A local shop

Shacks by the river

This was actually a lot easier than we thought it would be, taking a tricycle to the highway and then a bus came almost instantly!

Our bus ride to Vigan

The bus was so comfy the ride didn't seem that long.

Entering Vigan

A Jeepney

We found accomodation quite easily in an old House extended into a hotel.

The room we could have had if we weren't backpackers!

Chairs at the hotel, not made for Charly

Our hotel, Grandpa's Inn

We then decided to go walking around the town for a while surprised at just how modern Vigan is.

Unesco Heritage city with old Spanish buildings

Us in tricycle sidecar

Us squeezed into a tricycle sidecar

Firstly we went to a place where they make traditional terracotta pots crammed into a sidecar on a tricycle.

Guy making pots, very quickly

Guy making pots old school

Lots of pots

Arty shot of clay pots

50m kiln built in 1823

Inside the 50m kiln which was built in 1823

Kevin the clay trampling Karibu

Then we decided to get a horse-and-cart to go around the old town.

In the carriage

Our horse and carriage

Our horse and carriage

Our driver

Locals playing cards

Passing another horse and cart

Vigan Cathedral

What we really wanted to do was go through the MacDonalds drive-through whilst we were on it.

Chris' new church

Chris with Reverend Ronald

But due to our inability to speak Ilocano or Tagalog (the two local languages) we failed and instead went back to our guest House! We still had an awesome day though

written by  chrischarly on March 16, 2011 from Vigan, Philippines
from the travel blog: Chris and Charly's Passage through SE Asia
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Leaving San Juan on the bus

Having felt we had made the most out of our short trip to Vigan we left early this morning after breakfast and travelled to San Juan.

View from our balcony

View from our balcony

Where we stayed

This is predominately aimed towards surfers, which obviously we are not, as the sea is pretty rough but that didn't stop it from being a lovely stop-off on our way to the mountains.

Amazing sunset

Another amazing sunset

A guy with only 1 leg who was surfing - amazing !

Watching the surfers wishing we could do the same

So we took a break and did very little except taking a short walk along the beach.

A walk along San Juan beach

Street Parade

Street parade

Therefore, it took quite a while to navigate our way through the town and find an ATM and then a bus to Baguio. Once we finally found a way out and a bus to Baguio it was only supposed to take 1 1/2 hours. However, due to the parade and the bus refusing to leave until it was full, meaning that it took twice as long to arrive there, which wasn't good as we had another long journey of 7 hours ahead of us!

Rice and plenty of it

Once in Baguio it was really hot and humid and we had to navigate our way to the other side of town to find a bus to Sagada. Luckily, there was one just about to leave, so we begged them to take us as well fearing it may be the only bus that day and after a bit of persuasion the conductor said there were only two seats left, so gratefully we took them.

Feeling delighted that we made it with only seconds to spare we climbed on the bus and we didn't see any seats at all. Thinking they had made a mistake we spoke again to the conductor and showed us our allocated seats, fold-down ones in the centre aisle right at the back!

Not only were they broken so every time we turned a corner they snapped into place; we were going to be driving through the mountains on tiny, bumpy, windy roads. I swear the journey only got worse and worse though.

Only got centre seats, comfy !

To my left, there was a newborn baby fast asleep that I had to try not to bump into and as I was squished this proved difficult. To my right there was a diseased person who was coughing constantly. Behind a guy sneezed on my back, and yes, I could feel it. Then finally, in front a poor child vomited the whole way. NICE! Also, why do Filipinos get so cold when it is boiling hot? The windows were closed the whole way and as we were in the middle, there was nothing we could do about it apart from drip with sweat.

On the bus thru the mountains

So much for taking this journey to witness the beautiful scenery around us when we couldn’t even see a window and why have all of our short journeys have been in comfortable coaches. So unfair!

Charly with new friend on the bus

About 10 minutes before it was our stop, finally 2 people got off so we grabbed seats quickly and forced open a window and finally saw some of the amazing mountains that friends have told us about!

The mountains of Sagada

One of the many amazing views

View from bus enroute to sagada

So when we finally got off the bus we were truly ecstatic! Sagada is a cute town and we found some fantastic accommodation for the cheapest yet. Think we may just stay here for a few days!

written by  chrischarly on March 19, 2011 from Baguio, Philippines
from the travel blog: Chris and Charly's Passage through SE Asia
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Starting the days trek

Today Chris and I got up bright and early and decided to go trekking! I know it sounds unbelievable and we almost couldn't believe it ourselves but we did!

Hanging coffins in Echo valley

Our first stop was to Echo Valley to see some hanging coffins. However, we soon got lost following Lonely Planet directions. Refreshingly, we weren't the only ones and we found Sophie, a lone traveller from Switzerland with the same problem. So together, we finally found our way.

