I have not been anywhere remotely fun in weeks. My life has revolved only both at work and at home. But I have been looking forward to this weekend's getaway for ages since the Daraitan trek.

As far as I know we will be trekking with a lot of people, but a lot has also cancelled on the last minute making our group as small as six people. We decided to call our newly formed group as "(E)X-Men" after realizing that four of our members were ex's. LOL Funny as it may seem, it didn't make the trip even a wee bit odd, weird and awkward. It was actually the opposite.

Okay, so I got to my best friend's place at around 12 midnight on Friday. His mom, whom I have missed so much, made me a warm cup of Milo which we drank as we sat on the mattress laid out in front of the TV. Soon after finishing our drink she retired to bed while Ge and I stayed up a bit longer to watch TV.

However, our plan of retiring to bed sooner didn't go so well. We ended up chatting till about two in the morning; we tried sleeping but couldn't resist the urge to wake up the other in a funny way. For example, just when I was about to succumb into a deep slumber he would intentionally tap me and say 'good morning' or ask if I'm about to go to sleep. Yes, we're weird, mainly the reason why we're still friends after all these years. LOL

Anyway, we did set an alarm but no one got up on time. LOL. We ended up leaving their house in Baras at about 6-6:30am. As soon as we got to Famy, Laguna we stopped by at our favorite Lomi stop and had, well, Lomi for breakfast. Shortly afterwards, we made a quick trip to the grocery store across the restaurant to buy some snacks before we headed to Pangil.

We arrived in Pangil and started our trek at around 9am. The trek, honestly, was unlike the others I had. It was the roughest trek I've been to so far but it definitely is the best.

The trek was divided into five stations, the fifth being the majestic waterfalls but I'm getting ahead of myself. Of course, no heavenly place can be attained without passing through a long and rough road. And boy, was the trail rough. LOL. The longest were the first two stations which seemed to go on for ages, but once at the third station, the view got a lot better making us thrive harder to go on and get to the best part.

 

Now, the photos above were the trails going to the fourth and fifth stations, consecutively. They were really steep and slippery but get this, by the time we reached the fourth station, all tired and sweaty, we were amazed of the view in front of us.

And finally...

Que bella, indeed! oh and yes, more photos!

We stayed there for hours, just basking in the cool and refreshing water from the falls. It definitely is a lot of fun and no words can ever describe the happiness I felt when we went behind the foot of the falls after lunch. We were at ease though the rocks were slippery; we also managed to get a very heavy shoulder massage from the raging water. LOL It was loads of fun being there at that time and moment with the people I was with.

Oh and here's a video of me jumping off a not-so-high cliff. Believe me, this video is actually 4 mins long, with 50% of it showing me contemplating whether to jump off or not. I'm actually afraid of heights and I have this very weird fear of jumping off and hitting my head on some huge rocks, so... yeah hahaha it was actually really hilarious.

 After the soothing time at the back of the falls, we jumped off again and packed up our things. Soon after we're back on the trail; it took us a bit longer than the first time though since we're all so tired and sleepy from the day's activities.

Then halfway through, my best friend asked me to stand beside this tree and pose for a photo for some reason. I love this shot. Captures my sleepy eyes and red hair under the mid-afternoon sun.

This indeed signifies the end of our day. Later that hour, we were back in our van driving to the same restaurant where we had breakfast and had dinner before heading back home. Everyone in the back were asleep as we drove home. LOL. I shall never forget this experience. There is a sense of achievement in this for I have never expected to make it to the end and back knowing that I have gained so much weight and had less exercise than before. Most of all, my fear of heights had somehow lessened. Nothing beats an adventure like this; I can never trade this experience and the feeling it comes with after with the comfort of my bed and pillow.