My heart is still mourning and my eyes are still puffing but the call to write two thousand words knocked as I was on my way home to Bohol boarded on the Oceanjet fast craft today at 8 in the morning.

Of course, I won't be missing this opportunity because the topic is none other than travel.

As I tried to look back, I scanned through my list of favorite places, I have been to different provinces, beaches, mountains, resorts and attractions in the country. I want to talk about the place which should top the list of the places I have been.

After a few thinking and pondering, I decided to write about my DIY travel to Batad together with my husband.

Let's get started because this is not a short trip at all.

Batad 2D1N DIY Travel

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Late 2016, James (my husband) and I had already plotted a special trip to celebrate our second anniversary as husband and wife. We picked Batad as our destination this year and looking back, we are glad we did select it as we backpack the entire tour, listening only to the beat of our hearts and doing it our own, just merely the two of us.

James and I at the Batad's entry point.

As usual and just like how our previous DIY trips, I did all the research and planning for our itinerary. DIY travels can sometimes be stressing and to make sure that we would be able to make use of our four days towards the mountain province, we got to have a clear itinerary.

It took me months to plan this trip, plan A and plan B up to plan C just so if first plan won't work, we still have two other plans to follow.

But don't get me wrong, both of us are open to adventures, we are okay with a trip without itineraries but that can be applied to those places which won't cost us a lot like within Cebu and perhaps Bohol but for cases where we have to fly out of the province and go hike up to the mountains, we can't afford this to fail. As we always note:

"Failing to plan is planning to fail"

Thank you to the author of that quote.

Before moving on, here's a list of my tips when traveling to Batad:

1. Plan your trip's itinerary, create Plans A to C, if possible, add plan D.

1. Avail of your airline's online check-in, it will save your ass.

1. ‎When negativity comes, shoo it away.

1. ‎Bring neck pillows, you'll thank me later.

1. Don't hire children as tour guides in Batad, explained further.

1. Bring only cash, no ATMs in Batad, commodity prices are twice or thrice the SRP.

1. Ask permission first when taking photos of the locals.

1. Wear proper footwear!

So to give you a summary, here's our overall itinerary:

Day 1: En Route Batad via Manila-Banaue and a Sidetrip to watch UAAP

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One of my favorite shots during this DIY trip. A local looking over the rice terraces.

Two epic failures happened that first day. First, AirAsia, our airline that time moved our flight departure multiple times before the flight date. Then on the flight date, they again moved it to 11am instead of 10am and I only noticed the change early morning. I checked-in online at six in the morning.

Second failure, when we were on our way to the airport at 9am, James realized he left the Tamron 11-16 mm wide lens to my dismay. I was almost angry but I have to keep calm and shoo away the negative vibes.

Traffic is getting worse in Cebu but both of us were sure we will make it on time because trip is now 11am but when we reached the airport, we were surprised that our flight was already closed! Although time is still fixed at 11am, the check in counter closed it as the trip was full, they had some issues and they had accommodated the passengers with earlier flights. The staff told us we will be rebooked to the 12:30pm trip instead which was not okay because we have a game to watch at 1pm.

Fortunately, I mentioned to the staff that I had already checked-in online but didn't print our boarding passes. Thank God for online check-in option, we boarded the 11am flight!

UAAP Volleyball Game

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I am a huge fan of UAAP Women's Volleyball league, so as a fan, I made it a point to insert that to our itinerary. We were a bit late but nonetheless, we reached before the first set ended.

Thankfully, my husband supported me on this even if we were both carrying our backpacks. I was delighted to see my favorite team - Ateneo Lady Eagles!

Eight Hours Trip to Banaue

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James hate long bus trips, he has this motion sickness since he was young but because of constant bus travels, he eventually learned how to control this urge and so he didn't even felt any sickness when we traveled from Manila to Banaue for eight hours boarded on an Ohayami Bus.

I booked and paid our tickets way before, it cost us Ph 470 per person but the good thing about this is we got sure seats reserved. There were lots of foreigners on board too and center aisle was occupied. We had three bus stops so we could stretch our legs and also pee.

It was ten in the evening when the bus went on its way, we were awakened by the rays of the sun peeking on our bus glass windows and finally, our first glimpse of Banaue!

