In Baguio we found out that it was a monster journey to Banaue, our next stop. Everyone told us we had to go down the road we had come up to go to Banaue - see purple line. It would take 11 hours to go that way. Rachael and Andy found this one guy who said that we could cut across the middle of Luzon but we wasn't sure if the roads were open or not. We decided to take the short cut - see yellow line as it would take 5 hours less.
After a long time in the car we were excited about getting to Banaue. It is heavily featured in all the Philippine tourism information as it is a Unesco heritage site. When we arrived it was getting dark and it was raining. We were surprised that the town of Banaue itself was very run down and dirty and we wondered why the Philippine government doesn't ensure that one of it's top tourism attractions isn't protected more. We went on a hike of the famous rice terraces the next day and had an amazing time. We had an awesome tour guide who was able to explain lots about the area, the Ifugao tribe and how the rice terraces were cultivated. We really changed our minds about Banaue on the hike as the rice terraces themselves were absolutely beautiful and the view was amazing.
This is Rachael and Liz's "We don't like Banaue town" look.
This was the view from the inn we stayed at. The town was full of shacks and everything looked pretty bad but just beyond the town was the amazing rice terraces.
These old ladies were so tiny! We were like giants beside them. They were from the Ifugao tribe but were now too old to make a living from cultivating rice or weaving so they hung out around the tourist areas and made money from people taking pictures with them. Genius if you ask me. They were very sweet.
Some more rice terraces.
Banaue is definitely worth a visit. The hike through the rice terraces was one of the best things I've done in the Philippines.
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