We travelled in a clockwise direction around northern Luzon, from Manila to Baguio, to Sagada, to Banaue. Our recommendation after doing this is to do it the other way. Banaue is a dive compared to Sagada with low quality food, nasty looking buildings and the weather is not usually as pleasant. Banaue and the surrounding area is good for hiking whereas Sagada only has a few strenuous activities and is better for relaxing. Hence our suggestion of going this way round: Book the night bus to Banaue before you arrive in Manila. The only company running that route at the moment is Ohayami. They have online booking. Once you arrive in Manila you can head up the same day, flight dependent. Alternatively, stay one night in Manila. We and everyone we’ve spoken to has hated Manila. Plan a rest day after the overnight bus. We didn’t sleep on the bus (too many corners) and felt awful the next day, others we met went to bed on arrival in Banaue. Walk to the view point and then take a guide through Banaue rice terraces. You see them from above and then see them up close. If you go to Batad don’t bother with a guide unless you want to talk a bit about the rice terraces or want someone to steady you on a narrow section of wall. The waterfall is on a single path with no junctions and the rice terraces are like a giant amphitheatre and you can’t get lost. If you like trekking then I suggest a multi-day trek. A good trek is Batad-Cambulo-Pula-Banaue, two days with a one night stopover. This walk takes you through rice terraces and a forest. Leave your main bag in Banaue and take a tricycle to Batad (in the morning) and explore Batad that day. Then the next day walk through the rice terraces via Cambulo to Pula. The route is reasonably straight-forward. If you are not sure then get a guide. If you get a guide in Batad try to negotiate the price to around P600-800. Stay over in Pula; The guesthouse is the blue house you see upon arrival (located at the top of the village). It’s basic with no hot water, no shower, no meat to eat. The next day you trek through forest and reach the main road about 4km up from the top viewpoint. You can then walk or get a tricycle back to Banaue. The trek is mainly uphill and over two days you will climb 3000ft (1000m). If you don’t feel so fit or energetic you can do this trek in reverse. The start...

The guy with the motorbike had replied saying that the bike was not available today, but tomorrow would be fine. So today was for the waterfalls. The Bomod-OK falls are listed very high on everyone’s to-do list for Sagada and we had wanted to do them but the P500 for transport plus P600 for a guide (£15) just for someone to show us the way down a path had put us off. Oh well, we’re only here once and we’ve had bad luck before when we’ve had no guide so it’s probably better to pay then money. The Jeepney took us a few miles out of Sagada where we met our guide. She was Louisa and was in her 50s. The first part of the walk was down into the village on the valley below. The path consisted of steep steps straight down the hill-side. Louisa set off ahead at a good pace, one that was not to fast. She told us about the difference between Western tourists and Filipino tourists. Westerners come and they walk far and fast without any issue, the Filipinos (mainly from Manila), were very slow and struggled with the walks. We passed 3 groups of Filipinos on the way down, all of whom looked tired and were sweating lots. There were a few groups also coming back up the steps and they looked like they were dying. The walk to the falls was nice, we walked through the rice terraces and Louisa was able to tell us lots about the terraces and even point out her husband working in their paddy field. We learnt about when the rice was planted and when it was harvested, how many plots people owned and even about the other plants and vegetables that are grown. When we reached the waterfalls they were yet again underwhelming. A reasonable size but somehow there just wasn’t anything that made them spectacular or interesting. We sat around a bit then started making our way back up. We slowed to take pictures a few times and another group caught up with us. Our guide, obviously good friends with the other guide had a chat then asked if we wanted to go back up the longer but easier way. Well, we weren’t bothered about the easy bit but if we could drag out the walk then why not? (We later found out this was possible because the other group had a minivan waiting at the other location for them and we could catch a lift in that minivan back to our Jeepney which was waiting for us where we had gone down the steps....

