Kalinga: Travel Tips and Final Thoughts

Summary of my Kalinga trip:

• Kalinga Adventure
• Kalinga: White Water Rafting
• Kalinga: Shooting and Rappelling
• More Kalinga Experiences
• Kalinga Travel Tips and Final Thoughts

Kalinga is a province in Region 2. On February 14, 1995, Philippine RA 7878 divided what was then Kalinga-Apayao into the two provinces of Kalinga and Apayao. It was only on this trip that I learned about this provincial separation; I was taught about Kalinga-Apayao back when I was in grade school and that was before 1995. :) I also asked some locals what the correct pronunciation of Kalinga is. Apparently, the 'ng' in Kalinga is pronounced with a hard g, the same way 'ng' is pronounced in finger (and not in singer).

If you visit Kalinga, I highly recommend staying at the Davidson Hotel. They have big rooms which are ideal for big groups. Each room has a TV with some cable channels, air-conditioning, and hot water in the shower. The hotel also has a small swimming pool.

Davidson Hotel
Provincial Road, Purok Datu, Bulanao
3800 Tabuk
09264126018 / 09175797110
davidsonhotel@rocketmail.com

Our stay in Davidson Hotel came as part of a group package that they prepared for us so all our activities (rafting, rappelling, shooting, visit to Ryan's farm, and trip to the Kalinga capitol) were organized by the hotel. This also included all our transportation. (I also got to play a new game with my friends: The Resistance. This was a lot of fun and it provided many hours of entertainment.)

Our planned itinerary had to be changed due to the weather in the days leading up to our trip, making some of the places we were supposed to visit difficult to go to. As such, we weren't able to see and enjoy the Palan-ah falls and hot springs as well as the Sleeping Beauty Mountain in Tinglayan. If you get a chance to visit Kalinga, you may want to visit these places.

Almost all our meals were organized by the hotel and everything was pretty good. On first dinner was served boodle fight-style where all the food was served on banana leaves that were laid out in the center of our table. However, the most memorable dish was the sisig during our final dinner. It was prepared by the daughter of the owner and it was so good, possibly the best sisig I've ever had! That dinner was set up in the Chinese restaurant of the hotel (I can't recall the name) and after dinner, we had a karaoke party before returning to our room (a Magic Sing was connected to the TV in the restaurant). 

I got my daily coffee fix in the hotel's cafe, Leigh's Grill and Coffee Shop. They have a few cakes and desserts (a few of which I tried) and they also serve halo-halo (which I also tried). The coffee is pretty good and it's cheap. Also, if you are staying in the hotel, your brewed coffee is refillable. Awesome! We chilled out in this cafe quite a few times. Here's a cool photo I took in this coffee shop:

If you visit Kalinga, try to have some pan de buko (and no, I don't mean pan de coco). Pan de buko is available in local bakeries. Essentially, it's a soft bread roll filled with the same coconut filling that you can find in buko pie. We had some when we drove through the city center and it's really delicious!

On our way to the airport, we stopped at the border between Kalinga and Cagayan. Here we had some pretty incredible views of the Cagayan Valley, like you will see in this next photo:

This was a fantastic trip to a province I had never been to before and it was made more enjoyable and memorable by the fact that I went there with good friends.