Unexpected Trail!! Camp Sinai (Pintong Bukawe San Mateo, Rizal)

 

It all started when I saw a big picture of a big 10 Commandments of God on facebook from one of my friends (Elezer Orobia) w/c looks interesting. Of course I asked where is it located and I luckily got a reply from him right away. I was actually excited to inform it to Ron (my boyfriend) because I want go there specially when I found out that its just w/in San Mateo, Rizal. Knowing Ron, when I usually tell him that I wanna go to a certain place I always get a "yes" from him :-D (big smile for me).

 

 



This is the subject



It was Sunday morning, I came from my saturday shift (I'm working on graveyard) Me and Ron were actually having a small talk while sharing breakfast together. We are browsing the web together and I mentioned about the place until it led us checking the map of the said place "Pintong Bukawe". Some of the routes seems to be familiar to us but not all. Well that's actually how he always wanted it to be. He always just look at the map w/o the whole idea of  how to really get there and just discover the right way real time and I think thats also when the roadtrip gets exciting for both of us specially for him.  Now after my "parinig" that I wanna go there, he finally say "lets go!".. So... I was successful!! hehe



This is Ron getting ready and checking the map

We start hitting the road around 9am and he decided to take the route going to AFP housing. From there, our plan is to just ask the tricycle drivers  on which road we should take to reach it.We asked the manong driver if we can get there using our motorcycle and he says we can because tricycles can go there too. So I was now full hearted that we can get there because I initially think that the road may not be accessible for motorcycle since Elezer is a cyclist.

Well, what I'm thinking is actually true..We were both surprised of the kind of trail we are going to pass through. It's actually a trail for bicycles or motocross. There's a lot of cyclist passing through!!..But we still continue since we are already there but of course we should be more careful.. 

OFF ROAD!!

After that we saw a first stop over. There are stores and some guys are resting too who used motocross and bicycle. So we stopped over there... Yosi break and get some drinks since its already sunny and a bit hot and we are also a bit in doubt if we are still going to proceed....

Stop Over Spot

View from the stop over

Small Butterfly

Now we are in the state of deciding if are we still going to continue or not but manong (a resident there) says yes we can because at the middle of the trail there's already a concrete road going to pintong bukawe so we decided to still continue. Tigas lng ng ulo talaga haha!!

After that the road gets more difficult and challenging... some are even wet and muddy..

 

Fortunately, there's another group that we saw riding motorcycles too. They are four motorcylcles. They are also trying topass through the road but we have different destinations.. they said they are going to a tree planting project. But Ron told me that if those groups was not there w/ us he might have go back.That's why I kept on saying sorry since I am the mastermind but we are not fighting ha! hehe 

  

Ron's Feet dipped into the mud :-P

But anyways,on the positive side, the view on the trail is so full of nature.. there's a lot of pine trees, mountains, and tall trees that I was not able to capture w/ our camera since the road is rough and the shots came out blurred.

At last we finally get to the concerete road. This is the road that manong was talking about..

 

 

Oh whoaow! that's really a tough one!! We didn't expect that! Well..forget about it because we are already on a smooth concrete road and the fact that we are getting closer to our destination is really something I'm more excited of! 

Finally we've seen group of people on the street. Those were employees or volunteers of DENR for the tree planting project. This is were the other 4 motorcycles are going to.

We stopped over again for a bit and there's this map that show the trail that we've passed through and see that we are now really close to the Banal na Higanteng Crus (w/c where the two big tables of stone is located)

 

So after a short rest we continue and asked some residence there where is the way to pintong bukawe but their faces seems to be puzzled and don't know what we are asking for. Then a young lady point us to a street and said a certain name of the place w/c I can't remember anymore. So we are still in doubt but still we decide to took that street that was pointed out to us and finally we saw this sign w/c is a confirmation that yes! we are now in Camp Sinai Pintong Bukawe :)

 

But you still have to take a short walk to a steep road to get to the big tables of stone so we have to leave Beatchay down there..

Beatchay says "I'm so dirty" LOL :-P

First View on top...

 

Then a few more steps.....

AND AT LAST!!.. THERE IT IS!  And it really huge men!!!

A short trivia: God wrote The Ten Commandments of God in Mount Sinai w/c isoriginally located in Egypt. He wrote it using only his fingers within 40 days and 40 nights no food or water together with Moses

The moment that I saw it... I said : "Ang hirap mo palang puntahan.. simula ngayon talagang susundin na kita" :-)

Side Shot

The view is also captivating.. You'll feel the fresh air and its very relaxing.. this is the viewing deck and you can sit for a while and you'll also see mountains on here... This is infront of the big two tables of stone..

