Last two weeks in the Phillippines: North Luzon

The past weeks in the Netherlands were quite busy and we didn't really find the time to write a blog about our travel of the last two weeks in the Philippines, but this morning we sat down and wrote about our adventure in North Luzon!

The picture below showed the route we traveled the last part of our travel in the Philippines. We took the bus from Manila to Banaue, then we took the minivan to Sagada. From Sagada we took the bus to San Juan and then back to Manila.

The route we traveled

The 23rd of February we took the overnight Ohayami bus from Manila to Banaue: a bus ride of 9,5 hours. We left at 9pm and arrived at 6.30am in Banaue. We pre-booked a nice homestay in town, because we were told that it was very busy because of Chinese New Year. The people at our hostel in Manila recommended this place, and it was indeed perfect for us!  

Bus station at Manila

Our overnight bus (check the seats in the middle!)

Our homestay in Banaue: Randy's Brookside Inn

Entrance of Randy's place

Unfortunately, the weather was not really good the day we arrived. We walked around in the town of Banaue, had lunch, and decided to watch a movie on our laptop. We originally planned to visit some lookout points in the area to see the beautiful rice terraces, but as the pictures below will show, it was very hazy and not much to see... ;-) During the night we went out for dinner with a couple from France that stayed in the same guest house. Because electricity went down in the entire town, it turned out to be a very cozy candle light dinner.

Banaue city: view from a restaurant

Main street in Banaue

Dinner with a French couple

The next morning we decided to visit the Batad rice terraces. There is no road to Batad, but you can take a tricycle to the end of the road and then and you need to walk the last kilometer to the village. There are plans to construct a paved road to Batad village, but we were lucky that this was not the case yet. Before we were picked up early morning by our tricycle driver, we quickly dropped our laundry at the laundry shop.

Laundry shop: I wash, I dry, I fold :-)

Our tricycle

On our way from Banaue to Batad

Rice terraces!

Beautiful views on the way (not yet Batad!)

Walk to Batad village

Batad Environmental Tour Guide Association 

Batad 'amphitheatre' of rice

Walking stick park

Local people from Batad at Rita's place

Batad rice terraces

Typical traditional Filipino houses

Rice terrace in Batad

Hike through the rice terraces

Beautiful views

Kids playing in Batad village

Amazing landscapes

Batad village

The rice terraces were very green this time of the year

Lady working on the rice terrace

Planting the rice

Batad from the other side of the valley

Enjoying the beautiful views

Local worker

So pretty!

Taking the 'stairs'

After a couple of days in Banaue, we took a minivan to Sagada. This time we didn't make a reservation beforehand for a place to stay, but we found - in the end - a very nice guesthouse. In the area of North Luzon, the accommodations (mostly homestays or guesthouses) are very simple and basic, but also cheap and exactly what we are looking for when we are traveling.

Our guesthouse in Sagada

Guesthouse

View from our guesthouse

Our favorite place in Sagada!

Just out of town

On our way to Bokong Waterfall waterfall

Check!

In Sagada we made a lot of hikes, to waterfalls, caves and a valley. One of the highlights of Sagada are the so-called 'hanging coffins' of Echo Valley. Some coffins are centuries old, others are put there more recently. The Igorot tribe believes that putting the bodies of their relatives higher up, brings them closer to their ancestral spirit.

What happens 10 times a day when we are hiking :-)

Climbing rocks in Echo Valley 

Almost there

Ieghhh!!! 

The hanging coffins

Famous hanging coffins

At the end of our hike to the hanging coffins, there was the opportunity to go rock climbing and Erik took up this challenge. 

Getting ready

Looks professional, doesn't it?

He had a lot of fun!

Not easy...

Abseiling 

We also made a hike to the Lumiang Burial Cave, where more than 100 coffins are stacked in the entrance, the oldest believed to be 500 years old. Many coffins were carved with lizards, which is the symbol for long life and fertility. On our way to the cave we saw more hanging coffins, high in the mountains.

More hanging coffins

At the entrance of the cave

Hundreds of coffins in the cave

Coffin with a lizard

Main street of Sagada

Another hike we made was to Mount Kiltepan viewpoint, an easy hike up hill. We took a different route back to the village through the forest. The views were amazing!

