Mt Famy or Mt Romelo in Siniloan Laguna is just two hours ride from Manila and the closest place we have ever been in hiking last 2002. For beginners, this was mostly recommended because it is considered an easy or minor climb.
Famy is different from our other hiking experience since Famy has so many falls and rivers.
The most memorable place to me in Famy is in Batya Batya. The picture of Batya-Batya at the side, which is one of my treasured photos, reminds me of our group strategies in order to have our way through the top of that rock not by swimming, coz most of us are not very good swimmers, but by just holding on to the stones at the side of the river and another is holding on to a fat stick while the stick is being held by Nads and Norman. Our two men are our heroes! 
Finally at the top of Batya Batya but there's more coz we have to cross another river to go up to Sampaloc Falls. Another river is located at our back in the picture.
Here is a picture from the jump off point. Look at my Montanara red bag... he is my best hiking buddy ever! Also in the picture are four of my keppel officemate and my former pna colleague. It has always been more girls than boys especially if it just a fun or minor climb.
This is our complete group picture at the top most hill of Mt Famy with extra.. a dog! I remember we labeled the dog as a picture of our guide and protector coz we have been saved from a group of robbers if not for some blessing in disguise. The blessing in disguise? We are supposed to leave Manila at night but one of our group members is late! We hated being late especially when it comes to our itinerary because we will definitely miss out our planned schedules. Because of the late, we missed the last trip and we have to wait the first trip in the morning else hire a private jeepney just for our group. We have several discussions and fiery exchange of comments until we decided to just spend the night in the office waiting. We then took the first trip in the AM and headed to Mt Famy. It is still dawn when we arrived at the jump off point and I felt the pressure around. Some of us are not already happy even before we started the climb. We are worried that our campsite might not be that good since we are late from our itinerary schedule and therefore loose the best camp site. Silence only gives in at the top hill of Mt Famy. We heard that a group of hikers just before our group has been robbed and many things were taken and some of them get hurt. We immediately realized that if not for the “late” drama we will be the group that has been robbed. It was a real blessing in disguise! This realization immediately changed us and our group is back on trail! Fun climb will always be a fun climb!
p.s. next easier than Famy...Majayjay
