Our bus stopped 4km from Sagada. What was the problem? A landslide. A fucking enormous landslide. A giant boulder the size of a house (literally) had wiped out an entire house and another rock half the size was not blocking off the road. Shit. It was raining as well. What to do? Wait out the rain and then walk past the boulder and 4km to Sagada. They had jeepneys, but I didn't want to pay any more. The walk to town was really nice as well. We checked into George's guesthouse for 3 nights. What a great place. 600 pesos for a private bathroom, hot water and cable tv. Bargain. One of the best places we had stayed in and we even got the pink room, which made Cannelle super happy. I left Cannelle in the bedroom, while I went out to book the restaurant for friday and check out all the other places to eat. Stacked full of options. Sagada seemed like a super nice town and there weren't too many tourists. I don't think there are loads of tourists in this country and they all seem to be in Palawan. I came back and we watched the end of Rampart before heading to Masferres restaurant for a nice meal. We just chilled out for the evening.
We grabbed breakfast in the hotel (a nice pancake) and headed off towards Sumaging cave. We decided to take a route through the back of the village, rapidly got lost and decided to abandon the idea. Oh well. We decided not to employ guides again as it seemed super easy to get around. We saw some hanging coffins off to the left and the little limestone outcrops throughout the village were really pretty and atmospheric. The coffin cave is really easy to find if you have LP's map and there is even a signpost for the left turn. As for the path down, its the one next to the woman selling stuff. Dead give away that. Its a cool place and I enjoyed walking down to the entrance and seeing the coffins stacked there. Impressive. We then walked down to Sumaging cave just to have a look at the entrance as the guides seemed miffed that we would go in, though they seemed ok with us just having a look at the entrance. Its guide central up in the Cordilleras and totally pointless. I think the problem lies in the way Filipinos travel. They get together giant groups to reduce the guide costs, making it preferable than an entrance fee. Foreigners however would prefer an entrance fee as we are in small groups and the guides are too expensive and completely pointless. The rice terraces on the way down to the cave are also really pretty. We grabbed some of the fabled lemon pie and mountain tea on the way back and it was really nice. Then we walked to Mt Kiltepan viewpoint, which is also incredibly easy to find and saw a Filipino film company filming on the hill. The view is stunning up here and we decided to rest around for a while just taking it in. We grabbed lunch at Yoghurt House (exceptional triple decker sandwiches) and there was an old French couple complaining. Cannelle wanted to pretend she wasn't French so she wouldn't have to talk to them. After lunch we headed to Echo Valley where you can see more hanging coffins and follow a really pretty trail up to the viewpoint through the cemetery. It started to rain heavily so we headed back and watched Bright Lights, Big City and Game Change (which for me was a very interesting insight into the 2008 campaign decision to choose Palin). We went back to Yoghurt House for dinner and had pasta (Cannelle loved it, I thought it was average) before watching a Tom Hanks film (Larry Crowne). Spurs lost 4-1 to Inter Milan after our 3-2 defeat to Liverpool in the league. We were on a slide but somehow scraped through to the quarter finals on the away goals for the second time and got Basel in the quarters. We should win that one.
Cannelle's birthday was the following day. We started off by going to Banas for breakfast (they do a good omelette and they have the cutest puppy you will ever see. They also have some kittens and a crazy baby who grabbed the mummy cat by the tail and pulled it round, much to the surprise of the cat. We went online and Cannelle got her present of the Ubud Hanging Gardens hotel in Bali and was super happy. We then decided to walk to Aguid, past the big waterfall. We met a Dutch girl on the way and joined her for the walk. The waterfall was shut because it was a holiday, but we still had to sign in anyway. They seemed worried that we would attempt to go and debious that we were just heading to Aguid. You will have to pay 500 pesos if you want to see this waterfall. I always respect it if they say a guide is mandatory. We got to Aguid, which is a super cute village in a beautiful setting and only 6km from Sagada. There we got some noodle soups and watched some kids perform a musical dance number, while a puppy tried to eat the rest of the soup. We went back and Cannelle rested while I went to buy her a cake for the candles. They only had a shitty local cake, but everyone was helpful and I ended up burning my fingers with the tiny lighter while lighting one of the candles and the candle broke. Oh well. Cannelle enjoyed it. We went to the Log Cabin for dinner and had a great buffet meal. People complain about the service but they were nice to us if a little rushed. The whole thing ended in less than an hour. The food was great, but there were no famous pastires or home cooked bread that night as it was a special request buffet from a group from France. Of course they moaned a lot. Cannelle said they said 'est folklore' about the buffet which French people would find funny. It translates into English, but not with the same meaning I think. The waiter was nice to us as it was Cannelle's birthday and we stole some extra muffins. In the morning we would grab the first jeepney to Bontoc and leave Sagada, which is a great mountain town with some amazing restaurants for such a small place.
