We started driving on roads that got steeper and steeper and still steeper. We drove along dusty roads and I could see the eroded slopes of the mountains ahead, and the road we were traversing was heading straight to those slopes. Lee’s eyes were focused on the road. He was totally unaware of the potential danger ahead.

The unformidable mountains were on our left side, the landslides were on our right side. Some galvanized iron sheets were used to cover the landslides to my right, but I could see through the holes and cracks. Obviously, Lee could not see them so I was relieved. Besides, it was sunny, and  I figured that the road would be dangerous only on rainy days. All of those dangerous turns, eroded mountain slopes, and steep cliffs made my stomach churn but I tried to calm myself down by singing along. It didn’t matter that I did not know the lyrics of the Korean song that was spewing out from the stereo, I just sang what I could pronounce. I knew the melodies well so I just made up my own crazy lyrics which made Lee let out a guffaw many times while saying “bekku bekku”, which is his own bastardized way of saying very crazy, very crazy.

And then, the scenery changed. I did not know where we were but the scenery was breathtaking. We were on a very high place again. To my right were rolling mountaintops that were all teeming with pine trees. Each tree was standing upright, as though it was sculpted or painted there. Their leaves were luscious green. The rays of the afternoon sunset were among the trees, the sunrays passing between each branch, each twig, each leaf. There were other bushes between the pine trees, albeit lower in height, and the leaves of those bushes were giving off different shades of green, and so the afternoon sunrays also made different shades of green and light yellow on them. The sunbeam among the trees was magical. I did not even want to blink… I did not want to miss that beauty even for a second.

Sometimes the sun was behind us, sometimes it was in front of us, sometimes it was either on the left or on the right side, depending on the location or angle we were on.

And then, another beautiful scenery opened in front of us. Again, on the right side far, far below, I could see a river winding through, between the hills and the not so high mountains. The water was winding through big boulders, white boulders, ash white boulders. The river looked emerald green in some parts and sky-blue in some parts, and sparklingly clear in some parts. How did that happen? I don’t know. I wish I could ask nature. I don’t know the scientific explanation to this phenomenon but it was what I saw so it is what I describe and write about.

The trees lined either side of the river and the boulders were gray white. What a great artist nature is. No, I could not take pictures, the car was in motion, there was no enough space for us to park. Had I taken pictures while I was in the car, you would see only blurred images. I promised Lee that I would learn how to drive and someday, I would drive his car and he would just watch from the car window and enjoy the magnificent scenery.   I told him that I wanted him to enjoy the travel as much as I was enjoying mine. My generous and sincere offer was met with a guffaw.

We kept on driving and then, we were in heavily wooded areas and we were ascending, ascending, ascending, and ascending some more. Honestly, at that point, I was beginning to feel nervous because we were clearly in the middle of nowhere. If there had been occasional sights of shanties, I would have been relieved. I opened the window and let the cool mountain air refresh us.

I confidently told Lee that there were pine trees around, so we were already within the vicinity of Baguio, our target stopover. Lee believed my words with all his heart, and he looked relieved. I was relieved that he looked relieved. I honestly thought that we were already somewhere in Baguio because of the pine trees, and because we were continuously ascending. Prior to my announcement, he was again worried about the wheels. I could not do anything; I just wanted to pee to ease my anxiety.

After more hours of driving, and with Jason Mraz again spewing out his hopelessly romantic love songs from the stereo amid the wilderness, I could see a group of small houses in the distance. I was hoping that we were already nearing Baguio proper. When we passed by a small signage on top of a small retail store, it read: Nueva Vizcaya. Instantly, I got so nervous that I almost peed on the passenger’s seat. After driving for a day, we were STILL in Nueva Vizcaya.  

Just a few hours earlier, I told Lee that we were already in Baguio because of the presence of pine trees on the mountains, but there we were, still at the heart of Nueva Vizcaya.

And so we drove- and we drove—until we reached a place that was gloriously bathed by the late afternoon sun. Lee stopped the car to admire the beauty. No, no, the actual place looked a hundred times lovelier than the pictures here.

There was a very small store by the road, tended by a young mother carrying a little baby boy. I bought some cookies from her store so that I could start a conversation. I asked her where we were. She said that we had just entered Benguet, and their house was the first house after Nueva Vizcaya. I felt so relieved. Benguet is the province where Baguio City is located. Yes, we were in Benguet vicinity, but Baguio, our destination a.k.a. stopover, was still God-knows-how-much-far-it-was-away. Mountains and mountains, rivers and rivers away, definitely.

We looked at the view one more time and we went back to the car. We continued our journey to the city of pines which was still kilometers and kilometers away.