To get from Sagada to Banaue one needs to take a jeepney to Bontoc first and then get either another jeepney or a van to Banaue. All of them leave very early in the morning and we had to catch ours at 6:30am.
We got there half an hour earlier to make sure that there will be places for us left, as the jeepneys fill up fast, especially during the holiday season.
While waiting for the jeepney to depart, we got talking to Bianca and Sven, two backpackers from Germany, who were also going to Banaue first and then were planning on taking the bus back to Manila and further a flight to Boracay. Since we had the exact same itinerary, we decided to stick together and share the costs where possible.
Once in Bontoc (45 minutes ride), the moment we got out of the jeepney, we were surrounded by the locals offering a ride to Banaue. One of the vans was exactly 4 people short, so we could board it without any trouble and be on our way again.
This ride was suppose to be about 1,5 hours. The weather wasn't great and it was raining a little, so we couldn't see much on the way. Just as buses, the vans make a pit stop half way to the destination and there is usually a local market built around the stopping point.
That was handy, because none of us had breakfast and we could finally get something to eat.
As we drove on, the mountains around were slowly disappearing in a thick fog because of the rain.
By the time we got to Banaue's viewing point they were completely covered and we couldn't make any photos. With the weather this bad we were also worried that going to Batad, where the oldest terraces are, will not be possible.
The van dropped us off at the tourist office and we went in to ask about going to Batad. The guy inside started to assure us that we needed a van and a guide and that all of that he was prepared to offer to us for a bit more than 100 euros.
We thought it was much too expensive for a half day trip and decided to take our chances finding a way to organize it with someone in town. But before we went down to the town square we bought the tickets for the night bus back to Manila. We were lucky again, there are only two buses a day and we got the four last places on the one leaving the same evening.
Downhill, at the tricycles and jeepneys station we found a woman and her husband, who after 15 minutes of intense negotiation had agreed to take us to Batad for half of the price in the tourist office.
He will drive us there and she will be the guide - a family enterprise :-)
They said that the ride there will take about an hour. The fog started to clear up a bit and we could finally see the views around.
However, when we thought we were almost in Batad the road started to get worth.
And then disappeared completely...
Not longer after our driver stopped and told us to get out of the jeepney. This was him driving away...
It turned out that until very recently the road to Batad din't exist and that people from the village were simply walking for almost 15 km if they wanted to get somewhere. This year the decision was made to built one because the tourists were coming more and more often, and they wanted to make Batad more accessible. The road construction has started and they even built a part of it already, however it's not completed yet and we still needed to walk to the village good 5 km.
So we went...
The trail was downhill all the way and quite steep too, so I was thinking about how we are going to walk all that distance back but then up. Not the greatest prospect :-) About 40 minutes later we got to the village.
The terraces here are huge. But unfortunately for us, they harvested most of the rice already. Otherwise, the terraces look much more nicer when they are all green.
We were all out of breath when we started to climb back up, but apparently for the locals it's a no big deal :-) He was much faster than we were...
On the way up our lady guide scored some moma - local type of chewing drug.
Sven decided to try and said that it tasted horrible, but after a bit he sort of got use to it and seemed quite happy. The con is that it colors your mouth red and you have to spit all the time.
It took us a bit more than an 1.5 hours to climb back up and we cheated the last km by catching a ride on a construction truck. Good thing that we did, because the road was very very steep. It would've taken us at least another half hour to walk it.
We were all so thirsty at the end that it took us only a couple of minutes to drink a whole coconut, each!!
While waiting we found our why some locals have monkeys - they are a remedy for lice, very handy!
Back in Banaue we had the time to look around before getting on the bus to Manila.
Now that we knew for sure when we will be back in Manila, we could decide where to go next. We had two options either to go to Palawan or to Boracay. The flights to Boracay where much cheaper, so that's what we booked.
It started to rain again and we stayed in the restaurant observing Banaue from a balcony until it was time to get on a bus.
The bus departed at 7pm and arrived to Manila at 5 in the morning. Our flight wasn't until 2pm, so we had almost 9 hours to kill. All four of us took a taxi to the airport and we hanged out in the restaurant near by until it was time for our flight to Boracay. And we got to see Manila at sunrise.
Next: Boracay
We got there half an hour earlier to make sure that there will be places for us left, as the jeepneys fill up fast, especially during the holiday season.
While waiting for the jeepney to depart, we got talking to Bianca and Sven, two backpackers from Germany, who were also going to Banaue first and then were planning on taking the bus back to Manila and further a flight to Boracay. Since we had the exact same itinerary, we decided to stick together and share the costs where possible.
Once in Bontoc (45 minutes ride), the moment we got out of the jeepney, we were surrounded by the locals offering a ride to Banaue. One of the vans was exactly 4 people short, so we could board it without any trouble and be on our way again.
This ride was suppose to be about 1,5 hours. The weather wasn't great and it was raining a little, so we couldn't see much on the way. Just as buses, the vans make a pit stop half way to the destination and there is usually a local market built around the stopping point.
As we drove on, the mountains around were slowly disappearing in a thick fog because of the rain.
The van dropped us off at the tourist office and we went in to ask about going to Batad. The guy inside started to assure us that we needed a van and a guide and that all of that he was prepared to offer to us for a bit more than 100 euros.
 |
| Official guides waiting for the tourists |
Downhill, at the tricycles and jeepneys station we found a woman and her husband, who after 15 minutes of intense negotiation had agreed to take us to Batad for half of the price in the tourist office.
He will drive us there and she will be the guide - a family enterprise :-)
So we went...
It took us a bit more than an 1.5 hours to climb back up and we cheated the last km by catching a ride on a construction truck. Good thing that we did, because the road was very very steep. It would've taken us at least another half hour to walk it.
We were all so thirsty at the end that it took us only a couple of minutes to drink a whole coconut, each!!
 |
| No chewing moma!! |
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