{"id":6703,"date":"2024-12-15T06:18:37","date_gmt":"2024-12-15T06:18:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worldoftravelling.com\/blog\/?p=6703"},"modified":"2025-01-15T10:49:17","modified_gmt":"2025-01-15T10:49:17","slug":"the-rice-terraces-of-banaue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldoftravelling.com\/blog\/?p=6703","title":{"rendered":"The rice terraces of Banaue."},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The two travel adventurers that I have the greatest respect for are Alan Whicker, who sadly passed away in 2013, and Michael Palin. Some readers may not be familiar with Mr Whicker (Whicker\u2019s World) but everyone will no doubt be familiar with Mr Palin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What makes them both so special in my mind? True gentlemen, fabulous communicators, inquisitive natures, and a wonderful sense of humour – hugely important if you want to engage with strangers in a foreign country and present an entertaining television programme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Designated a UNESCO world heritage site in 1995; the Rice Terraces of Banaue<\/strong>, built some 2000 years ago, in the northern part of the Philippines, featured in episode 4 of the BBC travel programme \u2018Full Circle\u2019, presented none other than Mr Palin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was a truly memorable episode! Despite the incredibly long and challenging road trip to get to Banue (which was well documented in the programme) neither Michael or the audience actually got to see the rice fields! The whole area was covered in a thick blanket of mist. Michael did his best to describe what the scene should have looked like – a classic piece of TV.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It isn\u2019t possible to fly to Banue and it takes nearly two days to get here (by bus). Would my visit to the terraces be any more successful than Michael\u2019s?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Manila to Baguio with Victory Liners Bus – 7 hours.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Baguio is as wildly hilly as the surrounding Cordillera and is an overwhelming traffic congested, sprawling city. The throat-killing traffic fumes are unbearable. I wanted to leave as soon as I arrived. The only place to seek refuge was Burnham Park, which was dreamt up by American architect Daniel Hudson Burnham, in the early twentieth century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Baguio to Sagada with GL Transport Compay – 7 hours.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

High up in the mountains of the Cordillera, Sagada is an off-the-beaten-track dream. Reached by twisty mountain roads and so isolated that ancient indigenous rites persisted until a few decades ago, Sagada has mysterious hanging coffins to view, exciting caves to explore, strange \u2018Blue Soil\u2019 to marvel at, hiking and treking opportunities in the nearby hills and mountains, and a plethora of other things to see and do. It\u2019s a place I would loved to have stayed a bit longer, the locals are extremely friendly and I get the impression that it is a place that has escaped the jaded attitude of tourist destinations elsewhere in the Philippines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I stayed at an home stay in Sagada, where I met a fellow traveler. Lindsey was a young lady from California who has just spent 6-months travelling around South East Asia. She was due to go home for Christmas before starting a 6-month journey around South America. We seized the opportunity to do a hike together – in the nearby mountains. It was a really nice experience and we never stopped chatting – sharing travel stories and tips.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sagada to Banaue – 3-hours on local bus.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The rice terraces of the Ifuago region are the whole reason for my visit to North Luzon – following the footsteps of my hero Michael Palin. The rice terraces at Batad, as well as a few others, are so special that five have been given UNESCO protection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite the extremely wet start to my visit, I was lucky – the views of the rice terrace at Batad were spectacular. I spent two nights in Banaue. It was then time to retrace my steps for the 14- hour journey to Clark Airport – 2 hours north of Manila.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From Banaue to Baguio – 6 hours by mini van.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From Bagui to Clark airport – 5 hours by bus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Next stage: fly from Clark to El Nido.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Manila to Baguio to Sagada to Banaue to Clark to El Nido<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Bus timetable at Baguio bus station.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Breathe Baguio!! I wouldn\u2019t recommend it!!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Lovers in the park – Baguio.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
En route to Sagada from Baguio.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
My hiking buddy, Lindsey, in Sagada.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Cabbage patch in Sagada.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
En route to the rice terraces in Banaue.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Public transport Banaue.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Banaue rice terraces – at the time of my visit.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Banaue Rice Terraces – summer (stock image).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Three corners of a triangle – three corners of the Philippines.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The two travel adventurers that I have the greatest respect for are Alan Whicker, who sadly passed away in 2013, and Michael Palin. Some readers may not be familiar with Mr Whicker (Whicker\u2019s World) but everyone will no doubt be familiar … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6729,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[313],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6703","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-philippines"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldoftravelling.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6703","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldoftravelling.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldoftravelling.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldoftravelling.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldoftravelling.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6703"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/worldoftravelling.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6703\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6829,"href":"https:\/\/worldoftravelling.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6703\/revisions\/6829"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldoftravelling.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6729"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldoftravelling.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6703"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldoftravelling.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6703"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldoftravelling.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6703"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}