Banaue

The members in our tour group are: Ron, Gwen, Kevin, and Christopher, and Octavia and Jim, and the guides are Joey, and Anthony.  The local guides took us to a cave where we went deep to see some great sandstone features such as a turtle, a snake, walked with our bare feet in the cold water and on the sandstone.  Shoes are too slippery.  We won't need to use the pumice stone on our feet for awhile.  The local guides carried lanterns to show us the route.  It was an exciting adventure. 

In February, 2014, a bus plunged down a deep embankment killing 14 people (1 was a Canadian).  The bus line is now closed down pending the investigations by the transport and police departments.  This was on the road to our next destination--Banaue.

Banaue is the sight of the World Heritage Rice Fields.  These fields are terraced down steep mountain and hillsides, and are at least 2000 years old.  The rice fields are passed down to usually the oldest son, or if no sons, then the oldest daughter.  Of course, this is changing in the modern world.  The children do not want to spend their life working rice fields.  Rice fields are a very labour intensive occupation with little pay.  These rice fields do provide a beautiful backdrop to the towns and villages, and as they are now a tourist attraction, they do help the local economy.  We hiked through Batad, and across the rice terraces.  It was a bit scary for me as they are not very wide, and the options, if falling, were a short fall into the mud, or a 30 foot fall into the mud bath.  I seemed to feel like over balancing towards the big drop, so periodically, my heart jumped into my throat.

Onto Manila and Palawan Island.