Day 2: From Banaue to Bangaan

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Bus stopped and dropped us in a narrow road, that was already Banaue, we paid Php 50 per person for the environmental fee, every visitor is required to do so.

Had breakfast at Halfway Inn which serves affordable meals for Php 110 per meal.

At Banaue, there are many tricycle drivers offering round trip services to Batad Saddle Point pricing at Php 1k and beyond. Saddle point is the stop for all vehicles, further can only be traveled by feet.

We met Kuya Ceasar, a Cebuano who was married to an Ifugaonon and had lived there since then. He offered a side trip to Bangaan which is another cluster of rice terraces in Banaue.

A very interesting find, a house on a cliff while on our way to Bangaan.

Hapao

Batad

Bangaan

Cambulo

Pula

Above lists the five clusters of Ifugao, yet we got a glimpse of only the two, Bangaan was a sleepy town situated in a valley. The community's roofs wore the same colors thus they look definitely neat and nice from where we were standing.

There's a functional public school too within it. On the time of visit, they were done planting riceso the greenery scene of the rice plants made it even appealing.

We went back to the route, Kuya Ceasar was very informative and accommodating, he even offered us his Moma. This is a kind of fruit the locals chew from a coconut-tree like. As per Kuya Ceasar, the taste is indescribable but it has an effect that mimics that of a cigarette, it makes them warm too!

Trek from Saddle Point and Getting Lost in Batad

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Kuya Ceasar came to a stop as we reached Batad's Saddle Point. Fortunately, the road going to this point is already fully cemented from 2014. It made tourism easier. Contrary to what the locals in Banaue said, there are already tricycle drivers at Saddle point which can take the tourists from there back to Banaue. Hiring a round trip tricycle is not really necessary.

Getting lost is not bad at all specially in Batad. Here's one of the pics we were able to take while finding the right way. Local sunflowers.

Wild ferns spotted!

Young rice plants.

A local I asked if I could take a photo of him and he said yes but he turned away.

An ongoing road construction was being done and so we had to make a bit of a dangerous trek from the saddle point towards the entry to Batad. The men doing the construction were trying to flatten a hill to make an easy path going to the Batad entry. I bet the road now is easier, we might come back in the next years to come.

James and I trekked for a good 45 minutes, it was not really hard going towards Batad as the trek was downhill. The challenging part was upon going back to Saddle Point, other tourists, mostly were foreigners were on their way to Batad too! I even spotted some who were with us in the Ohayami Bus!

We met locals along the way who offered us tour services but we declined which we regretted afterwards. We thought we could get to our apartment by ourselves but ended up hiring a teenager to show us the way. We met Charlie who agreed to show us the way to the hotel apartment and be our tour guide for the rest of the day.

Walkathoning Batad

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Charlie, our tour guide.

Charlie showed us the way Batad View Inn and Restaurant where we stayed for a night. A few minutes of rest, lunch with a magnificent view of the rice terraces and freshening up, we were set for the whole afternoon of walkathoning entire Batad! We were joined by a special tour guide dog named Rambo owned by Mang Ramon of Ramon's Native Homestay and Restaurant.

Batad Rice Terraces - A UNESCO World Heritage Site located in the Ifugao Mountain Province, Philippines.

Here are the main attractions in Batad:

Batad Rice Terraces Top View Point

James and I at Batad's top view point! Awesome, fulfilling feeling! Worth all the sweat!

As the name itself states, this is the highest part of the Rice Terraces in Batad which gives an almost aerial view of Batad. It has a lot of routes going towards the top and the proper or best route lies in the hands of your tour guide.

Tappiya Waterfalls

On our way to Batad, we've spotted streams coming off from the rock walls, so we had anticipated that there's a waterfall in Batad. Because it requires a lot of good walking towards the waterfall, we skipped this and were satisfied hearing the loud impact of the waterfalls while we were at the top view point.

Tappiya Waterfalls is a bit hidden, it has a lot of stairs going down and up on the back back to the main village but as per what the other tourists say, it was awesome so it was worth the trek pain!

Batad Main Village

Although houses are scattered all over Batad, the main village is located at the center of Batad, almost at the bottom of the rice terraces.

Ifugao's traditional houses are still functional. These are triangular house elevated with 4 wooden posts, its ladder is hanged to prevent animals from entering it. However, there are already modern types of these houses with galvanized iron roofs.

