Banaue & Batad

Written on Feb. 3rd, 2014

We left Manila 10MPM Saturday night to take the overnight bus North to Banaue.  The seats were probably perfectly sized for Asian bodies but were a bit snug for us.  The bus was a somewhat standard coach style bus but had an additional row of flip out seats in the aisle.  Luckily we weren’t in those because they looked terribly uncomfortable.  They also turned the air conditioning to the “Minnesota winter” setting, presumably for our comfort.  We were glad we “borrowed” blankets from Cathay Airlines.  Colin got about 2 hours of sleep spread out over the 9 hour trip while Rachel, of course, slept like a baby blissfully unaware of the driver blowing past other cars,  trucks and busses despite all of the “Do Not Overtake!  High accident area” signs.

We arrived in Banaue and signed up for an all day Jeepney drive and hike down to Batad where we thought we had reservations to stay in a traditional Ifugau house.  Since we were staying in Batad, and didn’t know how tough the hike would be, nor that we could have stored our bags in Banaue for a dollar each, we brought our full packs into the valley.  It turns out it was one of the hardest hikes either of us have done in years on very rocky paths and occational sets of very uneven and often extremely large stairs.   The hike down was bad but we weren’t sure we’d survive the hike up.

The views were stunning.  We saw the first rice terraces built in the region 2000 years ago and whole mountains covered in terraces.  These were built using nothing but hands and traditional tools.  I can’t even imagine the work it must have taken or the ingenuity they must have had to conceive of the concept all those years ago.

Once we’d finally reached Batad, we left our big bags at Ramon’s homestay where we learned we didn’t actually have reservations but there was space still available.  We continued our hike with our group through Batad, walked accross the terraces and up the hill on the other side (an often trecherous scramble) only to learn there were at least 3 more hills to walk over to get to the waterfall at the end of our journey.  At this point Rachel decided to stay and get to know the locals at the rest point and sent Colin on with the camera to make a report.  (*Note to Rachel’s Mom: We kept expecting to see signs for “Precipice Trail.”)

When I got to the waterfall, there were a number of people already swimming, so I quickly emptied my pockets and jumped in! The water was cool and refreshing.  It took a while before my head cooled to its normal temperature. The waterfall was large and impressive and created enough of a current in the pool, that I could only swim about 1/2 way across the pool until it pushed me back!  Eventually, I had to climb out of the cool water to brave the hike back to Rachel, back across the rice terraces, and up to our lodging.

When we talked to the other members of our group who were staying in Batad we learned that there was another hotel with better views at half the cost of Ramon’s. Since we didn’t have reservations anyway, we decided to transfer there.  While Colin was disappointed that we didn’t get to stay in the traditional house the view and company more than made up for it.  This is the first time on our trip that we’ve met other backpackers and we had some great conversations over dinner and on the jeepney drive back to Banaue the next day.

We might still be in Batad if it weren’t for our porters Tomap and Nelson.  They carried our bags for about $6 each and it would have been a bargain at three times the price. Even without our packs, Colin was very glad that he’d been running stairs at work for the last few months!

We now have a private room with a balcony at the Wonderlodge in Banaue for $9 a night. As in Batad, the walls are just 1/8 inch plywood that allows us to see light coming in from adjoining rooms and the bed is just a 3 inch thick piece of foam on a wooden board with a thin sheet, but it is all we need and we are very happy with it. We had many offers from guides to show us more terraces but at this point a mellow day in Banaue sounds good to us.

We also happened upon The Women’s Center here where we were able to watch a woman weaving fabric for traditional skirts and blouses on a large loom and, more importantly, get much needed massages! A full body massage was normally priced at $5.50, but they were having a sale that ended today where they were only $2.25. They were some of the best massages we’ve had – in large part because they were greatly needed, but the therapists also seemed well trained. We ended our evening with a cultural dance show and dinner with a fellow traveler.  Tomorrow evening, we hop another overnight bus back to Manila before flying on to Singapore.

*An interesting sidenote:  None of the toilets in Banaue or Batad “flush” as you would think of it.  They look like western toilets but there’s no tank.  Instead there is a bucket with a faucet and a large scoop so you just scoop the water into the bowl to force down your waste.  Also, bathrooms here are referred to, rather quaintly, as “comfort rooms.”