So green So nature :-)

Infront of the Giant Table of Stones

 

Ron's Simangot Face.. I know he's tired hehe









Viewing Deck

So since we've worked hard for this.. we don't wanna missed the chance of taking pictures.. OF COURSE!!

Me :-)





Ron :-)



Me looking at the view

Us.. taken by manong mabait hehe

I thought we wont have pictures together since we don't bring tripod but luckily one of 4 guys sitting on the viewing deck and also about to leave initially approach us if we want him to took picture of us then of course we says Yes :) he even took multiple shots of us but this is the one I chose to post. He even said  "May mga sweetheart din kme kaya naiintindihan ko yan hindi lng namin kasama kaya mga barako kame ngayon"..  Thank you  manong you're so bait hehe.



US TOGETHER we made it safely yehey!!!

After that, we go down and there's actually a store there where in you can buy food and drinks. At that day their special menu was barbecue but they don't sell cigarettes so if you're smoking better bring your own. We sat for a while take a rest and drink soda. We also talked about the road to pass through going home w/c will be in Cogeo of course we don't wanna go back to the same road we took!



Small Nipa

Other group that is also there that day





The Store

I really requested a shot here before going home..two thumbs up for my haggardness and for the experience hehe :-)

But since its still a big question for us on where is the road going to Marikina that the outcome will be on Timberland Heights, we decide to still try that route because its shorter but when we get there, the area was a private property,gate was closed and there's a security guard. He told us that we cant get in and aside from that he said that the road is too rough and our motorcycle may not survive. He mentioned about the C6 route but its not yet done so there's really no other way but go back and take the Cogeo route.

Everything went smooth going home.. we should have took that route going there w/o passing thru those off road trails w/c is supposedly for bicycles/motocross but those tough roads made our experience unique and unforgettable again.. We arrive like 1:30 pm at home. :) and I still have shift later (goodluck to me) So tired.. but we unlock one place again just nearby Marikina.

By the way.. I lost my favorite shades while we are on the road :( so sad but ron promised me that he'll buy me a new one YEHEY!!

Hundred Joys to Hundred Islands (Alaminos City, Pangasinan) Our 3rd anniv. celebration too :-)

After a year, finally we decided to have our first team building this year since its also summer and almost all of the other teams at the office are also having their team buildings and of course we don't wanna be left behind!

We actually have a lot of suggestions on where we are going to have our next team building before we all agreed.  But this time it'll be  HUNDRED ISLANDS in Alaminos, Pangasinan

By the way....Here's a glimpse on our last year's team building in Bakasyunan Tanay, Rizal
(Throwback Time Lol :-P)

Pool with the view of mountains

THE EARTH BALL Captured with effect by Kev (son of Maria)

The Mud Slide.. their favorite but definitely not my favorite but I've tried it too and its FUN :)

You can also rent those small houses

Falcons enjoying the pool with nice views at the back

Inside the Our Dormitory Room

Favorite Picture :)
From Left to Right Respectively: That's Eugene,Keenan,Dexter,Ian,Daddy John(the macho pose),Marcus,Bryan,Aki,Kim, Bejie,Mommy Jen,Suzie,Kathy, Maria,Boss Onyx,Me,Shane,Karen,Andy,Mickel, and Aira.
NOT ALL FOLKS ARE STILL W/ THE TEAM

Okay enough of that!! hahaha Lets move on to our next destination.. HUNDRED ISLANDS!! <3

So we all agreed that it'll be in Pangasinan. OM Faith knows the owner of the place the resorts name is ONE SOPHIA and the price is really reasonable she said. We will pay P6,000 for the whole place.

We'll I must admit that I'm so excited since first, Me and Ron haven't been there yet. Second, that place is one of the popular tourist spots in the Philippines :)

Who wouldn't be excited seeing this???


Image From Google

I actually need  to be absent the night before the team building so I can rest. Good thing I have the "blessing" from boss :-)7am meet up at EGS Marikina Lobby.. A big improvement!! HOORRAAYYY! Most f my team mates are all there!

We took pictures while waiting for the rest...



Kim

        

Ian

No one is really late but Donna came in last w/c arrived w/ a full-packed Luggage. We even throw a joke on her that we will just be in Pangasinan for overnight not in Singapore. :)

 Left picture: Suzie, Donna, and Shane (guess what the common factor.. Its their printed leggings Lol :-P)   

Right picture is our pretty treasurer ANDY. Thanks Andy for taking care of the team's funds



So everyone is here. We fill in the van and go!

