On the Ifugao Rice Terraces & my Batad-Banaue escape (28-29 July 2012)

There is something about North Luzon, particularly the culture in the highlands that draws me to it. The synergy between the serene man-made majestic landscape that appears like a stairway to heaven somehow makes it magical. It is as if there was a marriage between man, nature and his god.

When I think of beautiful places in the Philippines that has inspired me, Banaue comes into mind. Ever since I visited Banaue when I was about 15, I never forgot about its beauty. I was so amazed that I decided to make a documentary on Ifugao culture as a Philosophy project during my 3rd year in the Ateneo. About 10 years after I first set foot in Banaue, I found myself still in awe at its beauty.

It is estimated that the UNESCO World Heritage-listed Rice Terraces of the Philippine Cordilleras were created around 2000 years ago. It is interesting to note that those who made the terraces are called the Ifugao, which also means "people of the earth". According to Lonely Planet Philippines (2009), the terraces are best viewed between June to July, just before harvest, and between Feb to March, which is during the cleaning and planting season. What amazes me is that the Ifugaos seem to have figured out a "sophisticated irrigation system" made out of bamboo tubes and relied on gravity and mud channels to sustain the system.

After an action-packed week at work and the cancellation of the Mt Maculot climb with Trailadventours, I decided to give the Batad-Banaue trek a try. According to the Trailadventours website, here's the itinerary (Friday to Monday):

Day 1: 

9:00 PM	Registration at Ohayami Bus Terminal (Friday)
10:00 PM	ETD Manila to Banaue
7:00 AM	ETA Banaue
7:30 AM	Breakfast. Purchase supplies
9:00 AM	Visit Banaue Museum and View Deck
10:30 AM	ETD Banaue to Batad Jump Off Point
12:00 PM	ETA Batad Jump Off Point. Orientation
12:30 PM	Start Trek
1:30 PM	ETA Batad. Settle Down
2:30 PM	Late Lunch
3:30 PM	Rest.Explore Batad Town Centro and walk the terraces.
6:00 PM	Dinner and Socials
11:00 PM	Lights Out

Day 2: 

5:00 AM	Wake up call
6:00 AM	Breakfast
7:00 AM	Start Trek to Tappiyah Falls
9:00 AM	ETA Tappiya Falls. Swim and Photo-ops
10:30 AM	Start Trek back to Batad Town
12:30 PM	ETA Batad Town.Lunch and Pack Up
1:30 PM	Start Trek to Jump Off Point
3:00 PM	ETA Jump Off Point. ETD for Banaue
5:00 PM	ETA Banaue. Wash up. Pasalubong Buying. Dinner
7:00 PM	ETD Banaue to Manila
3:00 AM	ETA Manila

After the gruelling & cold (you feel like you're in the freezer!) 9-hour bus ride from the Ohayami Terminal in España, we reached Banaue. We had to walk a bit further because the bus didn't stop at the terminal. This made me more excited to see how Banaue has changed. 

A cute little kid who said hello :)

We had brekky at People's Lodge & Restaurant and had our first glimpse of the terraces. It has not changed since the last time I was there in 2006.

View from the People's Lodge Restaurant balcony

After brekky, we went on a jeep to visit the Banaue View Deck to see that Philippine 1000 Peso bill in real life.

Of course, the experience wouldn't be as complete if we didn't do what the locals did --- so we tried toploading a jeep from the Banaue View deck to the Banaue Museum!

Chillin' on top of jeep with 2/3 of the Trailadventours team--Coby and Darren!

It's more fun in the Philippines

Toploading is pretty much an extreme sport if you ask me, so I decided to be risk-averse (which is so not me) from the Banaue Museum to the Batad jump off point where we were supposed to start our trek to Batad. The ride was quite bumpy and the roads were muddy too!

The trek from the jump off point to our accommodation took almost an hour and we followed an established path that was relatively exposed. Some areas of the track were still being developed (we met workers cementing the a section just right at the jump off point), but the closer you get to Batad, the more cliffs you trek on and you'll basically descend through undulating areas. These flowers caught my eye as we were trekking:

Finally arriving in Batad, we saw this:

After seeing this wonderful sight, we hiked for a few more minutes to reach Ramon's Homestay. We stayed in native Ifugao huts that could fit probably 6 to 8 people. We had our late lunch at Ramon's and learned about the process of making tapuy or rice wine-- from Ramon himself! The animal bones hung under the roof of the native huts sort of scared me off, but I soon became quite curious as to what animals these were!

