Hille and Lii's Travel Page: Banaue rice terraces

All good things come to an end. So did our time on our beloved Alona beach. We had a fantastic time there and we will miss it.

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After another sleepless night and travelling day we were back in Manila. Sun was out and the place looked much different.

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Yet big cities will have to remain as necessary stop-overs and connection points, our mind was set on going onwards north on the island of Luzon, to the world-famous rice terraces of Banaue.

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The Banaue Rice Terraces are 2000-year old terraces that were carved into the mountains of Ifugao in the Philippines by ancestors of the Batad indigenous people. The Rice Terraces are commonly referred to by Filipinos as the "Eighth Wonder of the World". Source

In order to reach Banaue we took a 10 hour night-bus, this was an interesting experience. Lii spent her time taping the window with McGuiver tape, because the rain kept pouring in from the windows and soon also the roof. I was meanwhile strengthening my leg-muscles to keep the seat in front and the local lady sitting on it, in an upright position. The seat was completely loose from the floor and the lady kept banging to the floor side-ways. She did not move however, she even kept sitting on the very edge of the seat, leaving me with the impression in the end that she was actually enjoying the whole thing and I was just trying to ruin her fun. The bus was keeling from side to side, needless to say we got no sleep so we were even glad to see a local tout meet us at the station and organise our living quarters and days activities.

Lii lisab:
Bussisoit oli toesti uskumatu. Esimesel tunnil hakkas aknast juba nii palju vihma sisse sadama, et minul, kui akna all istujal, oli uks puksisaar taiesti labimarg. Samuti hakkasid inimesed bussis kohti vahetama, et leida kuivemat kohta. Vee sissevoolamise pidurdamiseks hakkasin akent teipima. Seda voib kull oelda, et MacGuyveri teip on oma nime vaart. Teibitud aknast enam vett sisse ei tulnud. Kuid nuud hakkas bussi laest vett tilkuma. Tapset sissesadamise asukohta ei suutnud me tuvastada, ilmselt oleks pidanud terve bussi lae ara teipima, et pidama saada. Hakkasime juba vihmavarju avamise peale motlema, kuid onneks jai vihmasadu vaiksemaks ja vaike tibutamine meid enam ei morjendanud:)
Teine nali oli, et meie ees olev toolirida oli porandast lahti ja iga kord kui buss keeras voi pidurdas, soitis see toolirida siis kas ettepoole voi korvale. Meid pani imestama sellel toolireal istuv vanem naisterahvas. Hoolimata koigest ajas ta ennast peale igat kukkumist jalle reipalt pusti ja sattis ennast sinna uuesti istuma. Meie oleks tema asemel kindlasti kohta vahetanud, kuid teda see ei paistnud morjendavat. Ju oli siis harjunud..:) voi ei suutnud meie hinnata seda toredat karussellisoitu.

The view from the room made the whole trip worth-while...

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After a few hours kip we had arranged a short tricicle trip to the rice-terraces. The sun was shining again, our driver was humming a tune and the stunning scenery took our breath away.

From Filipiinid

From Philippines

From Filipiinid

It was indeed unbelievable, a true marvel, to think that men had built such ingenious structures. As for the travel itself- well! Road is not a word to call the rocky mud we were travelling on. Half-patched and paved, full of mounds and rivers of mud dripping from the mountains, an occasional snake our driver was spotting- it was more like a roller-coaster in the side-car of a motorcycle on the edge of the mountain. Our knuckles were white for holding on to our lives and our sides and heads will show the bumps and bruises the next day. And then it started to pour down rain and the whole road back we were driving against the river of mud, hoping on one side not to be crushed by mud-slides and on the other not to be forced to slide off the mountain by all the vehicles going past us on a single-line "road". The adrenalin was running high both for us and the driver who kept doing "whoo-hoo" sounds and was singing loudly and merrily.