Banaue and Batad Rice Terraces

We decided it was a once in a life time opportunity so we took the oh so dreaded 9 hour night bus to Banaue to see the rice terraces. The Ifugao rice terraces in Banaue and Batad are a UNESCO World Heritage site. Banaue and Batad are located high in the mountains in Northern Luzon. Some of these terraces were constructed over 2000 years ago by the Ifugao people and are still in use today.

Manila is an overwhelming city of 10 million. We tried to avoid the taxi's because they tend to rip you off by saying their meter is broken so instead tried the subway. We thought we had the route figured out but with the swarms of people and massive amounts of security we found ourselves lost. Thank goodness for this angel on the subway. We simply asked her which stop to get off at and she said "Just follow me, I will take you there". At first we were hesitant because all the guide books make you so paranoid about scams but the reality we have found is that probably 95% of people want to help you, while maybe 5% are chasing the dollar. She lead us through a busy market once we got off the subway to a jeepney and even paid our way. Then she walked with us to the bus station and ensured we purchased the correct tickets and even found us a place to get some dinner. We were so thankful she helped us as we would have never found our way especially with it being dark and rainy! Justin told her she was an angel and that we would never forget her. I think she was pleased with the comment!

The village of Banaue. Once we arrived in Banaue we decided to head straight up to Batad as we heard it was visually more beautiful and I would say that to be true. We took a tricycle from Banaue for about 45 mins to the Batad junction as that is as far as it can go. Then we hiked for about an hour to the Batad saddle. From there we hiked about an hour down to the village. It felt good to get some exercise but was a bit difficult with our big bags. Good motivation not to gain 30 pounds!

Some of the terraces on our way down to Batad.

Our room at Rita's Inn, only $7.00 a night. She did nickel and dime us for everything, including toilet paper and a hot shower. I was willing to pay for a hot shower though, the last hot shower I had was in Busan!

View from our hotel. The village further down is actually the proper Batad Village. The owner of our hotel was born and raised in Batad. She must be in her 80's and she is still working in the terraces. It is pretty amazing!

Our hotel. We were pretty much camping. One night we had a black out, the owners had a small fire to keep warm that they also heated the water with. It was really neat to stay with this family and really get to see what life is like for these people. Justin saw the husband kill and gut a chicken. They just never stopped working, always sharping their tools, hand washing the clothes, weaving and so on.

Setting out on our trek to the waterfall

Batad rice terraces- I took TONS of pics so I just uploaded a few here! I just could not stop thinking about all the hard work it was to build these by hand. I was so awed by the scale of the terraces.

Justin protecting his head from the sun. We were so used to the clouds and rain we did not think to put sunscreen on. Lucky for us it was sunny but we both came back with a slight sunburn!

It was harvesting time while we were there so you can see some of the terraces have already been harvested while their still planting in many. However, the culture that built and maintains the terraces is rapidly disintegrating and in 2001 the rice terraces were put on the List of World Heritage in Danger. The newer generations of Ifugao's do not aspire to the toil and hard labor of their ancestors so some of the terraces are falling into disrepair. It is such hard work to maintain some of the smaller and more narrow terraces for such a small return. The newer generations focus on providing guided trekking tours.

Tappiyah Fall

We decided not to get a guide even though a guide bothered us the entire night to sign up with him. He got really drunk at our hotel and kept saying "Lindsey, Justin tomorrow I meet you here for tour." We did not feel like having a guide so as a result it took us 3 hours to get to the waterfall that should have taken 45 mins. We were fine with that though as we enjoyed the adventure!

This is the trail down to the waterfall. There were over 600 steps.

Traditional Ifugao huts. I just loved how green it was.

Down in Batad village

On our last day in Batad we made friends with Jun-Jun. Jun-Jun is the grandson of the owners. He was staying with them for 2 weeks to keep them company and because he was fighting to much with his brother at home. He was such a cute kid, his features are just beautiful.

We spent the morning learning new English words, he was super motivated and just playing with him. He has a creative imagination as there is no TV or computers. In fact, I did not even see a toy for him. He keeps himself busy playing with the dogs, rubber bands or anything he can get his hands on really. You notice in the back he has what we would call a "rat tail" but they believe that a small amount of long hair is good luck.

Studying the new words I taught him. While we were packing our bags he came up to play with us again. He tossed Justin's camera bag and camera on the floor like no big deal. Luckily, it was fine.

Romeo, the husband of Rita dressed up in traditional Ifugao warrior entire for Justin to take photos. He wants Justin to print some of the photos and mail them to him so he can use them for UNESCO.