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28 Apr - 6 May 2007 (9-days) Philippines Rice Terraces & Whale Sharks

 
Gentle Giants of Donsol (courtesy of a Taiwanese friend)

Went on a recce cum holiday trip to Philippines over the May holiday week. It was still off season for foreign visitors but locals were out enjoying their "summer" holidays. The Labour Day public holiday gave many locals chance for a short break. Met with many friendly Filipinos enjoying travel in their own country.

Day 1 Sat LCCT to Baguio: Woke up at 4AM! and then to KL Sentral for the 430AM LCCT bus arriving 530AM. There was a huge crowd today because of the May 1 holiday weekend. Despite that the Air Asia's plane departed and arrived on time from 730AM - 11AM, landing in the cheaper and smaller Clark International Airport. This was the only flight that landed during that time and cleared immigration and baggage quickly. There were a six service counters offering buses, hotels and tours. I wanted to go to Baguio and was told that a Baguio bound bus will pickup passengers from the airport about 2 hr later. So while waiting, I wandered around looking for travel info. One local chap told me about the cheap jeepney ride to Angeles Bus Station that had many buses going up to Baguio. This I did and found myself on the 1PM bus to Baguio. Although the distance was only 130km, the time taken was almost 4.5 hr. This hill retreat has evolved into a good size mountain town with good tourist infrastructure. Had problems getting accomodation and ended up in a cheap inn as the better places were taken up by holidaying locals. An important lesson here for trips planned during such holiday weekends - book accomodation first before going. Walked the busy main Session Road before calling an early night.

Day 2 Sun Sagada Caving: Woke up early to catch the 7PM bus to Sagada. Walked the nearby market that seem to be selling lots of home-made cookies, chocolates and other foodstuffs in bottles. Strawberries was in season but rather small and normal. The bus departed on schedule and the rides along the scenic Halsema Highway, the highest point at 2255m. Cost of this 6.5 hr trip P220 or Rm16. Once again had trouble with accomodation but managed to get a place at LP recommended St Joseph Guesthouse. In the afternoon teamed up with a Filipino family (husband is a programmer working in Saudi Arabia) for the exhilarating Sumanging Cave (Big Cave) trip, involving a slippery trail down to the water's edge before going barefoot for another 1.5 hr, crawling and climbing in the streams in the cave. A much better option would be the 4 hr cave-to-cave connection that's left for another visit. Included in this package are guides, hurricane lamps and visits to Sugong coffins, suspended on the cliff surface as well as Lumiang Burial Cave containing over a hundred coffins, the oldest believed to be 500 years old.

 
Unesco World Heritage terraces of Batad and Banaue

Day 3 Bontoc & Banaue Rice Terraces: Took a morning walk around small Sagada before hopping on the local jeepney to Bontoc 35 min down. At a lower elevation , Bontoc is stifling hot. The main attraction is the Bontoc Museum, with collection of old pictures showing head-hunters and other tribal exhibits. Much of the Igorot culture is similar to our very own Sarawak dayaks. From Bontoc its another jeepney ride to Banaue 2 hr. The friendly staff of Greenview Inn, Johnson offered his guiding services for a small fee to visit the rice terraces of Bananue, a UNESCO site. A motor tricycle took us to the "Viewpoint" and the walk back to Banaue over these beautiful rice terraces took us 3 hr. You can probably imagine the size of the area by the time taken to walk the terraces. There were many small villages that is covered in this walk. The walk would have been much better if I had started say an hour or two earlier.

Day 4 Bataad Rice Terraces: Hired a motor tricycle to take me firstly to Bangaan village, a scenic village with some nice terraces. This one is for non-trekkers and one can take in good views and pictures from the road looking down at the village. Next stop is Batad junction, which is some 12 km form Banaue on a rocky road. From here its 1 hr trek to the saddle or 20 min by jeepneys, where one can rest before trekking another 40 min down to sito Chung Chung, where most of the guesthouses are located. The village proper is another 30 min down and most will go on another 40 min across the terraces to visit 30m-high Tappia Waterfall. Batad is famous for its amphitheatre-like stone-walled rice terraces and considered one of the world's most striking. Its also on the UNESCO Heritage list. The last few days of rushing about finally caught up with me and I rested well there, soothed by the wonderful view spread infront of me. Besides there was nothing much else to do except to "lepak:" and read up for a planned Yongo trip here.

Day 5 Overnight Bus Manila: Left Batad at 8 am and took my time, first going up 40 min to the saddle before the quick 40 min down. I prearranged a tricycle to fetch me at 12AM from the Junction. Its only 30 min back to Banaue, shower, lunch and then kill time, before my 530PM overnight bus to Manila, schedule to take up to 10hrs.

