my BANAUE trip....

I AM BACK!!!!!! Yes, sane, safe and sound in singapore, home sweet home. I still hate the crowds and i hate the air here, it stinks. Not like banaue, where its soo cooling and refreshing. By the way, the pic above is of me on the tricycle at banaue. MD sent me off at 11pm on the FLORIDA LINER bus at Salampag,manila which takes at least 10 hours to reach Banaue. I regret not taking pictures of the mountain scenery when we reached the area around 6 am(its as bright as 8am here you know!!!), since i was too exhausted from the stomach cramps i had from 3am onwards. And because of not enough sleep and the extreme cold conditions in the bus, i caught a farking fever. Talk about bad luck.

my room view, looking down at the street.

ok, this is the view from the restaurant window. I sat there, breathing in the fresh air and just thinking about how beautiful the view was. Of course, i thanked Him for this opportunity. I kinda thought at some point that it was just a dream. It felt surreal being alone in a foreign place.

My guide for the day, Freddie. The cute uncle (i regret not taking his picture..-_-) from the post office fetched him from Greenview Lodge (where im staying), cos Freddie went back as my bus arrived late, around 9am. I was so kanchiong cos i forgot to ask MD what my lodge name is. Fortunately, these people were super helpful and friendly. While the wife asked me to sit and wait, the husband took a motor to fetch Freddie for me. When i was frantically fixing on the local sim card and trying to dial MD's number, someone asked "Are you Ms Diana?". Never have i felt so relieved in my life to hear someone asking me that. All i could do was cry out "and i thought i was gonna be lost here forever!!" They laughed at me and the cute uncle said that Freddie waited until his hair turned white. Fyi, i looked a total mess cos i tossed and turned on the seat for 10 hours, my face was pale, my hair dry and frizzy, my eyeliner smudged..gosh, how could they look at me??? HOW DID I FACE THEM????

another window view...lovely seh..

The tricycle driver, and i forgot to ask his name...haiz..He likes to chew on betel leaves,so much so that his lips are red, reminds me of late granma. Anyway, this guy drives nicely in the first half of the day, but as we got to the end of the day, the hot sun was too unbearable so he drove faster which means the ride was very uncomfortable. VERY i tell you.

Freddie made a few stops where i can take pictures of the sceneries. It was absolutely breathtaking. I was rendered speechless and could only either say "wow" or "this is very nice". This is due to the fact that i was having a splitting headache because of fever and the bumpy ride. My brains felt like popping out of my eyes tau.

These terraces were built 2000 years ago by their ancestors, built from the top to bottom, they carved out one plane, and then shifted the mud down and created the lower plane,so its like building blocks but from top. And these rice terraces are owned by the people, not the government. So right now, these locals are either doing basket weaving, wood carving, souvenirs stuff while waiting for the harvest period which is in October if im not wrong. They take at least a month to harvet their lots. Freddie says that the weather has been really weird these few years, their harvest is not much so they have to get their rice from Thailand.

Super lovely. Air was cooling. And what you hear is the crickets and maybe hens clucking. These pictures are either from Hapao, Hong Duan(?) or Banaue. Cant remember which we were facing.

Jonson, Freddie's uncle, who took me to viewpoint on second day, told me that this waterfall is actually water from the rice terraces. Its from the irrigation system which he says is big and water comes out here in order for the rice terrace not to overflow. Err, i think this is what he meant lah..

Im not sure but this might be the view from Viewpoint, banaue.

Doggy taking a rest at one of the resting towers.

There are dogs everywhere, and i only saw one cat. I asked Freddie where the cats are and you know what he said? "The cats are at home" . Siak ar, i felt like asking him if he's for real but instead i said "because of the heat?". Luckily he said yes, if not i was gonna strangle him. Anyway, afternoon was super hot. Here we took a break and they offered me pisang masak hijau. Nice i tell you. And we talked about singapore and stuff. Freddie did most of the asking, about how many family members i have, what i work as, how living in singapore is like. I got to know that he is 25 yrs old, has a twin and has 13 siblings and has been a tour guide for a year.

So when we took the hellish ride back to the lodge which was around 4pm i think, i went straight to bed and slept, covering myself up with the blankets and shivering like mad. The fever got worst and i've no panadol at all!!! So slept i did until i woke at 7 plus pm or was it 10 plus pm? It was totally dark and i heard people talking loudly at the street downstairs. Since it was a blackout, i decided to go down to get candles from reception, but when i was struggling to lock the door, the lights were back. So i slept back with the lights on. Yes, i sleep with the lights on in foreign places.

walking down was ok but climbing up was TIRING!!!!! i staggered halfway to catch my breath. My fever hasnt fully gone actually.

Ok, this is the 2nd day and Freddie couldnt bring me around as he was booked by someone else for the whole day. So after having breakfast, i walked around to the market and saw people crowded over the IFUGAO men carving wood. Learnt from Jonson later on that they take at least a day to carve something out, but this depends on how intricate the design in. The piture is below since i mixed up my own itinerary..sheesh..

Jonson took this photo for me as i posed with the Ifugao headgear which cost 10 pesos for hire.
Jonson is soo softspoken, he helped to hold my souvenirs for me and waited patiently while i looked around for what to buy. He's also been a guide for a year. And when i told him that he must've seen lots of peopl from around the world, he responded with a laugh and went on to say that tourists from ''..France and Italy are the most difficult to manage. They are stubborn, dont want to listen to guides and wont admit if they're wrong. And they dont get tired..." I
was laughing the whole time he recounts htis story of a couple who kept asking to go on when they are done.

I would like to ride on these jeepneys one day.

At viewpoint with Jonson.

Soo close to the padi fields but too much of a coward to go down and walk at the edges. Its too narrow lah, i was afraid of falling down. Jonson offered to go down with me but i refused saying its too narrow. Then he said if i want to go batad, to the waterfalls, i will need to walk at the rice terraces. And it'll be a gruelling 6 hours back and forth. I could only muster a groan as a reply.

Ifugao men carving the wood.

This picture should be below lah. Anyway, this was when i walked all the way down from Banaue hotel, the swimming pool and the souvenir shop. If i went down further to the village, i dont think i can go back up at all. Jonson told me to leave my bag at the post office but i politely declined saying im just gonna walk around. But lil ol me forgot the stairs are not like the stairs in singapore and so when i reached the souvenir shop, i was panting like a dog and the old uncle offered me a seat. And when he said i've a big bag, all i could say was that i dont want to carry too many bags so i squeezed everything inside.

Note to self: Listen to the locals when they tell you to leave bags because you dont know where you itchy legs and your curiosity will lead you to.

Jonson said that they burned the rice as it was too dry?

Well, this is the bus, but not my bus. I waited from 6plus until the bus reached at 8pm at the post office. The cute uncle passed by me many, many times but i was too paiseh to take his photo. And he remembered my name!!!!! I think everyone knows everyone else's names here. And how can you forget a pale faced girl with pink specs and a large blue backpack??

Well, that concludes my trip. The ride back to Salampag was ok but i still didnt sleep. Airport was HORRIBLE, no seat when i reached, line was slow at the check in counter and there were at least 20 kids running around!!!!!!! Anyway, next time im going to Batad for trekking to the waterfalls, it'll be a whole day affair but i think i kind of know what to expect. But before that, i gotta exercise and improve my stamina so i wont embarrass myself by fainting halfway in the future...