Lakbay Gala

Napakalaking trahedya sa buhay ang kamatayan. Yung kahapon lang nagkita pa kayo, kanina lang magkasama pa kayo, kagabi lang magkatabi pa kayo matulog... pero sa isang iglap bigla na lang nawala. Napaka iksi lang ng buhay. Kaya nga naimbento ang motto na "YOLO." Kasi, we only have one shot in life. Unless alam mo kung ano ka sa magiging second life mo at mababalikan mo rin yung mga dati mo nakasama, diba. Kaso hindi. Bukod sa iisa lang ang buhay, maiksi pa. Hindi mo alam kung hanggang kelan ka tatagal. Hindi mo alam baka isang araw, mawala ka na lang din bigla. Sa pagpanaw ng kaibigan ko, dun ko narealize na dapat talaga itreasure ang buhay. And not just treasure it. Make the most out of your life and leave a lasting legacy that would remind them of you. How you made a change, an impact, an influence. Kasi hindi mo alam na baka hanggang mamaya ka na lang pala. Naisip ko, kung may nakaaway sya, nakapag sorry kaya sya? O kung may minamahal sya, nakapag i love you kaya sya?...

After a year of hiatus, we're back to climbing. I admit I've gained weight for over a year of little to no exercise, and it has actually taken a toll on my health. Add to that the fact that I haven't been going out and never seeing what it's like outside during the light of day. Imagine what it did to my body, that I developed jaundice overnight, and had to go out in the peak of day just so I could at least acquire sunshine. I had to thank my health concern that it got us back to the mountains. It was a blessing in disguise or more appropriately a wake up call to me. So my partner suggested to go climbing again. Yes, what better way to get tons of sunshine is by hiking. My partner decided to go for an ultralight backpacking, so the week before we were watching how-to videos for light weight backpacking. We've chosen to cut off some of our essentials or change the way how we pack them. We have bought a large 8 x 10 waterproof tarp last year and it has been very...

Since we're both enthusiastic about climbing mountains, we have decided to venture into a business which involves our hobby. We have created a Facebook group entitled Lakbay Gala, which aims to provide budget- friendly travel and tours to cater different leisure- may it be beaches, trekking, spelunking, rock climbing and other outdoor activities. We've been adding friends to the group and inviting them to our future events. We have posted 2 hiking events- Mt. Maranat and MakTrav which we hope both would be a success. You may visit our group page on Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/1527693504125651/  or contact the blogger for events and inquiries.

As adventurers with a passion and appetite for challenges, we constantly try to push our skills and abilities to the limit to see how far it would take us. We were always planning of climbing the tallest mountains in the Philippines and eventually make it to Everest. But for now, we were planning of finishing all mountains in Rizal before moving on to mountains in nearby provinces.  And so we brewed up a plan for our first twin dayhike- Mt. Sembrano and Mt. Tagapo.  We left after lunch and headed to Tanay Market to buy supplies. We arrived at the jump off at 4pm- perfect for a night hike which is also a part of our challenge. We started the assault with heavy bags, and just as before we had to stop every once in a while to catch our breaths. After all the starts and stops we were able to summit and camp for the night.  Early in the morning after a few pandesal we headed out to Mt. Tagapo. We had to travel an hour from Tanay to Binangonan to reach Talim Island, th...

We have been doing this mountain climbing as a routine. We have been hiking weekly and not long after our return from Boracay, we made it to Mt. Sembrano with a former schoolmate and her son. She hasn't been climbing for a long time and so we suggested hiking instead of the regular drinking-and-chatting-hanging-out-activity. It was a coincidence that the Mountaineering Community has organized a 2 day National Mountain Cleanup Day so it was that our hike was in line with the activity. We joined and had our ID but we can't make it on time because of my work. The meetup was at Lucky Gold Plaza in Lifehomes. We had to travel 2 hours from Pasig to Tanay, and bought supplies when we got there. Our plan was to summit before the night falls, but we were frustrated. Mt. Sembrano was a CHALLENGE. From the drop off is already a steep assault. After the concrete pavement starts the rocky trail which will be encountered until a few meters to the summit. We started the hike at arou...

And so after a week, we were already planning for our next climb. I took 2 days off from work to go to Boracay; but since we couldn't resist the call of the mountains we looked for a mountain near Aklan where we could go for an overnight or at least a day hike. We can't afford to go to Mt. Madjaas just yet so we decided to explore this mountain near the place where we're staying. From what we've heard it's a part of the Panay Peninsula Mountain Range and relatively unexplored since it's a private land. But we were able to acquire a permit to hike and had a guide to help us along the way. The trail I would say is not difficult. Mostly grasslands to the assault; no steep path nor challenging rocky track. The trail isn't established that we got lost twice. From time to time our guide had to cut trees blocking our path. The route is a thick forest, where different flora and fauna thrive. What set the mountain apart from the others is the presence of ...