Pagsanjan

A little day trip with the boys to Pagsanjan Falls. I invited Neil, Aim, Arvin, and Basti while Neil and Aim brought their respective girlfriends. We met up at Eurotel right in front of Robinson's Place Ermita.

It was great catching up though I had just seen Arvin during the early part of the year as we went to Snow Monkeys and Shirakawago. We stopped by Jollibee to grab some breakfast and I got a chicken burger which was pretty mid. I got a call from Ann, the lady in charge of the tour group we were using, and found out that rafting got cancelled due to the water levels and so I opted to use the hiking option. We got a 5,000 PHP refund as well because of that.

The rain came and went and by the time we got there, we settled for a light drizzle which gave off a rain forest vibe. It took some time for all of us to get settled up, but I was surprised that we were asked to wear some harnesses as it turns out that we had to do some rappelling, not once but twice on this trek. We had a guide with us for this one and at first, I was wondering if we needed one but the fact that we had to rappel pretty much answered my question. The trail started off slippery and wet, especially the downhill part, I almost slid down myself. From there it was stairs until we reached a statue of Jesus. The next part was the rappel section and it was a first-time experience for everyone so it was really fun. After the second rappel section, we had to do an 80-degree metal ladder backwards which was even more intense. One slip could have been fatal and the rain was not helping at all.

Once we got to the bottom though, after crossing the river we were rewarded with amazing views of Pagsanjan Falls, it was a huge deluge and I could understand why it was not possible to even use the raft to visit the caves as the water pouring out was some of the most powerful I have ever seen in a waterfall, similar to the release of water in Kurobe Dam! We spent a long time admiring the falls and soaking our legs by the shallow side of the river. We took plenty of photos before realizing that now we had to go back the same way up. We had to use ladders for the rappel sections and all the downward stairs were now a formidable foe. I had no problems with it, it was like some sort of warm-up but my friends were huffing and puffing and I realized that perhaps I was going a bit too fast. Eventually, we did make it back up and I took a drink at the natural water source and also took a shower which left me feeling refreshed.

Our ride back was a long one as we got stuck in traffic for almost 5 hours, we ended up watching 3 episodes of Squid Games by the time we got back to Robinson's Place. The plan was to have some ramen over at Ramenagi and since we got there around 9 PM we still had enough time to chow down. I even broke my fast just to get a chance to eat with friends again. Neil dropped me off at my place afterwards, it would be a while again since I would see these guys.Read more