Sophie our new Swiss friend

View across Sagada

Then, still feeling adventurous, we headed out Lumiang Caves to see some more coffins, this time on the ground.

Looking down into the cave

Some of the coffins here were over 500 years old! Very impressive! We did however find it very strange to only see small coffins, thus concluding that there were many children in coffins or seriously short people, shorter than myself.

Chris with the 100's of VERY old coffins, spooky !

Later though after doing some further research we discovered that when the bodies are placed into the coffins, they are put into the fetal position; therefore leaving the world the same way they entered. Although the cave was amazing, as we didn’t take a guide with us, we thought it would be sensible not to wander through, as we didn’t know what scary things might be inside.

Up from the coffin cave

Alter the cave we decided to find some more hanging coffins (and thinking about it now, it sounds pretty morbid trekking after coffins all day). Signs in The Philippines are non-existent so finding them proved challenging, but by talking to a friendly local he pointed them out to us, right behind his own house hanging off a cliff!

Hanging coffins

They were even his ancestors!

Two local kids with their ancestors behind in the coffins

We found out from him that the reason why they are hanging instead of being buried so their spirits could roam around the valley and that way they can watch over them I suppose.

After our trek, all three of us were exhausted. Sagada has no flat ground and is surrounded by mountains but we were in fact very proud of ourselves!

View whilst trekking around Sagada

Old bug

Our washing

This morning we woke up and I literally couldn't move! My legs hurt so much I couldn't face getting out of bed. However, after a little attention seeking I got up after Chris rubbed my calves back to life.

Feeling optimistic and wanting to get the most out of the day again, we decided to go trekking once again, thinking a little pain didn't really hurt anyone. So, we met up with Sophie at 9am and found a lovely little cafe to have breakfast before we went on our way.

The view from our hotel in Sagada

Our early start to leave and go trekking though didn't go as planned and we made a few friends there and we chatted away the afternoon where we watched the staff make civet coffee.

watching them roast their own coffee

grinding the beans

civit coffee beans

Cat poo coffee half full

This is famous coffee all around the world and supposedly costs $50 in the USA. Wild civet cats eat the coffee plants selecting only the finest beans and the poo them out. The poo is then collected and made into coffee! It sounds pretty disgusting but Chris loved it.

Feeling guilty about not making it further than the cafe we reluctantly waited until it cooled down a little and headed off at 2pm, taking a new friend Jonjo with us as our tour-guide.

It was an exhausting yet very rewarding high up in the mountains and through a forest. Completely beetroot in the face and doubting that we would ever be white-skinned again, the heavens opened and it poured down with rain. Surprisingly though, in the middle of nowhere there was a shack built in the forest that we ran to and Jonjo pulled out some beers from inside his bag, we were secretly delighted to have the chance to cool down!

Enjoying a beer after finding shelter amazingly from the rain in the middle of nowhere!

Once the rain stopped, we made it to the viewpoint and were amazed at just how high we had climbed and the view beneath us.

Chris as usual ahead of me!

Just look how high we climbed!!!

Chris 'wowed' by the view

More rice terraces

Admiring the view

Rice terraces full after the rain

An amazing view of rice terraces

The view in the mountains

Trekking is hard, but very rewarding even though it is seriously tiring!

written by  chrischarly on March 21, 2011 from Sagada, Philippines
from the travel blog: Chris and Charly's Passage through SE Asia
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Chris squished in

A little girl, 'May' wondering what to make of the ginger man who is taking her photo

The lady wit the stick suspiciously looks a lot like yoda

To get there we had to take a jeepney to Bontoc and then we took another to Mainit. However, there was an annoyingly 4-hour wait between the two but we filled it with a long lunch.

Sophie and I

The Jeepney was planned to leave at 3pm but we got there at 2.15pm, and it was a good job as the Jeepney was pretty full with people and goods. Well at least we thought it was full, but apparently not to Filipino standards as it continued to be loaded up until 3.15pm. Once we finally got the Guinness Book of Records approval for most people, rice, veg, and beer in and on top of a Jeepney, we set off on our hour-long trip up a steep and windy mountain track.

On route, we found out that we were travelling with the owner of the two guesthouses in Mainit, and so we had our rooms sorted before arrival. We got off and carried our bags on a little track through the tin houses until finding our little tin house.

Our guest house

It was basic but had a nice view and a little pool fed from the hot springs.

The view from where we stayed

The pool outside with water fed from the hot springs, aka a bath

Our crazy land-lady Gesto

Geston, our eccentric if not better described as a little crazy host, took us through the village so we could see the hot springs and also all of the pig stys along the way adding that little extra flavour to the spring stream.

The pig stys right by the springs, with waste running down, yuck.