 
Donsol Resort / Bangaan Scenic village

Day 6 Donsol: Arrived at 3AM in one of Manila's many "bus" terminus. There is no central bus station and different bus companies will operate from different places in Manila. Took a taxi ride P300 or Rm22 to the domestic airport. There was a long queue but because I was early it was not a problem. Here again, evidence of the busy holiday period. The Cebu Pacific flight took under an hour to get to Legaspi, which would have taken 12 hr if I had gone by road. The airport is a good place for pictures of Mt Mayon 2462m, one of the most photographed sights in Philippines. Its also one of the most dangerous with a constant plume of smoke. Outside the airport were the usual transport leeches offering their high rates to unsuspecting tourists. I negotiated a fair deal with a tricycle at the end of the queue who took me to the bus station. The hour long van ride cost P60 or Rm4 and that landed me in Donsol town. The Donsol beach and Tourist Info Centre was another 10 min tricycle ride away. After looking at the few guesthouse in town, I opted for a stay at the Beach. There are whale shark trips in the afternoon but after consulting other travelers, we were told that morning was the best time. Finished the day at Woodland Farm Beach Resort, a no-stars resort. Food is very good and staff friendly.

Day 7 Whale Shark Snorkel: Arrived at the Tourist Info/Whale Shark Office at 7AM as requested and waited around with everyone else, mostly other travelers and backpackers. At 8AM the staff arrived and then there was a mad rush to sign up, pay up, arrange guide, boats, sort out groupings etc. I estimate there was probably some 9 boats out that morning, each carrying a maximum 7 pax. Some groups opted to have less pax. Each boat with guides cost P3500 or Rm260. On top of that anothr P300 (Rm22) is for Conservation fee and P300 for snorkel/flippers hire if not available. Totals about Rm80 per person for a boat of 7 pax. Our boat simply went around the bay, which is not that big for almost 4 hr. Almost within 20 min we saw our first whale shark and everyone jumped off and waited until the fish got near. Then it was a frantic rush to keep up with the shark, kicking hard, while being enthralled by the sight of the gentle giant. All in all we had 10 encounters. In Donsol they use encounters as a measure as visitors may see the same fish more than once. Of course underwater cameras is the way to go and I was fortunate enough to be able to copy images taken by a pair of Taiwanese snorkelers who had with the some expensive equipment. Whale Shark snokeling is a tiring affair and by the afternoon, I was all but pumped out by the physical exertions.

Notes on Diving: Have received email asking about diving with whale sharks - one of the must-do with divers. Diving with these giants are not allowed on advice of WWF. It seems that the bubbles from scores of divers will stress the sharks who are "living" in the bay. Most other whale shark encounters are in the open seas with few divers. There are a couple of dive shops in Donsol for equipment and dive trips to San Miguel Islands 45 min north. Snorkelers can also participate. Another 30 min there is a place called Manta Bowl that has some resident Manta Rays. I can allocate time for this on a Yongo Trip but it depends of group make-up and may involve extra days.

Day 8 Sat Legaspi: After breakfast, checked out early as the Prince of Denmark was coming in with a big entourage. Its surprising because this "resort" is not exactly the best but I guess the attraction of the whale sharks overshadows the inconveniences. Took the motor-tricycle back out to Donsol town and then on a public jeepney. I intended to stop over at a Pilar, small market town I saw on the way to Donsol. But somehow I missed it as it passed through so many other small towns and villages. Checked into Legaspi Toursit Inn located near the town center. There is a row of food stalls where I had all my meals. Having time on my hands, I took a jeepney to visit Cagsawa Ruins, 8km away. This is the site of a church which was buried in an 1814 earthquake that killed 1200 people. It has also become the site of a massive land/mud slide in Nov 2006 that also took the lives of a few hundred people. Being on higher ground, this ruin was not affected but all around me, I could see huge areas of denuded landscape.

Day 9 Sun Go Home: Took a motor-tricycle to the airport 20 min ride for Cebu Pacific morning flight to Manila, arriving at 8am. Took a 10 min taxi ride to Pasay City and found a cheap smelly guesthouse P275 (Rm20) to store my stuff, while I move about Manila. But this not-so-nice place is next to Manila's LRT and MRT station that makes it convenient to get around. Took the MRT to recommended Greenhills Shopping Centre, which is a popular shopping mecca for locals. Saw a number of foreigners there as well. Having some more time to kill, I rode the MRT connecting to LRT and got to the Chinese Cemetery, getting off at the Abad Santos LRT station. An interesting visit to a place which looks like a small housing estate with houses. The tombs are located in these houses, some of which are bungalow units. Made my way back to the guesthouse for a shower before flying out on Cebu Pacific at 9PM. Flight was delayed and arrived at only after 130AM. I was surprised to find that the last LCCT Aerobus company waited for everyone on this last flight for the journey back to KL Sentral.

 
Sagada Cave River / Whale Shark visible from boat

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