Mt. Samat - Pilar, Bataan

Mt. Samat - Pilar, Bataan

On May 5^th, 2013 our foot headed us in one of the historic place in the country, Mt. Samat in Bataan. This place is known as the starting point of the so called “Death March” during World War Two, where all prisoners of war both Americans and Filipinos were forced to march to death form Mt. Samat, Bataan to Pampanga.

From Pasay, Manila we took approximately two hours and a half bus ride to Balanga City in Bataan via Genesis bus liner and alight at Balanga terminal for jeep ride to the foot of Mt. Samat where our hike began. You will see the big arc with the “Dambana ng Kagitingan” written on it, the start of a 9 kilometer hike.

At the drop off point, many tricycle drivers offer a ride, even single motorbikes to bring you to the peak of Mt. Samat, but to satisfy our own trip we chose to hike rather than to ride.

Jump off point

At exactly 9:30am, we started to hike under the heat of the sun but also under the canopy of tall and old trees. You will see trees with red flowers along the way and they call it Fire trees. The cool breeze of the fresh air together with the smell of the leaves and grass will make you feel relaxed and forget the busy days at work and hassle way of living in the city.
It’s a long hike ahead as if it has no end (as the image shows). This is a perspiring hike with my backpack full of personal overnight stuff weighing approximately 10-15 kilos including our packed lunch.   We brought hotdogs, tocino and lots of rice for our lunch (to full our bellies after a long tiring hike) and 2 liters of water to keep us hydrated along the way. Few minutes after, we passed by this sign in the road side and realized that we have walked for about 1 kilometer already, hmmm… 8 kilometers to go, more steps ahead, more sweats and more sun exposure but it’s ok… it’s like an adventure hike in a place that we've never been before.

While we are walking, we talk about how tiring the death march was. For sure those people are weary struggling in war during that time. Most of them did not have sleep nor have eaten at all just to keep their posts guarded, (just an opinion like shown in many war movies). As we keep going, we passed again the kilometer sign.  2Km and then 3Km a few minutes after.

As we passed thru the” kilometer 3” sign, we saw the tip of the monumental cross erected ahead of us. It is already near as we see it yet still far to think of the kilometers we have to make. We need to hike 5 more kilometers to reach the park and the summit. So we kept on walking, the road headed us up and down, right and left (zigzag). The heat of the sun is getting hotter as we walk through (some parts don’t have shade of trees). We also passed a tombstone that says “Mt. Samat: A Mountain of Peace” engraved in the big marble with Japanese translation.  We stayed there for a while for a rest and to catch our breath. Also to take some photos courtesy of one of the local (motorcycle driver) there that keeps on asking us to take a ride on his motorbike for reasonable price. But we never tempted to take a ride. (Chuckles)

After a few minutes, we headed back to the road and started hiking again. We kept on talking and talking about everything we see so to keep us away from the thought of long, long walk. We noticed that most of the visitors headed to the mountain rode on vehicles and we were the only ones who took a hike for the reason of exploring the place and feel how the hard the death march is. We also met a biker who tried to reach the summit using his racing bike. Unfortunately, he didn’t make it and headed back saying “The road is too steep ahead, I can’t make it. Maybe next time” he said. Again, we stopped for a rest after 3 kilometer straight hike.

  We started to walk again, now there's a feeling of pain in my leg but I ignored it. This is just a part of our trip. As they say "No Pain, No Gain". Also I haven't noticed that my hiking short is already wet because of heavy sweat I have and extra shirt and will just change later.

 

You can see the city far below, also the trees along the way. In this area we noticed that no local lives here except 

for the few we met along the hike. A peaceful area as I describe, nice place for hiker, biker or to hang out with friends and loved ones.  After two and a half hours hike, we finally reached the entrance gate of the park.  We went directly to the Dambana ng Kagitingan guest house to pay P50 each.

After a couple of minutes rest, we stopped by a mini store where you can buy some goods and souvenir items. There is also rest room nearby. You will need to pay five pesos to ten pesos.

 The sun is too hot that time and the ice cold cola is the best thing we had to quench our thirst. And then, we ate our lunch. Bon appetite.                                                                                                   

Tummies full! Now we started to stroll the place to take some pictures and read some writings engraved in the big white marble wall. At least to understand and to get some idea what really happened in this place during the war.                                                                                                                                                      

There were plaques posted on walls and weapons that were used during the war. We visited the museum downstairs but taking picture is prohibited for some security reasons. We witness the old paintings inside, old weapons, pictures, uniforms of the soldiers, miniature of the whole Bataan where the battle happened (if I am not mistaken).  

After that, we started to ascend the big cross erected in the summit of the mountain. I forgot how tall it is, (chuckles), next time I will write it in my journal. Another tiring moment for us to burn some fats.

Finally, we reached the foot of the giant cross, from there, one more to go. Next climb, both side of the wing of the cross to witness the magnificent beauty of Bataan from the summit but by this time we will use the elevator to get there, hmmmm… sounds so exciting.

 We took a rest for a while, took some pictures around, read some plaques and then line up to the elevator. The elevator was too small and I think it can carry six person at a time and the fee is P10.

And this is it, the wing of the cross. My knee is shaking while the cool wind blows as we walk through. There are chairs inside where you can relax and have a sight of the whole Bataan in 360◦ angle.

After we took some pictures, we decided to descend to visit some other places nearby. This time we took a motorcycle back ride to bring us to the falls in the next barangay.

                What a tiring day indeed yet the experience was totally great and the scenery was just fantastic.