Heading north from Manila the road and the transport serving it, with their gradual degeneration, mirror the disintegrating level of development of the surrounding areas. From the capital north to the city of Baguio is for the most part a smooth ride on a comfortable seat in an air-conditioned coach across the flat plains of Pampanga and Pangasinan provinces, the towns dusty and non-descript, the road only snaking up into the mountains of the Cordillera range during the last of the journey's seven hours. From Baguio, elevation 1500m, the sometimes concrete, sometimes dirt road thrashes its way left, right, backwards, forwards and above all up, further into the Cordillera. Its path seems even crazier than that of an intestine and is capable of producing similar feelings of sickness; at its highest point the road reaches 2255m,
... read more
