The See-saw and the Cubby House

"A playground or play area is a place with a specific design for children be able to play there. It may be indoors but is typically outdoors (where it may be called a tot lot in some regions.[1])"

That's the copy-pasted definition of a playground from our online best friend Wikipedia.

I'm quite sure each one of us had that very wonderful time playing at a playground when we were kids. That very sweet moment when we were so young and care-free. Well, I've always enjoyed the playground. It's a place to meet our playmates and consume the day with nothing but joys and laughter. Most of us if not all, had a good chance of having these memories as part our growing years.

Most of us, but not all...not everyone.

More than a year ago, myself and a group of CouchSurfers hiked up the mountains of Ifugao, traveling for a total of 10 hours from Manila.

We just arrived in Lagawe

It's the first out of town trip that I did with CS. Most of them I have only met once before and some were new faces I've met right at the bus terminal. Therefore, we are mostly strangers to each other. Each of us came from different backgrounds with different personalities. Different we all are in some ways, we were common in our goal to head to the mountains. We all decided to spend a weekend to help and volunteer in building a playground for the kids of Pula.

Not looking like a playground yet

Up to this day, I'm still very thankful and humbled I got that chance to travel with the CS group and to volunteer for the playground build.

It was there that we met Felix.

Felix - our favorite

Among all the kids in Pula, Felix was the kid who made a very nice impression to me and the group. He was the kid who was always smiling. He was also one of them who helped us in painting the blocks of wood, assisted if we need anything and kept us going when we were all giving up as we climbed up the mountain bringing the sand from the river. The day before we went back to Manila, I gave Felix a small stuffed toy to thank him of the great experience we had in Pula.

Felix and the rest of the kids enjoying the camera

When I see Felix and the rest of the kids with their smile on their faces, I feel their great anticipation of the completion of the playground. I will always remember the lessons I got from this volunteer work and the kids of Pula.

Kids have the right to be kids and be happy. 

This playground is the medium for them to have fun, interact, learn and enjoy their youth.

Volunteering for a humble cause is one of the most liberating experience. 

After a day of work, we are still poised for the camera

Definitely a rewarding experience

I've done some charity work at school before but that was because it was part of our curriculum, but this volunteer work was something that struck me in many ways because I did it on my own initiative. I tried to tell myself I want to change the world even in my very own small way.

Pula playground cubby house

Yay! There's now a see-saw

That volunteer didn't end with one visit. We went back a few months after we heard the playground is finally complete. It was great to see the kids the second time. Felix has always had his welcoming smile. That time I have a couple of small notebooks as tokens for the kids as I know for the fact we won't be back anytime soon since the playground was almost completed. Seeing them so delighted is priceless.

Rand, Felix and the kids showing off the small notebooks

After more than one year, myself and the rest of the group that volunteered at the playground, plans to revisit the place on October. We definitely hope to see the kids again enjoying the small world that we created for them.

Photo Credits: Two photos came from a CS friend Billy :)

This is my very first entry to Pinoy Travel Bloggers' Blog Carnival, now in it's 11th edition (if I'm not mistaken). :)


Theme for this month of September is “Unforgettable Human Encounters on the Road” and hosted by Marky Ramone Go of Nomadic Experiences.


There's a total of 32 entries for this month's Blog Carnival, go check it out on the link above! ;)

Pula Playground Project Part 2

Okay, I finally decided to start blogging once more. And this time it's about my second time to go to Pula. The Pula Group of CS'ers decided to go back to actually do the inauguration. We are all enthusiastic that the playground is done and well for us to celebrate it's opening. However, due to unforseen weather disturbances, the development hasn't gone as expected. The five of us still pursued and decided to help out with the remaining tasks at hand. I had Sam, Rand, Jester and Charlie, just five of us decided to go.

We had to catch the last bus coming from Kamuning. We first waited until Rand and Jester gets back from the Bench show. They arrived well ahead what we expected but we still caught the late bus as we had been all chatting from that time and didn't realize we are almost late for the bus.

So we went and waited for the bus coming from Pasay. We almost thought we won't get in. There were a few seats available but unlucky us we only get to take seats for 3 persons. So we are five, how on earth did we manage to ride to Ifugao with only 3 seats...well, Rand, Sam and I shared the 2 seats. Jester has his own. And mind you...Charlie opted for the deluxe accommodation on the floor of the bus. He had a mat spread on the floor and with no qualms slept and enjoyed the trip. Haha

So since it's our second time we now know how to get to the Playground. We reached Ifugao almost 8 or 9am. And then decided we take the tricycle up the mountains because we don't feel like taking the motor and the jeep leaves at 1pm.

Unfortunately, the tricycle only goes up to the Municipal Hall. And from the municipal hall we need to walk on foot. Mark is picking us up at the Municipal Hall by the way.

It was almost 12 when we reached the playground. We rest for a few minutes and then Sam and I prepared lunch of 'Chopsuey'.

We are so pagod of course and we also feel like having a bath. However, we get there to help in the playground so off we go. There isn't much I had to do. I had the chance to paint some more and clean up the wood of cement I think. haha That's the least I can do that time while the rest did some painting too, chucking up wood etc. Oh by the way, we were also joined by other three volunteers. One of them is Will, from London, one from NZ and one is a Japanese lady named Asoka.

And then it rained in the afternoon. It was a great time for Sam, Rand and Jester to get wet in the rain though.

At night we share a dinner of spaghetti and dessert of fruit salad. Had a music jamming while having drinks.

I was too sleepy to join when they played some card games. So I went to stuck myself at the airbed. Hahaha

In the morning, we were left by the Jeepney. So it's quite unfortunate for us to walk back again to the Municipal Hall and from there catch the Jeepney to Solano. It was a tiring and long trip again back to Manila.

