Birthday Tragedy on The Way to Coal Mountain Resort

This is a birthday blog and it’s long been overdue. I’ve been meaning to blog about this, but I’ve unexpectedly been through rough times these past weeks and I didn’t have the motivation to blog just yet.

Now, I feel like I’m already back on track. And I just can’t miss blogging my birthday celebration this year for keeps. Prepare to read a long series of rants, complaints, and amusement all in one blog post. This year's birthday has been a rollercoaster ride with  my baby-ik.

We woke up rather early this day, as mentioned in my previous blog. We were on Moalboal, bound to Argao. I’ve been eyeing a place in Argao called Mountain Coal Resort which has a very beautiful mountain top view. I’ve only seen photos on Facebook and it has since captured my heart. Naks!

With the help of Waze, we headed on to Argao. But it turned out to be a D-I-S-A-S-T-E-R!

Imagine getting here unprepared and with a motorcycle?

We srsly weren't up for this.

Waze says it would only take about an hour to get to the destination but it took us 3-4 hours to get there. It was a complete tragedy!

The first 30 minutes on the road was so-so… the road was fine although bumpy…. but fine. But after half an hour, the road got more difficult. Lots of rocks welcomed us, seriously enormous rocks as in Motor Cross competitions! The road became narrower and steeper the farther we went. It was frustrating and my baby-ik almost gave up. Our baby Sniper MX 150 was just a few months old and he had to go through this all. I had to walk a lot because of the road. I felt like my birthday was ruined. But we remained joyful. I am thankful that my baby-ik kept his cool and even comforted me all throughout even if he was way more exhausted than I was. He just didn’t want me to think my day has been ruined. Thank you baby-ik!

Resting because the past 2 hours has been very exhausting. We're practically in the middle of nowhere.

There were almost no houses by the road and we feel like anytime we could experience “lamat.” Baby-ik was scared but didn’t show it because I might get scared too. For every motorcycle we pass by, we  would ask how much longer ’til we see a concrete road. And they’d always say “Layo pa!” (still far ahead) Like WTH! I wanted to go back but baby-ik was persistent that we just go on since we’ve already come a long way. I was so close to giving up! Damn you, Waze!

If only my eyes could take photos.

On a brighter note, on the way to Argao. We were able to see the amazing view of the municipalities of Badian and Moalboal along with the Pescador Island. We were basically on top of a mountain! And the view was stunning! 

“Dili kabayran og kwarta, worth it ra ang kakapoy” — Baby-ik

I was close to crying when we snapped this photo. I never thought I could make it. I walked for about 2 hours (intermittently)

We had to stop by several times to rest, it seemed like we were on a trek but with a motorcycle. I didn’t wanna complain but it was really difficult.

This is the route we took on the way to Coal Mountain Resort. I wouldn't recommend this route.

Magbunyi! Finally a concrete road with a beautiful view!

Anyhow, after almost 4 hours, we finally reached a concrete road… but only for about half an hour. We had to go through another bumpy road again. But this time better than the previous one. Way better.

The heart-shaped kiddie pool.

We arrived Coal Mountain Resort at around 2 PM. We were greeted with a plain sight of a kiddie swimming pool, and we were just too tired to let it sink in. I was a bit disappointed about what greeted us because I expected a lot. But thinking about it, if we just hadn't gone through all that, we might have enjoyed it.

By the lobby, this view welcomed us, but it almost didn’t amuse us because we’ve seen far more beautiful scenery than this one along the way. Not even exaggerating. The moment we got here, we just rested and ate. We were just really exhausted, and STARVING! Poor baby-ik. :(

Baby-ik on the hanging bridge.

After eating, we left our things by the lobby and went on for a swim -- diving for the baby-ik, in their 16-foot freshwater spring pool for adults. We had to cross a hanging bridge to reach the diving spot. The hanging bridge scared me because it kept on swaying, although it seemed really sturdy basing on the materials used for it. I was just being the scaredy cat that I am. I heard that if you didn't want to cross the hanging bridge, you could still reach the pool through a zipline. That sounded better but we opted for the bridge because it's more "challenging." Funny how we still want the challenge despite what we've been through just to get here. We spent most of our time in the 16-feet pool, and just swam until 5PM (closing time).

My baby-ik is so ma-booty! Hahaha

On the way home, the weather decided not to cooperate. It rained pretty hard, and both our phones couldn't detect any signal, not to mention that my phone was almost dead. So we relied on our instinct and the traditional way -- asking locals for the way to the main road. Thankfully we found our way out. The road to the main road was so dark and scary and slippery because of the rain. It was pouring hard but we had to go home because I have work the next day. I felt guilty that I dragged my boyf into this just to satisfy my want to go this nature site.

Not that I dreaded this day, although I hated it a lot because it just didn't turn out the way I expected it to be, but still I learned a lot from it. At the end of the day, what's important is that we survived, and our motorcycle survived. Haha!

Happy Birthday to me!!