✨Awesome day everyone!✨
It's the last day of August! And here in the Philippines, it only means one thing: the start of the countdown to the longest Christmas season in the world. 🎄 Here in our country, the Christmas Season will commence tomorrow, September 1 until either the Feast of the Epiphany or for us Cebuanos it can even stretch until the Feast of Snr. Sto. Niño on the third Sunday of January 2022. That's five months overall!
But I will not talk about anything related to Christmas tho, that's just a quick tidbit from Patsitivity.
Let's start the main event! 😎
Today, I'll bring you to the tallest bridge in the Philippines, Agas-Agas Bridge. This bridge is located in Sogod, Southern Leyte, and stands at 75 meters above sea level and spans 350 meters from end to end, making it the tallest bridge ever built in the country.
I am fascinated by bridges of all kinds. In fact, I always find myself including amazing bridges in my itinerary. It amazes me how a single infrastructure can connect towns, barangays, or islands that otherwise will never be linked and will forever stay isolated.
Today's destination is a major throwback. Major as in the first out-of-town trip with my Bogo Family after we graduated from college. That's like six (6) years ago. I feel so ancient while writing this. 😒
If you can remember, my Bogo Family are the same bunch of friends I've traveled with during my 3-day Biliran Escapade. And if you haven't read my write-ups, links are below. 👇
A Quick Tour Down South
Took me some time to convince myself that I should be writing about the oldest out-of-town travel with my closest friends, because I'm pretty sure that this will bring back good old times' memories and will definitely make me miss how things used to be. And yes, told you, I've been hoarding photos since the day I was born. I excel at safekeeping things. ❤️
This trip came out of nowhere. It wasn't that one travel we planned for months. We went to Maerose's hometown in Hilongos, Leyte on a Holy Week. I couldn't even recall how I was able to convince Ma to allow me to join this particular travel. Traveling during the Lenten Season more so on a Holy Week is highly discouraged, well at least that is the tradition I've grown up with. And knowing how strict my mother is, this travel was a miracle to start with.
We took the overnight boat ride from Cebu City to Hilongos, Leyte and upon arrival in Maerose's house, we didn't waste any time and headed directly to our first stop, Agas-Agas Bridge.
I'm not sure if this holds true at present, but when we went to Leyte it seemed like it's difficult to get a ride especially going down South. In our case, the father of Maerose offered to chaperone us around the beautiful neighboring Provinces of Leyte and Southern Leyte. We're so lucky to have a friend in this part of the Philippines.
It was past noon when we arrived at Agas-Agas Bridge. The sun's up and burning with passion during our arrival, but this didn't stop us from conquering Agas-Agas Bridge like the cool kids we've always been. Look at the sky beaming with confidence!✨
And these two little girls are Maerose's sisters, Baby and Mayang. They joined us during the entire Leyte/Southern trip, that's from Day 1 to Day 4. And having energetic, real kids with us during the entire trip just ensured that we're always on the go, with our game face on in every adventure awaiting us.
Of all the places I've been to, Southern Leyte, specifically the town of Sogod is one of the most remote places wherein you'll seldom see a car passing by. And this is also the reason why we were able to take a lot of photos in the middle of the bridge. If this is in Cebu City, you'll be dead before you can snap a single photo. 😟
Surely we couldn't help but laugh and enjoy this scenic route down South of Leyte Peninsula.
I'm not sure if you're interested to hear a side story but that particular picture of me sitting at the middle of the bridge raising both my arms up the air is the first time I told myself that I'm finally free from people's expectations of me. This time, I have to look after my own dreams, goals, and happiness. I've lived two decades to live someone else's life and now, I'm breaking free, ready to conquer the highest peaks and the deepest seas. ❤️
Additionally, this makes me smile seeing how timid the old Pat is and how I've grown into such a flower always at full bloom all year round. How I did it? That's another story you should watch out for.
More group photos at the bridge with the gang. If you're asking who took our legit group pictures, the answer is the kids. We've managed to teach them how to use my DSLR in a matter of minutes just to take these photos and have a memoir we can all keep forever. 😍
Ain't it obvious? We're trying to mimic the iconic pose of the legendary band, The Beatles. What do you think about our photos?😂
Agas-Agas Bridge left me dumbfounded. There were so many questions lurking in my mind like "How did they manage to build this in the middle of nowhere?" and "How long did it take them to finish this infrastructure?" Whoever built this thing, they're surely the best in their craft. 👏👏👏
Now, let me just leave all the shots I could retrieve from my hard drive. ❤️
The Viewing Deck
If you think you've already seen the best side of Agas-Agas Bridge, you're wrong! There's this viewing deck up a little hill just beside the bridge that offers a bird's eye view of this infrastructure.
Just a few steps and this will welcome you.
If you're wondering what you'll feel if you stare straight to the ground from Agas-Agas Bridge, don't even try! It made me dizzy just by looking straight down below.
A Sidetrip to Hindang Cave
Since we're already around the area where another tourist attraction is located, we decided to visit it on our way back to Hilongos.
Hindang Caves and Wild Monkeys is home to one of the biggest caves I've seen by far. I'm not particularly interested in caves. To be honest, I'm afraid of them. I hate the feeling of being enclosed in a small space with nothing but darkness and the weird sounds from wild animals. But we're here anyway might as well explore and see what this place can offer to us.
I forgot if we just opted to not go inside or if the caretakers really prohibited people from going in.
But from the outside, the cave looked massively scary for me. Additionally, the sun started to fade into the background making the experience here more creepy.👻
Here are more photos of Hindang Cave.
End of Day 1
We were still in Hindang when the sun went into its mother's womb to rest for the night. And it was just marvelous to be seeing this moment, face to face without anything urgent thing to interrupt the peace and quiet surrounding us.
Right there and then, I melted, in a place far away from home. And I realized, I want to do more of these, somewhere else, more often. Maybe for eternity. ❤️
Wow! I finished writing this in one sitting. I couldn't even write a paragraph before. Look at what Hive has done to me! Haha!😁
Our Leyte/Southern Leyte Trip will be divided into four to five parts and you just finished reading Part 1. Awesome! 🎉
I'll be back for more so stay tuned! 😊
Living life intentionally every single day, she believes that there’s no limit to one’s potentials. Right now, she’s on the loose for the pursuit of endless holistic self-growth and development. She wants to light the way for others. She believes there’s no better way to leave a legacy than to pay it forward.
Her ultimate goal in life is to reach the state of enlightenment where there’s nothing but peace, love, happiness, and contentment - nothing more, nothing less.
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