...ang sugilanon sa mga hulagway...

Jabal Sawda or Al Soudah Mountain is the highest peak of Saudi Arabia, located at Asser Province at Southwestern part of the country, with an elevation of around 3,000 metres (9,843 ft).

Most authorities claim that the peak has an elevation of 3,133 m above sea level, but SRTM data indicates an elevation of 2,985 m is found somewhere else in the area.

Jabal Sawda is part of the Sarawat Mountain Range, which running from the border of Jordan in the north down to Yemen in the south. The average lowest recorded temperature is 1.2 degree celcius which falls on the month of December and that the highest temperature is 25.6 on the month of June.

The mountain is covered by the green plants which grow out of the rocky mountains. The highest average precipitations recorded falls on the month of April at 70mm.

Summer time is the best time to be at Al Soodah to experience the coldness of the weather. It gives the opportunities of the lowlanders to escape from the souring heat of summer.

Many foreign and local tourists visited the place during Eid seasons. There you can find the locales who are selling native products like honeys and local Arabic delicacies.

Below is the place called Shabain - of which a little bit far is a place called Rajal Alma, a famous place for merchant people during those time. A historic museum can also be found there.

All throughout the year, the place is always covered with beautiful clouds. But the best time of which the clouds can be clearly beautifully see is during the transition period from summer to winter or vice versa. Usually it is on the month of October - for summer to winter and on the month of May from winter to summer.

Localities of the lowlands transact their business at Abha City, the capital of Asser Province. Their nearest link to get the capital is through the long and winding road from the town of Shabain going up to Al Soodah Mountain to Abha City. They called the road Aqaba in local terms which means difficult. They buy their foods and other necessities from Abha and sold their products.

Viewed from below is the mountain range of Al Soodah Peak. The stunning and huge formations of rock mountains showing their glories and power over the lowlands.

One of the attractions, which is mostly visited by the local and foreign tourists is the cable car. Each cab has the capacity to load eight persons with the average weight. The travel will take 10 minutes from top to bottom and vice versa, at the distance of 3,061 meters. The altitude difference of the top and bottom stations, respectively is 1,183 meters. The ride is enjoyable and full of excitement. The riders can spend some times at the bottom. The park is available with children playgrounds, swimming pools, restaurants and cottages to rest. Also, there is an antique shop which sells antiquities and native products.

April 24 when we decided to pursue our plans to have tour in some part of Visayas and northern Mindanao on the morrow.

Day 1 - April 25 at around 10 am in the morning we leave our place in Moloy, Surallah South Cotabato and headed to Cagayan de Oro City. At Kabacan North Cotabato, we encountered heavy rains along the road but it was so good. It made our travel cold and comfortable although we have to be extra careful with driving since the road is slippery.

Raining at Kabacan, North Cotabato on the road going to Carmen

We tried to make our pace faster, since we don’t want to be late at Carmen area at night. The road is winding and most of the area are under-constructions. It will be very difficult to travel that road condition specially at night time. Also the place is so quiet that we seldom find some other motorist passing by. Only after 30 minutes or an hour before we encountered or we overtook some other commuters on the road. Some places of the areas are covered with coconut trees, huge plantations of palm trees and some forests. Most of the time we were traversing above the mountains.

At some peaceful part of Carmen, North Cotabato

Fortunately, we surpassed the area and we were all exhausted for the first day of travel. But it was not yet our destination for that day. We were hungry and were looking for some place to dine. We reached Valencia City in Bukidnon and luckily we saw the big M on our direction and we were very happy – it’s the Mc Donald : our comfort.

Spicy chicken with rice at Mc Donald-Valencia City, Bukidnon

Cabaylo Family on the go. (pirti gid kagutom)

Baby Gelai is trying to zip all juices. (Uhaw uhaw gid tana)

We continued our trip up to our final destinations that day – Cagayan De Oro City. We spent the night at our relatives who are staying there. We are grateful to extend our thanks to Lapiz Family.

Day 2 - April 26. Before we left bound for our next destinations, we spent our morning attending the Church Services and having great time with them.

Great breakfast at Lapiz Family in Cagayan de Oro City

Day 2 - April 26. Before we left bound for our next destinations, we spent our morning attending the Church Services and having great time with them.

Group picture in front of the church before leaving Cagayan de Oro Ciy

After we bided goodbye, we continued our journey going to Mukas Port, Kulambugan, Lanao. We rode the roro in order to cross Ozamiz City. From Cagayan City, we passed by Iligan City up to some municipality of Lanao del Norte. We travelled with so much vegetation on the road. The objective was to reach Dapitan Port in order to catch the last Ferry boat going to the port of Dumaguete.

An area somewhere in between Iligan City and Kulambugan

Leaving Mukas Port in Kulambugan, Lanao

We reached Dapitan Port at around 8:00 pm. But the ferry boat will leave Dapitan Port at 12:00 am. We almost did not take the ferry because we must have a booking ahead of the trip. We took chances and fortunately, there were cargo trucks which did not come on time. We took their bookings. While waiting for the ferry boat to load our Van – on board, we decided to roam around Dapitan City to find some place to eat. We bumped to one of the seafoods houses along Dapitan City Boulevard. We dined there for our supper. Afterwards, we went back to the port for embarking.

We spent our night at the sea while boarded on the ferry boat heading to Dumaguete City Port of Negros Island.

Day 3 - Welcome to Negros Island. It was the first time I set foot on some islands of the Philippines. It was the Island of Negros in the City of Dumaguete – the City of Smiles. We disembarked at the port at around 9:00 am and we are so excited to explore Visayas.

The Ferry boat just docked at Dumaguete Port

Our best buddy while waiting our passengers at Dumaguete Port

Here we came again. Everybody were hungry after a whole night boarded on ferry boat. The first request came was to find some place to eat. Jollibee is all around Philippines and expectedly, there must be Jollibee near at the port. Hola – there it is – a welcoming bees gave us a very warm smiles.

Jollibee at Dumaguete City - Near the port area

Gelai & papa Lasoi were having fun while waiting our orders.

The Capitol Building of Negros Oriental

After having our breakfast at Jollibee, we continued our trip going to the next roro ride en route to Cebu Island. We decided to take our night at Cebu City.

RORO en route from Tampi to Bato Port in Cebu Island

From Bato port where the RORO docked at Cebu Island, we took the Santader-Barili-Toledo Road goint to Southern Tip of Cebu Island. From there - we travelled through the Cebu South Road to Natalio Bacalso National Highway up to Cebu City.

Santander-Barili-Toledo Road - Along the Boulevard

Everybody were amazed of the scenery we saw on our ways. The road is finely paved with asphalt concrete, even the width is somewaht smaller than the standard. There were areas where the road was winding and the slope was too steep to drive for an ordinary car. Lunch time came and we were all hungry again. We reached Argao City and stopped at sone of the restaurants along the road. We were greeted with Maayong udto, unsay atoa manang/manoy.