I received a message on a Good Friday afternoon from Ronnie inviting us to hike on Black Saturday. My first words are "Totoo ba toh Ronnie?". (Hahaha, no offense Ronnie!) After a long discussion where to go, I planned a day hike to Mt. Manabu in Sto. Tomas, Batangas and jumped quickly to create our itinerary. So on Black Saturday, Ronnie, Jesna and I climbed our way to Mt. Manabu and have experienced the first day hike of #campbarbie.
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| Ronnie, Jesna and me... |
Mt. Manabu is one of the mountains in an extinct volcano, Malepunyo Range (also known as Malipunyo Range). The mountain range is located between the provinces of Batangas, Laguna and Quezon.
Mt. Manabu, formerly known as Mt. Dalaga, is a shortened Tagalog phrase “Mataas na Bundok” which means “High Mountain”. It is situated at the boundary of Sto. Tomas, Batangas and Alaminos, Laguna. Mt. Manabu is 755 meters above sea level and is famous source of Alamid coffee.
The Manabu peak is under the jurisdiction of Sto. Tomas, Batangas to which its jump-off is at Sitio Sulok. It resembles an easy trail to which a cross has been erected on its summit while a plateau beside it is used as a campsite. Mt. Manabu has a minor climb specification and a difficulty of 2/9.
We met at LRT-Buendia at 7:00 AM. We took the DLTB bus bound to SM Lipa and it departed at around 8:00 AM, travel time is 1 hour and 30 minutes. We arrived at SM Lipa terminal at around 9:30 AM. There are "carinderia" (Filipino word for small restaurants) around the terminal so we took our breakfast first.
There are a lot of tricycle drivers shouting at the terminal that they are bound to Mt. Manabu. We took the tricycle ride and paid Php 200.00. At 10:20 AM, we arrived at the jump-off point, Sitio Sulok. We registered first then paid Php 20.00. We learnt that many people have hiked Mt. Manabu for the Holy Week.
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| Registration area. |
There is no need for a guide as there are signs along the trail and there are very kind locals you can ask for the right path. We were also given a brochure with rules and regulations for responsible climbing and camping in the mountain. This is a part of Brgy. Sto. Tomas Lenten Season program.
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| "Responsible Climb and Camp at Mt. Malepunyo" |
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| Rosary-like trail of Mt. Manabu. |
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| Resting after Station 2. |
The trail are full of trees so even though we started ascending the summit at 10:30, we did not experience the hot sun.
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| Cold water from the mountain. |
At Station 4, you will encounter two different trails. The trail on the left will lead you directly to Station 8 where the Grotto is located.
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| Trail going to Station 8. |
We followed the right path as we wanted to climb every stations in respective manner. This is also where we met Ate, she owns the store in Station 4. She said that she's on her way to Mang Tino at Station 5 to drink the infamous free and unlimited Alamid coffee (civet coffee).
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| Ate, our temporary guide to Station 5. |
At Station 5, we were welcomed by Mang Tino. He prepared coffee for us. It is a definite must-try. He showed us the coffee beans they have harvested straight from the civet cat stomach.
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| Civet cat "alamid". |
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| Coffee bean from Civet cat's poop (IKR!). |
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| #campbarbie with Mang Tino. |
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| You can also buy Alamid coffee; 100 for small bag, 500 for the big bag. |
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| The Alamid coffee. |
Also at Station 5, you will see the big “anito” that guides and protects the people and the mountaineers. *wink
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| Free touch to give you luck. No thanks! I'm feeling lucky that day. |
After tasting the Alamid coffee, we resumed our climb going to Station 6. The trail was becoming steeper and we noticed that there were fewer trees as you go up.
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| Mt. Malipunyo from afar. |
We passed Mt. Manabu's camping site. It was very sad as there were so many garbage left by campers. We also saw a lot of garbage along the trail and it was very heart-breaking. Some locals told us that loitering in Mt. Manabu was mostly done by the people from neighboring city but even so, we still need to practice and follow the Leave No Trace principle, mountaineers or not.
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| Campsite. |
Then we reached the summit at around 12:30 PM. You will see the big cross position on the top. The view was breathtaking. You will see Mt. Maculot and Laguna de Bay. Of course, picture-taking mode!
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| Malaking Krus "Big Cross" |
Descending was a bit difficult as the trail going to Station 7 has loose soil but we, girls, managed all right! Our trail going down was a forest area so it's a bit cool. No sweat!
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| Loose soil trail just like in Mt. Batulao. |
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| The forestry... |
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| The Grotto. |
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| Cold, sweet and refreshing drink you don't have to buy. |
We arrived at the registration area at around 3:30 PM. We took our time descending to just appreciate the beautiful nature God created for us.
Of course, we can't leave Batangas without eating their popular "lomi". Lomi is a Filipino-Chinese dish made with thick egg noodles with mixture of cornstarch flour with water as its soup. It can have meat, usually pork or chicken and pork liver that is sauteed with garlic and shallots. Toppings can be kikiam, shrimp or fish balls. We were recommended by locals to eat lomi at James Lomi Haus. We just took a tricycle from the main jump-off point to James Lomi Haus.
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| James Lomi Haus, a 10-minute tricycle ride from the main jump-off point. |
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| Lomi Special - Itadakimasu~ |
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| Chicken chami - stir-fried miki noodles with a separate brownish sauce. |
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| DONE! |
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| Price table |
I don't eat lomi, to be honest. But it's true that Batangas has the most delicious lomi. Not exaggerating. Once we had a fill of our stomachs, we head back to SM Lipa by riding a tricycle again.
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| Sunset to end #campbarbie first hike. :) |
OUR ITINERARY:
07:00 am – Meetup at LRT Beundia and waiting time.
08:00 am – ETD LRT Buendia.
- Take a bus bound to SM Lipa, we took the DLTB bus, travel time is 1 hour and 30 minutes.
09:30 am – ETA SM Lipa, Batangas.
- We first ate our breakfast in SM Lipa terminal.
09:45 am – Tricycle ride to the jump-off point – Sulok at Brgy. Sta. Cruz.
- In SM Lipa terminal, there are local tricycle drivers shouting that they are bound to Mt. Manabu.
10:20 am – ETA at Jump-off point then register.
10:30 am – Start ascend.
12:30 pm – Arrived at the Summit.
1:00 pm – Start descend with super siesta session (lols).
03:30 pm – Arrived at the registration area.
EXPENSES:
124.00 – Buendia to SM Lipa
200.00 – Tricycle fee (We were three, so we paid 67 php each. This could be less as we asked some locals that the usual fee from SM Lipa to Sulok is 55 php each.)
20.00 – Registration fee
100.00 – Small pack of Alamid coffee for my Nanay and Tatay
Side-trip expense to James Lomi House as we can’t leave Batangas without tasting their authentic lomi. We recommend eating at James Lomi House, their lomi is delicious.
50.00 – Tricycle ride from Sulok to James Lomi House, Lumbang
45.00 – Lomi special
50.00 – Chami Special (Stir-fried miki with special brown sauce)
50.00 – Sprite
50.00 – Tricycle ride from Lumbang to SM Lipa
124.00 – SM Lipa to Buendia
(Fare as of April 2015)
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