But then I thought Sky isn’t really that far after all.

Sky Biscocho at Mount Guiting-Guiting's dreaded Mayo's peak. (Sibuyan Island, Romblon)

Born during one Christmas eve, the 59-year-old Rodolfo “Sky” Biscocho still feels a lot younger than his age. “Hindi ko feel na 59 ako kasi extraordinary ang lakas ko. Feel ko I’m still young pati sa looks.” Why wouldn’t he if swimming, running, and riding his bike are some of his past time activities? Sky also makes sure that his knowdlege is continuously being fed by shows from the National Geographic and Discovery channels.

A young Sky. Circa 1970

TRIVIA: Sky Biscocho started his own group during his college days called Sky Mountaineering Club, Limited. Members can be counted by two hands and all hailed from Tanauan, Batangas. It was year 1992 when he joined the AMCI Mountaineering Club, Inc.

At the Palangga Ridge of Mount Makiling with members of Sky Mountaineering Group Ltd.

Most of us know Sky as one of the pioneers in the country when it comes to creating and developing trails including the now-popular hiking destination Tarak Ridge among many other mountains. Below are his amazing sketches of the said hiking spot.

Sky's hand-drawn sketch of Vintana Ridge to Bayangan River.

Yet another detailed sketch of Tarak Peak.

Did I say that Sky loves exploring virgin mountains and forests? If not, then let me say it again. Among his popular activities is his explorations of Mount Banahaw’s Durungawan III last 1993. “As a mountaineer, para sa akin, exploration ang trip ko. Mas gusto ko mag-climb sa bundok na ako ang gagawa ng trail ko and then share it to my co-climber.“ Recently, he has led another exploration of a new trail in Mount Cristobal which starts from Barangay Bukal in Nagcarlan (Laguna) connecting to the regular trail in Dolores (Quezon).

A lot of young mountaineers are dreaming of scaling Mount Halcon, which, unfortunately, up until now is still closed for hikers. Sky has completed both Halcon’s Oval and Dragon Trails for almost 15 times. Yes, 15 times. Mount Kalatungan, Mariveles Mountain Ranges, and Mount Makiling are some of his favorite playgrounds and subjects of his explorations. Of course, Mount Apo, the Grandfather of all the mountains in the Philippines, is still included in his list of conquered mountains.

Despite all these big names in a mountaineer’s dictionary, here’s what Sky had to say when asked if there are still other places that he wishes to summit.

“Maganda ang Pilipinas! Madami pang bundok na madidiskubre. ‘Di nakakasawa dito sa atin. Pero siyempre, sino ba naman ang ‘di gusto maka-climb sa Mount Everest, K2, at mga bundok out of the Philippines?”

Sky has been climbing and conquering mountains since the 1970s. He thinks that being one of the pioneers has its pros and cons. Mountaineers back then relied mostly on their creativity to survive any hikes as equipment and gears were not yet fully-developed nor available. “Noon, the harder the climb the better. Mas trip namin mga classic kesa fun climb.”

Climbing may be a lot challenging during the good old days but it was more fulfilling. Sky and other pioneers had the chance to open trails in Mounts Makiling, Malipunyo, Arayat, Kalatungan (AMCI Trail), Sumagaya, Lumot (Amcapchoy Trail), Mariveles Mountain Range especially Tarak Peak, and a lot more.

Make way for the true hippie mountaineer.

Sky isn’t only all about the mountains, he is also an exceptional artist in his own right holding a degree in Fine Arts Major in Printing and Photography. Check out sample of his artworks below.

“Para sa akin kasi, to climb a mountain is to feed the visual needs of our living spirit just like my art. Art is not just an ordinary subject that we see. It is also a visual adventure that we have to feel. Art and mountain ang buhay ko. Nasa nature ang inspiration ko para mag-paint. Peace, serenity, and love of nature kumbaga.”

In my POV, a real artist must appreciate all kinds of art. Just like Sky whose appreciation of art ranges from traditional to modern to abstract. “Ma-experiment ako sa art, visual to music like my raw compositions.”

Some of Sky's compositions and artworks are posted on his Facebook account.

Sky has been awarded with several recognitions for his love for the arts. “Hall of Fame Awardee ako sa UST as an artist. Na-feature na ako sa art books, nasama na ako sa Twentieth Century of Filipino Artists, mga collector’s art books at magazines. Nakapag exhibit na ako dito at sa abroad.” He also was acclaimed for composing AMCI’s current hymn. Way back 1993, the Municipality of Mariveles gave Sky the credits he deserves for exploring the vastness of the Mariveles Mountain Ranges specifically Tarak, Bataan, and Pantingan Peaks.

Sky with the AMCI Mountaineers and the Don Jaime Zobel de Ayala (center, wearing blue) himself.

Sky isn’t into the song Teach Me How to Dougie. He also thinks that chicken was created first before the egg. “Manok ang nauna. Parang tao, naunang ginawa ni God. Saka si Eve. Manok bago nangitlog para maging sisiw to manok (laughs).”

