Spy Pinay » Travel

Mountain Provinces Roadtrip: Banaue and Sagada Part 4

admin — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 15:04:28 +0000

The Elders and Natives of Banaue

Banaue Native Woman

Of course, one’s trip to the Mountain Province will not be complete without a photo of our dear natives. I also managed to make the most of that time by talking to a group of elderly Ifugao Natives. Some of the questions I asked include where they live and how they go home. They actually live down the cliff, past the nearby terraces among the small residential houses about a few kilometers from where we were standing. It would take them less than 10 minutes to hike down and eventually reach their respective houses. Most of them are in their early 60′s to early 70′s and live alone, if widow(ed). However, inspite of living alone, they are not lonely. They live close amongst other natives their age. During planting/harvesting season they spend most of their days working the fields. However, most of the time they spend it there sitting for photos and chatting with fellow “semi-retired” friends. Their families (children and grandchildren) are mostly now working or studying in Baguio. They told me land is truly getting scarce and the rice harvest is only good for a few months and only for their own consumption. I also found out that their children or grandchildren would also go back eventually to their respective hometowns for retirement and spend time the same way they are doing now. (To be continued on Part 5)

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Mountain Provinces Roadtrip: Banaue and Sagada Part 3

admin — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 14:50:38 +0000

.We went through many viewpoints and all of them were really jaw-dropping ! Majestic indeed. The following post-card type photos will attest that our long and slightly treacherous travel along the Mountain Province is so so worth it.

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Post tags: banaue, Philippines, terraces, wonders

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Mountain Provinces Roadtrip: Banaue and Sagada Part 2

admin — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 14:29:32 +0000

Banaue Hanging Bridge

Banaue hotel lobby

We arrived safely before dark at the Banaue Hotel. I was pleasantly surprised to see a Welcome sign with my name actually printed on their billboard. How thoughtful of them! There was parking immediately in front of the hotel. Check-In went smoothly and we got the Deluxe Rooms with a view – as promised. The rooms were a bit dated and had no tv and no internet but was clean and had a wonderful view of the Rice Terraces. Since there was still some daylight, we spent a bit of time going around shops. There weren’t so many open that day.

Banaue Native Old Woman Weaving

Luckily, we found an old lady weaving inside one of the shops selling woven crafts and clothes. She was very friendly to us and told us a bit of her life as a weaver. We bought a bag, purse and table runner. She candidly told us that most of the younger ones in her tribe are no longer interested in the craft.

After this, MrC tried to cross a hanging bridge. I couldn’t bear watching it so I stayed in the car while he and his Dad went across it.

We had dinner at Banaue hotel’s restaurant that night. Food was okay, if not forgettable. We were kind of expecting some presentation late that night but unfortunately we were the only ones there, so there was no native dance presentation at 8:00pm.

The next day, we checked out and headed towards the different Banaue Terrace ViewPoints. (Continued on Part 3)

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Mountain Provinces Roadtrip: Banaue and Sagada Part 1

admin — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 10:18:26 +0000

Deciding Where to Go and Booking Hotels

Road to Banaue

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..

Going There

Stop Over on the Way to Banaue

Our road trip was actually a loop passing through the mountains starting from the lowlands using NLEX, to the end of SCTEX, exiting at La Paz and going “cross country” passing through the towns of Zaragoza, Aliaga, Quezon, Santo Domingo, Munoz and CLSU, and finally my home town of San Jose City. Take note that at that time the road from Aliaga to Quezon was not paved (and very remote) so ask first the locals if it is already paved before using that road. Otherwise, proceed eastward towards Talavera instead of going left (North). After San Jose, we started to climb up higher and higher through the mountains passing through Carranglan, Santa Fe, Aritao, Bambang, Solano, Bagabag which is NorthEast in direction. Along the road there were some slow traffic that went to a total halt.

During this time several kids knocked on our windshields to beg. It was good that we we have prepared bags of skyflakes, canned tuna, candy and juices to give away during the trip. Among the towns we passed by Solano stood out as a very progressive town: they have a Jollibee and a McDonalds, many new stores, several gas stations and you could see clearly from the map that the city is planned as all roads are proportianally perpendicular. It turns out that the town was planned by and named after a Spanish priest. At Bagabag, we proceed Northwest towards the Bagabag Airport, then we pass by towns of Lamut, Kiangan, Lagawe and then finally Banaue. From Banaue, we proceed North towards Bontoc and then enter Westward to Halsema Highway and then enter a dirt road further West to Sagada. The roads were mostly winding, and sometimes steep but at least I’m glad our driver handled it remarkably well.

