The Ifugao people carved the Batad Rice Terraces out of the Cordillera Mountains more than 2,000 years ago. Often cloaked in a mysterious fog, these magnificent rice paddies are located on the Philippine island of Luzon, about 470 km (290 miles) from Manila.
Thanks to their grand scale and their amphitheater-like appearance, the terraces have been dubbed “the eighth wonder of the world.” It’s believed that if the Batad terraces were connected end to end, along with those of neighboring Banaue and Bontoc, they would reach around the world.
The journey to get to Banaue is not easy. First, we took a nine-hour overnight bus from Manila to Banaue. The highlight of the bumpy, curvy, accelerate-then-brake journey was meeting two super traveling duos — one from the Netherlands and another from France. We’d end up trekking the magnificent terraces together the following day after we’d all caught up with our beauty rest.
To get to the starting point for trekking the UNESCO Heritage-listed Batad Terraces, we had to ride a jeepney — a whimsical form of public transport in the Philippines — from Banaue Town to the Batad Saddle. The one-hour ride was rather treacherous with patches of rough finished roads and muddy passes on a 15-kilometer stretch.
Jeepneys are traditionally painted in a vibrant fashion with Christian icons and passages from the Bible; the stainless steel aluminum modes of transport also traditionally bear a name that is emblazoned on the vehicle’s forehead. Our jeepney was named Bethel Church.
Bethel Church’s interior was disco-like and our driver and his entourage played heart-thumping music that gave us the extra energy needed to keep holding on to the interior bars so as not to slide around the seats or onto the floor. A bumper sticker on Bethel Church’s rear window declared, “Safety First — Jesus on Board.”
Thank goodness we had an extra passenger, for on our return journey to Batad, Bethel Church had a head-on collision with a tricycle. Fortunately, no one was hurt. (Like the jeepney, a tricycle is another form of Philippine transport. Tricycles are like motorcycles with an attached cabin).
Incredibly, our jeepney driver, (who was spitting betel nut juice out of his mouth through an open window prior to the collision), didn’t even get out of the car to speak to the tricycle motorists, one of whom dashed out of the doomed tricycle at the time of impact.
We concluded that both parties were driving too quickly for the rainy and curvy conditions, not to mention riding over the center line. Our jeepney driver stated that the tricycle driver was drunk. Coming from a litigious land, we found it surprising that neither party exchanged contact information before driving on.
Rewinding a few hours back — prior to all the riding riding excitement — our trek through the Batad Rice Terraces was extraordinary! With walking sticks in hand our group of nine descended a lush ravine for about 45 minutes before we reached the overlook that revealed Batad’s terraces.
A few of the terraces had recently been planted; their Kelly green-colored plants made them easy to spot.
I pondered how men and women routinely climbed the terraces. Wouldn’t it destroy their knee joints over time?
I also wondered how the Batad townspeople’s ancestors crafted the terraces thousands of years ago. From how far away did they carry the stones? How did they devise their brilliant irrigation and engineering techniques that brought water from rainforests to quench the terraces?
And even in present times, I wondered, how do the locals get supplies or appliances delivered to their home in spite of such terrain?
Our walk toward Batad Town found us traversing the terrace walls, some of which are about 3.5 meters (12 feet) high. We climbed down to an overlook point where we relaxed for 45 minutes while other members of our party hiked down to the Tappiya Falls. The view from the overlook spot was serene. The fog that had hugged the mountains earlier on during our hike had lifted.
As we sat there, we watched as some locals hunted for snails within a terrace. Elsewhere, a cute scrappy dog was on the lookout for food. He eventually found a perch overlooking the dramatic vista and rested there. We treated him to a handful of our trail mix.
After our moments of respite and reflection, we began the grand ascent back to the Batad Saddle. To break up the climb, since it was about lunchtime, we stopped at a hillside-hugging homestay restaurant decked out with traditional Ifugao woodcarvings. (Interesting enough, many Ifugao figures represent deities revered for their ability to ensure a successful rice harvest.)
As we waited for our red rice, noodles and sautéed vegetables to be prepared, we played with a litter of puppies and admired the view that the locals likely take for granted since they see it everyday. The home’s friendly residents removed stalks of rice from a hand-woven basket and threshed them.
Two feisty roosters engaged in a cockfight.
Fortunately, this rooster skirmish developed only out of instinct. This was in contrast to the unsettling and forced scenes we would later see on a Philippine television channel devoted to cockfighting. During the Batad fight, one of the animals removed itself from the action when it was determined who the alpha rooster was, whereas on television, it seemed that victory could only be determined through the death of one — or even both — roosters.
After we had filled our bellies with Philippine comfort food and coffee sweetened with glorious, fresh brown sugar, we continued our climb.
Our legs and joints cursed us. A light rain started to fall. Finally, we reached the summit.
Back at the Greenview Lodge in Banaue, we enjoyed bowls of noodle soup and reminisced about the eventful ride and hike.
We’re so glad we endured rough roads from Manila to get there!
Planning Pointers:
- There are many rice terraces in the Cordillera Mountains, but only five are designated as UNESCO World Heritage Sites: Batad, Bangaan, Mayoyao, Hungduan, and Nagacadan. We explored Batad’s rice terraces.
- We took an overnight bus from Manila to Banaue and stayed at the Greenview Lodge in Banaue for a total of two nights.
- From Banaue we took a jeepney to the Batad Saddle. Our small group then hired a local guide and hiked into Batad. After our hike and lunch in Batad, we returned to Banaue, stayed one night, and returned to Manila by overnight bus the next day.
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Photography & text © Tricia A. Mitchell. All Rights Reserved.
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