BUSCALAN TOUR

Have you dreamed of traveling the Philippines as a Filipino, yourself? Have you wondered how other nationalities get to enjoy what the Philippines has to offer but not a Pinoy like you? Are you wondering how can you travel to one of the major tourist destinations in the Philippines without splurging for too much?

My answer to that personally as a Filipino traveler in the Philippines and as someone who has traveled to different tourist spots in our country is to look for a legit, certified travel agency. You can actually find their pages on Facebook and through their pages, you can check the reviews and comments on the photos they are posting. Some of them personally posted photos of the payment transactions of their past customers. Their customers would even thank them by posting comments so make it a habit to also check their customers' pages if they are still active. The cheapest package they are offering and mostly sold out is their joiner package. Joiner means one can join other tourists in experiencing the package they are offering. You don't need to know your companions. You will get to know them and have fun with them during the tour. For the joiner package, what they are offering to their exclusive tours is what is being offered in this package as well. Usually, this includes a 3 day-2 night tour. However, in order to avail slots as joiners, you need to hurry up since they will only need a minimum of 10-12 joiners per 3-4 days dates since they also base that on the available seats of their vans. I recently went to Buscalan, Sagada, and Banaue and the joiner price was 4499 pesos. It was a three-day-2-night tour. 

Last September 28, My cousin and I waited for the driver from Tripwire, the agency we hired for this trip, Kuya Pudong at the Mall of Asia KFC. The meeting time was actually 7 PM so we took our dinner first there. I had coleslaw, iced tea, and fries since I was not that hungry. 

After our dinner, we sat outside waiting for the rest of the joiners and the van of Kuya Pudong. I started to follow him up since by 8 PM, he was still not around. Unfortunately, it was raining hard in some parts of Manila which caused floods along the way that's why he was late in arriving. It was almost 9 PM when he arrived. 

It was at 8 AM the next day when we arrived in Buscalan, the hometown of Whang OD. Before we can reach their village proper, you need to log in first.

 If you have heavy things, you can just avail of their tramline for 50 pesos for your own convenience before you climb since the journey to their village was not easy. To tell you honestly, It was a hell of a journey for me. I was the last person in our group that was able to climb. The guide's last person to keep an eye on. Thanks to my sedentary-relaxed, work-from-home life. However, once I reached the village, every sweat and beating heart I had exerted was worth it. Danna and Jam was our homestay, the inn that we stayed at. The first things I did were, of course, settled my things, rested, and took my lunch. Kuya Pudong was a very good cook. We had a delicious brunch since we had not eaten breakfast yet. It was a corn soup with meat. I am not really sure what it's called, all I know is it was amazing.

Right after our lunch, we were summoned to go to Whang Od's house as she could pick random guests to tattoo since there were no guests yet waiting for her there. Usually, guests/homestays were given numbers so that the session would be organized. My cousin was very excited as this was what she had been waiting for. Got tattooed by Whang Od. At first, I was actually contemplating if I should get a tattoo. Personally, I am not a fan of tattoos and I don't want any ink put on my skin. However, when we arrived, Whang Od was still taking her lunch so we opted for a photo session there with the rest of the joiners of our tour.

Minutes later, guests began to flock to the place, and the guests with numbers ahead of us began to show up. Also, the Kalinga medical team arrived and took a Glucose test on Whang Od. Kudos to them for always monitoring her health. Please see the below picture. This was actually a video so I just took a screenshot, the reason for the picture to be pixelated.

Since the guests with numbers before us began to show up, we decided to go back to our homestay and rest instead. It was in the afternoon when one of the people of Whang Od called us back because it was finally our turn. I finally decided not to get tatted. However, my cousin was very firm in getting one. I just tagged along so that I could get a picture of and with Whang Od.

It was late in the afternoon when the rest of the group finished the session. Kuya Pudong started calling us to have our early dinner. He prepared us sisig and chicken fillet.