North Philippines – Part 1 – Baguio and Sagada

On arrival in the Philippines, we had decided to spend 10 days in the north, with only the first 3 days actually planned. 

So we headed straight from Manila airport and took a 9 hour bus journey to the northern town of Baguio, the plan being to climb a couple of the highest mountains in the Philippines – Mt Ultap and Mt Ulag.  As it happens, Guy seemed to get some kind of virus and so that put paid to those plans, we ended up spending a day in the city park, one day at the Botanic Gardens and the rest of the time trying to avoid the most polluted streets any of us had ever come across.  We definitely didn't experience the best of Baguio but even so, it wasn’t a city that really excited us.

From there, we took a 7 hour bus north to Sagada, a small mountain town famous for caves and hanging coffins.  The virus had passed onto Eyal who suffered much more than Guy so we decided to book a 4 bedroom AirBnB so that everyone could have their own room and Eyal could try and get some decent rest. We ended up staying 3 nights in Sagada and loved every minute. 

On arrival, the owner of the house met us with some perfect Ivrit and proceeded to tell us that she had lived in Israel for 7 years, in Savyon of all places, working for the owners of ‘Tempo’, one of the largest drink’s companies in Israel.  She was a brilliant host and after a month of hotel rooms, it was sheer luxury to have a few days in a proper family home.  Shoshi spent most of her time in the house with Eyal but actually enjoyed the rest.

I went out with Mili and Guy, first day we climbed Mt Ampacao, a 2,000m mountain towering over the village.  It was a great 4 hour hike, stunning views and we had a great guide called ‘Israel’.

On the second day, our guide Casper took all 5 of us to see the Hanging Coffins, which were the traditional burial method in the village for many hundreds of years.  After that, Shoshi and Eyal went back to rest and me, Mili and Guy went to Sumilag Cave and explored for a couple of hours.  It was an amazing cave complex, over 80 meters deep with bats, waterfalls and water pools.  Not an easy hike inside, especially when mostly in pitch black apart from the gas lantern we carried with us, but a great experience.

We loved Sagada, relaxing, calm, interesting, surrounded by beautiful landscapes and very friendly local people.

We then decided to head east to Banaue and Batad.  We found a great guesthouse in Banaue for the first night, then the following morning headed of for 1 night/ 2 days in Batad, home of the remote UNESCO rice terraces. The next couple of days were to prove the most surreal, interesting and beautiful of our travels so far and will be covered in Part 2…