Boss and Papu (husband of boss) sat infront, at their back there's Joseph (husband of Maria) Maria, Yssa, and Arvi (husband of Yssa)then at the middle Its Ron, Me, Suzie, And Kim. At the back its Ian, Bry, Kathy,Andy,Bejie,Ana,Donna and Shane.

The sky is kinda dark when we are on NLEX  and there's actually a drizzling rain on our way. 

 It became a bit boring inside the van because "Pipoy" the driver of the van (not his real name but thats what we used to call him since he is bald and fat) is playing old music like it was already Sunday. It made us all sleepy!!!

The folks at the back seat didn't mind it they were so noisy and very happy. They were laughing like there's no tommorrow haha!!



the backseatters

It was very fast passing through NLEX and we are already in Pangasinan so we had our 1st stop over (Yosi, Pee, Picture Taking, etc.)

Our Van

Maria (the Babaylan of the team)



Ian( in blue) , Bry ( in red),Yssa (holding the monopod, Me (beside Yssa the curly one), Ana (behind me wearing the white shirt And Maria (wearing shades)



Ron, Papu, Bejie, Otep, Bryan and Ian Respectively

Then we proceed w/ travelling again,the sky is still dark and it starts raining. I had the feeling that it takes longer when we are in Pangasinan looking for the place rather than exiting from Manila to Pangasinan. So I slept hehe. Most of us actually slept because knowing that going to Pangasinan really took 7-8 hr right?

 

We had our 2nd stop over near the market since we are already near the place..We were fetch by manong Jerry the owner of the resort and he is very nice and so hospitable same as his wife :).  We bought cake for the team since I promised that I'll buy one since its our 3rd anniversarry celeb too. Yssa and her husband also bought a cake because they just had their wedding.We did marketing too for the food that we have to cook during our stay there but I stayed inside the van since im so tired.

Pictures while on road:

                   

We finally arrived at 2pm and its still raining.. So if you'll sum it up we had 7hr travel time.
We of course checked the whole place luckily boss announced that the other house are exclusively for mag JOWA haha luckily I have Ron w/ me so we have our own bed the other bed is for Yssa and Arvy then the master's bedroom is for papu and boss.. The other Pals stayed on the nipa houses w/c are nice too. The place is just humble, no AC but the air is fresh.. its cold and relaxing.





Our Room

Of course we took our late lunch we really have long travel time and its really expected naman.. We had adobo and siomai and cake for desert.

DAY 1 ACTIVITIES:

So after eating we go to the beach and have some fun. It was just behind the resort.
Then after that we had our first activity which bring so much fun. Good thing rain has stopped.

1st Game:
KAYAKING RACE

 

TEAM 1: Shane,Kathy,Boss, Suzie,Yssa and Andy 

TEAM 2: Me,Maria,Ana,Arvy Donna and Kim

 

We've rented two kayak for 100 php per kayak for 1 hr. but the owner will really not get it from you if you go over an hour, we just stopped and return it since we have another game to play.

We divided the team to two groups but not all joined. Bejie, Otep, and Ron stayed at the resort. They started the drinking sesh while cooking for our next food.

Its my first time to do kayaking but I did great haha! It was so fun!! I enjoy it a lot to the point that I just want to cruise using that kayak because the beach is just shallow no waves but I'm still afraid to go far since I don't know how to swim.

I hate to say this pero andadaya nila hindi tuloy sila nanalo against us BWAHAHAHA!!

 

2nd Game:

ILONG RANGER

(Most no. of cottonballs got by the team using their nose w/ gel will be the winner)






In Action :-D

 

 

Unfortunately even if we had Suzie and Yssa as our  groupmate we didnt won against the noses of the other team. They have Donna & Kathy hahaha peace y'all :-P

**Our group is the winner for kayak race but we did group reshuffle an we are the looser for the ilong ranger game.




3RD GAME:
ICE ICE BABY 
(each members needs to melt an ice cube as quick as possible while rubbing it using their hands)
Not sure who's the winner since I did't join this game.





After that,we rest then eat again then drink.

Very lucky since there's videoke and its also included on our payment for unlimited use (its the darling of the crowd every drinking sesh hehe)

All of the team members actually joined the drinking session but of course as expected not all are drunkard.
So the strong fellas left are actually same faces every team building : Me,Ron, Bej, Maria,Otep and Shane who always cleans up the mess after drinking session everytime. Good job Shane :)

Ok Ok! Lasing na kame!! hahaha

 

DAY 2 ACTIVITIES

I woke up too early I don't know why, I even thought that we might woke up late and wont be able to join the island hopping since we finished drinking like 2 am . I still have hangover but I was relieved by the coffee and chicken soup.  Good thing my team mates that didn't drink last night was awake already and eating breakfast too.

