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Published: April 3rd 2010
After my ferry and bus back to Manila, I arrived at ‘Friendly’s Guesthouse’ to meet Julia, a German student I met on travelbuddies.com, I had arranged to spend a few days travelling with. I met Julia, we decided to go to Banaue, in the north of Luzon (the big island Manila is on) and headed to the bus station. I decided to abandon my large backpack in anticipation of long walks in the mountains and rice terraces ahead, and pack only a skirt, mosquito net, laptop, bikini, first aid kit and two tops for the week in the north. Travel light is what I say!
At the bus stop we met Kati, Yvonne and Elle, bound for the same few days trip as we were - a group of fellow travellers at last! Eventually the bus pulled up but to my dismay, after hearing so many great things of sleeper buses in the rest of South East Asia, the ‘sleeper bus’ was nothing more than your average British bus, with only seats. It also had freezing air-con which, in my little dress and without a jacket, was not fun in the least. I settled into my seat, attached my headphones
and sank into sleep, only to be awoken by my Filipino neighbours head bobbing on my shoulder every now and then.
At the brisk hour of 5am, we arrived at the misty Banaue. Luckily there was an open cafe opposite the bus stop, and we pulled together in a group and ordered some pancakes and planned our next move. A local Jeepney driver informed us of a group of 7 hiring a Jeepney to Sagada mountain town, which was our next stop, at 8:30am. After a quick chill and a wifi session, we met our companions for the 3 hours trip into the mountains.
Unfortunately they were incredibly loud and annoying Americans. In a stereotypical fashion they were amazed and astounded by everything - even the waterproof sheet for my bag drew photos and awes of amazement. It was going to be a long trip.
The views were outstanding though. We glimpsed our first sight of the famous rice terraces - stretching far up and down the mountain edges, a beautiful bright green. The journey was pretty funny, an obvious divide between the quietly chatty Europeans and the boisterous Americans, fully of stupid and ridiculous comments about
whether it could snow at 20 degrees etc. Eventually, after a good few stops to take photos, we arrived at the town.
We trekked around up and down the hillside, investigating the accommodation situation, only to find there was no room at the inns. After a while we found a nice and clean little place with hot showers to boot, and decided all 6 of us could cram in the 2 beds to keep things cheap! We went to the tourist information hut and booked ourselves trips for 200 pesos each to the Echo Valley to see hanging coffins and the sagadian caves.
After a quick take away lunch of great ham and cheese sandwiches, we trekked down the cliff faces to see the coffins. My heart sank when I realised what a climb back up we would have! Puffing and panting all the way, through a cemetery and pine needle-coated pathways we reached the very odd hanging coffins. The oldest was over 300 years old; our guide told us that the locals believed that your soul will not rise to heaven if you are buried underground - Logical I supposed!
After the long and hard climb
back to the top, we were off to the other side of town to clamber around inside my first cave. We first visited a random of a cave, covered in coffins; over 150 stuffed on top of one another. It was very eerie and immensely quiet. We walked back up the cliffs and around a few steep pathways to the mouth of the cave we had intended to traverse. Again, it was intensely quiet at the start, once we lost the light of day and climbed down some very step rocks, the silence was overpowered by the sound of bats. The smell came soon after - a musty, stale stench of years upon years of bat shit.
We climbed further and further down, sliding on rocks and slipping in bat crap. The guide had told us stories of ancient Kings and Queens of the cave; which he was very eager to point out. Suddenly I realised we were standing the presence of a massive vagina, and I renamed the place ‘porn cave’. The king was just as crude - a giant phallic rock formation, just as entertaining as the last. Amazing what you still find hilarious at 24 years
old!
We trekked downwards until we reached the water. Overcome with a spur of the moment enthusiasm I jumped in the freezing, but amazingly clear and fresh water! I swam around the pools and was told if I was able to stand the freezing water, there was part of the cave, only 30% of visitors ever manage to see. I decided to go for it. I climbed through a tiny crack in the rock faces, scraped through the huge boulders and arrived at a rope, tethered to a nook in the wall. Suddenly the nerves set in as I grabbed the mouldy line and swung myself across the rocks, above the sharp, jagged protrusions beneath! I slipped, fell and cut my leg. No matter though, I was in neck deep, freezing water to numb the pain away!
The next test came when I had to pull myself up the ropes with my measly upper body strength! Amazingly enough, I managed it and felt awesome.
Upon exiting the cave, we had another surprise in that we were all covered, head to toe, in bat crap! So after a well deserved shower, we were off for dinner at a quaint
old fashioned Filipino restaurant named the Yogurt House. The food was so amazing we ordered take away breakfast for the next day, and with that, we were all in bed by nine.
A tremendous screaming awoke me at 6:30am - after about 15 minutes of continuous wailing, I went to the window to be greeted with the sight of a pig being slaughtered right outside!
The others were up at 7:30 and we headed for more yogurt. The Jeepney ‘timetable’ was a bit off to say the least and we ended up catching one at 11am to a town 45 minutes away to change to a 2 hour Jeepney to Banaue.
