Roadtrip to Banaue/Batad/Sagada - part1

So finally we managed to get out of Boracay for good and started our journey to the north part of the Philippines.
Kalibo – Manila
First we had some troubles with Airphil, which messed up our flight, so we had to reschedule the day before departure, but we still managed to get to Manila in time. We prebooked 25kg each and it wasn't enough.. we had about 65kg… but with a smile and some good will we only paid 750PHP extra.
We got the great opportunity from our beloved friend Anna to store some of our gear in her house in Manila till we come back from our trip, and we definitely had to do that, as we were not keen to travel around the mountains with 65kg… So from manila airport.. with only 1h delay we took off to Anna's house, then to Sampaloc bus station.. all in all 2h taxi ride for tataaaa 500.-PHP (12$)

Banaue
So off we went from manila in the Deluxe night bus… no sleeper! Towards Banaue, this is famous for the 8th world wonder, the rice terraces. So after a more or less good night of sleep and a few meters more obove sea level we arrived early morning, our friends actually also made it all the way with a rental car. After a good breakfast we made the plan to go the Batad, that's where the real terraces are. So we discussed for a while if we could make it or not with the rental car, as all the locals told as it would be impossible… and let's just say we made the right decision at the end.. we rented a jepnee for 2000PHP. I think it was much more fun with the jeepnee as we could all sit on the roof instead of inside and some liked to stop the bus evry few meters to take a picture of another rice paddie. We could have made the road to Batad junction with our car but the last 3km up to the saddle were impossible it looked more like a muddy river bed than a road but the jepnee made it.



Batad
So from the saddle the hike begins with a steep decent down to Batad town, along the way we met an older guy named June, he looked at least 65 years old.. but he might have been older, but fit as a mountain goat. He was running down that mountain like an 18year old. So when we reach the town we were stunned by the amphitheater like rice terraces, they are manmade and up to 2000years old. After a short stretch and some food we decided to make the trip down to the waterfall. We crossed the rice paddies to the far end and found ourselves looking down a steep wall towards the waterfall.. so here we go, already tired from the downhill walk to Batad but still dumb enough to push ourselves further.. so we continued down the few hundreds.. Feeling more like thousands of steps towards the river. I think that's where my old knee injury started to come back an gave me a hard time with each step.
At the end of the descent we found the nice 30m **waterfall, and we were all alone, as all other groups with guides left already. A nice big pool of freshwater and so much mist up in the air, that it was hard to get a good picture before the lens was all wet.

So if u go down.. u gotta get back up, and I must admit it was steeeeep and very sweaty, but I pushed myself up with a cold San Miguel in my mind, waiting at the top of the stairs. I had a little chat up there with a local family, waiting for the rest of the group to arrive. Then someone (no names shall be said.. right kathrin?) had the great argument to walk through the small village back up to the hotel. It's really a wonderful experience to walk along the rice paddies and stone arcades.

So in the village I had a great laugh.. as Kathrin tried the beetle nut with some local guy.. I videotaped the whole thing.. haahhaa she was very brave and didn't throw up…

After that mr Lonley Planet (myself (:) found our way back up to the hostel through gardens, stone walls and few thousand more stairs. After all that I just had enough energy for some dinner and I think we all went to sleep around 9PM…

So next morning.. wake up 6AM… breakfast with a 1million dollar view followed by a walk all the way back up to the saddle with kinda sore muscles.


There we took the public jepnee this time for much less, only 150PHP per head. The ride was fun as half of the people had to sit on the roof again.