I'll never again complain about how cold the overnight buses in Thailand are. Simply because the over night bus ride from Manila to Banaue may have been the coldest I've been. Ever. We arrive early morning and are immediately approached by various people. we hit a little restaurant for coffee with an insane view of the mountains as we defrost....perfect morning. We finalize the next leg of our journey to get to the far off rice terraces of Batad, considered the 8th man-made wonder of the world. We hop on top of a jeepney rather than in it and we drive through the most beautiful mountains, once again, from the top of the jeepney, completely open space. A bit scary but soooooo worth it. After the jeepney ride we had to trek through the mountains and I'm really enthusiastic about it when bam! we realize we got ripped off for the jeepney ride. no need for details, it was a typical rip off in which we thought we were getting a deal and we got the exact opposite. Yet as usual, all things happen for a reason and with the rip off came the lovely certified tourism guides of Batad.
The particular guide I'm referring to is Scott, an 18 year old local who carried Marjie's pack on the 1.5 hour trek to Batad....and not an easy trek. The whole way he shared his life stories and told us about the 2,000 year old rice terraces made by his people. He also tells us that the people of Batad do this trek regularly because Banaue is the big town where they purchase water, fruits, veggies and anything else needed. He told us the trek with Marjies pack was easy because he does it every day, usually carrying more weight. Its their way of life that they are used to. Between Scott and the mountains we were feeling so grateful to be there. Scott connects us with his Uncle Donato's native hut....we get a discount because the other huts are all booked....how that works I have no idea, but Scott knows how to hook his ladies up. The hut was full of cool artifacts and other gadgets from back in the day....it was pretty cool.
As you can imagine, we are hungry for warm food and thirsty for a cold San Miguel - and so that's what we do. During our meal we meet some Israeli's staying in the guesthouse next door to our hut. Many people while traveling, will openly share their distaste for Americans, which don't worry, I always give them a piece of my own mind and do America proud, but these guys immediately say "Ah, you are American? We love Americans!" They were in like Flynn and they follow up with an invite to join them on the trek to the waterfalls. Marjie has now been traveling for 2 days with little sleep and is passed out on the restaurant bench. But Erin and I, now with full bellies, are ready to explore. Somehow, on the trek there, we lose our new friends but Erin and I find our way through the mountains of rice terraces to a very big and beautiful waterfall. We end up meeting our new friends there and take an even longer trek back which gave us more time with the beauty and views. If I wasn't before, I'm now officially in awe of Mother Nature for the huge massiveness of those mountains and for the people who built the rice terraces.
We have a lovely evening with our new friends, sharing travel stories and information about our homelands. In Israel, everybody must serve in the army, both men and women, when they turn 18. After service, many go travel for extended periods of time, which is what these guys and gals were doing. They were open and honest with us and we learned a lot....of course we had many laughs as well. Unfortunately they were leaving early the next day and we were staying an extra night.
Back to us 3 ladies, we enjoy our second day in Batad reading, writing in journals, drinking coffee in front of gorgeousness and relaxing. We took a stroll through the terraces, did some yoga and overall enjoyed our day. We try a third halo halo which had macaroni in it....we found this hysterical and although it was OK, it was not as good as the previous one. Luckily, we bump into our man Scott and he says he has a bottle of rice wine for us to drink together at dinner, which we did. I've had some rice wine in Thailand (more like ribbing alcohol) and Cambodia (pretty tasty) but this took the cake. It was the perfect combination of sweet with a bite and after just a few sips, things got warm and fuzzy inside. The difference with this rice wine, we were informed by Scott, is that it's literally just rice soaked in wine....no sugar is added like other countries do. It was great. Scott, having already drank a bottle previous to meeting us, was half in the sack and despite his efforts to walk us home (we had a little bit of a climb with our flashlights) we felt he would be safer going to bed. Upon returning back to Uncle Donato's hut, we see some of the employees, Marky Mark and Eckloid, of the place next door and they invite us over for some rum and discussion. More talk of philosophy, religion and things of that nature. In my short time here, I've found philippino men (I say men because they are who I've had these discussions with...I have met only 1 or 2 women here and they are just as lovely but our conversations have been very different) to be insightful, deep and intellectual. They think outside of the box and are super interesting. It's been so nice to be able to speak so candidly as it helps us learn about the country, culture and the people.
The next morning is an early one as we must trek back up the mountain to catch the jeepney back into Banaue. Scott is carrying Marjies bags and Uncle Donato wants to send us off properly. So of course we get dressed in traditional Philippino garb for pictures in front of the hut, say good-bye and head up the mountain. We make our way into Banaue and are instantly glad we stayed in Batad instead. Banaue is loud, smokey and not nearly as friendly. We had to stay the night to catch our bus the following day, so we figured to make the most of it. Erin eats Balut, which is a half developed duck still in the egg, try some more halo halo (still not as good as the one in sijiquor), people watch and discuss the prospects of Erin and I starring in a Bravo TV show in which we travel the world and share travel tips, culture, food and nightlife...as a career opportunity of course. Only problem is we don't know how to prove to Bravo that we'd be perfect for the job (I mean, New York and New Jersey take on the world....doesn't that sound like something you'd watch?!?) when Marjie comes up with a brilliant idea: we go on the show Amazing Race!!! Erin and I completely agree and we begin to search for wifi so we can apply. The electricity had gone out, which we learned did every afternoon for a few hours, so we did the next best thing and found a place with the cheapest San Miguel's and had a few.
Others seemed to have the same idea and so we met a few Americans....our firsts, and a Swiss guy. We had a lovely time and carried on to dinner where we met some new Israeli guys. Our man Scott had told us that in Banaue, there was 1 bar that played country music and so we were determined to go there and line dance. We weren't sure if there was line dancing there but Erin and I really wanted to dance and so we convinced everybody to go with us, only to find it closed. We just walked away from the only place that was open and as we left, they closed. So who was going to serve us?? We weren't ready for bed and so our new friends gave us our first Amazing Race challenge (we shared these new prospects with everybody, obviously): find a way to get the restaurant to re-open and serve us a few beers. Easily accomplished!!! Throughout the night we were given many challenges like this and all were completed successfully! We had a great night with the Swiss, Americans and Israeli's. Nights like this meeting new, cool people, is one of my favorite things about traveling. I now have many people to visit when I make it to Israel and new friends in America :)
The following morning we continue our journey through the Cordillera Mountains onto Sagada. We met the most lovely Philippino family in our jeepney....the 2 daughters were 17 and 21 and they still go on a family vacation every year. We were told there was a festival in a town along the way and decided to stay the night and check it out. Nothing much to talk about there since we arrived in the afternoon and the main festivities were in the morning, but nobody shared those important details with us, of course. we were with some other travelers and ended up just hanging out under the food tent eating schwarma, a turkish cuisine. We each ate 5 that day and had 2 more fore breakfast the following day....they were delish-that was the hilight of that little tangent off the path :). Next day, we are on the road again for a short trip to Sagada and meet a really nice guy who is a Sagada native. He helped us along the way.....and will be an important character in the next blog, so don't forget him.
We arrive in Sagada.....
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