It started from just wanting to go away and unwind. Away from the busy streets, the fast paced routine and the crowded cities. We tend to go deeper and deeper to provinces as we call it or just to less polluted places.
We headed north going to Bataan, Philippines. We had ideas where we'd go but no fixed schedules at all, including plans where to spend the night or eat.
We rode a bus, it was a 3-hour ride. We looked up hotels online located near the terminal and fortunately we were able to find a cheap, yet cozy place.
There were three of us. We got this room that only costs $34 for a 24-hour stay, it had complimentary breakfast and a complete television set, air conditioning and even a Wi-Fi connection. Not bad, right?
Here is the lobby, it looks homey:
We got rested for an hour or so but we didn't waste all our time staying in the hotel.
We headed to the famous Mount Samat National Shrine (Shrine of Valour), which is a historical shrine . It's quite famous and I've been wanting to go there for a while. Now is my chance! We hired a tricycle (a vehicle commonly used in the Philippines - a motorcycle with a sidecar) and paid around $4 each for the whole trip. We thought it was expensive at first but we did agree to it. We started the ride towards the top of the mountain, considering the height and the effort of the driver climbing us up there with his tricycle, he is quite commendable and I even wanted to pay him more. When we reached the top, we headed first to the museum where artifacts, articles and weapons used back in the Japanese era (around 1941) were stored and preserved with complete detail about each items. I'm astonished as to how much my countrymen endured and suffered during those times and I realized just how these were so important to me as a Filipino.
Then after we finished going through the museum, we headed for the stairs leading up till the foot of the giant cross that can be seen (even) from afar.
It seemed there was no end to the stairs. We were exhausted and sweating even with the chilled air that blows across the top of the mountain. The scenery kept getting better as we ascend our climb.
Finally, we reached the top, here you see the top and the foot of the humongous cross.
Our climb could have been more fulfilling if only the elevator inside that cross was not broken. It has been like that for almost a year now. When it was in order before, people were able to ride it up until the horizontal part where it is possible to see almost the whole province and even the stretch of the whole island around the province. It's a good thing that I don't have a fear of heights unlike most people I know, I'm able to enjoy going to high places. This view is really amazing.
Not to mention, the sunset here will blew your mind in awe. Clouds at your feet and a superb and clear view. I think I can only describe it as "heavenly".
We even manage to capture a rainbow!
One will not miss this chance to take lots of photos. It's actually pretty hard to take a photograph of the whole cross even trying different angles would fail. We were using a monopod and after a while we managed to get a good enough shot after several failed attempts.
When we decide to descend the mountain it's nearly dark, also felt hungry due to all my energy washing away after climbing so much. So we decided to try out the food from a famous restaurant.
This was an all-you -can-eat style restaurant that serves native Filipino dishes found across the provinces of the Philippines.
I knew this is going to be worth it right away. They offered a wide variety of food and they all taste excellent! My mom can cook very well and I grew up on her cooking that I often compare hers with almost everyone else's and I honestly think no one can top it. However, the food here is almost as good for a commercially-served food. Seems mom has a contender.
We even had the time to spend in this beautiful plaza/park after getting our hearty dinner.
It has an enchanting design and an intricate architecture that makes you feel you are visiting a foreign country. Reminding you that we didn't properly plan this vacation. Even with our feet getting tired, and a full belly cause of all that good food we somehow managed to stroll around this beautiful place. We even went inside it and failed to guess that it was actually a shopping mall. Way to go with the exterior design. Bravo. Had us fooled.
We went back to our beds at the hotel after a tiring day and as we slept out tired bodies with fulfilled hearts, we await our other exciting adventures tomorrow.
