Ever since I’ve seen a post in facebook of
pictures of Asik Asik falls, I immediately saved in my phone notes. I usually
maintain a list of places i’d like to go to so I have a cheat sheet of places I
can go to whenever I have availability.
Lately though, I could not find much time
doing research for my trips. As I may have written on my older posts, I have
found excitement at the surprises of not having an IT; I think it’s a good
practice for strategy building and learning to adapt to every situation.
Although, somehow, I do basic reading whenever I wait on terminals, or while
sitting in the bus/vans.
I made my way to Midsayap at about 5pm, and
just as soon as I get off from the van from Pagadian, the last trip to Alamada
has just passed. My reading said there will be no lodging available in alamada,
but, I never have a problem with lodging; I am that type who can just sit
anywhere for hours, not to mention that I have my hammock with me, so long as I
get to where I want to go.
There were some habal offering service to
Midsayap for P150. However, I was not ready to spend that. Luckily, there was a
chartered habal that serviced a passenger to Midsayap, and will be going back
to Alamada (and I paid only a little more than the jeep fare).
We drove through the dark and cold
mountains, and it was about 7pm already when we reached Alamada. As soon as I
got off, I asked some of the parked habal drivers if there’s any chance I can
hitch from someone who may be home to brgy Dado, but they say it’s impossible.
They were offering to drop me off for P150 (but again it’s not in my tight
budget); I said I was Ok with waiting for the 10am jeep that will be coming all
the way from Midsayap. Meantime, one of the people in the crowd I spoke to is
the head of the barangay tanod and offered to stay in the barangay hall. Thank
goodness they had a washroom where I had taken a cool bath.
Next day, I woke up about 7am. Kapitana and
other barangay officials were already there; shook hands and had a few words;
Afterwhich, I bid goodbye to wait in the nearby terminal for chance transport.
Some habal drivers would approach me once
in a while and offering P500 to Asik Asik, but i thought it was a huge
expenditure. 3 hours passed and I had a serious thinking of what’s my time
worth. Indeed, i may be saving, but calculating between the time I’m loosing
and the travel opportunity I am loosing, I thought spending a bit is OK (And I
managed to get it somehow down to P450) – Back and forth Alamada-Asik Asik.
When I asked how far is Brgy Dado from
Alamada, I was told it’s 20+ kms, and from Dado to Asik Asik is 7.5kms. I was
wondering why it costs so much.
The next 2 hours told me why. It took us
about half an hour to reach barangay dado, and an hour and a half to get to the
jump off point. That was the most daring habal habal I’ve ever taken. I had to
ask the driver to let me get me off and I’d rather walk since we were wobbling
through the muddy uphill. He would always insist he can, but he’d wound himself
every so often too with miscalculations on his motorbike. I think I walked 70%
of the trail up (which I rather would than risk opening some cuts).
From the jump off point, it will be a
descend down to the falls. The descend started on a muddy (again) trail), where
I slipped, considering I have been very careful already. Then, midway the hill,
there will be 374 (hope I remembered the no right) cement staircase.
At some point I asked myself why I am
letting myself endure that much for the sake of a waterfall, but, when you get
there, you won’t even recall anything you may have asked/regret about your
coming. You’d just want to get so close to the falls.
How to get there:
From cotabato city, take the van going to
Midsayap. Fare is 60 pesos and travel time is about 45mins. From Midsayap,
there are jeeps (called double tyre as the back tires come in pairs of tires on
each side) that go straight to Dado ( I was told these jeepneys leave Dado at
5am the earliest and the same jeep will be on the way back to Dado from Midsayap
before 8am, and will get to Alamada by 10am; In this case, best to leave
Cotabato city by 6am). Fare to Dado from Midsayap (if I recall it right) is
P80.
In case you miss the jeeps, or opt to
travel fast, you can take habal (or “Skylab” for cotabato regions) service.
From Midsayap, you will most likely be charged P800 up, and from Alamada, it
will be P600, both up to Asik Asik jump off point. In Brgy Dado, it will be
P300; back and forth, and per ride, not per passenger. However, it will be best
if you take the habal from Dado. These drivers take these route (Dado-Asik)
more often that the rest, so they are more capable of handling the adversaries
in the trail. Look also for those with which wheels are tied up with
ropes/chains that prevent the bike from sliding in the mud. In case you’d
travel alone, I was told that the rate for Dado-Asik-asik shall only be P200.
In case you’d think about spending
overnight in the Jump off point, which is, I’d like to try sometime soon when I
come back, you may contact Sally Dequil; A vendor in the jump off point who has
a hut nearby for tourists. Rental is P500 and can accommodate up to 4; No is
09058064501. In case you’d need a habal service from Alamada, here are some
contacts: Albert: 09068551214; Elmer:
09307202574.
