Melon and Michelle say hello to Hong Kong, Philippines and Singapore

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Our next stop from Palawan was Manila. Not my favourite place to say the least. Our hostel was nice, had a rooftop swimming pool with a nice view overlooking Manila. That was the only nice part of the city however. It is extremely poor, under developed, dirty, hot and with not much to offer in terms of sights. We only stayed in Manila a night and used it more as a link to get from one place to another. We did however meet two guys, one brit and one German who travelled with us to Banaue, home of the rice terraces. If you plan to travel to the terraces try and book your bus ticket a day before in peak seasons but you should be able to find a hostel once you arrive in Banaue.

We had booked our place in advance and chose to stay out of town, up in the hills overlooking the terraces. We stayed in a raised thatched hut and had our breakfast outdoors overlooking the terraces. The only downside of the resort was that you needed the guide around to give you a ride to wherever you needed to get to as there was absolutely nothing else around. Our guide decided to call himself Elvis. He was a character, clearly thought of himself as the bees knees.

On our first day we took a tricycle to Hapao rice terraces where we trekked through the rice en route to the hot springs. It was an adventure and we of course got lost and had to be rescued by our driver. Only we could get lost in rice?! The hot spring was too hot so we opted for the cool fresh water around the corner to dip our feet in. The terraces were majestic, so pretty and vast. One the way back I managed to stick my foot in one of the rice pools, oops. We made it home in time just before the rain came down.

The next morning we went to Batad, but we took a guide with us this time. We hiked the rice terraces for about 3-4 hours and bumped into our friends from Manila, before reaching Tappiya Falls right in the middle of the terraces. It was awesome, we got to cool down and swim under the falls. The current was really strong so I didnt get too close but it was amazing to see. After the falls we made the long trek back in the midday heat. My legs almost fell off and my lungs nearly imploded but eventually we made it back to our halfway point where we stopped for lunch. As luck would have it as we started the second part of our trek the heavens opened up. We got rained on for about an hour and a half and my trainers were like puddles. We then had another 1.5 drive back to our hut. We were soaked and our clothes just would not dry- you can imagine how lovely they smelt a few days after being in a plastic bag in my backpack- puke! That night a cockroach visited me in my hut, two in fact. ive never killed one before and I dont plan to do it again. The crunch under my flip flop was disgusting- i think it was the grossest moment of my life.

The next day we spent it in Banaue town with the guys we met in Manila and prepared for the long journey to Boracay.

M x

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