All photos found in this post were from Sky Biscocho's Facebook.

Sky in all smiles!

I figured I need no wings to reach the Sky as he is just within my reach.

The Pseudonym
I started blogging year 2003 about my daily college shenanigans. I wrote prolifically back then, sometimes posting two or more blog posts each day, under the aliases (which I don’t regret using):

• Budiday - a Bicolano slang for little girl which best describes me
• Cassanova - some people I’ve spoken to and haven’t seen even a picture of me, with my voice as their only mean of gauging how I look, asked me, “Are you really a woman?”
• Ponyang – I often got comments from strangers that I look a lot like Ponyang who was played by, ahem, Kaye Abad in the now-defunct local TV show Tabing Ilog

As I grew older, I finally came to my senses that what I’ve written in the past are all crappy rants and won’t contribute to the betterment of humanity (as if what I am doing today makes any difference). It was also that time wherein I was becoming so attached to mountaineering and eventually to travelling. Hikers are known for carrying backpacks and so the birth of MissBackpacker.

At first, the blog was about my hiking activities (itineraries, photos, tips, etc.) revolving solely on me. Insert the words selfish and vanity here. And since mountaineering was all about budgeting, I then concluded that it also meant shoestring travelling hence the growth of the blog from mountain talks plus travelling tips. If you’re wondering what happened to my old posts and why I only have a few that are currently posted, please read the ABOUT section of the site.

Would you believe that I deleted my entire WordPress account just so I could start fresh on a domain name I bought for only $1 with free hosting, which I am using up until now? #lightbulb

I did get rid of it.

Where on Earth Have I Gotten My Blog Title?
It was April of 2009 when I received an email from the president of my mountaineering society, HAKAMS, asking me to collate contact details of then-active members of the group as an international ad agency had chosen us to receive promotional tokens from their then-client, The North Face (TNF). Shortly after sending out the list of our names, a box was delivered at our doorsteps. Tada. The token we’ve been promised.

The box was filled with several plastic containers with our names on it. When I found the container dedicated to me, I immediately opened it and poof, it had pushpins with a Philippine map which you can attach to a cork board and label the places you’ve been to using the pushpins. Sweet.

This is how the actual map looks like. (Picture taken some two years ago.)

The thing that captured me the most was its footer as if asking me in person, “Where have you been lately?” #lightbulb

Since then, I’ve been wanting to use it as my blog’s title, which I did a few months after. The site is now prepping up for its third year anniversary in the blogosphere.

With my new-found virtual friends, bloggers, readers, and followers (thanks to Pinoy Travel Bloggers), I am aiming to provide more tips and information (and update almost everything I need to) about my upcoming hikes and trips and inspire more people to travel not just because it’s Piso Fare but to experience the 7,107 beauty our county has.

Now you, where have you been lately?

When we were already settled, my heart wouldn’t stop pounding while waiting for the crew. The pressure’s on, I thought. We’d be shown on national television, we didn’t know where we were headed, we had no idea what kind of activities were waiting for us.

Then they arrived and filming started. Still with no knowledge of our destination, I pretended to be so sleepy while on our way to wherever when in reality, I was really anxious and nervous.

On the way to the airport (scene from the actual episode).

Rowjie and I had debates on our possible upcoming location. I was arguing that we might do the shoot somewhere in the South. Rowjie, on the other hand, thought we will be brought up North. We both assumed it’ll be a long land trip just like what we were told but we were wrong.

MissBackpacker vs. Mamang Akyat Bundok

Much to our surprise, we ended up in NAIA Terminal 3. Allan, the program’s Producer, informed us that our flight would be at 10:40 AM and we will check-in our baggages with Drew Arellano along with his announcement of our destination. I hate surprises. As most of you know how sneaky I am, what I did was look up for flights around that time. Then I found out we were about to land in Dipolog? But wait, where the eff is that?

From my crappy VGA phone.

And so when Drew arrived and checked-in our baggage, I already knew that we were flying to Dipolog. I just didn’t know what to expect as I have no knowledge of where it was even located.

We were scheduled to do a lot of activities during our first day when everything was ruined just because of chicken mami. We were five-minute late at the boarding area because all of us were eating at the nearby cafeteria and were so busy that no one from our group heard that our names were already being called for boarding. It was just five minutes yet it made such a big impact on our itinerary.

The crew couldn’t reschedule the trip because the Tourism office of Dipolog was already waiting and WG’s reputation was at stake. And if they would, Rowjie and I can no longer join them as we only were allowed to take one day off from work. So what they did was reroute the flight to Zamboanga del Sur and had a 6-hour land travel (or so we thought) back to Dipolog, which is on its opposite side, Zamboanga del Norte.

Welcome to Zambo and its almost-overloaded vehicles!

