weird, wonderful, whatnot...

(asking about cave exploration / spelunking. i can't remember the exact conversation. but it went something like this.)

kriz: kuya, delikado po ba dun? (referring to the cave connection, where you have to swim underwater to reach the next cave)

guide: ah, oo.

kriz: may mga namamatay?

guide: ay marami.

kriz: saan?

guide: sa sumaguing.

kriz: sa sumaguing? pano sila namamatay?

guide: nahuhulog sila eh, tapos namamatay.

kriz: maraming tao ang nahulog at namatay?

guide: hindi.

kriz: eh sino yung namatay?

guide: yung bats.

(kuya, anlabo ah!)

# posted by ryan quan @ 8:06 PM 0 comments

the next day was packed with activities. we woke up early (3:30am) to catch the sunrise at mt. kiltipan. while waiting for the sun to rise, we partook of our hearty breakfast - jjampong (noodles) with rice and hard-boiled egg. (once again, pagkaing intern. haha!) it was a foggy morning so we didn't get to see the actual rising of the sun. yet, when the sky cleared up a bit, the view of the terraces from kiltipan was just wonderful. we took lots of photos before we proceeded to the sumaguing cave to do some spelunking and rapeling.

sumaguing cave was something else. i was awe-struck with the gigantic rock and limestone formations inside the cave. we had to climb rocks and wade through the ice-cold waters. getting through the small passageways was quite an effort. after less than 2 hours, we emerged from the dark cave.

we had a hearty lunch at the yogurt house. i think this is a must-try when one goes to sagada. great food. i love the pasta. and their yogurt is the best. the place is quite pricey compared to the other restaurants in the area, but the food is really worth the price.

we then went to bokong falls for another round of wading/swimming through cold waters. bokong falls, also known as small falls, can be reached by going down the slope of a mountain. which means that we needed to go up the same slope in going back. haha!

rockclimbing was up next. but the ahrc oldies (a.k.a. tanders) were to tired. so mark, ona, lea, mars and myself decided to go back to george's guest house to wash up and then proceeded to cafe st. jo for a round of coffee and some bread while doing some usapang-tanders. you know, life questions and all.

dinner time came, we went to the log cabin for our much-awaited french buffet. just 3 words: GRABE, ANG SARAP! one should not miss this. they have the buffet on saturday nights and prior reservations must be made as the place really gets packed.

the following day (sunday), we had a sort-of picnic breakfast at lake danum. (we didn't have water! haha!) we didn't stay long as the sun was getting hotter. before lunchtime, we headed back to banaue. lunch again at tchayapan. (masarap talaga) we dropped by several viewpoints and saw the view of the terraces as depicted behind the 1000-peso bill. afterwards, we walked around the town while waiting to hear mass.

after the mass, we went back to the bus station. with roughly 500 pesos in our common fund, we again had a "hearty" dinner of cup noodles and tasty bread with fresca tuna (the ones which were not served during the sardinas feast. haha!). ipe was kind enough to buy another loaf of bread and mark treated us with coke. grabe, mga poor na talaga after the entire trip. haha!

what made this trip more enjoyable is the great company. sobrang laughtrip. pag walang pagkain, busugin ang sarili sa tawa. kwento. picture. tulog. kain. lakad. akyat ng bundok. at marami pang iba. to ona, kriz, pia, dema, lea, mars, tonton, mark, ipe, pedro, mike, cj, and kq, maraming salamat and til our next adventure! (let us make sure na hindi si my-ta ang gagawa ng itinerary para hindi tayo mamatay! haha!)

# posted by ryan quan @ 6:52 PM 0 comments

it was sometime in the middle of the bar month when krizna invited me to go to banaue and sagada. i didn't give it much thought until probably a week after the bar exams were over. before i finally said yes, i recalled krizna's invitation. she said we were going to banaue, do some TREKKING in batad then go to sagada.

a few days before 15 october 2008, i confirmed with kriz about who were going to the trip. it turns out that a bunch of ateneo human rights center (ahrc) interns finally decided to relive their immersion experiences (and, well, hardships) with a couple of friends.

so on our scheduled departure date, we boarded a florida bus bound for banaue (florida has only one trip daily to banaue at 10:45pm) and arrived in banaue the following day. the entire trip lasted for approximately 8 hours, including around 3-4 stop-overs. upon arrival, we had breakfast at the halfway lodge and then proceeded to brgy. batad for our supposed and much-awaited TREK. from banaue town proper, the bumpy ride to batad took roughly an hour and a few minutes. once in the batad saddle (the jump-off point to go down the batad village and further down to go to the tappiyah falls), we had a few pictures taken and ate irene (our guide) proceeded to lead us in going down the mountain. after 20 minutes of walking we started to see glimpses of rice terraces. we reached batad village (where we ordered lunch) after less than 2 hours. we continued the supposed trek, this time actually walking IN the majestic rice terraces. the view of the rice terraces and the lush mountains was simply breath-taking. after a few more hours (i stopped asking/checking the time at this point) of going down the slippery trail and countless stops to breathe, we finally reached the end point - tappiyah falls. this was not without any risk. at some point, ate irene instructed us to go in pairs. then pointing to a part were rocks supposedly fell, she told us to cross that part by pairs and as quick as possible. thank god, no rocks were due to fall when we were all crossing. anyway, we got to the falls and swam/waded in its icy-cold waters. the currents were quite strong and we were careful enough not to fall down lest we would follow ona's disposable camera which got washed away. haha!

