2020.01.21 – Sagada – Bontoc (Php) – As we enjoyed our last breakfast in Sagada, we were glad we had not registered for the optional sunrise activity as this would have required us to wake up at 4am. Feeling lazing, we took a private shuttle for the one km uphill to the jeepney station. As soon as our backpacks were secured on the roof rack, the jeepney left Sagada at 10am with a full complement of passengers – with some even hanging on the outside. The one hour journey to Bontoc was uneventful. Upon our arrival in Bontoc, we walked to our hotel nearby. Thanks to Jenny’s room review, we managed to secure ourselves the best room for our three night stay in Bontoc. Later, we visited the Bontoc Museum and located the jeepney station for our next day excursion. As Bontoc was not a tourist town, our choice of restaurants for our evening meal was limited, nonetheless, we enjoyed some excellent pizza. We fell asleep to a cacophony of barking dogs as we reminded ourselves that we should take up some of Philippines’ delicatessen: dog meat.

2020.01.22 – Bontoc – Bontoc (Php) – After a modest breakfast at our hotel, we visited the tourism office for some information of jeepney/bus schedules. We learned that we had missed the 8am jeepney to Maligcong and the next one was at 12pm. We stopped at a bank to exchange a few large denominations into smaller ones. On our way to the jeepney station, we bought a few pastries at a bakery. As we arrived at the station at 11:15am, the jeepney was full but the driver managed to free up some space for us. The short 30 mins. jeepney ride to Maligcong ascended some of the steepest hills we had seen. In fact, the moto-tricyles crisscrossing the streets of Bontoc were not allowed on this road as we saw a few of them abandoned along the way. Up to now we have found that the Philippines attracted many French tourists. Hence, we were not surprised that two French couples were on the same jeepney as us but they had accommodation in Maligcong. Upon our arrival in the village, we visited one of the home stay to secure a guide for a two hour tour of the rice terraces. We even managed to take the 2pm jeepney back to Bontoc. In the evening, we had our evening meal at a bistro where the environment was nice but the menu was limited.

2020.01.23 – Bontoc – Bontoc (Php) – After our breakfast we dropped by the tourism office to request a private shuttle for 10am to visit the village of Mainit where mineral hot springs were said to repair tired muscles. We bought more pastries from bakery and filled up with drinking water at the town’s water dispensing center. We met our driver at the tourism office and embarked on a one hour drive to Mainit. In Mainit, we were introduced to the village’s public pools separated by gender and where the locals typically enjoyed the pool au-naturel. We opted for a more private hot spring pool experience at a modest village resort. After a few hours of relaxation, we took our shuttle van back to Bontoc. For our evening meal, we took a moto-tricycles across the river to a restaurant.

2020.01.24 – Bontoc – Banaue (Php) – After checking out of our hotel, we walked to the nearby bus stop for our two hour ride to Banaue. Again the mountain views along the way were breathtaking. Once in Banaue, our hotel picked us up at the bus terminal. We again managed to swap room for a better one. After a light lunch, we rested in our room to the sound of light rain. It was Jenny’s turn to tackle a cold. After our evening meal at our homestay’s restaurant, we retired for the night by 8pm after taking one Tylenol.

2020.01.25 – Banaue – Banaue (Php) – We had an excellent night sleep with no dog barking but just the enjoyable sound of a nearby waterfall. As we walked down to our guesthouse restaurant for breakfast, we were surprised that almost all the tables were occupied. After our breakfast, we embarked on a self-guided trek from our hotel. Even with the help of Maps.me, we lost the trail a few times around the rice terraces. Luckily for us, we met a few locals along the way who directed us to the right path. We really enjoyed walking along a century old irrigation channel. We completed our trek in 3 hours and returned to village center in search of a pharmacy. We bought a few cold tablet medication in case our cold persisted. We jumped into a moto-tricycle to return to our guesthouse. After a light lunch, we had a good rest in our room while listening to the rain fall. We noticed that our guesthouse appeared to be used by many hikers as a launching point for a popular multi-day trek through remote villages in the mountains around Banaue. Over 90% of the foreigners were from France and they all appeared very keen to undertake the challenging multi-day trek. During our evening meal, the moto-tricycle driver, who had picked us up at the jeepney stop the previous day, dropped by to discuss our plans for tomorrow. Naturally, he was eager to get our transport business in the event that we wanted to visit some remote site and/or trail. We agreed, if it did not rain, that we would visit the famous rice terraces of Batad and follow-up with a three hour hike back to the main road.

2020.01.26 – Banaue – Banaue (Php) – As soon as we woke-up, we confirmed it was not raining and a bright sun was rising over the mountains. As soon as we finished our breakfast, our moto-tricycle driver picked us up for a 50 mins journey to the edge of the village of Batad. At some point along the way, the road was so steep going downhill that the tricycles drivers had to let their passengers walk down the hill before they could resume the journey. At the edge of Batad, we met a guide who would accompany us for a brief visit of the Batad rice terraces and the 3-hour hike. The scenery around the rice terraces was beautiful. The hiking trail was fairly muddy as it had rained the previous day. Although the trek was not too strenuous, the trail was mostly along dense vegetation – hence the scenery was quite limited. Along the way, we met a French couple who were wrapping up a 3-day hike. We chatted with them for over 30 mins. They had done so many remote treks in the Mountain province around villages that we had previously visited. The lady highly recommended the benefit of a massage offered by the locals. We finished our trek some 30 mins early and met up with our moto-tricycle driver for the return journey to our guesthouse. Along the way, we stopped at massage parlor and Jenny scheduled a visit of a masseuse to our guesthouse for a one hour long massage. After a good shower and light lunch, Jenny got her massage while I did a bit more hotel booking and trip planning.

2020.01.27 – Banaue – Cauayan (Php) – After an early breakfast, with the help of our moto-tricycle driver, we attempted to board a jeepney that would have brought us to a main road junction, then take a bus to our final destination: Cauayan. Unfortunately, we had to take a second jeepney connection to reach the main road junction. With our jeepney rides completed, we had now left the mountains and were back in the lowland area. Shortly after getting off our last jeepney, we were able to board our bus to Cauayan – in standing room only! Thankfully for us some seats freed up along the way. The bus driver kindly dropped us off in front of our hotel. All in all our two jeepneys and bus connections were very efficient but it still took us 5 hours of commuting. Upon our arrival at our hotel, we splurged a bit and upgraded our room which offered many perks like good wifi signal, free breakfast and free pool access. We had lunch and our evening meal at the hotel’s restaurant. Although the guesthouses and hotel we stayed at in the past week all advertised free wifi, unfortunately the reality was quite different. We relied almost exclusively on our phone’s data plan for internet access during our stay in the mountain area.

2020.01.28 – Cauayan – Cauayan (Php) – We had not planned on staying an extra day in Cauayan but we had to alter our plan due to flight availability out of Cauayan. A week ago, when in Bontoc, we looked up the availability of flights from Cauayan (the end of our northern Philippines loop) and Busuanga (the start of southern Philippines loop), we realized the earliest flight we could purchase was for January 29th. Given the amenities of our hotel (pool, restaurant, wifi), we did not mind relaxing an extra day in town. Also while in Bontoc, we also booked ourselves on an upcoming 3 day and 2 night adventure boat tour starting Feb. 2nd from Coron. After a late breakfast, we opted to take a moto-tricycle to the town center some 8kms away. We visited an old church, one of the few tourist site in town. We walked a few kms in town before taking another moto-tricycles back to our hotel. In the afternoon, we enjoyed relaxing around the pleasant pool area. We had our evening meal once again at the hotel’s restaurant.