life outside the box: of cloudscapes and grasslands

We all woke up pretty early on our third day in Sagada. I am more of a sunset person but this much talked about sunrise in Sagada is worth getting out of bed as early as 4am. We finally arrived at a perfect-for-sunrise spot at past 5 in the morning. We may not have trekked the famous Kiltepan viewpoint (because we took the wrong direction, my bad) but we had a special spot exclusively for us and the view is as magical as it is seen in most travel photos.

We also enjoyed the beautiful cloudscapes with a hot cup of coffee, thanks to the town mayor's hospitality :) His house has a perfect view of the Kiltepan sunrise. So lovely! Wondering how we got there? We had an emergency situation and luckily it's the most accessible and absolutely the best house to rescue us.

After our coffee session at the mayor's house, we went back to trekking. Sans breakky, we walked for more than two hours to the Marlboro Country. We almost gave up as we didn't have enough energy to keep us going plus our map was not as detailed as we thought and it happened to be the only guide that we had. Nevertheless, after our push and pull moments, we finally decided to keep walking forward. We saw a lot pine trees first, then some high bushes next and and we finally made it! The green green grass of home! The calm Marlboro Country was waiting for us all along! The view is just... BREATHTAKING!

from bud to bloom

The vegetation along our trek to Marlboro Country

A bug's life

FROM photo-ops kind of trekking
TO literally wandering
TO pushing it some more
TO AT LAST, WE MADE IT!!!

After all the morning treks, we, for sure, deserved a big big breakfast! We also had some nap to restore our energy. As for our final afternoon in Sagada, we chose it to be a quiet one. We went to see some recommended cafes: Strawberry Cafe and Lemon Pie House. We capped it off with a light dinner at my favorite spot in Sagada, Gaia Cafe. :)