Above and On Sea Level

Sometimes, it only takes a day or less than a day to plan your next adventure. Cliche may it sound but the best trips are usually unplanned. Haha! And that's what had happened on us during a long weekend few months ago. It was one fine night when we were chitchatting online and just randomly decided to spend our boring long weekend by climbing the highest peak in the province of Cebu called Osmeña Peak or O-Peak.

There were only three of us: Katie, Christine, and I. We decided to meet up at Cebu South Bus Terminal at around 4:30 AM because I was anticipating a huge crowd of passenger who will also be going to their hometowns to spend their long weekend. Luckily, when we arrived there, there weren't too many people. The bus started to move at around 5:10 AM. Usually, the trip takes 2 hours or more (depending on what time you're traveling and traffic situation of the prior cities/municipalities) but this time it only took us about an hour and half! Perks of being an early bird, eh?

Road under construction. Good thing they're doing their best to develop it.

When we got off to the Dalaguete junction, we rode a habal-habal (motorcycle taxi) which will take us to the base of the mountain. Travel time was about 30 minutes and the fare is usually 200 PHP for each person (both for going up to the base of the mountain and going back to the Poblacion).

I must admit, my butt kinda hurts. Haha! After the not-so-long habal-habal ride, we're finally here! And you could really tell that a great adventure was literally waiting for us. Before you up to the mountain, you must pay 30 PHP for the environmental fee if you're just going to stat for a couple of hours and 50 PHP if you're planning to go on camping.

The important reminders to all trekkers. We must obey them and cooperate to maintain the beauty of the place.

These lovely cabbages were the first ones who greeted us with a good morning.

And here's a couch potato trying to fit into a flock of cabbage heads. lol.

Since it was still early in the morning, the fog was really visible. It was so surreal to see a fog again after a couple of years. As we started going to the top, the fog was getting more and more visible. I felt like I was in cloud nine, I guess? Haha!  

I took some random snaps using my phone. Nature never fails to be photogenic and perfect for Instagram-worthy photos.

Met this little creature while walking. In my childhood days we used to call millipedes as tren-train because it kinda resembles a train. Is it? 

After a couple of minutes of trekking and catching our breaths, we finally got to see the infamous spot of Osmeña Peak. Nature at its finest!

When you're wearing the wrong pair of shoes but you still survived through the rocky trail.

Obligatory groufie of zany dorks on the mountain.

Christine was trying to do a 'me time' in the middle of the trip. Haha!

The intense feeling of freedom! (Thank you Christine for these awesome photos.)

Hold on! Our adventure for that day didn't end there. If in the morning, we were approximately 1,00 meters above sea level but we went on sea level in the afternoon. 

Since we still have a lot of time to wander, we decided to spend the rest of the afternoon in Oslob instead of going back to the city. We rode a bus for not more than an hour and asked the bus conductor to drop us at the Cancuay Beach Resort. It has an entrance fee of 120 PHP per person but you don't need to pay for the cottage nor no food and drinks corkage.

 This beach isn't usual the white sand beach that we look for but the awesome rock formations will amaze you.

Katie's posing game was really strong, ala Asia's Next Top Model. 

Happy dorks.

Captured a picture-perfect moment as the waves crashed onto my feet.

Here's a little realization on this trip: I guess, we really don't need to spend much time in planning for the next trip (well, unless it is quite far and you'll going to stay longer on that place) or even spending a lot of bucks just to have a super fun and epic adventure. Maybe we just need some people (aka our perpetual travel buddies) who are always up for random getaways as find a sweet escape from the hustle and bustle of the city life. We sometimes need to travel to break our the boredom of just staying home and see more the beauty of the country.  ♥