We navigated this trip totally by using Google Maps with the use of an iPad. (To be continued)

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Banaue photos

admin — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 23:10:49 +0000

Here are some photos taken this morning from our room. This is just a preview. Complete Blog post coming soon !!

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Spy Pinay Goes to Kyoto

mixxy — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 03:15:22 +0000

For the past few weeks I was searching for a nice getaway for my birthday. It was a Sunday when I bought a Manila Bulletin newspaper and there it was the advertisement for a promotional fare from Cebu Pacific Air to Osaka. That made the decision easier and so I booked the ticket through the website. However, after submitting everything, I did not get a confirmation message immediately. Instead I saw a message saying that the credit card I used was still being checked and so the booking was still pending. The credit card I used was a foreign card so I wasn’t surprised. I immediately called their customer service and after a long long time of waiting I finally got an answer : they said I just needed to wait one more hour. I also called my credit card company and found out that they already did approve the transaction. Two days after, it was still pending and I frantically called the customer service of Cebu Pacific Air. This time they told me that they will prioritize my issue. Later on, I was about to give up. I still did not receive any confirmation e-mail. But then when I retrieved my booking I was surprised that my booking was finally confirmed!

The next thing I did was to search for a place to stay and interesting places to visit within the area of the Kansai Airport. First I looked around Osaka. I was particularly interested in staying in a traditional Japanese inn (ryokan). However, I had trouble finding something that fits my budget and there were no special places that really interested me there. While looking around, I found out that Kyoto was actually just a few minutes away. Travel from Kansai to Kyoto was 70 minutes while Osaka was 50 minutes by train. After making a quick search of interesting places and available inns in Kyoto the decision was made. We were going to Kyoto.(...)
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Spy Pinay’s view of Amsterdam

mixxy — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 09:08:05 +0000

I just received a letter recently from a Filipino-American reader who was asking about my opinion of Amsterdam, and maybe Netherlands in general. The letter came at a very nice time. I would like to share most of what I said in my e-mail. This is mostly straight from my heart. It may not sound fair or sensible at times and that because it is based on my emotions at this time.

I resigned from my job yesterday. My husband and I are leaving the Netherlands. I only moved here to end our long distance relationship that went on for some months and finally join my Dutchman. I quit my job in NJ and moved here not knowing what awaits me. I did not come here for economic reasons or for a job offer. I loved living in the US and have also felt that it offered me many opportunities to live the so called American dream except that I ended up finding my partner across the Atlantic. I still want to come back there someday.

Reading about your situation there, I strongly discourage you from living in Amsterdam if you like that kind of quiet and easy suburb picket fence lifestyle — you would live the big city life and that includes the harsh realities and rat race lifestyle that goes with it. Sorry to say but Amsterdam is not a family-friendly city. It is harsh and the people are also rough — comparable to what New York is like. You mentioned also the fact that your wife’s needs are of greatest importance as well. Having household help is such a luxury outside the Philippines! We currently pay a nice Moroccan lady 200 Euros a month: she comes here for 5 hours a week to do household cleanup and do laundry as needed. 10 euros per hour is on the lower end of the range. The classified ads at Expatica.com would give you an idea what nationalities are providing services as well as rates.

The biggest difficulty you and your wife would probably have is (...)
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Post tags: Amsterdam, cost of living, living in the Netherlands, opinion

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Germany: Upper Middle Rhine Valley

mixxy — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 08:20:48 +0000

Check out the following gallery from my recent trip to Germany.

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The places we visited were: Marburg, Fritzlar, Loreley Rock, and Cologne. The Upper Middle Rhine Valley which is somewhere between Frankfurt and Cologne is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Thea area where we visited is full of beautiful scenery, fairy tale villages, castles, good food, abundant nature, fresh air and friendly people. What more can you ask!?

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Post tags: castles, Gallery, Germany, Upper Rhine Valley

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The truth about driving in the Netherlands

admin — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 11:09:19 +0000

I would like to make a confession related to my previous post Driving in the Netherlands: the photo I used was not taken here but in the US. I’m sorry but at that time I wanted to show something nice about driving like sunny skies and wide roads and I couldn’t find one good photo easily or maybe I was just too lazy. But ok, I admit my guilt and this is the true picture of driving here on most days:

Another confession I want to make is that I quit my driving lessons! I realized I am just throwing too much money (my instructor charges me 67 Euros for 1.5 hours of lessons). In my previous driving lessons I found out also that the new tests involve me having to navigate my way from point A to point B and they expect me to know or memorize the directions beforehand. The instructor may or may not allow me to use a GPS navigator!