after 45 minutes or so, we decided to go back. and that meant going up the mountain. so much for trekking. hahaha! we went through almost the same path going back. and while going through the terraces, it rained. we were quick to put our valuables inside ziploc's and plastic bags. the rain was refreshing, to say the least. when we finally reached batad village, we had our lunch. this was around 3pm. an hour after, ate irene told us to get ready to go up again. we were apparently only halfway to the saddle. with heavy stomachs, we started our hike back (read: hike). each time we looked at our destination (the batad saddle), it seemed so far up the mountain. i'm not sure how to accurately describe the entire hike. hmm... eto na lang, mark asked for a piece paper for a number of times so that he could write his holographic will. hahaha!

once back at the saddle around 6pm, we headed back to the halfway lodge to get our things and to have dinner. we then proceeded to the banaue ethnic village where we finally called it a (long) day.

despite a blister in my right foot and the aching muscles after the hike, i must that the hike was well worth it and i enjoyed. i would love to go back there to hike again when i'm more fit for the whole thing. (oo na, krizna, nag-enjoy ako. haha!) this ended part 1 of our banaue-sagada trip.

---

end note: ona got hold of a brochure, which described the hike up and down the batad terraces and tappiyah falls as "recommended only for strong hikers" (to kriz: TREKKING pala ah. hahaha!). and oh, according to ate irene, the mountain was 1,800 km above sea level. ayan, sige, mag-trekking tayo! haha!

# posted by ryan quan @ 3:50 PM 0 comments

since my late college years and all throughtout my law school life, i always studied in coffee shops. for two reasons. one, i fall asleep in the library. two, i falll asleep at home. this, though, does not mean that i don't fall asleep in a coffee shop. but at least the "sleeping time" is limited.

during the times that i study in a coffee shop, i always envied the people who came in to sit down and read a good book. (READ: non-law books) i was all too excited to be one of them. to enter starbucks without any law books and to just sit down, relax and read.

after a hearty lunch with sarj yesterday, i went to starbucks in binondo. as if going through my old routine, i went up and saw that someone was studying in my favorite study spot. so i got a drink and comfortably settled in the nearby table and started reading a book. this i haven't done for more than 4 years. at least now, i have my life back. :)

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force of habit: i took out my orange marker to highlight the lines i liked. old habits are indeed hard to break. hehe!

# posted by ryan quan @ 8:00 PM 0 comments

29 september 2008. 10:15am. i woke up to the sound of my cellphone as a text message came in. almost like a routine, i thought to myself, i won't study until late that day since it's a monday after a bar exam sunday, but i had to prepare my books and reviewers for the following sunday. the thought lingered for a good few minutes. then i wasn't able to gather my thoughts as to what was the next subject i needed to study. then it dawned upom me that the entire thing was over. the bar exams ended the previous day. really surreal.

the journey ends here (i hope). the ride that spanned 4 years and 6 months was quite something. law school and everything that came with it molded me to the person that i am today. and despite everything, i do not regret having entered and continued with law school. the months that consisted the bar season were the longest and most tiring and stressful months that i've experienced. and while i acknowledge that what lies ahead after this would be far more stressful than this, taking the bar is not something i would ever want to take again. (Lord, please make me pass... please?)

with the stressful bar month came great people who provided relief (sometimes, comic) and made this somewhat enormous task of taking the bar (yes, mere taking the exams is an endeavor itself) more bearable. my heartfelt gratitude primarily to my ateneo human rights center family and to the ateneo central bar operations 2008. maraming salamat sa todo-todong pag-aasikaso, suporta at mga panalangin.

sa mga heads, understudies at volunteers ng central barops, salamat sa mga reviewers, tips, sa mga bumibili at nag-aakyat ng mga pagkain namin sa kwarto. sa mga nanggising sa amin ni bo sa kwarto (jake, alphie, carmi, kate at vina), sobrang salamat. (baka hindi kami nakapag-exam ng morning exams kundi dahil sa inyo).

to my ahrc family, a big big THANK YOU! it is only now that i really understood how much your help, prayers, and mere presence really is encouraging. (sana ay hindi naman kayo nahirapan sa mga requests ko). lyan, salamat sobra para sa lahat lahat! (lagi kong binabasa ang mga barops blogs at albums mo dahil napa-praning ako kaya kailangan kong i-check kung kasama ba sa "lists" mo yung mga requests ko. hahaha!) to the barops '08 heads, thank you and a congratulations! my batchmates (flory, mon and anna a), thank you for the support and words of encouragement. (flory, luto ka ulit next time. at oo, pwede ka nang mag-asawa! haha!) hindi ako magsasawang magpasalamat sa inyong lahat. ayoko nang isa-isahin ang mga pangalan at baka may makalimutan pa ako. basta, sa lahat lahat, maraming maraming salamat! sana ay masuklian ko ang lahat ng nagawa ninyo para sa akin.

to my family, thank you very much for everything. Mom, thank you. this one's for you...

above all, thank you my Lord for being with me each step of the way. ad majorem dei gloriam.

# posted by ryan quan @ 7:58 PM 0 comments