🇵🇭 TINGLAYAN • There was No Sunrise in Buscalan, Kalinga

"So the sun didn't shine that morning. However, I was able to understand the other side of the story."

I am a person who values first time experiences. The latter serves as the highlight of every adventure, planned or not. First time encounters and experiences kill innocence, put end to virginity of something and once done, it can't be undone. The foregoing might change our perspectives in life, substantially or accessory to shaping the future.

[TINGLAYAN] Man, so you want to disappear in the fog...

Sunrise has a lot of meaning in the world. Some culture treat it as sacred. Some call it as their god. I treat it as a key to opportunities, whatever would that be.

Just as I woke up inside a strange home built on a foundation of a resilient culture, I experienced the shiver brought by the low temperature, up high the mountains of the exotic province of KALINGA.

Outside my local host's home is a blurring reality. For a lowlander like me who sees the sunrise and the sunset everyday of my life, what I am witnessing is a vague unusual landscape.

[TINGLAYAN] This is usual for them, it's a sci-fi movie scene for me

[TINGLAYAN] It's the fog, not the roof

My first attempt to embrace the sunrise in Kalinga was a clear failure. I would love seeing the rice terraces with the dramatic effect of the sunrise, nay, the imposing cultural landscape struck by the soft rays of the early sun.

[TINGLAYAN] Mount Canaan kissing the fog

[TINGLAYAN] Rooftop legend - Green: school / Other colors: local houses

I still kept the hope of witnessing the sunrise but the thick fog veiled the sun and hindered its rays.

Children of the village started the day playing - and it shows that this thing is normal for them. For me, this is an unusual scenario

It made me love the mountains more. As they say, behind the clouds, the sun is still shining. Like what happened today, the nature showed me the other side of the destination; beautiful side of the destination.

[TINGLAYAN] Looks like winter, although this day was summer

[TINGLAYAN] Buscalan kids playing on an early morning

[TINGLAYAN] Vegetation, at least

[TINGLAYAN] Buscalan is heaven, this stairway is a connection to earth

[TINGLAYAN] Would love to play hide and seek - in the fog

So the sun didn't shine that morning. However, I was able to understand the other side of the story. I realized, that foggy, gloomy morning was magic. And you know what, I got lost in the fog. It felt good.

It was my first time to wake up on a mountaintop covered by fog and that first time experience was one of the highlights of my stay in Buscalan. I have a shallow happiness right? I tell it again, I am a person who values first time experiences. /to be continued...

*BUSCALAN SOLO INVASION SUB-SERIES | 1

[TINGLAYAN] The Day I Hiked Solo to Buscalan, Kalinga - Part 1/2

TEASER: "I am soliloquizing under the scorching strike of the sun that is adding more agony to my weary self. I hope I am not yet lost. But if ever I'm lost, at least I'm lost in a paradise." | 2

[TINGLAYAN] The Day I Hiked Solo to Buscalan, Kalinga - Part 2/2

TEASER: "So I thought the hike is over, but as I took a turn on that road, I saw the other side of the mountain and it doesn't look like I am getting any closer. It goes farther, and farther..." | 3

[TINGLAYAN] Fang-Od (Whang-Od): The Last Tribal Tattoo Artist of Kalinga

TEASER: "She is unwittingly ending a tradition she is not supposed to end. She's ending the tradition not by her choice but by the call of our ever changing society." | 4

[TINGLAYAN] 17 Great Memories + First Time Encounters in Buscalan, Kalinga

TEASER: "Buscalan rose to fame because of Fang-od. But Buscalan is more than Fang-od. It is more than the tribal tattoo." | 5

[TINGLAYAN] Chewed, Swallowed Frogs in Buscalan, Kalinga

TEASER: "We talked with joy behind the darkness. That dinner unleashed the real us. The candlelight was a silent witness of our fears, happiness and life's perspectives." | 6 | 7

[TINGLAYAN] Buscalan Rice Terraces Kissed the Clouds

TEASER: "This is my story about the Buscalan Rice Terraces. At first there is a foreplay with the clouds but it always ends up with a satisfactory finish."
| 8

[TINGLAYAN] Blacksmith Kingdom of Kalinga: Turning Stones into Fire

TEASER: "If there is no concept of poverty, there shall be no poverty. But poverty has been introduced by greedy kingdoms while the little kingdom dwellers of the mountains recognized it's presence."

Tinglayan #TownExploration Series

Map showing the Location of #Tinglayan

Click map to view latest articles covering Kalinga

MORE POSTS FROM THIS CATEGORY: *EXPERIENCES*

[TINGLAYAN] The Day I Hiked Solo to Buscalan, Kalinga - Part 2/2

TEASER: "So I thought the hike is over, but as I took a turn on that road, I saw the other side of the mountain and it doesn't look like I am getting any closer. It goes farther, and farther..."

[TINGLAYAN] The Day I Hiked Solo to Buscalan, Kalinga - Part 1/2

TEASER: "I am soliloquizing under the scorching strike of the sun that is adding more agony to my weary self. I hope I am not yet lost. But if ever I'm lost, at least I'm lost in a paradise."

[CORDILLERA] Bontoc-Tabuk Road: Mt. Province-Kalinga Border Crossing

TEASER: "My blunt brain due to being deprived of sleep was instantly reset to sight-seeing mode after it hibernated for a while when I started seeing this wonderful view that temporarily locked my jaw."

[LICUAN-BAAY] Challengingly Sweet Journey to Licuan-Baay, Abra

TEASER: "No complaints. I am loving it not that I want to do it so that I have something to write but because it activates my brain cells to think, analyze and think again."

[LICUAN-BAAY] An Introduction to the Town-of-Gold

TEASER: "The scope of Licuan-Baay is extensive and expansive. You need to get a guide beforehand who is familiar enough of the town. Reaching the barangays and communities of the Tingguian (Itneg) people is tricky"

[ILOCOS] My First Habal-Habal Ride... in Search for the House of the gods

TEASER: "The ride was full of adventure. I spotted a lot of waterfalls, hanging bridges, and the endless charm of the towering mountains with the Amburayan River flowing in between them."

[SABLAN] Benguet | Surviving the Threats of Thick Fog

TEASER: "A look at the driver's area and seeing the road ahead, I can not see the road and everything has just turned to white! This gave me fear."

[SAN MANUEL] Pangasinan | The Backride Tour

TEASER: "How I love the experience of getting familiar to a place while riding at the back of a pick-up. I was able to see the left and the right side of the road and smile at the driver of the vehicle coming next to us."