Because we were already in Benguet proper, the scenery looked so familiar with all those pine trees plus the very cool mountain air. It was starting to get dark. We were hundred meters above sea level. We saw a lot of mountaintops bathed in sunsets. Lee and I also kept on laughing because there was a car in front of us that was spewing out black smoke, and Lee called it “bang-go-jeng-i” which means “the one that farts” in Korean. We wanted to breathe the cool mountain air but because of the antagonistic car in front of us, we had to keep our car windows shut.

I don’t know how it started but we found ourselves singing John Denver’s Country Roads at the top of our lungs. We were in the middle of nowhere anyway, who cared about our noise? We were all weary travellers in the middle of the beautiful nowhere. We saw more “bang go jeng-i” on the road and we got angry. Suddenly, Lee decided to trail a white car. It was already dark and due to the fern-covered high mountains around us, the atmosphere was a bit eerie. I can imagine the feelings of the white car driver when he/she noticed an Avanza trailing him/her. After about 30 minutes, and when there was some space, the white car slowed down to give way to us, so that we may drive ahead of him/her, but Lee also slowed down. He was having a fun time making the other driver nervous. Finally, when he got bored trailing the car, he drove ahead.

We were already blanketed by the darkness and then it felt colder. Finally, on the left side, up there, was a velvet darkness peppered with tiny lights, the streetlights of Baguio, the city on a mountain, our stopover. On the car gauge, only one bar was remaining.

We headed for Mines View for our accommodation for the night, the same accommodation house we stayed at a few days before. There was no available room but we insisted that we needed only a place for our tired backs. The staff finally gave us a room that had no stove, no working toilet bowl, no running water, and no hot shower.

In the drizzly evening, we drove high and low in search of a decent accommodation. Surprisingly, despite the light evening rain, I did not find Baguio temperature cold anymore, thanks to the scratching, menacing cold weather in Sagada.

Lee was obviously getting upset, and he told me that if the house was good enough for me, then it would also be good enough for him. We finally found one that was comfortable enough to spend the cold night in, but not comfortable to go to. We had to descend five long flights of stairs, all with our bags, food supplies, and all. I was also carrying the two big heads of cabbage which I bought on the road on the way to Sagada on December 20.

While we were descending, I joked to Lee that we were going to the core of the Earth. He was too tired to even mind my cheesy joke.

Finally, there we were, in a small transient house with a living room, a kitchen and a dining room, and two bedrooms. As usual, I let Lee choose which bedroom he wanted. He chose the bigger one. Of course.

I had to cook dinner quickly for Lee was tired, sleepy, and weary. He had been driving for 10 hours.

I could not sleep well because there was a party somewhere near my room, and the people were playing Baby Shark so loudly that I thought my earwax would literally fly out of my earholes. It was December after all.  And, it has to be noted that we descended five flights of stairs—it means, we were at the bottommost part of the house. I could smell sewage and corroded iron from my room. All throughout the night I would wake up every 15 minutes. I did not even move much, I wasn’t sure if the bed was disinfected.

When my watch struck 4:00, I got up and started preparing breakfast. By the time Lee got out of his room, I had already taken a shower and packed my bag. The hot breakfast was waiting for him on the table. While he ate, I packed our belongings. We paid the accommodation fee the night before, so there was no more hassle in going out.

It was still dark when we left. We just left the keys on the bed. One problem was, the flight of the stairs would start right where the previous flight ended. There was nowhere to put all the stuff I was holding to close the doors and turn off the lights. I hope that the house owners have forgiven us

We went around Baguio proper before we headed for our next destination—Hundred Islands, Alaminos, Pangasinan.