MrC and I had planned on leaving the country within a few months so there you go I just announced it now. This is still dependent on our forthcoming visit to the Philippines which will happen in August. As of now there is a 50-50 chance (maybe higher) that this would push through if we both have a good feeling about it. The whole story behind it is in my other blog I’d like to leave it to you to figure out which blog it is. So anyways, I found it pretty pointless to spend time, effort and money on something which I will not really need in the long run. I guess it’s all just about my priorities for now.

However, the past few weeks there have been bus strikes that in order to get to work and back I would need to have MrC bring me by car or me having to share a ride with my colleague or depend on the scheduled transportation provided by the company. It just frustrates me that I have to actually depend on others to get to work. Driving and having your own car to me is not really some kind of status symbol or some form of materialism but to me it is FREEDOM in its basic sense. No need for explanation I think especially for American readers but this is just how I feel.

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Football madness in the Netherlands

mixxy — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 10:13:03 +0000

I am the person you would least expect to talk about sports. I don’t follow any sport at all not even when I was in the U.S. In the US, they have the Superbowl every January but this is nothing compared to here where emotion run high because it is not just states competing here but countries so there is national pride mixed with testosterone which is a great recipe for madness. But then it’s not really just men who are in this, during lunch I ate alongside visiting lady German colleagues and they were saying that it was a pity that they were using the train going home so they would miss watching the football game that night. These ladies were working in the IT department.

So anyways, last time I even had the slightest interest of watching sports on TV was back in the Philippines watching Purefoods vs. San Miguel championships and that was about it. Both me and my husband are total geeks who are only into computers and we don’t have any ounce of sportiness in us. Just a second ago our topic of conversation runs like this:

“we should not use Team Foundation Server so that we don’t get locked in Microsoft” .. or… ” oh maybe we should get some training in SCRUM”

However, we realize our health deserves some attention too so we find ourselves talking about doing something physically active at least during the weekends. But this does not mean sports like tennis or cycling, so possibly we’ll just do some nature or city walks. Ok, I admit today is a Sunday and the sun seems to be up and we are both in front of the computers. No city or nature walks seem to be happening in the near horizon.

But anyways, a few years ago I was approached by my colleague at work and he talked about the “Poule” and that I should participate on it because it is “fun”. He tried to explain it briefly that it is something about football and such and you are predicting scores and winners and such but it was just too much for me to absorb so I just said sorry but I will pass because I have no idea. He said I can just join for fun and not put in any money bets. I still declined without batting an eyelash. Two years later, I was asked again by the same colleague. He made a small computer program where you can put in your guesses of who the top players are, the main winners and the scores of all the matches. Again, you don’t have to put in any money or place a bet. You could just play for fun but he warned that last time, the top winner was supposed to win but he did not place a bet — so too bad for him. So, ok, this year is for the Euro 2008.

I agreed to try it. I tried to research a bit and enter a few scores and uneducated guesses but that was it. I got busy with work and eventually wasn’t able to finish entering my bets. People at work talked about how much they are winning during lunch. You could see the ranks of “earnings” of all the people who participated in the Poule.

Meanwhile at home, it was the night where Netherlands played with Italy. My husband was working from home and I was watching GI Jane from the movie channel but it was easy for us to know who was winning judging from the loud noises and cheers from our downstairs neighbors. It was indeed impressive for the Dutch team since Italy was the former champion so to speak. Our team played excellently so far the next game which was with France, the runner up last time. My husband even told me that his friends were telling him that they were actually “nervous” about that game. I think the correct translation would have been “excited” rather than nervous but then maybe they were actually nervous. But hey, what is there to be nervous about a football game?! In the supermarkets they give away this little orange lion thingies called Welpies. Whoah! talk about football madness indeed. To be honest, to me they are an eyesore but maybe it will grow on me. That night I actually tried watching it. I saw their first score where one guy scored using his head (not figuratively but literally). I fell asleep a few minutes after. MrC told me that when Netherlands won our neighbors were banging all the walls and floors but luckily I was deep into sleep and it never woke me up. Anyways, it was a 4-1 win!

Everyone is jubilant these days and as expected I saw a lot of orange things while walking at the Centrum yesterday. The following photo was taken in Rembrandtplein yesterday.

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Spy Pinay » Travel

Mountain Provinces Roadtrip: Banaue and Sagada Part 4

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