Fantastic Rice Terraces of Banaue

Once we had arrived in Manila we headed straight for the bus terminal to get our tickets for the ride to Banaue in the Cordilleras region of Luzon. The few hours till our night bus left were killed in a nearby shopping center. The number of people frequenting the mall was just mind-blowing – even when compared to shopping crazy Singapore.

The 330 km ride took a long nine hours in a rather chilly bus and so we were quite happy once we had arrived in the mountain town of Banaue. The owner of the Banaue Homestay was very friendly and made our stay even more pleasant

The best part of the day we used to rest and to have a first look at the fantastic rice terraces. This masterpiece of nature is not only a national symbol but also a UNESCO World Heritage Site. After a dinner with a view at Sanafe Restaurant we discovered that there were hundreds of small insects in our room (probably should have had closed the window before going to dinner). Fortunately, they were quite harmless and we managed to shuffle most of them out before we went to bad.

The next morning we joined two other couples for a day trip around the Rre terraces. A forty minutes jeepney ride brought us to the start point of our one hour hike to Batad – a town nestled in the middle of the terraces. Surely a location with a view.

Kevin went on with the other couples for a three-hour hike around the rice fields while Hazel enjoyed the view from the restaurant terrace.

As you can see on the pictures the rice fields are stacked up many layers upon each other and while on the edge of a field one realizes that it’s not advisable to fall down from a rice field (as the walls are more than four meters high).

Unfortunately, the weather turned rainy in the afternoon and we were quite happy once we had reached our jeepney again. On the way back we saw a five-year-old boy who was carrying about twenty litres of waters – impressive and sad at the same time.

The last day in Banaue we spent with a leisurely walk up to some viewpoints. Once again we were very impressed by the scenery and felt very happy to be there.

The night bus back to Manila felt even longer as the leg space was even smaller and the road seemed even windier.