Back in November, when I first arrived in Manila, I purchased a guidebook and took some time flipping through it to get an idea about where I wanted to go and what I wanted to see. One section that specifically caught my attention was a couple paragraphs about a small village called Batad. Batad sounded like a serene wonder, a place with wondrous views, far enough off the beaten path to escape from the crowds and tourist trail while not so far off the beaten path as to require loads of cash and time to get there. So, I made a mental note, or rather more of a mental promise, to make it to Batad. I didn't have a concrete plan or any idea really as to how I was going to get there (the guidebook was vague with its directions and every tourist office I visited didn't seem to know where the place was), but I knew that I'd be passing near there eventually. So imagine my delight when Noa and Dotan mentioned that they'd heard about Batad and were interested in going there. Aside from the fact that they seemed like interesting people, this is the reason I made sure we became a traveling trio.
So the day after we saw the Banaue rice terraces, the three of us waved goodbye to the two Norwegians (who had to head back to Manila) and started cookin' up a game plan for the day. We knew that a public jeepney departed for Batad around 3pm, costing P150 per head. We also knew that many tourists tried to group together and hire a private jeepney (with guide/driver) in order to get to Batad earlier in the day. We had become acquainted with one particular guide/driver, named Randee, and he said he was taking a bunch of people up to Batad in the morning for P200. Noa politely declined for us, telling him that we plan on taking the public jeepney later on for P50 less. Randee then came back several minutes later with a counter offer: he would take us up with this group and charge the three of us, and only the three of us, P150, as long as we didn't tell the others that we were getting a better deal. Let me take a minute here to mention something I might not have mentioned as of yet: Israelis love a deal. More often than not they refuse to accept the stated price and will haggle, bargain, and argue on anything. Often times they do in fact get a reduced price on everything from hostel rooms to taxi rides to meals. The point is, it was very advantageous for me to travel with Dotan and Noa, simply because they brokered the deals and I benefited. We each prepared smaller three-day bags and stored our big long-term-travel bags in the hostel storage, and the three of us joined the others and boarded Randee's jeepney (riding up top, of course). After dealing with road construction, slick muddy roads, and several broken down vehicles blocking our way, we finally made it to the Batad Saddle, a collection of craft shops near the start of the hiking trail down to the village.
At this point Randee ceased to be our guide, as he suddenly became busy wrangling other tourists, who had hiked out from Batad that morning, to ride in his jeepney back to Banaue. Dotan, Noa, and I found the start of the trail and descended down into the valley. Let me pause here and tell you want the guidebook says about the area: "The Batad rice terraces are widely believed to be the world's most striking". As we descended into the valley, however, pesky pillows of precipitation partially partitioned the panorama (sorry, I got carried away). We found our hostel (recommended to us by other travelers), and settled in for a day of eating, card-playing, and intermittent view-enjoying. The next day, when the clouds did vacate, the terraces presented themselves in awe-inspiring vistas. What you must realize is Batad is located in a bowl-shaped valley. The valley walls, from floor to ridge, have been carved into steps, and the whole place looks like a stadium for some mythical population of giants. Also, even if the terraces didn't exist, the surrounding mountains are gorgeous in their own right. In short, Batad is cool. I often found myself meandering out to the balcony of the hostel and just staring at the sight before me. It was hard to fathom just how much work it took for the natives of the area to create this awesome expanse of terraces. Not only did they have to dig out the terraces, beforehand they had to clear all the vegetation from the slopes. And after the terraces were formed (or perhaps during) they created elaborate irrigation and drainage systems using nothing but rocks and bamboo. All this was done in a place where, nowadays in these modern times, it takes an uncomfortable 4WD ride plus a one hour hike to get there. Truly impressive.
We made friends with another Israeli couple and one of our days was spent hiking through the mountains to Bangaan, another spectacular site of terraces, similar to Batad but striking in their own way. After lunch at the only restaurant around Bangaan, the five of us caught a jeepney to the Batad Junction, just down the highway. We hiked along the dirt road to the saddle, then down the main trail back into Batad. That night we nursed sore leg muscles with beer and card playing. We stuffed ourselves on fried rice, Dotan played some songs on the guitar, and eventually we all crashed early.
Join in next time for the follow up story, where you can learn how I learned to loathe stairs!
That's all for now. I hope everyone is doing well in other parts of the world. Take care!
Pat
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