A Brief Tour of the Banaue Rice Terraces

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We woke up very early, at six in the morning to begin our trek out of Batad. I looked for the sunrise but there were clouds hanging over the mountain tops where it would have appeared, so now I know I definitely should have taken a picture of it last night... Oh well.

After our last breakfast at Simon's, which featured cheesy pancakes and a potato pancake. I'm really going to miss having those cheesy pancakes every day. If I had discovered how delicious they were on our first day in Batad, that's probably all I would have eaten. And I should be clear, the cheese in the Philippines is not special. I think it's just processed cheese. At least, that's all we've seen around. It's not bad though, and it definitely does the trick. But it's the way that processed cheese melts a bit on the pancake, and the pancake was special. Well, actually it was probably a fairly ordinary pancake, but it wasn't as fluffy as most, and that's what I liked. It was dense and delicious, and thin enough that I could roll it up like a crepe.

And the potato pancake was pretty awesome as well. It was a staple for Sebastien, and I'm glad I tried it. And Vanessa had the classic waffles with strawberry jam. All these carbs and heavy foods will help us have the energy for our three our hike to Bangaan with our packs. Plus, it's nice to have a break from the typical rice and meat fare.

Before setting out, one of the owners of Simon's commented that the weather “looked good” today, but all we saw were clouds. Later, the woman selling drinks at the half way point also commented that the weather was good. Come to think of it, yesterday people were commenting that we had good weather when we were walking down to the waterfall, and it was really cloudy then. So maybe people here like to have some cloud cover since it helps keep things a little cooler.

We set out on our hike having found the first half of the trail already yesterday. I managed to stick my foot in a rice patty, but luckily my foot stayed dry. Gortex be praised! We made short work of the first half, and then followed the advice we had been given to “stay right” whenever the trail forked. It was a really nice walk, and not too strenuous, even with our packs. We were high in the moutains, which gave us great views of the valleys around around us, and the rice terraces.

We made it to the road near Banagaan after around two and a half hours just as a bus was pulling up to the bus stop. So our timing really couldn't have been any better. We hopped on for the hour and a half long bus ride over the rough (and narrow) mountain road. I had given up my seat to a woman with a baby, so I stood for most of it. And not even this bus is big enough for me, and I had to bend down a little bit to avoid hitting my head on the roof. But at least I was inside the bus and not riding on top, right?

It looks like they're working hard to widen and improve the road to the villages along this valley, and there was construction all along the way. I immediately noticed that everyone was wearing flip flops, and no one had hard hats, which doesn't really seem all that surprising for the Philippines I guess. Wouldn't fly in Canada (or nearly anywhere else), especially with the heavy machinery, large boulders, uneven terrain, sheer drop into the valley, and the dynamite they were drilling into the rock. Only in the Philippines!

The bus took us to Banaue where we headed back to the restaurant where J.P. Had assembled us a few days earlier before taking us by jeepney to Batad. We grabbed some lunch, and negotiated some showers for later before our bus trip to Manila, since this place was also a guesthouse. It seems like it's pretty common for people to use their showers, and they even had a set price and everything, so that was sure easy.

But we wanted to explore Banaue first, and see the rice terraces here, so we asked if we could leave our bags. This too, was not a problem, but they suggested leaving them in the open just inside the restaurant. Hmmm. The lady assured us, “Don't worry, your bags will be fine. This isn't Manila!” And we thought to ourselves, “Yeah, ok. I guess you're right”. Plus, we have nothing in our bags except for dirty clothes at this point, so not that big a deal...

We went for a walk, and Vanessa found handwoven blankets that were just like the ones we were using at our guesthouse in Batad. It took us quite a bit of searching around to find them, and when you'd ask people at the market, they'd always point us somewhere else, where there were no blankets, and we'd get pointed somewhere else. But we did find them... in the store right next door to the guesthouse we had left our bags at. And after deliberating for quite some time, and speaking with one of the weavers, we eventually settled on the one we liked best. So that one will be coming home with us.

There was still lot's of daylight left, and so we went back to the main square, if you can call it that, to hire a tricycle to take us to the viewpoint for the rice terraces around Banaue. There were actually several viewpoints, and our tricylce driver took us to each of them. He also pointed out at one of them that the particular view we were looking at was featured on the 1000 peso bill. And another guy nearby happened to have one, so he took it out to check, and sure enough, that's where we were standing.

We also got our picture taken with a gentleman dressed in the traditional clothing, and got to hold spears. It was a pretty cheesy thing to do, but we were having a pretty good time joking around with him and our tricycle driver, so we felt pretty good about paying the fifty pesos for the privilege. I really still can't get over how friendly and genuine everybody is.

After we'd spent some time at the highest viewpoint, and Vanessa had checked some nearby souvenir shops (and confirmed that we had gotten the best price for our blanket in town) our tour ended, and we were taken back to Banaue.

But we still had several hours to kill. So we went to a bakery for some cake. We also met a very energentic boy that insisted that we take pictures of him doing his best Bruce Lee impression.

After some showers, we got dinner next door. I enjoyed my fried chicken and rice, but couldn't resist getting a cheeseburger on the side. No shame.

We were sitting at a table that filled up with a mix of other travellers, some of whom had taken the night bus from Manila, and some who would be taking the return journey with us. They warned us that the bus would be freezing cold, and to wear everything we owned. This seemed a little extreme, but I still put on jeans and grabbed my sweater just in case...

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