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Friday, May 16, 2014

Climbing The Datum Origin

5/15/2014 8:24:26 AM

As yours truly, along with several friends, reached the island of Marinduque for the first time (in my lifetime), we are supposedly boarding a trip to the town known as Torrijos later that day.

Until a sudden change of plan went on, and early in that Friday morning, we hiked up on that mountain known as Datum Origin.

Sounds new to me, actually; I personally have no idea what the place was all about until I saw the historic landmark there. Our crew took about 90 minutes of trekking; with only armed with a bottle of mineral water and a face towel on me.

Gosh, that was really an exhausting one; considering I never experienced climbing a mountain like that!

Unfortunately for me though, my phone battery died out while travelling; which made me unable to take photographs to routing those muddy roads, steep terrain, and hollow-blocked constructed stairs. So instead, I could only rely on other photographs from the World Wide Web (with proper citation, of course; except for the last one which was taken by yours truly on my way back to the Metro).

Plus, the danger of not having somebody to guide around seemed horrifying (I don’t know why the hell we don’t have that, though all I know is that my college friend who used to live on that province seems she knew a lot).

Facebook page: Luzon Datum of 1911-Marinduque
But reaching the peak was always the best part. At around 10:30 in the morning, we finally reached Datum Origin, the geodetically-speaking centralized point of the entire Republic of the Philippines archipelago! All that despite having a tough time to text one of my close online friends to tell the news. 

http://journeyingjames.com/
That Datum Origin of Luzon was formally situated in 1911 in this stone. Still a nice spot after a hundred years, eh? (101 in fact, during the time I climbed the mountain.)

Facebook page: Luzon Datum of 1911-Marinduque
Facebook page: Luzon Datum of 1911-Marinduque
Up there you can see the entire island as well as the wide open seas around it.

http://www.ugnayan.com/
Nevertheless, it was still a memorable ride. Forget the exhaustion, the stinky feeling of sweat all around your body, as well as body aches, and muscle pains on its aftermath.

However, the downside (perhaps, an irony too) is: the longer time you took to climb a mountain, the faster you go down. Yes, as I told earlier, it took us 1 ½ hour to get up there. 

But hitting downstairs? Shoot – only 25 minutes! Yes, 25 freaking minutes! It's like we start trekking up by around 9 AM, reached there about 90 minutes before noontime, and as we got down by 11:15 AM, we were already at the ground level about twenty minutes before noontime (11:40 AM), if I'm not mistaken.


And only to realized we're still strolling around the nearby Station Balanacan in Mogpog (just down there's the port connecting from Lucena to this island) and will have to travel for like three to four hours on our destination?

Okay, 'nuff said. Off to Torrijos!

Author: slickmaster | © 2014 september twenty-eight productions

31 comments:

  1. The entire island look so peaceful, such a sense of tranquility and divine, pristine beauty of nature. You are lucky to have visited such a unique place and see That Datum Origin of Luzon situated in the stone.

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    1. yes, considering that I'm a late addition to the group's trip then.

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  2. What an experience for you with this place, but you made it to the peak. In the future, always be ready with necessary things when traveling.

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  3. It's always exhilarating to reach every mountain or hill top amidst unforeseen circumstances when an amazing view awaits you. Nice to have read about this trek:)

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  4. Datum Origin sounds amazing and the pictures are great what a view, so unfortunate your camera died on you, guess you will have to go again real soon. Thanks for sharing you have a great bunch of friends surprising you with a trip like that.

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    1. it was really an unexpected detour considering we had a tough grind driving from manila by then midnight to reach this island by around 7-is in the morning.

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  5. Such beautiful photos! They really tell this lovely tale. So peaceful!

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    1. Thanks, though it came from various sources as cited. Saddened that my phone camera died down along the way.

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  6. I have been to Marinduque, but not to this mountain. The province is called the Heart of the Philippines. Nice to know that this Datum is the heart of Marinduque, and the geodetic center of the whole country. - Fred

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    1. You should try this some other time. It's like the feeling where you can utter words "oh, I'm at the center of the world! Oh, sorry, Philippine world! Hahaha!"

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  7. Reaching the peak and relaxing there for a few minutes is really the best. Whoa, it was that fast to go down? It's not even half of the time it took you to go up. :)

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    1. Oh, definitely. It is, or maybe, because I'm a fast-walker by nature. Haha!

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  8. I could only imagine what a relief it was to reach the peak. For sure it was worth all the sweat and discomfort you had while going up.

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  9. Nevertheless, it was still a memorable ride. Forget the exhaustion, the stinky feeling of sweat all around your body, body aches and muscle pains on its aftermath.

    Hmm same happened with me, but at last we carry the sweet memories with us for lifetime

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    1. Yes, to be honest, all I want to do is run naked as shit on my way down and hit the beach right away. Unfortunately, we didn't have the time and luxury to do so.

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  10. One of the greatest fear of the new century people... No Battery on Smart Phones! Haha, I bet you must be feeling handicapped from the lack of phones to take a lot of photos... Treat it as a digital detox then!

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    1. Shoot. That's true, buddy. But on the other side, hmm, still ain't a bad thing 'coz some things are meant to be best experienced without the expense of gadgets (especially if by nature, you're not really a geeky one).

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  11. The view from the top is just breath taking. It makes the trek worth all the sweat and hardship.

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  12. I can't imagine what an experience this must've been! Traveling for that long is hard for me but the feeling of reaching that certain place must've been so profound and fulfilling! :D

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    1. Yes, considering that's actually the first time I climbed a mountain.

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  13. No pain, no gain! With a view and experience like this, who will mind all the hardships? Its all worth it!

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  14. just 25 minutes to scale down the mountain you took 1,5hrs to climb up? how did that happen?!
    anyway, really awesome pic of the open sea.

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    1. Well, maybe we just knew our route back and especially me, a fast-walker by nature.

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  15. This looks like such a beautiful place. Definitely worth all the effort.

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  16. What a beautiful island! It's amazing how many geourgeous places there are in the world to visit.

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    1. Yes, and if there's one thing I missed there: the gorgeous ladies. Haha! Just kidding though.

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  17. The view up there must have been awesome. I never knew that Datum was geodetically the center of our country. haha

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