Children playing

You could literally feel the heat

Bubbling Hot springs

Outside our guest house

Hot springs

Mainit village

Children eating sweet potatoes freshly boiled in the hot springs

There was also two communal baths, male and female, where all the locals were happily cleaning themselves.

The women's and baby's bath

The men's bath

We returned to the guesthouse and Geston made us some rice, which we enjoyed with a selection of bread that we had picked up along the way.

Our a-la-carte meal of bread and rice... tasty...

For dessert, we had a lovely piece of Belgium chocolate thanks to Sophie and then retired early before our early start the next day to repeat it all in the opposite direction.

written by  chrischarly on March 22, 2011 from Mainit, Philippines
from the travel blog: Chris and Charly's Passage through SE Asia
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That was a shock to the system at stupid-o-clock! So we grumpily got up, dressed, and made our way to take a jeepney to Bontoc at 8am in order to catch a 9am bus to Banaue. There was only one jeepney a day leaving for Bontoc and the last bus to Banaue was the one we were hoping to make it in time for and considering it takes over an hour to get there, we were cutting it fine!

The driver's seat

The jeepney from Mainit-Baguio before it fills up

The jeepney wasn't very full so although it was a bumpy ride it was relatively comfortable. We arrived in Bontoc dead on 9, jumped out the back of the jeepney to see our bus driving straight past us. Feeling gutted that we had missed it; our jeepney driver took pity on us, told us to get straight back in, and followed it to the next stop. He then parked in front of it to prevent it from leaving again so we made it! What a nice guy!

The journey to Banaue was a little over 2 hours but it was a nice change to get a comfy bus again!

Nice saw

Banaue is famous for its rice terraces and is considered to be the Eighth Wonder of the world. It truly is amazing here and the rice terraces are spectacular as they are over 2000 years old, with fantastic irrigation systems made out of bamboo, thus water can flow freely from the rivers and rain to the terraces. Even the bus journey to Banaue was spectacular!

Rice terraces

The land-slide road we're about to drive onto

A cute village

Just outside Banaue

Lush green rice terraces

And again, rice terraces

Entering Baguio- the view from the jeepney

So we got ourselves booked into a nice guesthouse with perfect views and there we chilled for the rest of the day planning our next few days and trying to get rid of hasselers that just wouldn't quit and leave you alone. Something we hadn't experience in The Philippines so far and we had forgotten just how irritating it is...

Rice terraces in Banaue - the 8th wonder of the world

Banaue village

The view from our room

Me and our tricycle driver

This morning we went to Hapao to see more rice terraces. These are supposed to be the best in the area at this time of year as they were 100% green. To get there we took a tricycle and the bumpy journey took a little over an hour. We had supposedly paid for a tour guide but once we got there the driver just pointed us in the direction and said, 'Enjoy!' so we found our own way around.

Rice terraces

This probably was for the best as we could make our way and daudle along at our own pace.

Fantasic views

Unfortunately the weather wasn't great and not far along the walk it started to pour down with rain. It was great to walk amongnst the terraces and we had the place completely to ourselves.

Cable system for taking goods and people, across

The Hapao rice terraces

The Hapao rice terraces

The Hapao rice terraces

Enjoying the view

Hungduan rice terrace sign

Hapao rice terraces

The Hapao rice terraces

More rice terraces

More rice

Rice

Rice terrace adventurers

River running through and watering the terraces

View from the terraces

Is she lost ?

Luscious green terraces

Yes more rice!

Tour guide Charly finding the way

The steps up from the rice terraces

Nice view walking in the terraces

Rice Terraces

A river through terraces

The Hapao rice terraces

The Hapao rice terraces

After around 2 hours we took the steep walk back and headed back to our hotel. As it had been raining though the road was really bad and as most of it was made out of mud due to recent landslides we got stuck countless times and had to get out and walk. Chris even had to push it a few times.

The road which we got stuck on

The Tricycle stuck in the mud

Local taxi

Local taxi

So by the time we got back we were filthy and very wet! We were glad we had booked our room for an extra half day so we could get showered before our long but journey.

So for the rest of the day we met up with a couple of friends and at 8pm we took another tricycle to catch the bus.

We had paid a little extra to get a luxury bus to Manila as it was 10 hours long and over-night, but the driver was truly a selfish idiot. Throughout the night he kept switching the air-conditioning on and off, on and off despite people coming up and complaining and it was FREEZING! At 2am he also got a little bored and whilst we were trying to sleep he decided to put a CD on loud! I got so annoyed, I found his CD player and switched it off, but two hours later he worked out how to overcome this and started playing the radio... It was a very long night!

written by  chrischarly on March 24, 2011 from Hungduan, Philippines
from the travel blog: Chris and Charly's Passage through SE Asia
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