Since I came back home to the Philippines for good six years ago, I always had Dubai at the back of my mind. My years in the sandpit painted a perfect picture and any highlight reel in my home country paled in comparison to my golden years in the Middle East.
When I took this virtual job for a design firm in Dubai a month ago, things changed for me. My body may be in the Philippines but my mind was elsewhere 24/7. For the first time in the last six years, I have grown fond and appreciative of the place that I now call my home.
Relief washes over me when I log out and look out the window. I am grateful to be away, to be surrounded by nature. I am able to detach from this virtual professional life.
When a colleague asked me if I'd consider going back to Dubai, I surprised myself when I inadvertently replied, "No, I think I'm happy to be in the Philippines." My 2020 self may have answered quite differently but I suppose change is constant. We all change and this pandemic has completely turned us all upside down.
Fridays and Saturdays are my weekends. To break the routine, I joined my husband @iamyohann and his serious biker friends who call themselves Cebu French Riders for a motorcycle ride across the back roads of Alcantara, Ronda, and Dumanjug. Une balade, cruising on the motorcycle on unexplored rough roads deep in the mountains.
Our day started by loading up on gasoline and making sure our tires were well inflated. This is not our motorcycle, by the way, we just borrowed it from one of the French Riders.
That's @iamyohann and we're all good to go.
This is to give you an idea of the route we took this morning equivalent to 2 hrs and 32 minutes which was around 75 kilometers.
Tomatoes anyone?
We chanced upon a field of tomatoes in Alcantara and they're organic! While we stopped so I could take photographs, cicadas buzzed beautifully which became our morning bike ride soundtrack.
The sun was high and a bee sneakily went inside the sleeves of one French rider. It stung him so badly, we all stopped on the side of the rough road. I plucked the stinger out of his arm since I had the longest fingernails however short mine were based on female standards but they did the trick.
We continued our journey as soon as the pain subsided. I couldn't resist stopping to take a picture of this view overlooking Tanon Strait from the hills of Alcantara.
You might recognize both of them from @iamyohann's WhoAreTheyPhilippines videos where they go for bike rides on their way to hand over the reward of the weekly feature.
Somewhere in Ronda, we stumbled upon a stream that is linked to Lusno Falls where we found water buffalos enjoying a dip.
Spotted these water buffalos.
Here we crossed the concrete slab that served as a shallow bridge with ease.
Here's another view that we spotted in Ronda not far from Sibonga
Are you up for this kind of adventure?
A quick pause in Ronda
Taken along Sibonga- Dumanjug Road
At 11:55, we contemplated whether we should continue towards Badian and Mantalongon from Taloot Road but decided to keep that for another motorcycle ride. On our way back, guess what, Yohann was also stung by a bee.
My Takeaway
The gift of appreciating where I am is something I have recently received and am grateful for. As if a veil had been lifted that allowed me to see the brighter side of my country. The colors appeared sharper and lately, I'm less bothered by the things that I used to complain about.
Witnessing the real side of the Philippines, the back roads that reveal postcard-like images that veer away from heavily filtered unrealistic photographs is a privilege.
Here we saw terraced rice fields with a farmer plowing with his carabao, ladies handwashing clothes in a nearby stream, coconut and banana tree-laden landscape against the blue sky. The cool breeze caressed our cheeks during the ride while we breathed in fresh air under the canopy of trees and shade offered by mountains.
I am glad to be back home.
Hey I love it...great ride , beautiful scenery . The wasp stings are strong I remember once as a child I was stung by 2 , I was very dizzy almost lost the knowledge.... good that you were able to enjoy that beautiful tour.
Thanks Vicky, ooh wasps are terrible. Being stung is definitely not good, just glad the guys were able to recover from the sting and continued. Have a great day!
Thank you! Have a great day too!😊
Wow, absolutely stunning pictures of this ride! I'd love to be able to ride a motorbike and do this someday. They say the grass is always greener on the other side but I'm glad that you found the gift of finding the green where you are right now! Haha, it definitely shows in the pictures!
Hello Manouche, as much as you'd like to ride a motorbike, I'd love to visit Seoul one day.
Haha, super witty comment, I love it!
Apart from the bees, it seemed like a great day out. I'm not sure about the motorbikes as I've never been on one before. I think cycling would e quite nice as well 😊
Hello Pauline, haha those bees were nasty. I have a good feeling you'll enjoy a day out like this one along with a trusted and safe motorcycle rider 😀 and yes great idea, cycling these trails would be so much fun. I could just imagine it.
Wow, what a spectacular photo. I hope to visit Flipinas someday.
Hello @greysmaryg, thank you so much, and may your wish be fulfilled because the actual places were so much better than my photos.
Wow Arni, that's such an adventurous bike ride! I'm pretty sure you had lots of fun! It's also a great feeling to be able to discover and explore the inner regions of some municipalities in the southern part of Cebu Island. Aside from immersing in Mother Nature, what other little gems in those areas have aroused your curiosity?
There are so many hidden gems, with paths that were not even shown in the Google Map because they're so rough they're not even considered paths haha. Tomorrow, we'll go on another bike ride. I was told about beautiful areas in Badian and another path deep in Ronda that I have never taken before. I've always been attracted by mountains and forests but it's the simplicity and the authenticity that stand out the most when experiencing such places.
Indeed, the hidden gems are sometimes in the details that we've never expected in the first place. Thanks to GPS or else it would be easy to get lost in those undocumented routes, haha. Be safe in your bike ride tomorrow, and I'm excited to hear more stories of your discoveries there. Enjoy!
