Are we there yet? Banaue was so far. :|

Nueva Ecija. Banaue, Ifugao. Benguet and Sagada, Mountain Province. These places are officially the farthest places I've reached on land trip! 7 hours, 782 kilometers, 3 days, 2 nights, No Aircon, No TV, and No Internet. How did I survive? :))

My mom has been everywhere in the Philippines. Her job allows her to travel to different places and I guess she has fun with it because traveling is her hobby. (mine too! haha!) When I was still vacationing in Baguio, she texted me that she wants us to go to Banaue for Holy Week because she sees it as quite unfortunate how the majority of tourists there are foreigners and that we as the "locals" haven't actually seen what they all saw. We planned our trip early this week (April 6-8) and the quest for Banaue was on. :D

Monday:

At 2am we were already up and by 5am we already were on our way to somewhere northbound. (?) =)) We had a few stopovers for breakfast and lunch but pretty much after these meals we resumed immediately because we wanted to reach the destination ASAP. :>

The road made all of us dizzy because of the sharp curves and the zigzags. (But unlike somebody... I didn't vomit. :-") We arrived at the Banaue Hotel and Youth Hostel late in the afternoon and all we did was rest... and my brother and I watched the cultural show. Have I mentioned there was No TV in the room? What were we supposed to do. :|

Tuesday:

Maximizing our stay was the name of the game so the following day we were all set to go to Sagada. It's already in the Mountain Province, no longer in Ifugao, and when we went there it was their town's fiesta. :D

Sagada's terrain made it almost impossible to reach! The term rough road could not be more apt! [How come they live so far?? :))] But when we got there it was another place with many tourist spots like the Hanging Coffins and the caves. :)

My older brother kept comparing the place to Aztec in Mexico but I'm sure he doesn't know what he's talking about! =))

It was very tiresome and places like these are not your typical go-to places because you can not reach them without some people assisting you and serving as your host! :) The day ended with the opening of the "San Miguel sa Banaue" in the swimming pool area of our hotel.

Wednesday:

I know it's kinda cliche to do these very "Department of Tourism-ish" shots. =))

The woman to my left was, shall we say, the "most outgoing" of them all.
They call her "Lola O" and she kept calling me her "baby." %-) okaaaaaay. =))

How did they carve the mountains? All we can do is wonder. :| :| :|

A local in that place said that if these women were noisy they are at their happiest state. =)) If these pictures aren't enough proof...they were indeed happy because we kept interacting with them and "Lola O" has got to be the friendliest. :))

After lunch, we made our way back to Manila. Going back isn't as difficult as approaching your destination because as my mom pointed out you no longer anticipate that much. True. :)

Banaue was a place we all didn't expect to be in! Banaue? Really? :)) But we are thankful that we've reached this beautiful spot in the Philippines. It was not easy but at least we've been there, done that. ;)