We grabbed the jeepney to Bontoc and got collared by a guy wanting to take us to Banaue in his van. We told him we wanted to see the museum and he insulted me, which is amusing as I don't think he realised that a lot of Tagalog insults are the same in Spanish. Fucking idiot. Anyway we grabbed an omelette from the recommended place in town and seriously if you are in Bontoc you must go there. Amazing omelette with the best fresh baked bread as well. Afterwards we headed over to the museum and there was one other Japanese tourist. Of course there was. Its UNESCO after all. The museum itself is nice and worth stopping by if you are passing, but probably not worth specifically seeking out. We were then accosted for a van ride to Banaue. They told me they wanted 150 pesos and told me that all transport was the same price. I walked down and saw that the bus was 120 pesos, but as it had already left we had no choice. There is a fair bit of cartel action around these parts and its quite annoying. You can navigate your way through it with some persistence, but here we were stuffed. We got stuck halfway because of yet another landslide but they cleared this one up quite quickly with one of their diggers. When we arrived in Banaue we were 'helped' by some local guy to find a hotel. Never mind that we didn't need his help and knew what we were doing already. Everyone also pounced upon us for a tour to Batad. Jesus. Let a man breathe. They wanted a nice cheap 500 pesos each to go to Batad. Of course they did. We went to the wonderfully 'helpful' tourist information centre. There we were surrounded by about 50 guides who were all disappointed that we were only interested in information regarding buses. There were no public buses to Mayoyao until 1pm. Shitty. That's off the table. There are no public buses to Batad until 3pm. Convenient. I sensed a trend here. If you would possibly want to go anywhere for a day trip, then they have you covered. And by covered I mean they don't go there until the afternoon. I am not sure which end is benefiting or running this cartel. Is it the Banaue end so people have to take a tour or is it the Batad end so people have to stay one night. Or is it between them to divvy up the market. Not sure. Its damn inconvenient though. Oh yeah there is only one public jeepney back at 9am from the saddle, but if you walk down to the road you should have no problem getting a public bus back in the afternoon. Good luck getting there though. We then got bombarded by tricycle drivers wanting to drive us up to the viewpoint. Waste of their time. Its 4.5km to the very top viewpoint (which does have the best view), but there are many great places to view the rice terraces on the way and its well worth the walk. The only downside are all the old people dressed in traditional dress hanging around the viewpoints to get money for photos. Its a sad sight. I am not sure if their families make them dress up like that and send them out in whatever crappy weather to earn 20 pesos a photo or whether they do it themselves. Oh the dignity. I am not sure who would want to take a photo of people like that, but then again the Dutch girl had. Its a bit embarrassing as you never see anyone wearing traditional dress anywhere in the highlands except at the viewpoints. I still don't understand this obsession with 'cultural' tourism. Especially when its not even practised anymore. Going in search of ethnic cultures to photograph seems like neocolonialism. After seeing all the rice terraces and considering the stick that Banaue gets I would say they are the prettiest terraces, especially the ones that are on the walk to Batad and probably get ignored because everyone jumps on a form of transport. On the way back it started raining, but luckily there was a good internet cafe on the road up to the viewpoint that's only 20 pesos and hour compared with the 50 in town. We had a shit dinner at the People's guesthouse. Ok to stay in, but shitty food apart from the sandwiches. They also charge you to charge any electrical items (they have no sockets in the bedrooms) and its 50 pesos per person if you want a hot water shower. Ah. They fuck you every way in this town.
We had made up our mind to walk to Batad from Banaue. We could not find any information on walking it online, so we decided we would pioneer it. Hopefully if this comes up on your search it will be useful. We left at 6am and started off for Batad. By 7.50am we had reached the Batad Junction. They claim it to be 12km, the road marker said it was 10km, but I suspect it was more like 9km as we took time to take photos and weren't walking at full speed. Its fairly flattish with a few ups and downs. The scenery along the road is stunning and the first 4km or so are especially beautiful, with the oft overlooked rice terraces near Banaue. We asked one guy if we were heading in the right direction for Batad and he said that he didn't know. I took that as a yes and then we saw a kilometre marker for Mayoyao and I knew we were heading in the right direction. We got to see a lot of local village life on the way. Much more genuine than when you take a tour to see genuine village life. I wouldn't want to walk this walk with my full rucksack by the way so its best as a day trip or leave your rucksack behind. As a general disclaimer we are quite fit walkers but not supreme athletes. An average walker who is in ok shape should add up to 50% to these times. If you find yourself routinely quicker than the times LP says then this walk is comfortably easy enough for you. To give an idea, we usually average 50-60% of the time LP says it will take to do anything. We walked up the mighty saddle in 30 minutes. LP's writer must be unfit and we even stopped to help a Japanese tourist find Bangaan. Its not a tough climb. Maybe 200m to 300m or so in climb. There was another landslide that was preventing the morning jeepneys climbing up. From the saddle it took us 30 minutes more to walk down to the hotels overlooking Batad. One sign at Batad junction says its 5km to the village and the other one says its 9km. That's total bollocks. Its about 1.5km or so to the saddle and 2km down to the hotels. 