During our road trip to some of the places in the province of Kalinga, Bulanao was our final stop. One of my brothers and his family live there and also we have cousins who live there too. My brother and family traveled to our city to be with family and relatives. When he learned of the plan that some of us will be having a road trip to Kalinga, he tagged along and will be going back home first to Bulanao and his family will soon follow.
It was his idea that we go for sunrise watching in Talama View Deck. On our arrival that night there in Bulanao, we dropped him off to their home while we headed to our cousins where we spent the night. We decided to meet that morning in Mt. Talama. Along the way that night, my brother pointed to us the road going to the view deck.
We then rested that night as it was late when we arrived. Everyone was tired from the trip going to our destination and we badly needed a good night's rest.
The next morning, I was awakened by voices outside our window which was open. I think most of us forgot to alarm our phones for everyone else was asleep. I then recognized the voices outside which was my other brother and one of our companions. I noticed that the horizon is getting brighter so I suddenly got up and prepared. It was at that moment my brother peeked in and asked in a rather loud voice if we are not getting up. The rest of us was suddenly awake and started getting up.
After we had our preparation, we all quickly got into our vehicle and drove off to chase the sunrise.
From our cousins' it was a 15-minute drive to Mt. Talama. We can see from our window that the sun is quickly rising.
Some of us are in contact with our other brother who is going to meet us there and he said that he was still preparing. We couldn't wait for him so we headed straight to where he pointed us the way to the view deck.
We got there in Mt. Talama in time but we passed the view deck. Luckily there were locals there that early that we were able to ask for directions. The view deck was closed though but from where we are, there was a private property where some development is ongoing. There was a building at the edge of the hill that I thought was a cafe but turns out to be a radio station.
We parked our vehicle there but we were wary to go near the station for they might drive us out so we took photos from where we parked some meters away from the building.
We went nearer the building hoping we can get behind it where we can get an unobstructed view of the sunrise.
Just then the DJ that time came out and greeted us. He must have noticed us with our cellphones out trying to capture the sunrise and was kind enough to direct us behind the structure where there were tablets and chairs and also a view of Tabuk, its surrounding towns and mountains and the Chico River as it snakes through the land.
Our brother soon caught up with us he arrived just in time. Armed only with our phones, we can only get photos as what our phones can.
One of us found a beetle and we made that a subject too before finally deciding to go down the mountain.
It was one of the best few minutes that I have had with my brothers, cousins and friends in a different place other than home.
For more of our Kalinga road trip, check out:
Buscalan Tour
Bulanao Public Market
When I posted this in my fb page, a friend who had been doing projects in Tabuk was surprised to see such a place exists. She asked me about it and I told her where it was. I still have to see her posts about the place.
Whenever you have a chance to visit Tabuk City in Kalinga, it's worth it to visit Mt. Talama for sunrise and sunset.