Not only the crew spent much money for the new set of plane tickets, we also wasted one day worth of filming plus the anxiety and stress. According to them, the trip was one of the most memorable as this incident never happened before. Oh well, everything has its first.

From 10 AM, the flight was moved to 2:30 PM. And to forget that we were at the airport almost the whole day, we just played Pinoy Henyo along with Drew and the cameramen: Rey, Jeff, and Vanni. Allan and Marvin were both busy contacting the people involved with our trip. They were apologetic of all the delays. If only I could do something, I’d definitely help them but I was as helpless as they were.

Delayed flights can be fun at times. (Photo by Rowjie Galang)

The group landed in Zambo del Sur passed 5 PM and ate at a small carinderia just in front of the airport before our tiring land trip started. Most of the time, all of us were asleep. Some were even snoring out loud. My lips are sealed. I won’t tell that Rowjie was one of them. Mid way, we ate again in one of the carinderias they spotted along the way. Drew and some of the crew even consumed some Pilsen bottles to release their stress.

Hello Mindanao, we met again!

At around 1 AM, we finally arrived in Dipolog. We were too tired that when we had another round of dinner-slash-midnight snack-slash-breakfast, a staff of Karyll’s Grille uttered, “mga unan na tingin niyo sa pagkain.” True enough, I didn’t appreciate the sumptouous food served by the overly welcoming staff of the restaurant, not that it was horrible, as all I could think of was sleep, sleep, and sleep.

2010 Best Distributor of San Miguel Beer Corporation

After a warm bath, the comfort of the soft bed in our own room (courtesy of Top Plaza Hotel) made me fall into slumber immediately. That was around 2 AM and we needed to have eaten our breakfast 5 AM for the start of the activities.

I’m too occupied to write a long timeline and so I just compiled photos of my 2011 travels and shenanigans.

The Click Freaks Visit Korea

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January - My second photo walk with The Click Freaks. I remember my pixie cut was starting to grow during this month. (Intramuros, Manila)

First thought was I’d be flying to Kuala Lumpur. Second, I would bring Rowjie with me. Third, two VVIP tickets to 2PM’s concert. Fourth, who the eff are they?

Then things finally sunk deep into me. It was May this year, when I said pass after getting an offer of going on a free trip to Kota Kinabalu due to my status of being a non-passport holder. I really got frustrated with that incident and so last August I took one day off from work so I could process my passport application. I must really be one of the intelligent maker’s favorite people as he didn’t let the year pass without me going abroad, for free!

I totally forgot that I even joined this contest. All I could remember was AirAsia tweeted something about them giving away free round-trip tickets for two to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to someone who could prove s/he deserves winning. And here’s my ticket to an unexpected 3D/2N-KL trip. It rained during our trip hence I only was able to do four planking poses.

Planking the KL way.

Here are some of the quick facts I love about AirAsia.

Depart and Arrive at DMIA even once. Avoid all the hullabaloos in Terminal 3 and experience Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (Clark Airport), which is just about one to two hours away from the busy Metro. The fresh air within the area will make you forget Manila and all the workloads waiting for your comeback.

Free Web/Mobile Check-in. If you just don’t have the luxury of time wherein every minutes matter, this will definitely help you. With just a few clicks away, you’ll be avoiding all the hassles of lining up on a crowded airport just to check-in yourself and baggage. And what’s better is, unlike with other airlines, this service is absolutely free. In fact, you’ll really be obliged to go this route instead of the old-fashioned way of going through the Document Check Counter first to have your stuff checked because AirAsia charges 10 Malaysian Ringgit (RM) for conventional counter check-in. Quoting their website, “This is to promote better efficiency and be cost effective. We will now focus on self check-in (via web and mobile) and counter check-in will be chargeable as it is an additional service with added human resources.” Check out their FAQ section for more details.

From and to LCCT Terminal. While the busy Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) is being crowded by most airlines and its passengers, AirAsia operates in Low Cost Carrier Terminal (LCCT), which is nearer KL Sentral where everything pretty much begins, if you know what I mean. This suggests, less travel time and cheaper transportation fare. I’ll talk about more of this on my KL series.

Great temperature, seamless wi-fi connection, travel tax-free LCCT.

Foreign language is music to my ears. All the flight attendant and crew speaks fluent English and Malay. That was the first time I heard a lot of people speaking a language so different yet so similar to mine.

So there, a summation of the things I’d miss about AirAsia. This was the first trip I’ve had with the carrier and I hope it won’t be the last nor experience something that would make me wanna forget how it was so wonderful the first time.

Now, I know who 2PM is. They are a bunch of cute teenagers who speak little to no English at all. Oh well, I’m not really into K-POP but it was nice hearing and watching performers who you don’t usually listen to. Makes me go down the memory lane. #BSBdays

2PM, your fans had my eardrums shattered.

Thank you for the wonderful (and free) experience, AirAsia! Hope to fly with you again, soon!