Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Spider Gigil, 2 others, Die by Overspeeding

Driving through speeds of 88 to 100 kilometers per hour, Spider Gigil died twice, maybe more. Yes he died gruesomely, multiple times! On one of those deaths, he banged at the back of an orange truck, then somersaulted as high as his motorcycle before landing head first on a bridge’s cement road. At another time, he drove a blinding speed, escaped a narrow sandwich space he found between two racing cars, but not for long, as he tried to swerve, he sideswiped onto the right rear side of that “Epal Truck.” This time he landed back first, as his fire-combusting motorcycle crashed and slid near the metal ridge of the bridge of death.

But good thing is…this is not a real, highway mishap but a game called Speed Moto, an addictive motorcycle driving game downloadable for free through Google Playstore. An Android phone can play this game.

Spider Gigil is not a name that the game creators gave one of the featured drivers in the said game. I bestowed that name since the driver wears a white body-hugging suit with a body-wide Spider drawing at its back. My 9-nine year old nephew laughs out loud at the mention of the name. Perhaps he can relate very well because he is a huge fan of Spider-Man and he agrees that “Gigil”, a Pinoy Word for eager beaver is the right word to describe that screeching, break-neck driving by Spider Gigil. The Game’s other choice drivers we also named were Blue Hornet, because he wears blue, and the other “Mang Kulas,” because he looks like an ordinary Pinoy motorist. He wears a boring golden brown suit and drives an unaesthetic brown bike. Just like Spider Gigil, Blue Hornet and Mang Kulas also crashed to their own death due to our reckless maneuvering. Blue Hornet met his death as he scored a lowly 2152 game points when he crashed onto a car, thrown from his bike, then got run over by a blue car. Mang Kulas once died at an early stage when he crashed on the railings under the shade of a queue of trees.

Epal Truck is a monacre my nephew gave it because it usually manages to interfere at the path the driver would take. The truck is absolutely fatal thus he can be called “Epal”, which means in Pinoy lingua as someone who is irritating.

Driving the motor is done through a slight tilting of the phone to dodge other vehicles. Going turbo for maximum speed is done through a press-and-hold of the touch-screen phone.

A lot of cool games and applications for Android phones, iphones, and Ipads are available for free at Google Playstore such as Temple Run, Text Twist, and Kindle Ebook Reader.

Friday, June 22, 2012

Spelunking Sumaguing

What is Spelunking?

Oh, that means pain…but also, so much FUN! Totally!!!

Spelunking is distinguished from caving as the act of exploring caves by untrained cave explorers, which is why spelunkers often need a trained person, a caver, or a tourist guide in doing this.

When in Sagada, Spelunking is one of the most fun activities to do. Caveat, it is a physically-demanding adventure, so you better do some stretching and go get ample sleep before you do this. Had I known that this was going to be a whole lot harder than jogging on the asphalted or cemented roads of U.P. Diliman or Quezon City Circle, I would have gotten enough rest the night before we went Spelunking.

The cave we spelunked on was the Sumaguing Cave, which I didn’t know would take 4-6 hours to explore. The risky business of spelunking this Japanese-era soldier-refuge cave starts with passing by an aisle where there are hanging coffins on a wall of rock and some scattered bones at the ground path. Then we climbed down very steep and slippery staircases made of layered rocks, sand, and soil either piled up by men and nature itself. You will also get lucky which means you’ll definitely step on or touch bat poop on your way down and up the cave! But all that shit and mess won’t be so much of a hassle but rather add up to the WOW experience with all that’s there to see.




The stalactites, stalagmites, and rock formations are awesome and absolutely picture-worthy—some are even sexually contoured. Our amazing tour guide ensured we didn’t miss seeing the Queen and Princess’ unmentionable (sexual organ). I wasted no time touching the Queen’s cl…ris—an act my fiancée despised. The Queen’s rock formation is in limestone, which was rough and colored bronze. This limestone part of the cave is the easiest stone path inside the cave to walk on because it has small, pimple-looking spikes all over it that build friction on the feet or footwear. There are marble paths you should take on barefooted, otherwise you’re sure to slide by and be one with the stones, perhaps become a fossil someday! LOL.


As we went deeper into the cave, we found some small, ice-cold water ponds, one of which was waist-deep (I’m just a few inches over five feet)…and so I was able to pee in it. Hey, I don’t pee in pools but it might have been already two hours of trekking so it was perhaps forgivable to let my own waterfall flow. Our friendly tour-guide who hand-carried a gas-powered lamp, obliged to take several Blog-and-Facebook-destined pictures of us in these scenic spots.


When it’s your turn to spelunk, remember these few tips. Don’t wear light-colored clothes, they will be pooped and soiled. Bring a bottle of water but not so big, because it will just be a heavy burden while you’re walking, bending, crawling, and rappelling. Most importantly, before you engage in this injury-prone undertaking, get some rest and warm-up exercise especially if you have kept yourself away from athletic activities for a long time.







Saturday, June 16, 2012

A Rapturous SAGADA EXPERIENCE


BAGUIO TO SAGADA and back – is that one road trip no one can afford to sleep over. There’s just too much to see. It is an absolutely gorgeous visual experience. “Communing with nature” is a weak way to describe the road to Sagada. There’s too much thrill in the experience.
It is a long, 6-hour drive but totally not boring rather an ecstatic ride full of high points, literally and figuratively. It is like watching a very long movie, say Forrest Gump or Three Idiots, and yet there’s not a dragging moment. Every scene is so captivating and worth playing back. When you reach the highest highway points of the Mountain Provinces leading to Sagada, it would just feel like heaven. Your sight will be filled with a stunning view of clouds touching the mountains, the famed rice terraces, and the beautiful mix of verdant lush forests and vast brown land. The great heights you will pass by might shake your guts but you will love the view from up there. I felt like a kid again having my first ride at the Ferris Wheel or Roller Coaster. I got scared of the thought that I could easily fall from such incredible height if the driver makes a slight wrong maneuver. I thought of how crushing a fall would be from such a peak many, many stories higher than the Empire State Building. Looking down from up there was hair-raising but at the same time so enthralling.
 “It’s like a gigantic cooking pot, a beautiful cooking pot,” my fiancée said when she looked down and saw bodies of clouds looking like big smokes spreading and whirling amidst the mountains, the forests, and the paved roads—all of which looking like they are contained and being cooked together in a deep, large pot. I told myself, “What a brilliant cook God is!” Seeing such a brilliant natural landscape stirred in me a feeling of gratefulness to Him for serving such a visual “relief” in an unexpected way. 
Travelling the long and breath-taking route to Sagada would remind you of great places you have previously met. I remembered the picture-perfect view of the Taal Lake in Tagaytay (a personal favorite), the phantasmagoric Hundred Islands, the colossal, perfect stance of the Mayon Volcano, and Puerto Princesa’s fascinating Underground River. Sagada brings to mind all sorts of beautiful places and makes you stop and think…it is one of the best, if not the best, places you have and might ever see. I have seen great sights from an airplane, but that experience pales in comparison to this. I don’t think the Sagada route can be enjoyed so much when you view it from an airplane. Driving to its circling, zigzagging route rather than flying over it, makes you relish the sights better and longer.
 The fare for the Baguio – Sagada route as far as I can remember is around P230-250. I would have still paid if it was a few pesos more. This is such a super special road show one can ever see!