Since the genesis of the Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo administration, holidays that were supposed to be celebrated during the middle of the week have been “moved” to a Monday or Friday to create a string of three non-working days. This is an effort to encourage local tourism and give people ample time to spend with their friends and families.
While a three-day itinerary is ideal, one could still enjoy the wonders of Sagada in two days.
Here’s a list of national non-working a holidays in the Philippines:
January 1 - New Year’s Day (usually not moved)
April 9 - Araw ng Kagitingan (usually moved to the nearest Monday BEFORE the 9th)
Holy Week (Maundy Thursday and Good Friday) - as observed by the Catholic Church
June 12- Independence Day (usually moved to nearest Monday BEFORE the 12th)
August 21- Ninoy Aquino Day
December 24, 25 - Christmas
December 31 - New Year’s Eve
The celebration of Eidl Fitr (the end of the Rammadan) is also observed nationwide.
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Janette Toral recently launched the second edition of the annual Ten Emerging and Influential Blogs to give citations to the the ten best new blogs in the world. The project is 100% democratic and anyone in the world who owns a blog could vote for his or her top 10 before July 26, 2008. The blogs that are eligible to be cited are blogs that were started on July 1, 2007 or newer.
As you would have guessed Visit Sagada is in the thick of things and is getting considerable support. But dear readers, we also need your support. A vote from any blog will do - whether it’s a dot com, multiply, wordpress, blogspot, tabulas or livejournal. If you think Visit Sagada has had a positive contribution to the online world since its launch, then please do vote for the site along with nine other sites whom you think are also deserving.
To join this effort, please do the following:
- Write a blog post and pick your choice of 10 (or less) emerging influential blogs.
- Any blog in the world can be picked.
- You can update the same post entry up to July 26. However, please inform us of any changes.
- Old blogs who move to a new domain are disqualified
- Blogs who remove their archives just to fit in the cut-off date are disqualified
- Include a link to this post(http://www.influentialblogger.net/2008/04/top-10-emerging-influential-blogs-in.html) to help spread the word and encourage others to participate.
- Post a comment and let us know about your entry. Only one entry per blogger. Cut-off date and time for submission of entries is on July 26, Saturday, 5:00 pm (GMT+9:30). Afterwards, submission of comments in this page shall be closed.
WHY VOTE FOR VISIT SAGADA?
- In a few short months (we started the site last February 21), Visit Sagada has become one of the more prominent and relevant sources of information for backpackers and travelers going to Sagada. We have answered hundreds of queries left on our comment boxes and dozens more on our mailbox. If you search for “Sagada” on Google, we will not be place lower than fifth - sometimes, we’re even the top result.
- A win in this project will make the site more popular and thus, other people who may not have heard of it could be inspired to visit Sagada for themselves. When we all came back home from Sagada, didn’t we wish that a lot of our friends could experience the thrill of spelunking and the mystic calm of the mountains?
- Voting for the project could net you $100 (yes, US Dollars) that could very much finance your next sojourn to the mountains. At the end of the project, ten participants (those who voted) will win the cash prize decided via raffle.
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Interestingly, Howie Severino returned to Sagada in April 2008 for his quest for the wild horses, and truly, the wild horses of Sagada are more than just a mountain legend.
In the peak called Lamagan of the grassy highland of Sitio Mabaat is a field tagged as “Marlboro Country”, where the only wild horses in the Philippines can be found. Stories say that wild horses run freely in this ground for almost three decades now. These horses were freed by residents of Antadao who could no longer take care of them a long time ago.
Photo Credit: Lonerider
Four years ago, locals accounted their number to a dozen, but this time, Howie spotted only five. Their number reached to more than twenty a couple of years back, however local hunting is slowly making these horses extinct.
The wild horses of Sagada are among the best kept secrets of this town. They need protection or they will just become another legend.
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Yo backpackers and tree-huggers, here’s where you can make yourself heard!
For the love of Sagada we we took a little over a month of brainstorming, planning, actual visits up the place (well d’oh!) recruitment of back-office talent to do the technicals (say w00t! to our great, great theme) to flesh out the wonder chest of information that is Visit Sagada! However, we understand that not every one of you is sold on every detail that we worked into every nook and cranny you now enjoy. Or, do you? I’ll start with a few items:
- Do you like the blog format, i.e., random subjects on each day (food/tour/lodging), with categories on the right sidebar?
- or would you prefer an index home page for VisitSagada.com where you’ll get a list of all articles under food/tour/lodging each?
- A more “web 2.0″ look please! Shiny, high-contrast gloss is the shizzle! (although I like the cleaner layout myself -ed.)
- A forum! Discussion board! Embedded IRC chatroom!
- my own me@visitsagada.com addresses powered by Google’s Gmail interface! (actually, you can get one now. Just send a quick note to jeff@visitsagada.com or benj@visitsagada.com)
IWe’re giving you the floor - what do you all want to change about Visit Sagada?
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Last year’s Philippine Blog Awards finalist for Best Blog Victor “Bikoy” Villanueva is one of the most recognizable and widely-read bloggers in the country today. His influence reaches beyond his online presence having recently been the recipient of the most number of votes in his University Student Council’s election. Aside from his forays into politics, Bikoy is also an avid traveler who documents his trips through breath-taking pictures.
Here are excerpts from his Sagada entry from four years ago:
We reached the town of Sagada in Mt. Province after an hour more on the road. The town looked really pretty, like a quaint little town nestled on the mountains.
We had lunch for an hour before hitting the road again to go to the caves of Sagada.
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