Rice - Who Knew?

Since we had quite some time in the Philippines we decided to take a 4 day trip to the north part of the country.  We took the 9 hour overnight bus from Manila to Banaue, a mountain province.  The bus ride was OK other than the fact that the AC was set to what felt like 40 deg F (to keep the driver awake). Banaue and another mountain province called Batad are home to UNESCO World Heritage rice terraces.  These terraces are 2,000 years old and are a phenomenal site to see.  On the bus we met two girls (from Alabama) who were going to visit the same sites we were. So when we arrived in Banaue, we rented a jeep together and headed to Batad which was further up in the mountains (we found another traveler on the road to the top and picked her up... it would have been way too far on foot for her).  We sat on the roof of the jeep and enjoyed the scenic trip.  Our purpose of going to Batad was not only to see the rice terraces but also to see Tappia waterfalls.  After more hiking than I care to remember, and getting lost, we made it to the waterfall.  Hiking those steep inclines for two hours wore us out so jumping in the water at the falls was so refreshing.  We hung out at there for about 20 minutes before heading back to the jeep (the girls needed to get back to Banaue to catch the bus back to Manila).  This was such a memorable adventure: pushed our bodies to the limit, saw the beauty of God's creation, witnessed man's ingenuity and we made some new friends.

Interesting story... as we were hiking, we came across a restaurant with an overlook view of the terraces.  The owner of the restaurant was a pregnant lady... pretty much ready to pop.  She took our food order and told us that the food would be ready when we got back from the waterfall.  One and a half hours later we got back for the late lunch.  After lunch the lady told us that she would probably be going into labor sometime that day (she was feeling some contractions) and needed a ride back to town since there was no transportation after 1pm other than from tourists.  She was so calm and cool about it, we were amazed.  So off we left to hike back to the top of the mountain.  The hike took about an hour and we tourists had to take a few breaks on the way up... but this lady never stopped. It was like the tortoise and the hare. We would stop, she would pass us, we'd pass her and stop, she'd pass us. It was amazing to see the strength she had. She bummed a ride to town... and probably gave birth that night .

Jeep we rode on top of... until the road turned to stones

On the way to Batad from Banaue

On the hike I stopped for a drink of water

Scenes of Banaue rice terraces

Batad rice terraces

Amazing views. We had to walk down the valley and through this particular rice terrace to get to the waterfall.

Tappia Waterfall

Rice

After one night in Banaue we took a jeepney to another popular town called Sagada. We rode two Jeepneys and enjoyed what many call "the most beautiful drive" in the Philippines.

On our way to Sagada we passed through Bontoc mountain province

When we arrived in Sagada we were so happy.  Like Banaue and Batad this place is so peaceful, so green, such clean air and very cool climate.  We walked around the very small town to find a place to sleep. Thankfully we only had small backpacks so walking from hotel to hotel was pretty easy.  After about an hour we found one, George's Guesthouse.  After settling in we walked around to find something to eat and then checked in for the night. The next morning we woke up to do some sight seeing. "Babe, where's my camera?" Mu asked. Not on the bed, under the bed, on the shelf, in the bag, at the reception, at the other hotels we checked out, at the restaurants... hmmm.  "Oh noooo! I must have left it on the jeepney." Mu said with great exasperation.  All the pictures on her camera from Batad and Manila didn't get the chance to be backed up.  Grrrr. So from here on we'll only been using V's camera.


Sagada was kind of a paradise for us. Though there wasn't much going on we really got a chance to recover from the busyness of Manila... because there was nothing going on.  There was a lot of natural beauty all around. The most interesting of which was a cave you can tour, though you'd need a guide. Other things of interest for the area were orange groves and strawberry orchids you can visit and pick some fruit.  Some cultural things they had there were what are called "hanging coffins". On the rock faces of some of the mountains and hills coffins are suspended from the top, groups of them, one below the next.  Other than looking at these we just relaxed in Sagada and prepared ourselves for another night in the madness of Manila. But at least, after that we'd be heading to the beach... so Excited!!

In Sagada - In the center there are 3 hanging coffins

Spelunking is a common activity to do here in Sagada.  Since the weather wasn't that great, and we had not recovered from our Batad expedition, we decided not to do it. However, we went to the mouth of one of the popular caves.

"ECHO! Echo. echo..."

Stalactites (boo yah! Take that primary school geology.)

Yeah for the mountains.  On to the beach!