Mountain Provinces Roadtrip: Banaue and Sagada Part 1

I’ve always dreamed of seeing the Ifugao Rice Terraces and going beyond Baguio even as a child.  I can’t blame my parents for forgoing any trip there because it was really not very easy to get to 10-20 years ago.  It was only the last 5 years that the roads to Banaue and Sagada were actually totally paved.  Even the road to Sagada from Halsema is still not paved yet.  You would need to take a bus from either Baguio or Cubao to get there and you know how fast those buses travel.  To say the least, a trip to Sagada or Banaue back then was not really doable for the average family like us.  I have read so many blogs about Sagada and Banaue and thanks to them I have found a lot of useful information just by browsing sites and googling.  I called some relatives and they referred me to some people who organized tours to these places but it turned out that they only organized it for bigger groups (bus-load of tourists).  They did say that they would be fine with helping me with referrals to van rentals and even drive us there and be their tour guides.  I never heard anything from them since then so one day I just decided to do it all myself.   Our initial headcount included 4 guests from the Netherlands, MrC and of course me, a cousin, the driver/tourguide, and possibly our own driver.   In the end, 2 guests from the Netherlands cancelled, and my cousin also canceled which left us with only 5 which fits perfectly in our SUV.  Since our Montero has a higher ground clearance than a van it is even a better choice in the end.  Instead of paying more for van rental we just decided to invest in a roof rack (20k) through our Mitsubishi dealer, so that we have more space inside.  We also sent the Montero for checkup 2 days before the trip.   My aunt also gave me a number of someone who lives in Sagada and knows tour guides.  We exchanged several text messages but nothing really good came out of it.  I have read in several sites that there is a Town Tourist Center on both Banaue and Sagada which is a government run site and most people who wrote about their trip had no trouble with just getting a tour guide through the Village Tourism Office.  Booking a hotel room at the Banaue Hotel was really confusing.  They have no online booking site and it wasn’t so clear which site is the “official site“.     I booked a room using a number I found somewhere in the internet and was told to deposit the payment to certain PNB bank account.   I had a few days before the deadline so I decided to confirm everything the next week.   After a few days, I looked for the site again and found another one, which seemed more official, it was a government site.   The phone number (+632 524 – 2495 / 524-2513 ) was different from the previous one I called so I tried calling them to check my booking.   They did not find my booking.   At least I was glad no money was deposited yet.   I am pretty sure now this is the official one because I can pay directly to their Kalaw office which is the Philippine Tourism Authority’s TIEZA department.  The address of their office is: Rm 520, 5/F, DOT Building, TM Kalaw Avenue corner Taft Avenue, Ermita, Manila.   Their prices range from 2,300 to 3000 and 850 for drivers room with breakfast.  For Sagada, I booked 2 nights at Rock Farm (recommended by someone who stayed there previously)  since I heard there were more activities there than in Banaue.    At Rock Farm, I rented the whole Lower Ground floor which had 4 rooms in total — all for 4,100 php a night.  That should do it..