It was 3:30 in the afternoon when we reached the place where buses from the city stop. No, it’s not a bus terminal. Buses just stop there to unload passengers and load passengers back to the city. Lee stopped the car at the roadside. Right after we got off, we started looking for a place to spend the night.

The cold mountain winds jolted us. We headed for the first lodge that we could see. One room cost P1,500.00 pesos (roughly 30 dollars). The rooms were cozy. The beds were king sized and the sheets were crisp and clean. The lightings made the room so romantic. (The lodge owner undoubtedly thought that Lee and I were a couple but we were not, that’s why she thought of showing us the most romantic room there was. Lee and I exchanged knowing glances and shared a secret laugh.) We wanted to stay  in two separate rooms and we didn’t have a need for a hotel-like accommodation. We would happily settle for a small but clean and comfortable room that has its own toilet and bathroom. Lee and I did not want to share toilet and bath.

Moreover, we deemed the cost impractical. I was thinking that if Lee and I would get one room each, that would already amount to around 60 dollars for just one night. Plus, the room was at the 5^th floor and it was so windy up there. The rooms were not furnished with a toilet and bath; Lee and I had to share the same comfort room and neither of us was comfortable with that. Third, the lodge did not have its own parking lot. It was not comfortable to just park our car on the roadside while we slumber on the fifth floor. We politely told the lodge owner that we would consider her place but we needed to check other accommodations.

We drove slowly up, from time to time stopping to check the available accommodations. Lee would stop the car by the roadside whenever there was a seemingly good accommodation, and it was my job to walk to that accommodation house and haggle with the owner. After a few minutes, walking became an ordeal. The harsh mountain wind felt like it was directly tearing away my flesh from my bones.  My body would automatically crouch in an effort to conserve energy and keep me warm.

If you Google Accommodation in Sagada or Where to Stay in Sagada, many lodging houses’ webpages will appear. We checked most of those. They are beautiful, as beautiful as they look in the picture, all right…but they are far from the center of the place. Also, some of them are located at steep places. We did not like those either.

We checked as many as seven accommodation houses but none was good enough to our liking.

Finally,  there was one that looked spectacular because again, the rooms were as cozy as the rooms in the hotels back in the city and the owner was willing to give us a discount, and the rooms had a spectacular view. It was facing the east and we could see the glorious sunrise over the mountaintops, right at the comfort of our bed…but, the entrance to the place smelled of pee. I wondered why. When I turned to another corner to check the other rooms, there was a woman washing a lot of baby clothes complete with soiled diapers a few feet away from her. I quickly walked out.

We got tired looking for an inn so we stopped by a roadside restaurant. I don’t normally eat at roadside restaurants but at that time, due maybe to the cold weather, everything looked and tasted delicious. Lee and I shared a meal together right there, at a small eatery by the road. I ordered pork adobo and pork sinigang. Lee ordered bulalo (beef stew).

We decided to go around one more time, just in case we missed some signs. At that time, we already agreed that if we could not find a good place, we would just sleep in the car. I actually got excited with the idea of sleeping in the car. Suddenly, up there on a hilltop not so far away, I saw it— a bright yellow lodge with the name Homestay Lodge prominently painted on the front, near the roof. Lee quickly steered the car to that direction.

We were not disappointed by the appearance of the guest house. The main guest house, the one facing the road and the one on which the beautiful signage was attached, had two floors. The owner was honest enough to explain that the second level had the most beautiful rooms of all, and that the rooms there were for the moneyed travelers. The ground floor was occupied by the owner, her family, and her staff. It also served as the office. On the right side of the main guest house was a restaurant, the Homestay Restaurant. It offered the best food in the place and it had a mini bar. The restaurant, surprisingly, looked small from the outside but it was spacious inside. Talk about architectural genius.

On the right side of the main guest house was a smaller accommodation lodge. We checked the rooms and we liked them instantly. The rooms were small but very comfortable. There was of course enough space for a double bed, two chairs and a table. That was all Lee and I needed. He chose the room that was near the door while I chose the room that was near the shower room. Lee and I had to share the same bath room and comfort room but it didn’t matter to us anymore.

 The floor was wooden which gave the room a cozy and warm atmosphere. Anyway, according to the owner, we had to look for another accommodation after two nights because after two nights, other guests, who booked months earlier, would come and occupy the same room we were about to occupy. I haggled with the owner. Finally, she agreed to let us pay only P800.00 per night. The owner strictly told us that we were not allowed to cook inside the rooms because all guests had to eat at the Homestay Restaurant. Of course, we said yes.

After we had settled and unpacked our cardboard boxes which we hauled from the car, which, fortunately the owner did not wonder about, Lee and I exchanged meaningful looks. Roughly 12 minutes after, I could smell the spicy Buldak Boekkum Myun from Lee’s room. He was cooking spicy noodles in his room while I was boiling water for my coffee in my room. (Ah, I should have taken a picture of our coffee pot before I threw it away… )

After taking a nap for an hour, Lee and I decided to splurge a little. We had dinner at the restaurant. I forgot what we ordered but anyway, with the meal, Lee ordered a cold bottle of beer while I ordered hot tea. The wind was very harshly cold, and it was blowing and howling hard there, on top of the hill where we were staying. If there is such a thing as a cloudstorm, then, I would love to call that a cloudstorm.