Week 14: Going to Daranak Falls is #BetterByBicycle

-

One early morning, I woke up feeling restless,  I couldn’t go back to sleep so I pulled a book and tried to read. But I couldn’t focus so I took out my stereoscope and viewed some scenic reels. I ended up craving for nature. I thought to myself, I have a bike, I could be go there now. Just like that, I decided to have breakfast at Daranak Falls. I’ve been meaning to do a ride there, though I’ve always thought I’d do it with a group. The good thing about having a bicycle is it allows me to travel spontaneously. I should say though, that I’m also lucky to be living so close to nature -mountains, forests, rivers, falls and the lake, as it lets me act on spur of the moment wanderlusts. So I packed my bag and mounted my bike and set off to Daranak Falls.

It was just a 10 km ride from my home, but it wasn’t easy. About 70 percent of the ride was ascent, 15 percent flat and 15 percent descent. I’m not a monster cyclist and I’m using a 5-speed internal gear hub so I’m not ashamed to say there were times that I had to walk and push my bike. But that also meant that my way back home had a reversed ride difficulty 😊. The name of the waterfalls came from the Tagalog word “dadanak” which means to spill, it has a 14 meter height and the plunge pool is  about 10 meter deep. It is a popular tourist destination in the province of Rizal, especially during summer.

I’ve been to Daranak Falls so many times, that I can’t put down a specific number. My family and relatives would go there on summers during my childhood and when I became an adult, I would always take there my visiting friends and colleagues from the city and other province. It’s also a frequent shooting location of many Filipino films and TV commercials. I know the varying colors and  volume of the water and the strength of the current during various times of the year so I know the best time to go there. But this is the first time that I ever went alone and the first time on a bicycle, and I gotta say, Daranak Falls never gets old. It still has the charm and inviting call to take the plunge. But traveling solo offers a different kind of experience that’s good for the mind because I didn’t have to worry about anyone else but myself. I also get to lose sense of time and just savor the beauty of nature. The poor signal is also a good excuse to disconnect temporarily from the world. Just like riding a bicycle, it’s a liberating experience.


Because I wasn’t prepared for the trip, there were things I wish I brought with me. First, I didn’t bring any swimming clothes because I only intended to have breakfast, but the blue water is so inviting that I went and swim with what I was wearing. I thought, what the heck, it’s about to rain, I’d probably get wet on my ride home. I also wish I brought my bridge camera or binoculars because I spotted some interesting and colorful birds. The place is surrounded by trees so it’s natural to see different kinds of birds (and possibly other wild animals). But I guess this gives me reasons to come back, maybe with friends or students next time so I have people to help me carry those stuff. Until our next encounter Daranak, I will be back 😊

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Week 1: Going to Work/School is #BetterByBicycle

-
Image
When I ditched the city life more than a decade ago, I knew that I'm gonna be like one of those characters  from the various slice of life anime series or Jap films  I watch. My main motivation to cycle had always been to cut down on my carbon footprint, but there's also a part of me secretly wishing to live like some high school student in Japan. I knew my time to live that life had passed, luckily I work in a school, so going to work with my bicycle oftentimes makes me feel like I'm a   joshi kosei, to some a kokosei 😅. I even got myself  a randoseru and I secretly celebrated every time my colleagues or students comment that I'm like a Japanese student (sometimes they'd say Korean and I would instantly correct them 😆) when I enter the campus gate on my bicycle donning a randoseru .  Next time I'll get an Insta 360 cam to get a better shot of my j oshi  kosei / kokosei cosplay.  Cosplaying aside, I wish more Filipino students and workers woul...
Read more

A Personal Challenge

-
Image
More than a decade ago, I decided to quit my job in the city, giving up a relatively reasonable compensation package in exchange of a laid back lifestyle of the province. I wasn't really sure of my next career move then but all I know was that I want to reduce my carbon footprint. I want to work where I could just use a bicycle as a transportation. I tried applying in our municipal hall because I thought, well I want to change the world, perhaps I should be in an institution that has direct power to make changes. How naive eh? So I submitted my resume but I never heard anything back. Then a relative informed me that her former employer, which was a state university, was looking for part-time instructors in Psychology. At the time, I was skeptic at the whole idea of me teaching. I had no teaching experience and I remember having very little patience in tutoring my peers back in high school and college. But I had nothing to lose so I gave it a shot anyway. I submitted my resume and w...
Read more

Week 8: Grocery Shopping is #BetterByBicycle

-
Image
First of all, I'd like to add that grocery shopping is better when you do it in a public market than big supermarket chains like Savemore or Pure Gold, because 1) you support small and local business owners, they need more of our support than the billionaires who own those supermarket chains. 2) The goods being sold in the public market has  no or less plastic packaging unlike the ones sold in supermarkets. The plastic pollution crisis is so alarming and we have to do everything we can in our capacity as consumers to stop the demand to produce more plastics. 3) In public markets, you can haggle for prices whereas everything is fixed price in the supermarkets. Now if you are a budget conscious shopper, then a public market suits you perfectly.  The only advantage of supermarkets that I could think of is that they are airconditioned. No, I can't even count that as an advantage,  it only sounds one at first because of the comfort it brings to shoppers, but the confined and ...
Read more