Banaue

We returned to Manila Wednesday evening Oct 20 and quickly jeepneyed to our new Manila digs, Friendly's Guest House, via Baclaran. This is much more of a backpacker haven than Pension Natividad and we were able to interact significantly more with the other guests. Here we stayed in the air con dorm.

Our plan was to stay one night in Manila, then go directly to Sagada. However, we soon found out the road to Sagada from both Baguio and Banaue were still closed due to storm debris from Super Typhoon Megi. So we elected to go to Banaue instead, and left on the next (9 hour) bus trip, at 1045pm Oct 21. We arrived the following morning to the final stage of the ride passing through progressively higher mountains covered with jungle, culminating in our arrival in Banaue. Our first order of business was to determine the road conditions. We inquired and discovered the road had already been opened to Bontoc so we could go if we wished to on the 4 hour jeepney ride to Bontoc, followed by another hour to Sagada. The next jeep was to leave in less than an hour. In the meantime we decided to walk around Banaue, have something to eat, and see if we wanted to stay a day or so.

In fact, the view from several lodges was spectacular, much prettier than I remembered, and we decided to stay for at least one day. The view from the downtown balconies overlooked a vast vista of rice terraces, a roaring river directly below, and waterfalls and villages dotting the landscape. A true million dollar view. We checked into the Peoples Lodge and Restaurant.

We rested, then spent the remainder of the day walking around the city of Banaue and nearby villages on the main road to Batad, the most famous rice terrace area. Since this road was still closed due to several landslides, we would not be able to travel there unless we could walk the 15 km or so.

Today the road to Batad remained closed so we again walked around Banaue, this time to the upper, southern half. We stopped at the Banaue Hotel for refreshment, then continued into the rice terraces first to Taman, then to Poitan. It was a spectacular walk through the green landscape and we had to change course several times due to the main pathway being destroyed by slides. It seems there are waterfalls at around almost every bend and Shanti and Kamala really enjoyed the hike, although it was at times strenuous. Eventually, after about a 4 hour walk, we returned to the Batad road, then to our lodge, and had dinner.

Tomorrow we will leave Banaue for Bontoc, probably have lunch there, then continue to Sagada for three nights. Our last night in the mountains will be in Baguio, then we will return to Manila to rejoin Maitri for our last night. The girls will then fly back to Hong Kong to continue their SE Asian trip and we will return to Portland.

Maitri and Ligaya traveled to Mindanao since we left Bacolod and has met up with old worker colleagues in Malaybalay. This is where we first met in the rain forests of Bukidnon. She will return to Manila via Bacolod to meet us.