At Batad View Inn and Restaurant, they allow guests to have a peek at their traditional house. It was full of history and culture. Here, you'll see the skulls of animals killed during their expeditions and hunting sessions.

Batad Rice Terraces was one of our top listed places to visit because of how awesome its amphitheater form are. We were not disappointed by it. It was truly amazing and mind-blogging work as to how our ancestors, the ancient Ifugaos made these work of art terraces with their own bare hands, 2000 years ago that it was considered as the most spectacular engineering feats to have been accomplished in the ancient world.

If all the terraces were put end to end, they would equal to half the circumference of the earth. - Source

Took a photo of James while we were resting.

Our trek started at the Batad Main Village then up to the View Point which was not recommended. We had to trek an uphill climb and it was energy consuming. I guess we didn't communicate well with Charlie, our tour guide, Tagalog was not our first dialect and so is the case with Charlie.

However, we managed to pull it off and reached the top, it was chicken for Charlie though, perhaps because he is still young. Rambo however was tired, he kept its tongue out halfway towards the top. Here's his happy face:

But the view was mesmerizing! An incredible array of flat layers used for planting rice. Today, more and more farmers were using machines to plow their field which was highly discouraged by the local government but still there are locals who would do so. It was only astounding to know that they use organic techniques in growing their crops.

It was still the start of the planting season so most of the terraces don't have young rice plants yet but that didn't erase the fact that the view was breath taking! Every single time that we climb up, I had to turn back, pull myself and composure so I could take a photo without losing my balance! I wanted to take a photo of each corner of the terraces!

At the view point, a local store is situated which was good so the tourists who were trekking their way here could buy some cold drinks and water. Note however that prices here are two to three times higher than the suggested retail price but it was just alright because I understand the struggle they had to endure to bring all the drinks up here so we could buy something from them.

Words and photographs are not enough to express how wonderful this destination was. We will surely come back to Batad soon in the near future, perhaps during their harvesting months when the fields are gold.

As to why we regret hiring a teenager, before we went to sleep that night after the tour, someone from the apartment advised us that it is not good because kids can't help you in case something happens along the way. There's a tendency that kids would just run away, they won't be able to carry you or assist you specially if there are accidents or such. We were blessed those things didn't happen at all so in case you'd like to come, please hire adults instead.

Batad was incredibly amazing, we didn't really complain about the too much walking, it was cold there so although we were a bit tired from all the walkathon, it was alright. It was definitely good to find a room which has hot shower.

Day 3: En Route to Sagada

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Part of itinerary was Sagada but I prefer blogging about it in a separate entry because this one is getting very very lengthy.

Third day, we rose and got up very early as we have to catch our ride back to Banaue at seven in the morning. We started yet another walking adventure, this time it was way more difficult because it was already uphill, plus gravity was pulling us with our heavy backpacks.

Heavy backpack, steep trail, uphill trek to Batad Saddle Point.

We ate breakfast yet again at Halfway Inn before heading to Sagada via a van. You must watch out for the next blog too!

Here's a sneak peek:

Expenses Breakdown:

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Cab going to Mactan Airport	Php 250
Promo Air Fare via Air Asia	Php 450 / person - Php 900
GrabCar To FilOil Arena	Php 300
UAAP Game tickets	Php 175 / person - Php 350
GrabCar to SM Sta Mesa	Php 80
Dinner at SM for 2	Php 300
GrabCar To Ohayami Bus Terminal	Php 100
Bus fare to Banaue via Ohayami Bus	Php 470 / person - Php 940 Booked online in advance
Banaue Environmental Fee	Php 50 / person - Php 100
2nd day Breakfast at Halfway Inn	Php 110 / person - Php 220
Round trip tricycle fare to Batad Saddle Point	Php 1000
Side trip to Bangaan	Php 200
Lunch at Batad View Inn and Restaurant for two	Php 300
Tour Guide	Php 500
Stay at Batad View Inn and Restaurant	PHP 672 booked via Agoda
Dinner at Batad View Inn and Restaurant for 2	Php 300
3rd day Breakfast at Halfway Inn	Php 110 / person - Php 220

Our view while having dinner.

I made a journal entry too while in Batad.

Truly, Batad Rice Terraces is highly recommended to travelers, local and foreigners alike.

Disclaimer: All photos and information are originally mine.

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xo JUNEBRIDE xo

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