine! :)

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