The second part of our trip with Colleen was to visit the rice terraces, caves and hanging coffins. This was one thing that I've been looking forward to since we found out we were moving to the Philippines 2 years ago. The rice terraces are over 2000 years old and simply amazing. No one could really tell us how old the caves are but were first trekked with French tourist in the 50's. The tribes in Sagada have been using hanging coffins for centuries and still do it even today. We were told several different reasons for the hanging coffins but the one that was told to us the most was it's a closer and easier path to heaven. We aren't so sure if that is accurate because they were using the hanging coffins before missionaries arrived in the area.
Let me start with the beginning of the trip. We had to take a 10 hour overnight bus ride to get to Banaue, the beginning of our rice terrace trip. Brian got lucky and had his own seat behind the driver. Colleen and I sat directly behind him and had a hump under our feet. We thought it would be okay and hunkered down. Well, something strange happened as everyone else finished boarding. Certain passengers were using the center aisle. What is the middle aisle you ask? Well, to us, it felt somewhat like a death trap. There are folding seats that fold down to occupy the center aisle. Yes, believe me, we pictured our deaths as we imagined the bus catching fire and not being able to escape. Colleen's friend who occupied the center aisle happened to be an almost 7 foot guy from the Netherlands. He moved all night. Needless to say, Colleen and I didn't sleep at all. Brian says he slept a few hours. So, we arrive bright and early in Banaue and despite being exhausted, we were very excited about seeing rice terraces. It was very foggy and we couldn't see much of the terraces. Here are few shots.
Then we started our way towards Batad, where we would spend our first night. We rode a jeepney about 30 minutes to the summit. Then we hiked down to Batad. We were suppose to then hike through the rice terraces to get to waterfalls but as mentioned above the fog was too thick. We got to see a traditional home to the area equipped with carabao skulls (the more skulls, the affluential/respected the person).
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| Our room |
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| Rice terraces enveloped in fog |
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| Chicken coops. During the day time they are lowered so the chicken can roam. Right before sun down the chickens come back on their own and are lifted for safe keeping. |
After Batad we took a jeepney back to Banaue and then hopped into a van for our ride to Sagada. It was later in the day arriving in Sagada, so we had a late lunch and set off for the caves. The caves were amazing. Colleen and I weren't super excited about caves because they are usually pretty boring (but beautiful). Well, this was a totally different cave experience. We got to talk in the caves (with bare feet) and touch everything! This type of excursion would never be allowed in the states.
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| Our walk to the cave |
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| Entrance to the cave |
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| The rock felt like pumice stone |
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| The place we all left our flip flops |
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| Fossils |
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| More fossils |
We got to see cave coffins as well as hanging coffins.
Next were the Sagada rice terraces. The pictures don't do them justice. I could've stood there for hours just staring out across the terraces.
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| Brian's "this is really cold" face |
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| Rainbow in the water |
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| The pulley system that is used to deliver goods to the village |
After the rice terraces we visited a local church. It was an Episcopalian Church. We then walked to the town's cemetery and headed into Echo Valley.
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| Echo Valley and yes it did echo :-) |
After Sagada we stopped in Bontoc to visit a local museum. Then made one last stop to take pictures with some women and men from a local Ifugao tribe and one last look at the beautiful rice terraces.
Stay tuned for Palawan!
