By Fung Yu

Author’s Note: This article uses virtual reality technology to provide an immersive experience. Adobe Flash 10 or higher is required to view the 360-degree VRs. Average VR size is 2.2Mb each.

I FIRST set foot on Sagada about 4 years ago, had so much fun and adventure then that I vowed to visit the place again. The opportunity came during the long December holidays. It was more of a sudden decision really, of packing your bags, leaving your thoughts and hopping on the bus the day after Christmas.

Sagada, known as Philippines’ shangri-la, is a rusty idyllic town near Bontoc, the provincial capital of Mountain Province in the Cordilleras. Located some 275 kilometers north of Manila and about 140 kilometers from Baguio City, it is a haven for adventurers. Famous for it’s centuries-old hanging coffins and burial caves, underground river and water falls, majestic sunrise and star-studded night skies, aromatic coffee Arabica and verdant rice terraces. At 1500 meters above sea level, Sagada boasts of cool breezy weather throughout the year. Dry season starts usually from December to May and wet season from June to November.

Even after 4 years, little has changed in Sagada. The whole place seems to be trapped in a time-warp with the locals keeping to their traditional way of life. The only notable transformations are the numerous inns and lodgings converted from residential homes, upgraded rest houses catering to more tourists with better amenities, and more dogs in the streets. Relatively crime-free and peaceful, with residents familiar with one another, only dogs are employed for house security; shifting from pet dogs in the morning to guard dogs at night.

[Read the rest of this entry »]

Fung Yu was recently in in Sagada, Mountain Province, where he was able to catch President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and the First Family visiting one of the more popular tourist destinations in the country last week.

Watch these 3D shots taken by Yu.

Echo Valley

Hanging Coffins

Lumiang Cave

By Izah Morales
INQUIRER.net

MANILA, Philippines– Singaporean adventurer and world-record holder Khoo Swee Chiow was in the Philippines to climb the second highest peak in Luzon, Mt. Pulag.

He also decided to visit Mountain Province’s Sagada, which is known for its “hanging coffins” and mummies.

It was Swee Chiow’s first time to explore the country despite having explored the world and set world records in the process.

“I would definitely go back and bring my family here,” Swee Chiow said.

An adventurer, Swee Chiow has scaled at least seven summits in the seven continents, conquered Mt. Everest twice, traveled to the North Pole without an oxygen, skied in the South Pole for 57 days, skated from Hanoi to Singapore for 94 days, cycled from Singapore to Beijing for 73 days, swam the Malacca strait and dived for 220 hours earning him the world’s record of doing the longest scuba dive.

[Read the rest of this entry »]

By John Silva
Inquirer

MANILA, Philippines–You have to psych yourself for the six-hour bus ride from Baguio to the northern mountaintop town of Sagada.

But, on the road, you don’t figure the added time for the stalled jeep laden with vegetables blocking the road. Or the bus having a flat tire. Or that it wouldn’t start after a pit stop. Or the bus screeching to a halt because of a landslide before it.

We got off the bus and in freezing rain climbed the muddy mound about two-stories high, to slip and slide down the other side to wait for another bus.

[Read the rest of this entry »]