Skip to main content

Road trip 2010 (Leg 2)

After the Pahiyas (2010) adventure, we trooped to Tanay, Rizal to see the famous Daranak Falls. The general area of the waterfalls is a popular filming location; in fact, on today's trip, we passed by the road to the film set location of "Langit sa Piling Mo", a current GMA-7 television series. 

I'm glad that despite the fame of the place, it is still accessible to non-showbiz folk. The Manila East Road (which goes round the Laguna de Bay) is paved and relatively safe to go on (no traffic!). I loved driving on the hairpin turns and seeing the transformation of the scenery: mountain, lake, rice field, then back to mountain. There were also a lot of reminders to be alert for landslides because the roads cut through the Sierra Madre range. Keeping passengers not nauseated with the road was quite challenging in the Mabitac–Pililla stretch.


A lot of blogs have been written on how to go to the waterfalls via the Manila East Road, but most of the writers start from Manila. So for anyone from Laguna interested in visiting the waterfalls, here's what to do (going by private transportation):
  1. From Los Banos, drive past Bay, Victoria, Pila, and Sta Cruz. At Pagsanjan (across the town church), take a left to Lumban.
  2. Pass the towns of Kalayaan, Paete, and Pakil along the Manila East Road.
  3. Pass by Siniloan and Famy.
  4. Drive up the zigzag section of the Manila East Road in Mabitac (the last town of Laguna).
  5. Enter Pililla, Rizal and start descending (still on the zigzag road).
  6. Once on flat land, start looking for the intersection with a Shell station on the right. Turn right on that intersection. That is the Sampaloc Road.
  7. Stay on that road and follow directions to Daranak Falls. You're on the right road if you start smelling the unique aroma of poultry and hog farms. (I'm not kidding)
  8. Turn left at the small uphill road that has a sign board directing people to Daranak Falls. The road is quite steep and has unpaved sections which may be slippery during the rainy season.
  9. Park at the end of the road. You've arrived!

I'm quite surprised that despite the popularity of the place, rent of the tables and the entrance fees are on the cheap (really cheap!). In fact, when payment time came up, I only had to pay P75.00! To me, that meant the place is underdeveloped and may have a lot of visitors. I just wish that this waterfalls is not following the sorry path of Hinulugang Taktak, Antipolo City. I look forward to seeing it again (unchanged) in a few years.

The view of Daranak Falls was what I came for, and it did not disappoint. There was less water pouring from the cliff compared to what I remembered, but then the country is just coming from a nasty El Nino spell, so a smaller waterfall was expected. However, the water in the pool was still a stunning shade of blue and there were a lot of butterflies flitting about. The long drive was worth it.



Where to next?

**More photos of this road trip here:

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Thank you for dropping by!

Before moving on, please share your thoughts or comments about the post. :)

Thanks again!

Popular posts from this blog

10 things I learned while driving on Marcos Highway to Baguio City

I went on a day trip to the City of Pines, which was around a 700-km drive from my house. I drove  going up there and then from the city to Victoria, Tarlac. After that, my dad took over the driving duties. It was day trip with Tita Ising and Tito Sibing with us. Anyway, this trip was my first time to go to Baguio City with me behind the wheel. As everyone who drives up knows, there are three main routes to Baguio from the lowlands: Kennon Road, which ascends from Rosario, La Union. It was out of my options because it's too dangerous to use that road in the rainy season. The second route is via Naguilian Road, which makes my trip a lot longer because the beginning of the ascent is in Bauang, La Union (further north). The last route, and the one I took, was the Marcos Highway, now known as the Aspiras-Palispis Highway. This 47-km road starts from Agoo, La Union and is touted as the safest route among the three.  As I drove up and then down (on the same day; we were in Bagu
5 comments
Read more

How MALDI-TOF-MS makes mycobacterium diagnosis faster and more accurate

The laboratory I work in has plenty of instruments that help us characterise and identify microorganisms causing diseases in patients. One of my current projects is to validate an instrument called "matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization-time of flight mass spectrometer" (MALDI-TOF-MS) in identifying members of the Mycobacterium  species. Many of these organisms are opportunistic, meaning they only cause illnesses in people whose immune systems are not strong enough to fight infections. Mycobacterium leprae  is known for causing leprosy, but we cannot grow this bacterium in culture media, so we cannot isolate it. Mycobacterium tuberculosis  complex, on the other hand, is a group of several species of Mycobacterium  that causes tuberculosis. Tuberculosis is a disease that killed 1.6 million people in 2021 alone. It is a leading cause of death globally, second only to COVID-19 since the pandemic began. Identifying the Mycobacterium species that has infected a patient is
Post a Comment
Read more

a crash course on traditional Filipino houses

On Dr Jose Rizal's birthday this year, I was back in historic Manila with Ate Bing, Ate Mary , and Manuel . But instead of visiting him, we opted to soak up on Philippine culture. Our first stop: the Cultural Center of the Philippines ' (CCP) Museo ng Kalinangang Pilipino .  Aside from the musical instruments, I noticed the dioramas about Filipino homes. Filipinos living by the sea (the 'sea gypsies', Sama Dilaut or Badjao ) have boathouses; those who live in the mountains, like the Bagobos , have developed interconnected houses in the trees; Filipinos who live along the path of the strongest typhoon winds, such as the Ivatans , have developed houses of thick limestone walls; and people who live in calmer conditions used bamboo and nipa to construct their houses, like the lowlanders and the Agtas . Sama Dilaut 'lepa' and houses on stilts (in the background) Ivatan limestone house nipa hut Ifugao 'fale' Maranao '
Post a Comment
Read more