Upon our arrival, the only Jeepney heading that way daily was full, but they insisted there was room on the roof. I had my reservations but after the last few trips inside them, the view would be nicer, the company would be better and the air would be fresher so I obliged. Indeed, all these things were true for the first hour. Bumping along, gripping the roof-rack and my bag for dear life, I enjoyed the excitement, wind on my face, nice temperature and scenery. Things
turned a bit nasty with the arrival of heavy rain, out of nowhere, like needles in the face at the speed on the decent through the mountains. We arrived after 2.5 hours and began to search for our third and final Jeepney destined for the beautiful tiny mountain village of Batad, with, as the Lonely Planet and Rough Guide descriptions of ‘the most beautiful terraces in Asia’.
Unfortunately we were lumped with the roof again. The novelty and the rain had worn me thin this time around and with the addition of several dead chickens on my lap, I begrudgingly clambered on top, hungry and tired from the previous ride.
This time was much worse. The track was muddy and very slippery with the event of the rain. The Jeepney poured out black smoke and struggled the whole way up the steep mountains; there were sections with huge rocks laying haphazardly in the road and caused us to violently jerk towards the terrifying 1000ft drops of the cliff, a mere 1m to our sides. It was terrifying and easily the most dangerous activity I had participated in so far...
To my dismay, the Jeepney eventually dropped us
off where the ‘road’ went no further; I discovered we would have to walk down the cliff for at least an hour in the pouring rain to reach the remote and secluded village.
The walk was entertaining though. Elle, bought some huge plastic bags to cover my backpack (I was worried about my laptop) the only way to attach it was to put it over my whole body, shrink-wrapping myself to my bag. I looked hilarious; we all knew it and my crinkled and squeaky body kept us laughing the whole way down.
Disappointingly, we arrived at the pension house in the valley to a non-existent view. The whole gorge was completely surrounded in mist and clouds, obscuring any kind of scene of the famous rice terraces. We ordered some food (which arrived 3 hours later!!) and decided to have a few drinks before an early night. At the house we met Josh and Matt, two Americans studying in China. We had a lot to say to each other comparing our travels and had some great conversations over a game of UNO and Rum comparing culture from the Germans, the British and the Americans and talking about the
war.
I had an awful nights’ sleep due to the cold. I had decided I hadn’t packed well at all - I really didn’t expect it to be cold anywhere in the Philippines! We had decided in our drunken states to get up at 5:30am to watch the sun rise over the mountains and valley, in the hope that the early morning would bring no clouds, and a good view.
We were right about the view, although the sun rose behind the peaks. I couldn’t get back to sleep like the others, my mind still drifting to the praying, crying and screaming Filipinos clawing at me from last week’s ferry disaster. I stuffed myself full of porridge and decided I was far too bruised and painful for the 6 hour hike back to Banaue and through the rice terraces. We decided to hire a private Jeepney at 4:30pm from the nearest road that didn’t involved climbing up the cliff we descended the previous day. We also decided since we had come all this way, and also arranged a ride back, we should hike to the waterfalls across the valley of beautiful, bright green terraces in the welcome sunshine.
Perfect Waterfall, but very VERY cold!
You can just make me out to the right, sitting down, slightly behind it!This proved to be the most challenging task I have ever done - including the 5000m above sea level mountains I climbed in 2008. It was burning hot and I was being congratulated for bringing loose skirts and dresses. This was my skins downfall however as I got horrendously burnt again!
We climbed through the lush pastures, down uneven steps and through mud-brick huts dotted about the basin. The guide, who I nicknamed ‘lying bastard’ had assured me we wouldn’t have to climb up the other side of the great bowl that was the valley. I started the incline on the other side, cursing him with every step, knowing that the walk back would be even worse.
After a few hours we reached the perfect waterfall, and it truly was. The scorching sun beating down on us encouraged us to jump in the natural pool below. It was bloody freezing but worth it. We chilled out for 45 minutes all anxious of the impending hike back to the house and nervous of the short time before the Jeepney.
Much swearing, sweating, close to tears, and a great deal of pain is all I can say on
the matter.
If that hike wasn’t enough, we then found out the nearest ‘road’ was a 20km hike away. Not up the originally cliff from the way down, but up several different ones! So very burnt and blistering, with no fluid left in me for the tears of disappointment, we began the trudge to the car.
The views were indeed stunning; it was like climbing through Jurassic Park! There was a lot of falling, slipping and wailing from everyone and it took 3 hours to reach the finish. I am very surprised I didn’t injure myself worse than the muscle pain, and did it all on a total of 3 hours sleep!
All drenched in sweat and panting away, we unsurprisingly and frustratingly waited for the Jeepney for another 45 minutes and were all expectedly silent on the eventual ride back to Banaue, and our night bus to Manila. The most satisfying part of this trip came right at the end when a very old, wrinkly, local farmer exclaimed to our guide in Filipino that there haven’t been westerners in this part of the mountains, so far from the normal tracks for a 100 years. In an instant
the sense of adventure washed over me again and I was very happy.
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cordell
non-member comment
hello!!!! :D
Hey Sam. It looks like youre having an amazing, epic adventure - im very jealous! some awesome pictures there!! just keep at it - youll look back and will be so glad that you endured the hours long treks in the sun just to go that little bit further. just be careful of your skin in the sun!! glad to hear that youre having a great time and I am sure you will enjoy the rest of your journeys. keep taking lotsa pictures, and stay safe. and keep pushing yoursef into doing as much as you can!! take care. cordell xx