A Road Trip to the Rice Terraces

For Easter break this year, we were meant to go to Tasmania to meet up with our dear friends Ams and Del Boy and their little guy Malachi. Just like how at Christmas, we were supposed to travel home. But, as most of you know, our paperwork was not ready and thus we were stuck, yet again, in the Philippines.

The good news is that we made the best of it.

Of all the places we could possibly have gone, the rice terraces were probably the best option for us - people who love the outdoors and appreciate the solitude. We have been once before, to Banaue and Sagada, before Aiston came home, but decided one last trip would be in order before leaving the country altogether. Plus, going up north is something mom has always wanted to do and it is almost the one thing she hasn't done here yet.

We started our trip bright and early at 4am on March 28, only to hit major traffic on the tollway and to pass by at least eight car accidents. Once we made it off the main tollway out of Manila, our drive was steady and fairly smooth. We made it to Banaue in time for dinner. Aiston was a trooper in the car (again), but I think it helped that Daddy was sitting beside him and keeping him entertained while mom and I had the luxury of choosing the music and giggling and complaining about the other motorists and lack of signs in the front.

On our previous trip, we were not lucky enough to view the rice terraces in Banaue because they were shrouded in fog. This year, the weather was much hotter than we expected, but it made for plenty of sweeping views across the mountain valleys.

While in Banaue, we took a seldom-ventured hike to Batad, a small, remote village boasting bowl-shaped rice terraces. Upon cresting the last part of the trail to enter the village, you can see the very top of what look like flat green gardens. With each step closer, you notice that the gardens cascade downward until you are literally standing above a serenely stunning landscape of panoramic rice terraces. It is truly a sight that takes your breath away.

The view from outside our room at the Hillside Inn in Batad

The accommodations in Batad left a lot to be desired and Ace had a hard time sleeping with the screeching of chairs and the obnoxiousness of a few guests (American ones, might I add - and not us!) in the restaurant right above our heads. Nevertheless, we didn't come for the shabby rooms, we came for the views, the fresh air and the walks. 

On one of our first hikes through the terraces, a massive thunderstorm rolled through the mountains, scaring Ace to death and making the walkways up and down the terraces super slippery. One slight misstep and into the terraces you go, so we decided to hunker down in a former hut for an hour to wait it out.

After a night in Batad, we trekked back to Banaue by foot, heading into some of the most pristine mountain and rice-terraced areas of the Philippines. We literally passed no one on our full-day hike. We relished in the beauty and quiet, the lush green and the pure blue.

After a good scrub, a round of beers and a decent night's sleep, we hit the road again, stopping along the way to Sagada to take some photos of the countryside.

Upon our arrival in Sagada, where we would stay for the next full week, we were unpleasantly surprised by the "cabin in the woods" that awaited us. Let's just say that a basement-type dwelling with "friends" living up top, a pig rustling in his smelly sty and snorting out the back door, a bathroom toilet with no seat, a kitchen without a small fridge, a living area without a couch or chairs and a rock quarry next door for $80 a night was not exactly what we had in mind when we booked a "fully-furnished cabin nestled in the pine trees, away from the noise, inclusive of breakfast, a front and back terrace and a fireplace." As always, we sucked it up to another adventure and made jokes out of the situation, but we definitely had some words with the owner who was purposefully dishonest and a bit crazy in the head to believe she could charge that kind of price for that piece of crap she called a cabin.

Ace didn't mind the quarry so long as he could drive the "digga!" and the "budoza!"

This year was Aiston's first Easter hunt. We brought along a few plastic eggs filled with coins and tiny toys and even some chocolate from GramLola. He was so excited to find the eggs and see what was inside his Easter basket. And he LOVED his "cho-co-let!"

While in Sagada, we rotated eating our meals between three quaint and deliciously divine places: Yogurt House, Log Cabin and Strawberry Cafe. The homemade banana pancakes with thick, fresh yogurt just couldn't be beat.

And of course, the entire reason for traveling this far north was to walk and walk and walk, breathing in as much fresh air as humanly possible. And that's just what we did.

St. Mary's Episcopal Church

 Echo Valley and the Hanging Coffins

Aguid Rice Terraces

Bomod-ok Waterfalls (where we all took a dip after a long and sweaty hike down!)

There is a road about 3km before you run into the town of Sagada called Kiltepan. If you traverse the dirt track, you end up at a viewpoint overlooking Kiltepan Rice Terraces, another sprawling set of green steps surrounded by mountains and trees. This is the road our "cabin" was meant to be on. The view from here is incredible and we had fun taking pictures.

The highlight of the trip was a drive and a hike to Kiltepan Rice Terraces, the ones you could see from the viewpoint. This was a new adventure for us and one that did not disappoint. It's not often the villagers see white folks walking along the cement pathways winding through the houses and gardens in order to reach a place that, for them, is simply part of their everyday routine, their livelihood. It's even less common to see white folks with a Filipino baby strapped to their back and a grandma to boot. We wished we had taken a picnic lunch on this walk because we stayed for hours and didn't want to leave. It was the most peaceful place we could think to be at that moment.

Oops! A little stumble-stumble-trip into the mud!

 This hills are alive...with the sound of music!

What a trooper GramLola is!

 On our way back to Manila, via Bagiuo, we had to stop here...

Overall, the trip brought back some sense of restoration of the mind and spirit. Although Sagada has already lost much of the charm that it held for us two years ago (due to ever-increasing development, an influx of rude day-trippers and expansion without environmental regard), it remains a place special to our hearts. We are so grateful GramLola got to experience it with us.

It was fun to reflect that, at this time two years ago, we were eagerly preparing for the arrival of our "little one." Now, he is not so little anymore, and he goes with us on all of our crazy adventures, ones that most people with little kids probably wouldn't dare to do. We sure do love how part of Ace's vocabulary includes words like hiking, rice terraces, trees, pretty, nature, rocks, river, wind, grass, mud, dirty, spider, backpack, insect and rain. This boy loves the outdoors and we can't wait to get him to the Shoug!