Batan Rice Terraces

Let me begin by saying that no matter how numerous and expansive my use of adjectives in this entry becomes, I don't think any words can really describe the amazing experience I've just had.
Saturday night we hopped on a night bus from Manila to Banaue ("ban-ow-way"), about 11 hrs north. As is customary on Asian transportation, the air conditioning was cranked up to "Arctic Circle" and we all spent the night attempting to sleep while shivering beneath our sarongs wearing whatever remotely warm clothing we could find. I have since purchased a blanket for such occasions. A lovely purple and gold one from the school supply store in Banaue.
At 8 am we arrived in Banaue to drop off our big bags at a hotel and have some breakfast. I experienced the very enlightening process of going through the essentials that I brought with me on this trip and packing a trekking bag of absolutely essential essentials. My day bag held a change of clothes, toothbrush/paste, bathing suit, sunscreen, granola bars, lots of water, and a bag of the dried mangoes to which I have become hopelessly addicted, as well as the required photography/music technology. And man did I ever use that camera.
We piled into a jeepney for our ride up to the rice firleds. Correction: We piled ON TO a jeepney. How could we resist the opportunity to ride atop a sort of half jeep/half school bus through the jungle?? For those of you who've been there, highway safety regulations in the Philippines make New Zealanders appear safety-obsessed. The ride along the harrowing dirt road on the side of a mountain was incredible. So warm and sunny and we broke out the ipod speakers for the hour-long trip, during which we passed up the mountains through the jungle and witnessed themost incredible views of rice terraces, villages, and wild jungle. We stopped seemingly in the middle of nowhere to begin our trek. An hour through the jungle brought us to our guesthouse perched on the side of the mountain that overlooks the village of Batan, surrounded by 15,000 square kilometres of 2000-year-old rice terraces. Now THAT was the most incredible view I've ever seen! ...or so I thought. After checking in we set off for a hike down to the rice fields. We walked down a mixture of paths, stairs, stone walls, and strategically placed stones jutting out of the mountainside. We descended into Batan where they still live in thatch houses and use the same manual farming techniques as they did 2000 yrs ago. It was absolutely the most stunning, beautiful, serene, enlightening, crazy experience I have ever had while travelling. It amazed me the kind of traditional lives that still exist beyond our cities. We didn't see another white face from the time we left Manila til we returned.
We hiked for 2 1/2 hours and wound up at the top of the next mountain. Next pu as the half hour descent down huge granite stone steps built who knows when leading to a waterfall for my first Filipino swim!! So refreshing! It was amazing to be so far removed from civilization. It was completely surrounded my forest and mountain and at night the village got completely dark and silent. We had lunch by the waterfall and prepared to head back. The skies opened up and began to pour. So back up the huge stairs we went. These blocks were a solid 18 inches tall and some had been replaced by mud and river rock. My already broken self was about to keel over by the time I reached the top. The rain was actually a huge relief from the heat and made the fields look so beautiful. The walk back was a nice meandering hike back up that have us lots of time to contemplet and enjoy they breathtaking sights around us.
We got back to the guesthouse for a couple of much-deserved San Miguel beers, some tasty rice dishes for dinner, and a night spent drinking, singing, shooting the shit, and laughing. We enjoyed our first experience with the Filippino drinking tradition of setting a single glass on the table, and one person begins by pouring a shot of Tanguay rum for the person sitting next to them, and that person follows by puring one for thier neighbour, and so on. Then off to bed to rest up for the next days hike.
Next day was much more traditional trail hiking through the jungle. About 3 hours of ups and downs brought us exhausted and sweating to our waiting jeepney, again in the middle of nowhere. We rode back to another lagoon for lunch and headed back to Banaue to pick up our things and hop on the bus home. That blanket came in all kinds of handy and I managed to snag about 2 hrs of sleep. Its now 5am, we're back in Manila, and we're waiting for 9:30 to arrive so we can head to the airport to go to the CWC Wakeboarking park...can't remember the island. Too tired!

Until next time....