This photo makes me laugh each time I see it. I took this seconds before the dogs ran after these poor pigs and one of them jumped for dear life. I cannot put into words how hilarious it was, but if the pig could talk, we think he would've said something like "Geronimo!" or "Super Boink!".

It was a chill afternoon---we tried chewing betel nut (local: nganga or moma), had dinner and drank tapuy while playing an epic game of cards. Here's the Nganga Tutorial if you're interested:

The native hut I shared with Bianca, Coby & Darren was quite comfy--even Pengu, Grumpy Bear and Señor Bacon think so! Except Bianca & I kept on imagining cockroaches everywhere. :P

Pengu, Grumpy Bear & Senor Bacon

It's not everyday that you have an opportunity to look out the window and witness the grandeur of something so peaceful as the Ifugao Rice Terraces. I wasn't looking out of my Katipunan bedroom window so waking up to the view of the terraces was the highlight of my weekend.

The trek to Tappiyah Falls started at around 8 AM. Up close, the rice terraces look different but from another vantage point, you'll see how amazing the ampi-theatre like terraces are.

The Trail Adventourguides--Bianca, Coby & Darren

The trail has a bit where you have to walk down cemented stairs

Resting a bit before we go all the way on a slightly steep descent to the falls

Finally, we got there!

It was pretty hard to get to the foot of the falls, but we made it!

New friends I met! Travelers all are we!

Part of merienda---Bananas!

A favourite snack of mine--Kakanin, which is made of glutinous rice (sticky rice)!

Grumpy because we had to go!

Trivia: People often mistake bulol statues as rice guards or scarecrows. Apparently, they're placed there in honour of the rice gods in Ifugao culture.

Mae, Coby & me doing a bulol pose (and various stages of success when...)

Bulols w/ Darren

Food at Ramon's was great. We had coffee, tried native viands and ate brown rice with it. We also learned about the Ifugao culture, particularly rice wine making. Of course the tutorial won't be complete without trying out rice wine. It's pretty good tasting for an alcoholic drink! I'd say it's one of my favourite 'poisons'!

Our adventure didn't end on Sunday night however. We received news that there was a landslide that evening so they cancelled all the trips to Manila (due to arrive at around 5AM the next day. There was an option to return to Manila via Baguio through Bontoc/Sagada, but we all decided to just spend the night in Banaue and hope that the landslide would be cleared. Thankfully, we were able to leave at around 7am and arrived in Manila at around 5pm.

It was fun to meet other travelers who had a zest for life -- 12 different people in one journey on a weekend. It was full of punny moments, nganga, trauma, rice wine, butt-destroying top load and bus rides, super boink, farty moments, singing & good times. ;)

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Things that may be useful if you're planning on going to Banaue:

Sights/Things to do:
Banaue Viewpoint - Shows that shot similar to the 1000 PHP bill
Banaue Museum - If you're keen on looking at artifacts and photos of the 'olden' days, head to this place. Skip it if you're in a hurry. There's a 50 PHP entrance fee.
Tappiyah Waterfall Hike - Easy hike of about 40 mins. (one-way) to a tall waterfall hidden behind the terraces!


Places to Stay at:
Batad:
Ramon's Homestay
+63927 678 3932
+63918 243 9827

Banaue:
People's Lodge & Restaurant
(074) 386 4012
D w/o bathroom 200/person

Uyami's Greenview Lodge
www.ugreenview.wordpress.com

I've stayed at these places and can recommend them. Note however that beside Uyami & People's Lodge, there are other places you can stay at.

Getting there:
Option 1: Ohayami Bus, 9 hours, Manila-Banaue Route
Option 2: Bus to Baguio (I prefer Victory Liner) then transfer to Lizardo Bus Terminal to get to Sagada. From Sagada, take a van to Banaue  (This would take longer--not recommended, though MNL-Baguio route is more frequent. Buses from Baguio to Sagada are limited though)