After breakfast,everybody is getting ready for the much awaited Island hopping. They said they will really count if its hundred islands out there (good luck guys!)

From the resort where we stay,you will not even think that there's a big group of islands and islets that creates a beautiful scenery hidding somewhere there. It surprises me when the boat was heading left because it starts showing islets scattered and I've never seen numerous islets scattered around the sea like that. Now I guess I know why its really one of the famous tourist spot in the Philippines :-) You can only see that kind of view in Pangasinan, Yes! only in Pangasinan.

 Its raining while we are cruising the sea its a good thing is that waves are not that strong since it is surrounded by islands compared of what me and ron experienced when we went to Puerto Galera in Mindoro.I'm still a bit nervous but what I did is to just enjoy the view and try to take some pictures even if its raining.

There are 123 islands covering 1,844 hectares but not all of them are accessible .  Only Four Island was fully developed for tourism: The Governor's Island, Children's Island, Quezon Island and Marcos Island.We saw a turtle shaped island and its really called Turtle Island, Burger Island and a lot more..

First Island: GOVERNORS ISLAND-

 

Here, you can reach the highest peek where in you can enjoy the view of the islands from the top. It was just so tiring going upstairs you need to have strong legs and knees

 

You will see a rest house and they called it PBB house because this is where Gerald and Kim Chiu was brought during the PBB days. I believe you can also rent that house if you want to stay in the island.

After Governor's Island, we are about to approach Marcos Island but the rain became stronger so we need to stop on a small island because our guide can't see anything (zero visibility).

I'm not sure whats the name of that small island but there is a Lion statue standing there. We stayed there for a while while waiting for the rain to subside.The water is pristine and sand is white and fine. We started to swim and I enjoy swimming since I'm wearing a life jacket I felt like I can really swim Lol! Unfortunately we cant take picture using Cameron (name of our DSLR) since it raining. Good thing we have our the action cam tha'ts on a waterproof case but we used it for taking videos only.

Another Island that we saw is the Quezon Island but we didn't go there anymore but what I saw is there's a lot of flags, nipa houses and a zipline and they said the big wall figure of Alaminos, Pangasinan is on that island unfortunately it should be one of the things that we shouldn't missed to capture but we did :-(

Last destination is the Marcos Island. This is where we stayed for a long time.. This is where we had a chance to really enjoy the beach. We eat and swim there. The water is so clear we can see fishes and corals underneath ...it was just very enticing..

And you know whats their favorite?? Its the Imelda's cave (the name of the cave was named after the first lady Imelda Marcos since the island is called Marcos Island)  There's actually a trail going up to the cave but its just so short because you need to be on top for you to see it. It was very surprising. The cave itself is really amazing. The combination of the Marcos Island and Imelda's cave is the most unforgettable!!! You can jump from the ceiling of the cave because its open down to the water but I'm afraid to jump since Ron is not w/ me but the rest of the guys (my team mates) did jumped off but they are wearing life jacket of course for safety.

Image From Google

I was not able to take some pictures unfortunately but this is how Imelda's cave exactly look like. I even saw bats on the ceiling of the cave. It was really my first time to see such view and I was just speechless. Then there's small passage that will lead you to the exit of the cave leading you back to the beach. Kim was able to jump off the cave who is just small (smaller than me)so I really regret not jumping off huhuhu.

 

KIM

 

This is the only picture that we had since its a bit raining and our dlsr is not waterproof hehe. The guys also enjoy diving and watching the view underwater good thing Donna have her goggles so all of us were able to borrow and use it to see the underwater. It was tiring but all of us  have smiles on our faces while heading back to the resort.

Overall, its a wonderful experience exploring Hundred Islands #wondersoftheworld. We may not able to explore all the islands but what we've experienced and seen is enough for us to really say that it's a  Rap! Its worth the visit! Its a long travel from Manila but its really worth it :-)

Our Last picture before going home...

Each of us contributed P1,500/head we do it in 3 payouts and we are all 17.
We rented the resort for just P6,000 its include the bangka that we used for the Island hopping and the Videoke for unlimited use. And the rest of the budget was spent for the prizes for the games,drinks and foods.

PERO ETO TALAGA PANG FINALE.. HUMABOL... Hahahaha
 

PIPOY'S thoughts LoL :-P