4km maximum. That makes the total distance from Banaue to Batad around 13-14km and we did it all in less than 3 hours. We stopped to get a pizza and asked a little girl at the viewpoint where the waterfall is. She told us it was opposite the white scar you can see on the mountains behind the village, so aim for there if you go without a guide. Helpful little girl lol. Batad is very pretty, though not as amazing as LP says. Maybe its because I associate an ampitheatre to be surrounding on at least 180 degrees of your view or just that I prefer the undulating hills of Banaue. Bit more disorganised. We paid our 50 pesos each entrance fee and were then offered about 20 people to find the waterfall. As we already knew where it was we politely declined. Just find the school and when you get there you will see a little path on the right. Go down, down, down, down and you will eventually get to the same level as the village. You can see the path just about even across the rice terraces as the ones with mud or stones can be walked along so just keep to them. Its easy enough once you get the hang of it. Head for the village and then aim across the rice terraces to the stairs you can see ahead of you. Climb them and when the path heads right by the buildings, that goes up to a shack and then down to the waterfall. Its a steep hill down and up to the waterfall and it knackered me because I left my water behind and we were already a little tired. Its a very nice waterfall, but not spectacular. Cannelle stayed at the top as she didn't fancy another climb. It takes a good hour and a half to get to the waterfall and back as you may be a little tired at this point. We chatted to a lot of guides and they thought we were really fast in getting there and couldn't believe we walked. Almost everyone took a guide to the waterfall, but as its about 800 pesos we didn't want to pay it. We met a French guy who had been hiking over the mountains on his own and he did the Balsig to Batad hike and said that it was easy to find with no guide as well. Most of the paths here are. On the way back we were pretty knackered. We figured we would exit via the Bangaan walk that LP mentions and normally the guides are about 1200 pesos for that, but fuck these cartel bastards. We would do it ourselves. We followed the instructions for heading down the path behind the guesthouse. Once you cross the fence, take the right path though as we went straight down and ended up way to the left of the bridge. If you make the same mistake don't worry just get down to the rice terraces and head right. You can see the small river down below you. The bridge is almost at the end of the terraces on the right. Keep going and you will see it eventually. Ask someone if anyone is around. Once you cross the metal bridge, take the small stone bridge just to your left. Then walk across the terraces in front of you and you will see a path. Follow this through the trees for about 10 minutes and you will come to a hut. Turn 90 degrees right here and walk down. You will see some forks in the path. Always take the one on the right and eventually you will go uphill and cross a style. Yes it is the right way. We doubted it and went back again, but eventually came this way. Then its just straight and always take the main route. Easy to follow. Took us about 1.5 hours to get to the road, passing one village and stunning scenery all the way. The valley is beautiful and Cannelle loved it. You can see the valley and the river down below and its a great walk. Much, much prettier than coming in over the saddle. In fact the saddle walk is bollocks, unneeded and unnecessary. You must, must, must go in or out on this other route as its so much more. It was about 2pm when we hit the road. From there it says its 15km back to Banaue. Its not. Its 3km to the Batad Junction and 9/10km from there. Turn right and walk back. After 2km you will hit the Bangaan terraces. Pretty but not spectacular enough to warrant a separate trip on their own. The cafe is nice here though. They all wanted 60 pesos for a one litre bottle of water in Batad by the way. Food is ok, but drink is extortionate. Bring all the water you will need. We decided to exit and walk without much water due to this ridiculous pricing. Its cheaper to eat something and get service water if you get stuck. From Bangaan its 1km back to the Junction and then its a straight walk back. With a few breaks for food and scenery we walked from Banaue to Batad to the waterfall to Bangaan and back to Banaue (a total of 40km or so) and we were back just after 5pm. A good solid and very scenic day out with not much repetition. I would recommend it if you don't want to be shafted by the cartels. We saved ourselves 3000 pesos with that walk. Not bad. Its super scenic as well. If you take transport to Batad you will miss the valley walk and all the beautiful scenery along the road to the junction. Serves them right for not having public transport. If you are feeling tired when you get to Batad, skip the waterfall, but still take the valley out as you can probably grab a public bus back to Banaue as we saw a few come past. We saw 3 snakes on the valley walk so I assume not too many people take it. Well worth it though. We got some sandwiches and a banana pancake for dinner and then turned in as we were quite tired now.
The next day we set off for Baguio to get round to Vigan in a day. I will put the details in the next post, but needless to say don't trust the lying fucks in Banaue. The hotel told us it was 350 pesos for the 7am bus. A jeepney driver told us it was 330 (I suspect that's the real price). The stupid, lying bitch at the office wanted 450 pesos because it was a small bus. What bollocks. Do what we did. Take the 6am jeepney to Solano for 100 pesos (all jeepneys have the regular fare printed inside on a laminated sheet) and then pick up the same bus when it comes through an hour later for only 230 pesos, thereby saving yourself 120 pesos for no work and proving that the bitch was lying. Fuck Banaue. Great place, shitty people. Same for Batad. At least the Solano jeepney driver is the only honest man in town, so give him your business and save yourself some money.
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