🇵🇭 CERVANTES • (Ilocos Sur) Motorcycle Ride to the Great Wall of Ilocos

It was a never ending nervousness with the question of "What will happen to me next?" as I continue traversing more and more mountains with no idea where will I end up or if I will go back home safe and alive."

I am chilling with the coldness of the fresh air until my jaw is dropping with awe with the majestic and iconic view I am looking at. The feeling is like I was outside the Philippines on which I never expected that the Philippines has done this project - a highway curved at the cliffs and at the steep rocky slopes of the mountain almost 90 degrees in angle. I was speechless!

I have never seen the Great Wall of China personally and in an actual manner but because of the fame of that structure, I often see pictures of it everywhere.

As I was traversing the Tagudin-Cervantes-Sabangan Road, a highway system connecting Ilocos Sur to Benguet and Mountain Province, my heart was beating so fast as I was going up the mountains using a single motor ride. I was below and I can see the peak of the mountain.

Unexpectedly, I thought I'll be going the other way but the road I am taking was actually leading me to the peak of that mountain I used to see below!

I never thought that the peak of that mountain is flat and there is a highway placed therein. It was just phenomenal!

I reached the peak of the mountain but it wasn't yet the dead end because after the peak of that mountain, there is another mountain, higher, smarter and more mysterious.

You don't know what will happen to you next because you're the only one riding in that empty road, no traffic at all, no houses, no people, just you and the trees, the fog that covers your way and the mysterious sounds of nature that you don't even know where it is coming from.

What is exciting is, the road I was with will gradually wind up to that next mountain, higher and more mystical!

My backpack overlooking another mountain and believe it or not, the highway winds at the top of the mountain and will lead you further to the mountain at the background.

I was able to reach the top of that mountain but as I am few feet away to the top, I can see another side of the paradise. It is another mountain to take and at the farther distance of my sight is another mountain range aside from the first which I will be taking using a motor ride.

This is my official entry to the PTB Blog Carnival for
December 2011 hosted by Kara Santos of  Traveling Up
with the theme, "The Journey is the Destination."

No houses, no gasoline station. It feels like it is the point of no return. It was mixed emotions of awe and nervousness. I was elated to see a view.

Great Wall of China never came to my mind at the actual place but when I uploaded it on the computer, it seemed like the great wall of China. My eyes bulged with an unexpected beauty and wonder Ilocos Sur can offer.

Two contravening emotions are gliding in my mind that day, the feeling of achievement and the feeling of hesitation. It was an achievement because I was able to cross the highest point of any highway system in Ilocos Region and the feeling of hesitation if I'll be able to go back home safe and alive.

Being a newbie in that place without any idea what will I except, I didn't know if I will continue my journey or not because more and more mountains to cross are appearing as I am done with the latter.

I was already about 40 kilometers away from the main road [Maharlika Highway] and if I'll go back, my effort will be useless because I didn't pursue my goal to reach the highest and last frontier of the Ilocos Sur province - the town of Cervantes.

However at the back of my mind is full of hesitation because as I go up those winding roads all curved in a cliff, they become more mysterious on which I didn't know what to expect if I'll purse the journey.

Landslides, New People's Army member, falling rocks, mysterious man-eating creatures, cannibals, war freak tribes and the like are the things playing in my mind that would serve as a threat in my adventurous life or traveling and discovering... and blogging too.

The roads are well-paved and the setting is undeniably a paradise but of course it can not be pulled out in my mind the possible threats I will be facing while taking a place new to me, up in the mountains with no person to cry for help, no house to ask for shelter and no other place to hide and escape except from jumping into the cliff down to the rushing river and rapids. It was a make or break. I was using a motor ride and if my ride will have trouble, no one will help me.

The air was so cold, the fog is starting to cover the place with a frightening sound on which I didn't know where it was coming from.

It takes a lot of effort, courage and determination to reach the last frontier called the town of Cervantes in Ilocos Sur isolated from the lowland civilization and hidden by the protective walls of the mountains now being reached by a multi-billion highway project that serves as a replica of the Great Wall in China.

It was a never ending nervousness with the question of "What will happen to me next?" as I continue traversing more and more mountains with no idea where will I end up.

I was already midway of the goal I guess and midway of a decision if I will continue or not. I still had the time to think about it because it is already getting late, the breeze getting colder, the mysterious howling sounds are becoming louder and I am going higher to the clouds.

To alleviate the tension of fear, I sat back, took a look and taken some photographs of the paradise I am seeing that time to at least relieve the stress of fear, hesitation and doubt.

I was impressed and I realized that I need to pursue my journey because I believe that greater reward of traveling is awaiting me at the end. That was my faith and I kept holding to my faith.

As I was going on my way, another high mountain is weaving a sound discouragement that I can not make it because that mountain is more steep, higher and farther. But I kept my determination fixed. I continued the journey!

Come what may but I need to do the thing and pursue to the goal!

I did it! I was able to reach Ilocos Sur's last frontier, the easternmost town of the province located up high the mountains being an isolated town for years. The experience was more than fulfilling!

The beauty of the place and the experience replenished my soul because of a great awe primarily to the Lord who was the Architect of these wonders of nature!

I reached the last frontier and I was glad, I was able to see the Great Wall of China in my own homeland. There is nothing I can ask for more! It was not all about the destination per se but it was the experience that I had that is truly unforgettable. The experience while traveling is already the destination indeed! /end

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