PHILIPPINES - THE CUSHY LIFE
We spent the first 3 days in the Philippines in luxury. I checked into the Mandarin Oriental, one of the four 5-star hotels (but most dilapidated) in Manila on a great deal that Matthew found. We hit the gym the next morning and the treadmills had 14 different languages and can play your iPod video on a big screen. The 2 attendants clean and replace the headphone cushions after each use. Then we ate at the biggest brunch spread I've ever seen, spanning 4 cuisines - American, Chinese, Filipino, and Japanese. I had egg, yogurt, fresh fruit, salad, porridge, longanisa sausage, chicken soup, cereal, and fruit shake. My friend Angelo took us to the Tagaytay Highlands, a country club where you have to pay membership fees to be eligible to buy property there. We ate at the club, played badminton, relaxed at Angelo's late grandmother's cliff-side apartment with amazing views of Lake Taal, and got the best massage of my life over the next 36 hours.
PHILIPPINES - THE BACKPACKING BEGINS
I've never backpacked in my life and don't know what a backpacking narrative entails, but the next few days were definitely "rustic." We booked a 9 hour overnight bus (note: not sleeper bus) to Banaue, about 500km north of Manila in the mountains. Our plan is to see the UNESCO awarded rice terraces in Batad (next to Banaue), then go caving in Sagada, a mountain town that is supposed to be coolest in temperature in all of Luzon (island that Manila is on). We arrive at the bus station which is really just a gauged out street corner. There is no central terminal; each bus line has their own "station." Even though it is 9pm, it feels like 100 degrees with the exhaust from 6 buses and all the people. I was sweaty and wished for a shower. The bus was old and half filled with Caucasian backpackers. 15 minutes in, the bus stopped. The bus drivers and his helpers deboarded and started tinkering in the back. 2 minutes later, several locals also deboarded and hung out outside. 5 minutes later, I finally couldn't stand not knowing what's going on so I got off too. The fan belts had fallen off and the bus had overheated. It was cooler standing outside than in the now stuffy bus since the air-con stopped running. But it was still damn hot.
BANAUE TO BATAD SADDLE
We arrive at Banaue at 7:30am, left our big backpacks at a hostel and took a day pack with us to Batad, where we were going to stay 1 night. Several tricycle drivers approached us to quote us for our tricycle trip to Batad Junction, where we have to hike 2 hours to Batad Saddle, then 1 hour down into Batad itself. Matthew thought the tricycles were interesting - essentially a metal box attached to a motorbike, with the 3rd wheel on the outside of the box. The road was very rocky and bumpy. Many times we came to a full stop to negotiate potholes. We breathed exhaust. At Batad Junction, our tricycle driver, Hayden, said it's better that he pick us up at 9am the next day which means we need to start hiking at 7am. I thought that was too early because I wanted to sleep in, so I said noon. 10 minutes into our hike to Batad Saddle in the 11:30am heat though, I realized it was a mistake. We reach the top (Saddle) and called our hostel to somehow get a hold of Hayden to say that we want to meet at 10am instead of noon. I had no idea if the message would get to him because he's not affiliated with the hostel in any way.
BATAD SADDLE DOWN TO BATAD - ALTERED STATE OF MIND
We begin our descent into the valley of Batad. The air was very still because we are heading into a valley and it was super hot and humid even though plants blocked out the sun for us. Matthew had changed into shorts but I was wearing my cotton hiking pants. I started to feel not like myself. I thought about Heart of Darkness and Lord of the Flies and The Beach. I thought that the heat could change me so much that I could turn into a monster. Or I was just super uncomfortable and physically irritated. 5 years in the Bay Area has thoroughly spoilt me.
TREK TO BIG WATERFALL
We were truly hard core today. We had already hiked over 4 hours just to get to Batad after a night bus. Now we are going to hike to the waterfall which required us to navigate the rice terrace maze. After several wrong turns that dead ended, we hired a 5 year old boy to be our guide. He was accompanied by an even smaller girl who came out of nowhere. They were both wearing flip flops and zoomed across the rice terraces. I was nervous. Each step in the terrace was 10 feet high and falling the wrong way would mean sinking deep into mud 10 feet below. We reach a rest stop and the boy stopped to play with his friend who had a toy. The older kids at the rest stop spoke to him in Filipino and he reluctantly resumed guiding us, now descending to the waterfall. 3 minutes down, we meet an old lady carrying a metal pipe. He talked to her and the old lady told us he doesn't want to lead us anymore and that the waterfall is just straight down. We pay the boy and he leaves. 40 minutes of steep descent later, we get to the waterfall, and I don't think I can go back up. I ate a cliff bar and Matthew tried to build a dam with rocks.
NIGHT IN BATAD
Rustic the the key word for this $4 accomodation. No fans, no air con, just a room with a bed. Shared toilet requires hand flushing (use a pail to scoop water to flush) and shower is using gravity to drip water down from tanks above the ceiling. I worried a little about bed bugs and mosquitos (no screens on the window) and woke up the next day with either a heat rash or 50 little bites on my leg. Later on I would determine that it was the beginning of a heat rash that I still have 2 weeks later.
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