Upon arriving in the Philippines we were surprised by just how developed everything was. We had been expecting a much more rundown place as you often here of the Philippines referred to as a third world country; however Manila has more similarities with Thailand then either Burma or Ghana. We were pleased to see how friendly Filipino people were. As for Manila itself it is much like any other city in the world, however I someone actually like Manila which is strange because I don't like any city I've ever visited in the world. I think what makes Manila is how nice it is to just walk around and experience people just living their lives out on the streets and the neighbourhoods actually seem friendly and happy. I think this is something that is just too lacking at home. I get the feeling here that if you had a flat tyre your neighbour would come out and help you change it. I guess they still have a piece of humanity that we have in recent years lost in the west. In relation to actual attractions Manila is somewhat lacking in comparison to the rest of the Philippines; hence the absence of photographs. We only spent a few days in Manila while transferring between the other places we visited. In Manila there was also a large expat community who had Filipino maids who were made to wear special nurse type uniforms I can only assume so that other people know that they aren't the parents of the children that they are caring for. While people generally seem happy in the Philippines there are still pockets of unnecessary discrimination like this in the cities which makes you question some people's morals. Firstly from Manila we headed to the Northern Province of Banaue.
Banaue
The journey to Banaue was an eight hour night bus. The second half of the bus journey was on extremely windy roads as we entered the mountains and this made it incredibly hard to sleep. Upon
arriving in Banaue though we could see that the journey had been well worth it. We were staying in a lodge overlooking the rice terraces of Banaue and while they weren't the best that the
Philippines had to offer, provided a very nice view to wake up to and eat breakfast with. During our time in Banaue we visited the many viewpoints that Banaue had over its own rice terraces
and spent a day in the neighbouring village of Batad.
Batad
The journey to Batad took us via 4x4 minivan down roads which had just the night before experienced many landslides under heavy rain. We constantly had to avoid trees,
mud and stone banks which had fallen from the cliffs above. On at least three occasions we had to wait for maintenance guys to rebuild the road for us using jackhammers,
bulldozers and diggers. When we finally reached the drop off point for Batad we had to walk 45 minutes downhill to the actual village. Once we arrived we were greeted by
the beautiful stone constructed rice terraces of Banaue which had startling resemblances to those the Incas had used in and around Machu Pichu, Peru. From here we walked
down through the rice terraces before reaching a waterfall. After this we had to come all the way back up through the terraces. During the entire trek we only a handful
of other tourists. On the way back up we came across an old woman whose job it was to look out over the rice terraces and pull on pieces of string attached across many
terraces to cans which rattled in order to scare away any birds which might be trying to eat their rice. The trek up was very difficult and left us dripping in sweat,
albeit very worth it. Next we headed back to Banaue before heading via Jeepney to the mountain town of Sagada.
On the way to Sagada we had literally passed through the entire northern Philippines mountain range. This had led to a very scenic drive. During our time in Sagada we visited the Hanging Coffins (this is where locals bury their respected dead on the sides of the cliffs in the natural gorge), the Underground River, the Luming Burial Cave (the place where ordinary locals are buried), the Bokong Falls and the Bomod-ok "Big" Falls. We managed to see all of these sites without a guide even if this led to us almost getting lost a couple of times with are rubbish printed map. Thankfully following local tourists didn't stop us from getting lost. :) When we visited the Bomod-ok Falls we decided that the morning jeep left too early and the cost of a private car was too much. This meant that we ended up walking there which all in entailed hiking up and down hill over 20 kilometres. At least once we got to the waterfalls we were able to swim in the freezing cold natural rain water which had run of the mountains. Next we left on route to Baguio and then Manila so that we could get a bus and boat to Puerto Galera.
The journey to Puerto Galera had been an interesting one and while it had been difficult to understand we did eventually make it, even if you do get a bit wet from the sea in the converted longtail boats. White Beach was a strange place. We arrived on a Saturday night and it was packed with locals looking for a good party and lots of lady boys. However the next day and the one after the place was much quieter and had an entirely different vibe, being more laid back and peaceful. It was only on the last day Monday that we noticed just how nice the beach and sea were when it was deserted. While in Puerto Galera we also encountered another instance of genuine Filipino humanity. We brought a bracelet and the sign said 10 pesos. I handed over 10 pesos without questioning it since this is only roughly 17 pence. The young woman said no, only 7 pesos (roughly 11 pence). A woman stood to make 33% more today an amount she knew was nothing to me and yet she still went out of her way to ensure that I didn't overpay. It's nice to find a part of the world not overly embellished in capitalism yet. Next we headed back to Manila for a night before leaving the Philippines.
We left the Philippines on a flight to Singapore. This was to be country number 11!
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