When we got to Solano, must be around 3pm we had lunch and then waited for a bus back to Manila.

Alas after hours on the road. We got to Manila at 1am. And I had to go to work on that Monday. Oh well, it was full of adventure as usual with my CS travel buddies.

To give some information on the Playground, it's basically a project by a fellow Cs'er Mark Booker. And basically after some months of construction the project should be finished soon. It's great to be part of these kind of projects. I know I have not done much but the little things you could do to help is still something, right.

And there goes the story though I'm not too sure if we still plan for a third visit - by that time the Playground is finally up and ready for the kids!

CS Manila @ Pula Playground Project

So it was my first time to travel out of town with the CS Manila Group, first time to do volunteer work and first time to go to Ifugao. I was excited! It was a spontaneous decision to join the group actually since I initially thought a weekend trip to Ifugao might not be enough. But with great interest and will I decided to join! I even requested for a leave on the following Monday since I knew I might not be able to get to work right after as I might be arriving really tired.

So on 4th of June, a Friday, I went to meet Marie and Len after work and we head to Florida bus station to catch the bus leaving at 10:45. Unfortunately, bus tickets were sold out. Our plan B took us into taking the Florida bus to Bagabag instead. As the bus operators suggested, we can go to Bagabag and from there catch a jeepney to Lagawe. Lagawe is where we will be meeting Mark. Mark is one the guys behind the Pula Playground Project.
We took the bus to Bagabag leaving at 11pm.

It was almost 10 hours on the road, probably 8 hours from Manila to Bagabag and 1-2 hours from Bagabag to Lagawe. There are numerous adventures on the way.

We arrived in Lagawe at 7am. We were expecting Mark to pick us up at 8am. But he arrived around 9. We got some time to kill at Mila's bakery and lucky there's free wifi. We also grabbed a chance to charge our electronic items as there will be no electricity in Pula.

When Mark arrived, we got to the police van he arranged for us and then we head to Pula. We had a few stop overs to get some stuff for the playground build.

Road to Pula is really tough. But the views made up for it! The mountains and the greens you see everywhere is stunning.

From Lagawe to Pula is perhaps another 1-2 hours ride.

We got at Pula around 11am. We rested for a while and then got ready for action! It rained shortly and we had to grab rice grains being dried around the basketball court to save them from getting wet.

We then head to the playground site. Started with painting the blocks of wood. These will be used to construct the fence around the playground. The rest of the guys helped in digging holes to put some posts to support the fences.

After a few hours, it was then time for lunch. We had noodles and rice. We rested for a while and had some time for chit-chat, thanks to another round of rain. When the rain stopped we head down the mountain to get sand as Mark instructed us.

We are not too aware what's in store for us. The trip down is slippery, some of us had been sliding down the path, even myself!

We got to the stream and had a refreshing dip. And then took sand to be carried up again. Seriously, the task to go up the mountain with the sand is not easy! It took us years to go up, I tell you! And my hand, limbs and legs were feeling numb already. I wish to help but my whole body is already feeling the pain. And finally, we got back to the site. Everyone's so tired but happy to have been able to carry back the sand!

We had sat down the basketball court for rest. After that we started taking turns to get a shower and then dinner afterwards.

We had spaghetti topped with corned beef or tuna, rice and boiled sigarilyas. We ate using chopsticks - which are actually barbecue sticks. It was such a great dinner for me because I was tired and hungry!

We capped off the night with some games everyone enjoyed. I didn't join though because my head was aching a bit. But I got so much fun looking at them and taking pictures!

We had to sleep when there's no more booze to take in and generator shuts off. Before I slept, I had the most beautiful sight of fireflies visible on the roof!

I feel like stars are moving in front of me!

We got up at 6 or 7 in the morning. It was so cold because it rained early that morning. After fixing up ourselves, Kuya Gerald made up some breakfast for us. Kuya Gerarld also assits Mark with the project.

At 7 we head to take the jeep back to Lagawe, since it's already full, only the four from the group took it as they are still heading to Sagada.

The rest remained and went back to the day care to get some rice and egg breakfast that Kuya Gerald still prepared.

At 8 pm it's our turn to get the jeepney. We all wanted to stay on top of the jeepney! It was such a fun ride and views are breathtaking! Hurts on the butt though because some parts of the road was rough. But it's so definitely worth it.

We got to Lagawe, around 11am. We're surprised to see that the first group that left were there too!

So there's some more time to rest and eat a little. I got myself a burger which was good enough to fill me up. We left Lagawe past 12 and took the jeep back to Bagabag.

At Bagabag, it took us a while to catch a bus back to Manila. All aircon buses are full and we were still hesitant to take the ordinary bus. But a few more buses and we gave in. We took an ordinary bus to San Jose, Nueva Ecija. So our plan got us to Nueva Ecija and from there we can take a Baliwag bus back to Manila.

Unfortunately, when we got to San Jose, no more Baliwag bus at the terminal. We made a quick stop over at a churchI prayed we get home soon :)

And luckily, as we were supposed to head to Chowking to eat, a Victory Liner bus stopped and accommodated us! Yehey! We're officially on our way to Manila. We are relieved. The bus was almost full but there was an extra box I could sit. A few passengers got off the bus after a while so finally I had a formal place to sit. And one by one, each of us were able to get a seat.

It was almost 10 or 11pm when we got to Manila. Said good byes to everyone and we promised to see each other soon for the post volunteer dinner!

Last Thursday, I've met up with them and reminisce the adventure with a sumptuous feast at Giligan's Trinoma.

The adventure is not over yet, we are planning to going back to the playground!