Rice... all you can!

Banaue Rice Terraces. Finally! After ages of planning to visit the place..the time did come. Thanks to a friend I recently made I was obliged to go. With the pleasure all mine!

There are a number of buses plying the Manila-Banaue route but we opted to take Florida bus for convenience. It's near. Besides, two buses leave from España station - near UST, at 9:10 (400) and 10:45 (450) every night. Got the former since the second one was fully booked by the time we got to the station by 7pm. Too bad they don't take reservations by phone we could've traveled with an on-board toilet (teeny weeny cute! trust me, but it works) which, by the way, makes the 50 peso difference.

jeep-mates

Surprisingly, I din't freeze that much during the nine-hour bus ride but my teeth were chattering when I stepped out. It's very chilly high in the mountainous region early in the morning. lol Or maybe 'twas just me. I was the least clothed! lol

The town's a pretty small place. The road going down from where the bus stops leads right into the heart of it.  And the various inns and hostels. The one with the Green name is way better than the one before it where we hooked up with our jeep-mates. Since it's a get-back-asap kind of trip, we've gotta secure our return tickets first but the ticket office opens at 7 so we enjoyed breakfast with the terraces as a backdrop during the wait.
  

first stop

Lucky lucky us, there were 6 seats left for the evening trip that day. Good enough for the 5 of us and another lucky person. After the money exchange we then started off to the sites-to-see on the western part of the Banaue map. The road (I tell you!) isn't for the weak-hearted. What with the cliffs that plunge so many meters down when you look out...where the jeep'd definitely end up if the wheels move an inch or two to the side.  Plus the very very muddy path that is stickier than pot stickers (whatever's the connection! haha..). And of course a casual landslide here and there. But the ever-sturdy jeepney can very much handle it. And the drivers are highly trained anyway (been driving the route since forever). So a word of advice, better not take the trike!

Sky with the Ifugaos

The view is all worth it. ☺ Breathtakingly beautiful. Wish I had a good camera with me (I seem to keep on saying this). We moved from a number of sites and rode on top of the jeepney for some fun cheap-thrills. The tour cost us around 300 each. Sky, my dutch-korean pal, and I as well as the 3 others missed Batad since we're gonna catch the 6pm bus back to Manila. A jeepney heads for Batad, where you're gonna see more rice terraces (it's styled differently, they say) and even hike through them to a waterfall, everyday at 3 in the afternoon.

Though I spent 18 hours on the bus, way more than the time spent in Banaue it's one good trip still! The only downside is that we missed Batad. But there's always a next time. Just gonna make a trip back again and head for Batad directly. And better drop by the tourist center first and foremost.

a must

blurry ride

riding topload

your comfort room

kawaii