This trip is part of my 13 day Southern Mindanao Trip. I posted a few details of my schedule and expenses here
Ever since I’ve seen a post in facebook of
pictures of Asik Asik falls, I immediately saved in my phone notes. I usually
maintain a list of places i’d like to go to so I have a cheat sheet of places I
can go to whenever I have availability.
Lately though, I could not find much time
doing research for my trips. As I may have written on my older posts, I have
found excitement at the surprises of not having an IT; I think it’s a good
practice for strategy building and learning to adapt to every situation.
Although, somehow, I do basic reading whenever I wait on terminals, or while
sitting in the bus/vans.
I made my way to Midsayap at about 5pm, and
just as soon as I get off from the van from Pagadian, the last trip to Alamada
has just passed. My reading said there will be no lodging available in alamada,
but, I never have a problem with lodging; I am that type who can just sit
anywhere for hours, not to mention that I have my hammock with me, so long as I
get to where I want to go.
There were some habal offering service to
Midsayap for P150. However, I was not ready to spend that. Luckily, there was a
chartered habal that serviced a passenger to Midsayap, and will be going back
to Alamada (and I paid only a little more than the jeep fare).
We drove through the dark and cold
mountains, and it was about 7pm already when we reached Alamada. As soon as I
got off, I asked some of the parked habal drivers if there’s any chance I can
hitch from someone who may be home to brgy Dado, but they say it’s impossible.
They were offering to drop me off for P150 (but again it’s not in my tight
budget); I said I was Ok with waiting for the 10am jeep that will be coming all
the way from Midsayap. Meantime, one of the people in the crowd I spoke to is
the head of the barangay tanod and offered to stay in the barangay hall. Thank
goodness they had a washroom where I had taken a cool bath.
Next day, I woke up about 7am. Kapitana and
other barangay officials were already there; shook hands and had a few words;
Afterwhich, I bid goodbye to wait in the nearby terminal for chance transport.
Some habal drivers would approach me once
in a while and offering P500 to Asik Asik, but i thought it was a huge
expenditure. 3 hours passed and I had a serious thinking of what’s my time
worth. Indeed, i may be saving, but calculating between the time I’m loosing
and the travel opportunity I am loosing, I thought spending a bit is OK (And I
managed to get it somehow down to P450) – Back and forth Alamada-Asik Asik.
When I asked how far is Brgy Dado from
Alamada, I was told it’s 20+ kms, and from Dado to Asik Asik is 7.5kms. I was
wondering why it costs so much.
The next 2 hours told me why. It took us
about half an hour to reach barangay dado, and an hour and a half to get to the
jump off point. That was the most daring habal habal I’ve ever taken. I had to
ask the driver to let me get me off and I’d rather walk since we were wobbling
through the muddy uphill. He would always insist he can, but he’d wound himself
every so often too with miscalculations on his motorbike. I think I walked 70%
of the trail up (which I rather would than risk opening some cuts).
From the jump off point, it will be a
descend down to the falls. The descend started on a muddy (again) trail), where
I slipped, considering I have been very careful already. Then, midway the hill,
there will be 374 (hope I remembered the no right) cement staircase.
At some point I asked myself why I am
letting myself endure that much for the sake of a waterfall, but, when you get
there, you won’t even recall anything you may have asked/regret about your
coming. You’d just want to get so close to the falls.
How to get there:
From cotabato city, take the van going to
Midsayap. Fare is 60 pesos and travel time is about 45mins. From Midsayap,
there are jeeps (called double tyre as the back tires come in pairs of tires on
each side) that go straight to Dado ( I was told these jeepneys leave Dado at
5am the earliest and the same jeep will be on the way back to Dado from Midsayap
before 8am, and will get to Alamada by 10am; In this case, best to leave
Cotabato city by 6am). Fare to Dado from Midsayap (if I recall it right) is
P80.
In case you miss the jeeps, or opt to
travel fast, you can take habal (or “Skylab” for cotabato regions) service.
From Midsayap, you will most likely be charged P800 up, and from Alamada, it
will be P600, both up to Asik Asik jump off point. In Brgy Dado, it will be
P300; back and forth, and per ride, not per passenger. However, it will be best
if you take the habal from Dado. These drivers take these route (Dado-Asik)
more often that the rest, so they are more capable of handling the adversaries
in the trail. Look also for those with which wheels are tied up with
ropes/chains that prevent the bike from sliding in the mud. In case you’d
travel alone, I was told that the rate for Dado-Asik-asik shall only be P200.
In case you’d think about spending
overnight in the Jump off point, which is, I’d like to try sometime soon when I
come back, you may contact Sally Dequil; A vendor in the jump off point who has
a hut nearby for tourists. Rental is P500 and can accommodate up to 4; No is
09058064501. In case you’d need a habal service from Alamada, here are some
contacts: Albert: 09068551214; Elmer:
09307202574.
This trip is part of my 13 day Southern Mindanao Trip. I posted a few details of my schedule and expenses here
.jpg)