Sign to Kiltepan Rice Terraces view

Following the 4x4 track to the top

View at Mount Kiltepan

Having fun :-)

On our way down

Hike path through the forest

When we arrived back in Sagada village, we went for a drink to the Rock cafe. The name says it all: a cafe in a rock. We felt like a coca cola, but since they only served beer we had no choice than drinking a beer (San Miguel) with the locals!

Entrance of the rock cafe

Travel not to escape life, but for life not to escape us

Enjoying our beer

Locals having a good time at the fire

The next morning we decided to take a bus to Bagio, and from there we took another bus to San Juan La Union. We first had a breakfast at a Bana's cafe in Sagada, where they served civet coffee. This coffee is made from coffee beans that are eaten and defecated by the Asian palm civet. In the previous weeks in the Philippines we learned that traveling takes (a lot of) time in this country. From Sagada to San Juan it was only 165 kilometers, but it took us a full day (8.30am to 7.30pm). However, we enjoyed the scenery (a lot of similarities with the Alps in Europe) and we made some stops on the way to have a drink or lunch, which made it in the end quite a pleasant journey.

Civet coffee

The bean-eating civet cat in blue ;-)

Our bus from Sagada to Bagio

Catering along the way ;-) 

Views during the bus drive

Stop for lunch

We booked a very nice hostel (Flotsam and Jetsam) in San Juan, that two Dutch girls that we met in Coron recommended us. They told us that the atmosphere was great, and we were very happy we stayed at this place. The food was great, the people were nice and the dorms were cozy. We planned to stay here three nights, but ended up staying here five nights, because we liked it so much.

Dorm huts (kubo's) of Flotsam and Jetsam

Washing your feet before entering the hostel

Great atmosphere

Having breakfast

Restaurant of Flotsam and Jetsam

Pizza at Flotsam and Jetsam

San Juan (La Union) is well known because of the surfing, and we both enjoyed surfing at this place. It was easy to rent a surfboard, the instructors were very kind and the waves most of the time easy to catch (except for one day when the waves were quite high - and Erik still went in the water).

Renting a surf board

Ready to get into the water

Beach at San Juan 

Huge waves

Very huge waves

After a morning surf with a lot of big waves, we went for a coffee in a very nice place called El Union. The coffee there was amazing, and after a couple of days we learned that the barista at this place was taking part in international barista competitions!

Coffee shop El Union

Nice atmosphere!

Yammie!!

In the afternoon, we went for another surf, and the sea was a bit more calm, as the pictures below will show.

Catching a wave

Children watching the surfers

Yeah, standing up!

Good job!

I didn't dare to go into the water with the huge waves, but when the sea was more calm I also rented a surf board and catched some waves! Although I surfed before in Bali, Australia and Senegal, I took a lesson to make sure that I wouldn't hurt someone in the water (it was extremely busy at the beach break).

Surflesson

My surf instructor and me

Standing up!

Not always with success... 

Oh jeah!

So much fun!

After a full day of surfing, we were both quite exhausted. But it is such a nice exercise! In the afternoon we went back to the beach to watch the sunset.

Sunset at San Juan

Surfers at the beach

Beautiful sunset

After 5 days in San Juan (La Union), we took the bus back to Manila. In Manila, we stayed at a very luxurious hotel, since Amy & Ties gave us a hotel voucher as a present. It was great to enjoy the luxury after a couple of weeks in very basic accommodation! Thanks again Amy & Ties, we really enjoyed it! :-)

Waiting for the bus to Manila

Our hotel room in Manila

View from our hotel room in Manila (Makati)

Having dinner in a Thai restaurant 

Lobby of our hotel

Waiting for our Uber to arrive

The 5th of March we took an Uber to Manila Airport and we flew in the afternoon to Kuala Lumpur. In KL, we stayed for three nights in our Airbnb where I worked most of the time, preparing my laymen's speech and the defense of my PhD thesis.

Preparing my defense at our Airbnb in Kuala Lumpur

The 8th of March we flew from Kuala Lumpur back to Amsterdam with Turkish Airlines, with a stopover of three hours in Istanbul. 

Breakfast at Istanbul Airport

The 9th of March, around 11am we arrived back in the Netherlands. Both our parents came to pick us up, which was absolutely great. So nice to see them again!

Back home!

Today we'll fly from Amsterdam to Cape Town, to continue our travel. We will keep you updated via this blog about our adventures in Africa!

Big hugs and kisses,

Erik & Annemarie