Five years ago, a younger me would never have thought that I'd be climbing mountains. Mountain trekking just seemed foreign to me. And yet, here I am blogging about my third expedition. 

Last January, a couple of work colleagues and I decided to climb a mountain located in Sto. Tomas Batangas, Mt. Manabu. The name is derived from three Filipino words, MAtaas NA BUndok, which translates to "Tall Mountain". How creative is that.

So here was how we got there:

1. Meet-up at South Station, Alabang
2. Ride bus going to Tambo Exit (Fare: 94php)
3. Ride jeep to Fiesta Mall (Fare: 16php)
4. Ride a tricycle to the foot of Mt. Manabu (Fare: 30php)

6. After the hike, rode a tricycle back to the highway (Fare: 40php)


For the third step, we rode two jeeps which cost us 16php. I've been reading other blogs that you can hire a jeep or tricycle to bring you all the way to the foot of the mountain. All you'll need is good negotiating skills.

There are eight stations. All marked with dusty signs

Except for the 6th (peak), which is marked by a cross

Some stations have a map like this one

The second station had a bunch of caged animals. They looked really sad. Then again, all caged animals look sad to me.

This monkey is missing a right hand :(

The fourth station has this ginormous jackfruit tree. There wasn't any fruit though.

At the Fifth station, you'll find a man who offers free Alamid coffee. I didn't try it though. My companions who tried it says it's good. When I was forcing him to describe it, he jokingly reasoned he wasn't a food critic and wasn't skilled enough to describe such taste. :))

At the sixth is the cross. The wind was really strong. When it crashes against the trees, it sounds like the waves in the ocean. One of my companion decided not to bring any extra clothing so he had to deal with the harshness of the cold. We stayed there for more than an hour since we had the peak to ourselves. I enjoyed it very much. 

Jump shot, guys!

The trail back was fun because we got to see all these neat stuff like mushrooms and big-ass rocks.

I was puzzled by how there were only a few hikers. It wasn't till the afternoon that the people started pouring in, all ready to camp overnight. One of my companions say that the view from the top is really beautiful with all the lights from down below. 

Taken in Photo Sphere mode from my Nexus 4

The trek in Manabu is one I definitely enjoyed. The weather is good and the winds are really cool. This is definitely a recommend for the beginners. :)