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A long and uncomfortable night bus journey north left us in the gorgeous little town of Banaue, high in the North Luzon mountains.
The town itself is situated on the bend of a river, on a hill overlooking a beautiful valley, surrounded by other tiny rural villages. Many of the hotels and restaurants, ours included, are built on stilts on the very edge of the cliff and have amazing views of the entire region.
The area is famous for the rice terraces that were origionally built nearly 2000yrs ago by the Ifugao people, a tribe of subsistance farmers that dominated the province at that time and continue to do so today. The terraces are cut into the mountains and built from base to summit like a giant staircase and house many tiny villages of tribes people, who tend to the paddies and maintain this natural wonder. Banaue made a great jumping off point for the terraces and we could dine in our hotel while gazing out over the countryside. One of the reasons these particular paddies ae so famed, aside from their location, is the impressive natural irrigation system the Ifugao people developed two millenia ago, using only the most basic of tools. Today, the majority of the country'd finest rice and produce come from this area, thanks in part to this irrigation system and the land reclaimed from the mountains all those centuries ago.
We spent a day exploring Banuae and some of the surrounding villages before decided to delve a little further into Luzon and set off on a day-long trek to the village of Batad.
Batad is a village built at the base of an amphitheatre of rice terraces that can only be reached on foot, following a two hour hike over a mountain. There is no road access and the local people themselves make this arduous journey whenever the need to visit the town (they do not appear to find this nearly as big an inconvenience as i would!).
The trek itself was enjoyable enough but arriving into Batad and glimpsing the terraces for the first time was spectacular. Batad is the most picture perfect and scerene village that i have seen so far on this trip and maybe in my whole life.
The village is tiny and consists of a couple of dozen extremely basic huts, pig pens, dog houses, a school and a basketball court (of course!) and a couple of slightly less basic mini-hotels built on the hill overlooking the village and the paddies. Our hotel was run by a really lovely and very hospitable family and as soon as we arrived we were sad we didn't have longer to spend there!
Against better judgement we decided to trek further beyond Batad and visit a local waterfall. This involved climbing up and over a mountain of terraces, picking our way through the paddies on narrow stone walls (like those in Connemara, only sunk into a flooded rice paddy) and down a flight of at least five hundred steps. The waterfall was very beautiful but the journey home was painful. It was completely worthwhile though (not for the waterfall) because night had fallen by the time we reached Batad again and many of the trees were filled with fireflies! They were lit up as if covered in fairy lights and it was stunning (it was what we had expected from our firefly "safari" in Malaysia!) and it just about gave me the energy i needed to make it home!
We only spent the one night in Batad but it proved to be one of the most rewarding and picturesque days and nights i have spent in Asia and the trek to get there only served to make it feel all the more remote and peaceful. I could not recommend other travellers to visit the village more and have done so to everyone that we have met since.
So we rose early and ate breakfast while enjoying our last few views of the sun rising over the terraces, before heading back over the mountain and back to civilisation (the journey back is twice as hard and half as enjoyable!).
Returning to Banaue improved enormously when we decided to take a bus to a neighbouring town called Bontoc (in search of an ATM) and realised that we would do so on the roof of the bus! It was exactly like one of those photos we have all seen, of a ridiculously crowded local bus crammed with people and animals, with more people and luggage balanced precariously on the top! So wedged between a spare tire and a huge bag of prawn crackers, i enjoyed the three hour journey up and down winding country roads, with incredible views of more terraces and more of the northern region. Granted, when we arrived we realised there was no ATM and had to return to Manila immediately but, it was worth the three hours for the views, conversation and thrill of it all alone!
So bound for another uncomfortable night bus back to the capital, we departed.
Next stop: Manila (and onwards to Donsol)...
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Vince
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Best seat in the house...or the bus rather
Roof top is indeed the best seat in the house...can't beat the view and the cool mountain breeze... Pictures?