Ten Hours to Manilla

Saturday, January 10th. Bangaan Village. Heritage village.

We wake early, check out of our hotel and are finished breakfast by 6:45. I have still not purchased a Hunter’s Backpack and I walk to the gift shop to buy the small rattan hunters back pack that I examined last night but it has been sold. I am very disappointed and don’t want to leave Banaue without one. Having shopped and compared in the village,  the two at our hotel were/are the best. I tell the sales girl that I was prepared to spend $3500 pesos for the one that was sold but not $5500 for the larger one. She offers the large one to me for $4500 but the owner is not here and she is not authorized to discount it further. Just as I am exiting the lobby, the owner comes running after me and offers me the large one for $3500. ($45) I am still disappointed because I would have preferred the smaller one, that got away, which was beautifully woven and designed for a women with a closing cover. I quickly pay the $3500 and exit the hotel with my purchase. 

Bangaan Rice Terraces

Bangaan Heritage Village

Bangaan Rice Terraces

Vista, Bangaan Rice Terraces

We meet the boys at their guest house for our morning tour of Bangaan Village.  We drive the muddy cliff hanging road, clogged with heavy road work machinery and with jeepneys trying to pass each other on the narrow mud slick road. Our jeepney has isinglass windows that diminish the view yet not the morning chill. The mountains are shrouded in fog and we stop at several view points for the required photos and John and Marky climb on top of our jeepney for the final leg of the drive to Bangaan.  

Trekking to Bangaan Heritage Village

Bangaan Heritage Village

Bangaan Heritage Village

Bangaan Heritage Village

This is my third day of rice terrace trekking and I feel somewhat conditioned and I appraise the trek down to the village in the valley below as an easy one. The initial part of the trail is steep and there are countless stone steps to descend. Once down the steepest section we descend more slowly, walking carefully along the narrow dikes dividing the terraces. The raised dike pathways are between 18” – 24” wide with irregular rock stepping stones imbedded in the mud. A few of the rice fields are lush and green with sprouting rice shoots and women, knee deep in mud, separate these brilliant green shoots and replant them with optimal spacing in the empty fields.  There are just a few women planting and I take particular notice of a girl of about 13, wearing ear buds who thrusts the shoots deep into the thick grey mud.

Rice Fields, Bangaan

Marky Pounding Rice

Husking Rice

Fighting and Acrobatic Carvings

Relief Carvings, Bangaan Heritage Village

At the bottom of this steep valley is Bangaan village, a UNESCO heritage site and the villagers are subsidized by the government to keep the old traditions.  Children scamper nimbly along the dikes, peeking shyly at us and a village woman shows us how to pound and husk the rice. There are a few souvenir  trinkets to buy and John and I argue who will buy  the one wooden lizard box. We are the only tourists and we wander the authentic village where pigs, chickens and one proud rooster wander. Three old and bent women walk by, presumably walking the steep terraces to the road above and I marvel that they are able to make the climb.

Stooped Women of Bangaan

Stone Stairway, Bangaan 

Marty in front of Bangaan Stilt House

How many feet do you see?

I take my time climbing the pathway and many steps up to the road and the return climb seems relatively easy.

It is 11:00 A.M. when we leave Banaue for our 10 hour drive back to Manila. Two hours into our drive we stop at a McDonnalds in Solano for lunch. John is sticking to a strict vegetarian diet and orders macaroni and cheese and French fries; a carb and trans-fat meal.  I regretfully have the same, thinking how displeased Stephanie would be with my choice but I am unwilling to complicate travel by bringing food alternatives from home.

Art, Marky, McDonnalds

Solano McDonnalds

I withdraw $20,000 pesos at the ATM and we are on the road again. We pass the time talking. John talks about the electron double slit experiment and uses his phone to write an analogy between this experiment and proving the existence of God and how observation can change the outcome. The conversation shifts to Mizuho and the Mishima family history. Their eldest brother, Mizuho, who passed away 8 years ago, was a Green Beret in the Special Forces and flew 26 missions in Viet Nam. It is fascinating listing to the two brother’s memories of their childhood on Okinawa. The subject shifts to John’s beliefs and John tells us that he feels that he would have been a good fit for the military;  a good and disciplined leader but that he doesn’t believe in what the U.S. is doing overseas and that he would not want to kill people.  Art talks about Japanese history…..John more about our environment, species going extinct…etc. 

Joe’s ex fiancé lives in Angeles about three hours outside of Manila. Joe has been texting her and the plan is to meet her briefly tonight. Our driver misses the turn for Angeles and I am not clear why we don’t turn back but Joe is quiet and withdrawn for the remainder of our drive. We drop Marky off at a bus terminal in Quezon City, a suburb of Manila. We say awkward good byes’ by the side of the road. The Sunday night traffic is light for Manila and we are soon pulling up in front of our Manila Crown Plaza Hotel. (Do not be fooled by the regal name; this hotel wears a very tarnished crown.)  Art’s and my room has a king bed and all the expected amenities, but the paint has formed cancerous bubbles above the air conditioner and the smoke detector will later cause us sleep deprivation.

It is 8:30 P.M. when we step out onto the streets of Manila to find dinner. We are exhausted and want to choose a restaurant quickly. There are several sushi  restaurants on either side of our “Royal” hotel and various female hawkers try to persuade us to enter their restaurants. One woman sidles up to John and asks him what he is looking for; would he like her? Another hawker asks John if he wants to go to a K.T.V; (Karaoke, T.V. and Video?)  We do our best to sidestep these aggressive hawkers and quickly choose a busy, smoke filled Japanese restaurant. Art and Joe order beef and vegetable rice bowls but as vegetarians, it is more challenging for John and me. I order a spring onion omelet and stir fry vegetables and John orders a croquette and rice. The vegetables are delicious and we order a second serving and wash our meals down with St. Miguel beers.

Japanese Restaurant, Manilla

It is 10:00 P.M. before we are back in our hotel. After quick showers, we fall into bed, anxious for sleep because our alarm is set for 4:30 A.M. to catch an early morning flight to Palawan.  I am beginning to drift when there is a chirp from a low battery smoke detector in the hallway just outside our door. The chirp sounds repeatedly at 1 minute intervals and Art calls the front desk. They tell us that they will call housekeeping.  Chirp….chirp….chirp.  Housekeeping comes and there is commotion outside our door but the chirp continues.  Art calls again but no one comes to change or remove the battery. Chirp….chirp….chirp. My blood pressure is rising and there is no chance of sleep. I make a third irritated call and shortly, there is a sharp knock at our door.  Art pulls on his clothes and opens the door and 3 maintenance men step into our room abruptly turning on the lights. They incorrectly assume that the detector is in our room and Art goes into the hallway and points up to the offensive alarm. There is more noise as the crew scrapes and bangs a ladder and it is midnight before the chirp is terminated. What we didn’t realize earlier was that the annoying chirp was distracting us from the thrumming beat and vibration from the disco a floor below.  I manage a couple of hours of sleep before the 3:45 earthquake wakes us and our hotel begins to sway.