Thanks Erne :) Guess what, Yohann was the guide and he didn't have GPS, he now knows the roads by memory thru #WATP trips. Hope we could all catch up again in a voice chat sometime soon. 😀
Hello friend, how not to change the hard and dry sands, with an impressive nature. The Philippines in my mind is always green and with friendly and calm people.
Where I live is to see very green but not jungle, rather prairie and mountains and when I go to Castilla at 400 kilometers as the climate is different, it is dry and brown, my soul shrinks and when I return I always say the same thing, green is life.
I took a walk with your photos and it was a nice walk
Happy Friday
Hi @txatxy, prairie mountains sound awesome as well as the variations in climate. Thank you and it makes me happy to hear that it was like a virtual walk with you. Have an excellent weekend!
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Hi @choogirl and @pinmapple team, thank you very much for the mention :) Wishing you all a relaxing weekend!
@discoveringarni what a wonderful thing to be happy where you are! It is so cool to hear about your experience and the change that has happened in you in this last year. What a fun adventure to ride bikes through the back roads, they really are so beautiful!
Hi Sara, thank you for your lovely message. I enjoyed the ride so much, we're doing it again today to make the most of the weekend. Have a great one!
Travel by bike and exploring the beauty of rural life, must be an interesting experience... Reminds me of my green native country Bangladesh...
Hi Priyan, if you were to recommend a scenic landscape for motorbiking in Bangladesh, which area would it be?
Well, I would say north Bengal - Plainland and middle of the agricultural lands or perhaps northeastern side - Tea garden ...
Your story about your home country reminds me of the quote "all paths lead to home." The original quote replaces the word "home" with "Rome" of course but the tweaked version seems very fitting in your case.
Well said, I like the sound of that - "all paths lead to home", it is indeed well-fitting. Have a great weekend!
Such lovely countryside where you live! I am glad you have found contentment there.
Hello @scribblingramma, thank you for reading and for leaving a lovely message. It's nice that I finally see everything in a different way. Have a great day ahead!
Wow what a life you now lead- one that millions can only dream of!
One day I will come and visit and see the extraordinary beauty that you are able to live in every day.
Lucky girl!
Hello @chocolatescorpi, how are you doing? Yes please come and visit! All these years I took it all for granted by focusing on what was missing than what's there.
Recently, we met friends who are willing to lend us their motorcycle so we could ride and see these places, I'm in awe. So much that we decided to go for a longer route yesterday that was mindblowing which I'll write about next time. Thank you so much for reading and for cross-posting/sharing it, I highly appreciate it. Have a lovely week!
I'm so glad to be back and speaking with you again!
I too grew up in a gorgeous area and although my parents took us around to a few of the places when I was growing up, every time I go up there to stay with my dad I realised just how many of those places that I haven't seen too and really want to do a long trip to stop, stay and photograph as every time I do go up there it's 4.5hrs on the train then another 4.5 hours on the bus without being able to stop and get off, so I can appreciate your newfound appreciation of your home too.
This is where I grew up. https://www.visitnsw.com/destinations/south-coast/merimbula-and-sapphire-coast
I can't wait to ready your next post and see those photos!
Until then, take care and stay beautiful!
Hello @chocolatescorpi, my apologies for the delayed reply. Thank you for sharing with me the link and the video of your beautiful hometown. The colors and the landscape are stunning! That's quite a journey from where you live but seeing what you've just shared with me, it's worth the travel hours. Wishing you a blessed day ahead!
No problem hon cause I know you're a busy women so its all good!
Well it's definitely worth the travel hours up there to spend time with my 86yr old dad and one day when he's not around, then I'll take the time to slowly rediscover and document my travels around up there, because as your saw- it is stunning and not a lot of people either...
Philippines sure is a lovely place to visit and that bike ride adventure of yours seems so fun!! I should definitely consider visiting some day ❤
Hi @bighungrypanda, oh yes, please come and visit one day. There's so much to see and explore and a lot of tourists keep coming back because it's impossible to see major sites in this archipelago in just one trip. I highly recommend Cebu, haha I'm a bit biased. Thank you for dropping by and for leaving a cool comment.
i was in the phillipines years ago. wonderful place and people
Hi @eolianpariah, how was your trip and where did you go?
Hi @discoveringarni what a adventurous way to spend the weekend, The motorcycle ride amidst nature is something rejuvenating. The pictures are just calling me to visit the place soon.
How amusing it is that you love the place you live in, are you planning to go to Dubai again since the situations are little under control somehow.
Hope you stay healthy and happy:)
Hi Sahiba, I was expecting I would be completely tired after the ride but it had the opposite effect. It was the healing power of nature, it melted the week's stresses away. There's no offer to go to Dubai so far. I'm not closing my doors to the possibility but I'm happy where I am at the moment. Wishing you a blessed week ahead!
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Oh wow, thank you @priyanarc and DIYHub Community for the feature 😊
Appreciating the place you live in is way of living a happy life. Living closer to nature is amazing. Having such bike rides on the weekend is perfect way to rejuvenate. The landscape seems very interesting and beautiful. Seems like you guys have great fun!
Enjoy the weekend and keep flourishing @discoveringarni
Hi Praditya, living close to nature and spending the weekend there, I felt fully recharged afterward. It was kind of a shinrin-yoku (forest bathing) ritual but on a motorbike. Thanks for reading, I hope you had a lovely weekend!
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