I was in Dumaguette on the island of Negros Occidental in the Philippines. I came here because I heard about the beauty of this area, and I wanted to see for myself. I was not disappointed as it exceeded my expectations.
I rented a small motorbike to explore the region. On one day I drove to Pulangbato Falls by mistake. I was actually trying to go to Tierra Alta, however, I got on the wrong road and ended up here.
But as it often is, the journey is more interesting than the actual destination. That certainly proved true on this trip.
This area of the country is filled with mountains, lakes, rivers, rainforest, and oceans. All of these visible on this particular trip.
It started with a pleasant trip through the rainforest:


Fortunately, for me, the road up the mountain was in very good shape. Most of the roads here are made of concrete, it is very few to be asphalt, perhaps due to the high heat conditions here. But, as I said, that's fortunate for me, because at my age, I probably shouldn't be on two wheels anymore. I wasn't that great of a driver in my youth and my opportunity for dropping that bike somewhere is very high now. But I made it through this adventure, injury free.
A pleasant river followed the road up the mountain. What was really serene about this drive is that there were very few homes to block the views. In the video you can see a shanty type home in the distance. It seems like the poorer people typically live by the water here, unlike what you would see in more developed countries. But I guess if you live here you're not that poor after all.

But the most impressive scenery on the drive was this volcanic heated mountainside. The Philippines is both blessed and curse by volcanic activity. The negative side is that can lead to earthquakes as it's along the fault, and the resulting tsunamis have caused considerable damage in the past. But the upside is sceneries like I pictured below.:



The heat from the volcano brings the copious amounts of water that falls in his rainforest to boil, and the resulting steam you see from the mountain side here is constant. This was really a site to behold.
I made the mistake of standing on the rocks to get one of the pictures you see above. I was in my slide on sandals, and my sandal got caught and taken off my foot. As a result, I stood on the rock with one barefoot, but only for a second. I quickly jumped off the mountain side on the road, as it was very, very hot. Luckily, I was not hurt and could retrieve my sandal without having to go back on the rock.
Those were the highlights of my journey to the falls, but I also had a lowlite. As I mentioned, this is a rainforest, and they get a lot of rain. I got caught in a rain storm driving back, and was totally drenched. I'm really ill prepared when I travel most of the times as I never bring an umbrella or a poncho, or anything to protect myself from the elements.
I really don't mind getting wet all that much as it was warm enough that it didn't make me cold anyway. But what I mostly feared was going downhill on the mountain on a wet road. But obviously, I drove slowly and survived the experience.
You certainly have had your fair share of adventures. This is really quite something. I am glad you have slowed down and are more careful on motor bikes. I have several scary moments of you driving motorcycles and mopeds. 🤔😅
Great pics. Nice to see the nature of the volcano and the water flowing down the rocks. Mother nature is an amazing thing. The beuitiful and natural parts of these lands. Your past tells me you shouldn't ride a bike