Our guide who took us around the cave the day before had told us the bus from Banaue to Bontoc had crashed less than a week ago, killing 15 passengers (mainly European tourists). We knew that our next destination after Sagada was Banaue and we knew there were three options of how to get there: 1. Jeepney to Bontoc, then bus to Banaue. 2. Jeepney to Bontoc then Jeepney to Banaue. 3. Hire a minivan for the whole distance in a single trip. So the morning was spent looking at what we would do and how we would get there. Banaue is home to the famous rice terraces (referred to as the 8th wonder of the world) so it was a must visit destination. After a bit of research we found that the Florida Bus Company which owned the bus that had crashed was now banned (it had also been banned before) for running dangerous buses. The other bus company, called Cable Tours, was also banned for operating illegally. This meant that currently (February 2014) there are no buses operating between Bontoc and Banaue. Probably a good thing when thinking about safety, plus we’d already decided that we wouldn’t get the bus after hearing about the crash. There were many posters around Sagada for hiring a minivan so I texted the number asking for a price. The reply was P4000 (£53.50), to make a 2hr drive that was a bit pricey. The Jeepney to Bontoc was P45 and Jeepney from Bontoc to Banaue was P150. So P200 each versus P2000 each. For that saving I’d readily endure a Jeepney ride, after all the road is almost all paved and smooth. With the transport planned we then started thinking about what else to do in Sagada. Our sheet from the tourist office had a number of options, all with a guide and prices. We wanted more hiking and climbing around the local area, especially to see more rice terraces but we didn’t want to pay for the guide. We were also looking further afield at some rice terraces at the other side of the mountain (having to take the road to Bontoc then north to the terraces). The terraces at Maligcong sounded very good and worthy of a visit so we went to the guide office to ask about a tour to these terraces, but the price came back at P2500 per person (£33) to go as far the hot springs and then an extra charge to go to the Maligcong terraces. Far too much money for someone to basically lead the way and show us the route! Our hotel...

The main activity to do in Sagada is the Sumaguing Cave and today we decided we should do it. We had breakfast at The Yogurt House, our favourite place to eat in Sagada. The yogurt for breakfast (anytime really) is delicious. Annemarie had the yogurt with strawberries and muesli and I had it with local honey. A delicious way to start the day. We went up to the information office to get a guide for the caves and a quick spur of the moment decision also asked for the guide to show us around Echo Valley, which contains a few hanging coffins. The hanging coffins are from the Pre-Christian era. After a person died the family would seat them in a chair, which would then be carried to the burial place. As part of the ceremony the local people used to carry the empty coffin into the valley and place it on a cliff edge (usually in a precarious position. The family (friends too maybe?) would then form a line and the body, which was tied to the chair, would be handed from person to person until finally the body would be placed into the coffin and sealed. The coffins were very small because the person would be buried in the foetus position. When the Catholics came the practice of hanging coffins continued with a small change, now people were buried lying down. The coffins are hung on the wall so that they are closer to heaven. The reason they were buried in the foetus position was due to the belief that in order to go back to your maker you must leave Earth as you entered it. In the burial cave the coffins were stacked up on the edge of the cave. Apparently, after big earthquakes the coffins sometimes fall down and have to be carried back up to the ledge or location from where they fell. Our guide raced on ahead while we struggled to keep up with him. As we went down to the Echo falls. Aptly named because your voice carries for the valley. Down the hill into the valley we sped. Once in the valley floor it was only a minute or so to the coffins. We took a few photos then we were led back up the hill at a slightly reduced rate. Whereas on the way down we had been able to keep up with the guide coming back we didn’t stand a chance. We had to stop twice to cool down, rest and drink some water. Although we don’t have outright pace we do have a pretty good recovery time, so...

The Philippines is like the rest of Asia when it comes to hiking, you need a guide for almost everything. Well, actually you don’t need a guide, you just need to know where the path is. And because most information isn’t published then we don’t know where the paths are. Which then leads back to needing a guide simply because we can’t find the paths. Very annoying. On our first day in Sagada we were given a map in the tourist information office. It showed a path going up Mt. Apacao, the Lonely Planet also said this was a good walk and easy to do alone. That was enough to convince us that hiking up this hill would be a good idea. We had breakfast at the Yoghurt House, which serves really nice, thick yogurt (among many other nice options). We also ordered sandwiches which looked really tasty and a bag of fresh cookies. We walked down main road out of Sagada into the next village. Luckily, Annemarie had found a very brief blog that someone had written and we were able to use that for basic directions because we got stuck at the first point. A small concrete track leads off to the right by the school in Ambasing up the hill and sharply to the right. The map had no details and the Lonely Planet gave no directions. We followed this track almost the whole way to the ridge near the summit. It becomes a dirt track but still easy to follow. Most of the walk was in the shade which was very good for us, the air temperature was around 22’c but in the sun it was around 30’c. We still struggled a bit walking up there, showing that we really aren’t as fit as we’d like to be. We reached a flat plateau about two thirds of the way to the summit. From here the track went around the side of the slope, not up it. Our map was totally pointless for actual navigation and our very basic guide mentioned nothing. We looked around and followed the track hoping to see a path up. But nothing! We kept on walking. Still nothing! At this point we have to give up on walking to the summit. But, it’s not all bad news, the map shows a red line (a path) linking Mt. Apacao with a lake to the north, which is a popular location and has a road leading back into Sagada. We see no other paths so we might as well continue following this track. The track steadily gets narrower until it passed a wooden...