Motorcycle ride from manila to baguio

This was one of our unplanned trips where we decide to go places the  night before or sometimes just hours before. This was of course planned just a few hours before the actual trip. Coming from manila, there are many ways to go to baguio. One is, of course the obvious, if you have your own vehicle you can take north luzon expressway (NLEX) all the way up to baguio. Or, you can take bus from cubao in quezon city, which will go the same way, but you won't have to worry about getting lost, but you will, of course have to worry about the safety of your trip. 

For this one we decided to ride our motorcycle from Makati all the way to baguio. Riding a motorcycle to baguio was one of the best rides i have ever did. You get to see a lot of places, get to feel the morning breeze, you get to see other riders on the same route. If you decide to ride a motorcycle lower than 400cc, the best road to take is the Mac Arthur Highway AKA Manila North Road (MNR). This of course is the long way around but probably a better choice than the NLEX since there's nothing much to see there. 

On this road you will cross a couple of provinces namely and in order;

• Valenzuela City
• Bulacan
• Pampanga
• Tarlac
• Pangasinan
• Benguet

I don't know if it's the right order or if I missed any. That is only, of course based on what I can recall. It was a long trip. If you have time  you can do side trips in lots of places. But for us its a straight trip to baguio.
The best time to travel is probably around 2am to 3am. During this time there are lesser vehicles on the road, means lesser traffic, means faster travel time and less time to endure the heat. We, of course started at 3am. Our first pit stop after 6 hours of travelling was in McDonalds in Pangasinan. The sun was already up and we are starting to feel a little sleepy and tired. So we decided to take a coffee break. We stayed for 1 hour and then left to continue our adventure. We first thought that we are near since Google Maps look so little. There are 2 ways to enter Baguio if your coming from south. One is the shorter but a bit dangerous Kennon Road or the Longer much safer Marcos Highway. Marcos Highway is a more developed road since it is taken care of of the national government. It is the most used road specially for private vehicles compared to kennon road. On the other hand Kenon road is a bit more dangerous because it still being developed up to this moment. The roads are steepper and there are still parts with out barriers. So we took this road since a has better views to offer.

Colorado falls

Bridal Veil Falls of Benguet

You will come across two falls on this road. One is the Bridal Veil Falls of Benguet. It is called as such according to locals because of its veil like look. It is a high falls but it is hard to spot if your not going to look for it because the water falling is very thin from afar and the base is small. Plus its hard to get close to it. The next one is the Colorado Falls of Benguet. It is a much wider and bigger base compare to the later because it crosses the road. You will know your there when you come across a bridge with what looks like a river , which is not. This was the reason I came here. I wanted to swin in this falls. But beware its 15 feet deep and the current is strong. I almost drowned trying to climb the rockies. Also there are alot of kids swimming there whow smokes and drinks. Also beware of broken liquor bottles. They have cottages and comfort rooms built beside it for those who want to stay there. It is an under-maintained place. We stayed here for 45 minutes just to freshen up ourselves. Water is ice cold and clear as glass. 

We came across this hanging bridge. We stop by to see where it goes. There is no parking space so will just have to park on the side of the road. There is a man made ladder made of broken branches. Its a bit dangerous because its beside a cliff. We tried to cross it but it's a long way across so we just took pictures on it.



The next stop was the famous Lions Head. You can't miss it because its a curve and a lot a people do stop over to take pictures. And it is a huge structure so it's impossible to miss. There are Strawberry Flavored Taho Vendors there yelling and selling their goods like, "Bili na kayo ng strawberry taho pang instagram. Wag nyo ng inumin picturan nyo nalang." "Buy my strawberry taho for instagram, You don't need to drink it, just take a photo of it." Its worth P20. I know it's to much for a taho but its a "only here" type of drink so its worth, plus you get to ask  the vendor to take a photo of you for free. The Lions Head is the mark of the hardest part of the climb. Because this is the start of the steep climb to aguio City