Hey peeps! Here’s another adventure that I want to share with you following my Ilocos Tour last February. This time, I explored two municipalities in Mountain Province, Philippines. Banaue and Sagada.
It was a four days and three nights adventure together with the SPi Mountaineering Club and Camera Club.
But first, here’s a little general information for Banaue and Sagada.
Banaue: It is widely known as the site of the UNESCO World Heritage Site. Here is where you will see the Banaue Rice Terraces which was tagged as the “Eight Wonder of the World”. The rice terraces were built 2,000 years ago by our Ifugao brothers. It begins at the base of the mountain range and extends several thousand feet upwards. It was once said that the total length of the terraces would encircle half of the globe if put end-to-end.
Sagada: Sagada was tagged as a “Sleepy Town”. But I tell you, if you really have all the time to explore Sagada and do trekking, spelunking, rappelling, visit historical sites, explore the caves and waterfalls, and if you are lucky enough you could also participate in tribal celebrations, then you will agree that Sagada is NOT a sleepy town at all.
This place is famous for its hanging coffins. A traditional way of burying people.
The above are just few information about these two mesmerizing places but what’s waiting for you in the next paragraphs of this blog is a lot more. Here’s a glimpse of our Banaue-Sagada Adventure.
April 20, 2011: Holy Wednesday – 8PM. The bus is waiting for all 49 participants in front of the SPi Global Building at Parañaque. 8PM is the assembly time but we are scheduled to go by 9PM. By 9PM, everyone was there. The President of the SPi Mountaineering Club gave us some instructions for the trip. Then off we go to Banaue by 9:30PM.
Since it was Holy Wednesday, we expected lots of heavy traffic along the way. It was a long drive from Manila with only two bus stops, one in Bulacan and the other one is at Nueva Vizcaya. It was like a roller coaster ride.
April 21, 2011: We reached Banaue by roughly 9AM. We got off the bus and transferred into two jeepneys which took us to the Halfway Lodge and Restaurant. One rule is that riding on top of the jeepney is discouraged. But still, some of the guys went on a top-load as we head to the Lodge. They served us a Filipino Breakfast which consists of Hotdog, Fried Red Rice and Egg with a slice of tomato and cucumber on the side. This of course goes with a hot coffee.
After breakfast, they gave us our room assignments. Greyz, Olive and Myself together with six other girls shared a room, M-3. We went inside the room to dress-up for the first adventure, the Bangaan Rice Terraces trek.
It was almost one hour of travel from the Lodge to the Bangaan Rice Terraces. We rode the same jeepneys that fetched us in the bus terminal and passed through the rough and dusty roads of Banaue before we reached Bangaan. We went down the rice terraces under the hot afternoon sunlight.
Then, after an hour or so, we went back to our jeepneys which took us at the Main View Point where you could have a panoramic view of the Rice Terraces. After taking some pictures and buying some pasalubong, we went to the Banaue Public Market where we ate our late lunch. The market is just a few steps away from the Lodge which means that we already have our free time and we could do whatever we want or go wherever we want to.
After we had our late lunch, we went back to the Lodge to rest for a while before the three of us decided to check out the Museum which is just a tricycle ride away. Cameras are prohibited inside the Museum so I do not have any pictures to share. But for those who wants to exercise their imagination skills, here are some “what’s inside the museum” bits.
It was just a two-storey house with pictures of their ancestors hanging on the walls of the upper floor. Some spears which they also exhibited in the same floor. The ground floor (or is it the basement?) exhibits the accessories, dresses and some other stuffs of the Ifugaos. I remember Olive asked me while I was reading something in front of a box-like stuff that’s made of wood. She asked me, “What is it?” referring to the wooden box while stepping towards me. But after I answered, “It’s a coffin”, she suddenly walked away. The entrance fee is 50 pesos per head.
We went out of the museum and waited for the tricycle driver who promised to fetch us before the museum closes at 5PM. It was raining outside. After a couple of minutes of waiting, he’s finally back and took us back into the Lodge. We’ve had some chit-chat with Yudz, Jay-R and Nick at the entrance of the Lodge. Yudz told us that they will be attending the mass in the church nearby and asked us if we want to go with them. It was still raining and we do not have umbrellas so we said that we will just follow and I asked for the direction of the church. After a few minutes, we decided to attend the mass. It was Maundy Thursday, so we had a chance to witness the re-enactment of the “washing of the feet” of the apostles during the mass. Then we head back to the Lodge to rest and prepare ourselves for tomorrow’s early trip to Sagada.
April 22, 2011: The wake-up call is 4AM. Breakfast served by 5AM. Since it’s Good Friday, no meat in our plates for today. We had daing na bangus, sinangag, itlog and coffee.
We are off to Sagada by 7AM. While travelling from Banaue to Sagada, we got caught by the beautiful “sea of clouds” on our way that we had to stop for a while and took some pictures as this is something that we don’t want to miss. We went back to the jeep and continue the ride but even before we reached Sagada proper, we dropped-by to the Mother Mary Statue which stands 50 feet tall near Mt. Polis.
At around 10AM, our jeepney reached the Sagada Guest House. We took some rest in the Guest House’s Lounge while waiting for the other jeepney to arrive. When everyone’s there, they gave us another batch of room assignments. Vhixie gave me the key to room E-4 located at the second floor of the house. So, we immediately went to the room with 6 single beds in it to freshen up and prepare for the next adventure.
Comments
Post a Comment