Labels: General Tinio Nueva Ecija, Minalungao National Park, Papaya Nueva Ecija, photographing people
That's what Minalungao means, according to Wikipedia.. I don't know if I could trust that, but whateverr.
We were resting and catching our breath from climbing the 1000 steps up to this cross, with colorful, grandiose entrance..
..when a woman answered her phone and seemed like she was asked where she was. I didn't mean to eavesdrop but the place was small and she was talking loud and so everyone's hearing it (so technically, we didn't eavesdrop), and she kinda asked although not directly where she was so one of the bikers, Shaman, replied "Minalungao!"..."mina ng lungaw!" and everyone burst into laughter. Apparently he's right, he was partly joking and telling the truth because "lungaw" means large hole in the ground and "mina" is mine.. which could literally means "mine of gold in a cave", wikipedia is right then. It's just that "lungaw" sounds odd.. you know.
It started with a 3-hour bus ride to Gapan from Manila, followed by a 15-minute tricycle ride to Peñaranda and almost an hour (I think) motorbike ride to Papaya (that was in the next morning), now known as General Tinio where Minalungao National Park resides.
We passed by a lot of papayas. I haven't seen a papaya farm before.. and those papaya trees were still young, still young to bear fruits. They look so cute though.
We passed by a lot of papayas. I haven't seen a papaya farm before.. and those papaya trees were still young, still young to bear fruits. They look so cute though.
During our road trip to Minalungao National Park, our new friend who's driving the bike asked me and another friend who's behind me, yes, we were three in the bike which I could not believe I would agree of. Well I had no other option and because there's no other way of transportation that is free.. and also because that seems fun, except that we're three in the bike. Well, he told us a joke but it was too corny that I just replied with "ah, ok". I know that was mean, and I tried to make it up to him I think, but it was too late.. which followed by an awkward silence. After that he no longer talked to us, just during that ride though.. or maybe there's just nothing to talk about.
There were funny moments during our Papaya trip, not only to us in that motorbike, but in the entire group. There were three bikes and a tricycle for us 12 people by the way, and the entrance fee, (yes, there's an entrance fee to Minalungao) was Php250 for all of us. I don't know how they computed it, but that's how much they asked.