Trekking Banaue Rice Terraces, Philippines

bearthedog · Apr 29, 2012

So, after we saw the Holy Week displays in Pampanga, we took a long 7 hour bus ride up north to the mountains of Baguio. Felt a little like home for a minute with all the pine and mahogany trees up there. If that wasn’t enough to make it feel like CA, the temperatures were way cooler than the rest of the Philippines. We spent the rest of the day there roaming through the markets and then going even further up the mountain to see a picturesque view from the top of Baguio.

Baguio Market

Bolo heaven

Basket of chickens

Got rice?

Reza buying fruit

Reza and his beetle nut

Blood

Day Old Chick

We spent the night there and come early morning it was time to get back on the road. We caught a bus that quickly overheated, but soon we were on our way. The bus ride was the most scenic view in Philippines as we entered the Ifugao Mountain Province.

It took around 10 hours to reach Banaue due to a few stop over’s, overheating, and the time our bus hit a guy on his motorcycle. The guy was ok enough to come back after the bus and flag them down, making the bus pull over. Not long after that he boarded the bus and there was an all out fist fight.

On with the show…

Banaue Rice Terraces are 2000-year old terraces that were carved into the mountains of Ifugao in the Philippines by ancestors of the indigenous people.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banaue_Rice_Terraces

Ifugao native

We took the stairs down

Ifugao natives

Mini

View from our hotel

mini

mamun1024 · Apr 29, 2012

Awesome. Great post. Thanks for sharing.

brewcitymike · Apr 29, 2012

Very nice pics. I like the close ups of the natives. You have the greatest job EVER:thumbup:

CellerDrummer · Apr 29, 2012

This post is bringing back memories..I lived over there in 1989,90 and 1991...There used to be a big monkey head on the side of the road to Baguio...When I drove there it made me so homesick , I was only 20 at the time..Now I'm homesick for the P.I.... I wish I could remember where we used to scuba-dive..The beaches were so beautiful and when the bonka boats took us to the differant dive sites you would pass the most awesome islands..Nice thread.
CD

PropThePolecat · Apr 30, 2012

What did the blood taste like? And how do they prep it, so its solid on stick?

dannyv · Apr 30, 2012

Great thread !! Just beautiful and awesome photos !!

Big Mike · Apr 30, 2012

Thanks for bring us along once again. :thumbup:

:thumbup:

I almost feel like I've been there.

Those close-ups of the Locals are just amazing. :thumbup:

Big Mike

bearthedog · Apr 30, 2012

PropThePolecat said:
What did the blood taste like? And how do they prep it, so its solid on stick?

The blood coagulates after about 15 minutes. Cut it up in squares, and then bar-b-q over a fire. It tastes like grilled liver, amazing. Great survival food.

-RB