7
- Batad
Back to Manila! We spend half a day in the Mall of Asia, a huge shopping
mall, looking for a cheap but reasonable camera
to
finish the holiday with. Then we take the night bus to Banaue,
in the Ifugao region, with its spectacular rice terraces
dating
back centuries.
In Banaue we take a jeepney to
a pass, from where we walk 1 hour to Batad under torrential rain.
Batad
is a lovely village set in the middle of an awesome amphitheatre of rice
terraces. We walk with Emilie, a french girl
who
studies
cinema in Manila, and who is here to work on a documentary. We will stay in a native hut in
Ramon's
guest
house, a very kind and welcoming host, and an open book on local traditions.
In the evening we gather around the
fire, we drink rice wine and listen to Ramon's tales.
During the
day we walk to the Tappia Falls, through the steep terraces and then we keep
walking up to the next
village,
Cambulo.
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