Ifugao and Sagada

Welcome back to Ifugao and Sagada!

I was in these 2 places in different seasons.

I was in Sagada back in February 2011 to celebrate my birthday.
My first Sagada travel entry: Sagada, Mountain Province

It was a romantic and simple celebration.

I was in Ifugao in December 2011 to celebrate the new year of 2012.

My first Ifugao travel entry: Ifugao, Philippines

I was given a chance to return with my sweet travel friend Ale,
whom I met in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

The Oyahami bus liner has a daily schedule from Manila to Banaue.

We took the 9:30 pm bus from Espania, Manila (near University of Sto. Thomas)

arriving Banaue, Ifugao around 6 am.

The fare is P800 (one way)  for 9 hours travel time.

The other later schedule is 10:30 pm.

We stayed in a lodge overlooking the river near the market.
There are a lot of home stay and hostels in this place.

Our room was P500, good for 2.
With the common lavatory and shower room.
The hot shower is for P50.
 

I don't have an itinerary.

The famous rice terraces are 5 minutes from the town.
 The dream-like rice terraces with the waterfalls are 45 minutes away by jeepney.

We met a group of travellers who are looking for buddies
to go to Batad Rice Terraces.

We agreed to rent a jeepney for P2000 to take us to Batad Rice Terraces.
 

After breakfast, we prepared our things for our day tour.

We did not hire a tour guide as I can still remember the route.

Usually, a tour guide ranges from P600-P800.

In the Philippines, it is more fun to ride on top of the jeepney than be inside the vehicle.
We call this "top-load".

The scenic view is better.. like this.

And the feeling with this kind of experience is exciting.

The jeepney can go as far the little village on the road.

You will have to walk for 20-30 minutes rough road with a nice view
to get to Batad Rice Terraces.

The Tappiya waterfalls.

The same beauty as I've remembered from 3 years ago.

This is another 30 minutes away from the rice terraces.
Swimming with caution is allowed.

We had our lunch in the village before going back to Banaue.

The local government is doing road widening during this time to make it more travel-friendly.

The next day, Ale and I had early stroll and breakfast.

There is a jeepney that departs 8 am from Banaue to Bontoc.
Travel time will take an hour.

The fare is P150.

From Bontoc, there are a lot of jeepneys going to Sagada.

The fare is around P100.

There are a lot of lodge and home stay in this place as well.
Our room is the same price as in Ifugao, P500.

Registration Fee at the local municipal office is P75.

It was our entrance fee as well to the cave.

When I was here the first time, I did not try the spelunking,

We did the Big Waterfalls that took 2 hours trek.
You may opt to rent a jeepney for P1000 and tour guide of P800.

We had a light snack, meet our guide and invited some friends.

It was my first time doing the spelunking.

We were 4 in our group. 

Our guide fee was P800.

The experience is great! 

Never tried to be really under the ground... literally.

This usually will take 45 minutes to 1 hour.

The cave has 3 stages.

The first stage is getting down there through the slippery stones.

The second stage is going to the small lakes which is also slippery.

The third stage comes with the rope and small passages.

This time my camera cannot go with me, 

the water level is deep and it is difficult to carry things.

We did rock jumping as well.

There is a lagoon at the very bottom of it.

The entrance back to light.

Truly a great experienced!

The Kiltepan sunrise.

The next day, we started to trek early morning for the sunrise.

But, due to the tropical storm, all we saw was a foggy morning.

The sunrise  of this place was one of the most beautiful I've seen it 4 years ago.

Breakfast with friends before taking the bus from Sagada to Baguio.

Then, Baguio back to Manila.

Companion: 1 ( and more friends along the way)

Total expenses: P3,500.