After the farm, Chris took us to Baker Hill. On the top of the hill is a bakery where they bake a large selection of Philippine pastries. One pastry I wanted in particular was some Hopia. Hopia is a flaky pastry filled with mung beans that are sweetened. It's one of my childhood favorites. We bought 2 dozen and brought some to Chris to eat as he was probably as hungry as we were. We also stopped at an adventure park on top of a hill and had a gorgeous view out to the ocean.

The next stop on the tour was to the Butterfly sanctuary. For a 50P admission, you can walk around a netted area where they house several varieties of butterflies. The feeling was a little surreal as we walked around being swarmed by hundreds of butterflies. A few landed on Lori's head thinking the top of her head was a flower and began burying their long mouths into her hair looking for nectar. 

Chris pointed out some things on a a gigantic wall map in the parking area out front before we got back into the tricycle to make our way back into Puerto. We were able to see where we currently were in Puerto Princessa in relation to  Sabang where we would head for the Undergound River Tour and later Port Barton.

Chris offered us a ride and connection with his cousin to Honda Bay to do some island hopping the next day. Since I had his number, I told him I'd text him to let him know as we had to budget our money for the rest of the trip. We had another 15 days left and didn't want to run out of money before the trip ended! Besides, I've been told the tour by boat of Honda Bay is expensive and you're moved around from island to island as quickly as possible. Not worth the money to go unless you had 2-3 days to explore the area. 

Since we were staying on the east side of town, there weren't many choices as far as food goes unfortunately. But Rene's Saigon has a pretty extensive menu, and anything we ordered was pretty tasty (except for their sandwiches, they weren't to my liking). We found our spot outside and pointed the fan at our table since we were the only ones there. It was definitely a hot sticky humid night. We enjoyed pork fried rice, a noodle dish with shrimp and squid and some delicious pho soup with our refreshing San Miguel Pilsners. You will notice the white napkin tucked around the top of the beer bottles. It is to wipe away any residue as the bottles are reused by the facilities and can sometimes become rusty in general. So you can wipe off the neck before drinking and if any bottle is too bad, definitely ask for a glass.

After filling our bellies we headed back to hang out at Chilli's Chill Out Bar before turning in after a very long, fun filled day.

We made our way back to the "Crocodile Farm"  as locals call it, actually called the Palawan Rescue and Conservation Center and signed up for the 1pm tour. The farm rehabilitates older crocs (some live to be 80 years old) and farms younger ones for their skins and their meat. They had a skeleton of a croc that had to have been 30ft long.

The next section of the tour took us outside to a walkway that went over large enclosures full of giant crocodiles.

To our surprise it became feeding time and the caretakers suspended a large piece of raw meat. The crocs all started moving towards it and climbing over each other.

After the tour, we had the opportunity to go on a self guided tour of the grounds where they had a small zoo with various birds, mammals, and reptiles. It started raining a little while we walked along the path through the Nature Park.

The porcupine didn't want to show himself today. We also saw some beautiful flowers and trees.

On the way out we found the Bearcat playing with a caretaker. Amazing little creature.

 After walking around the grounds, Chris pulled up in the motorbike to continue our tour.

Chris the tricycle driver picked us up at 10:15am to take us on a tour of the city. We stopped at the McDonald's of Philippine food chains, Jollibee. We were in a rush to get the day started, so something fast is what we were looking for. Jollibee's food was cheap and they love to spread a lot of sauce on their burgers, the patty almost slipped out the back of the bun. We hopped back in the tricycle and Chris took us to the waterfront while he left to get more gas. We ate our food and took some pictures of the pier while we waited for him to come get us. 

The first stop of the day was at the Crocodile Farm just outside of Puerto. So we had a good 20 to 30 minutes of riding and photos from the tricycle. We saw the Convention Center and noticed the names of some shops before it opened up to countryside.

As we pulled up the attendant said that there wouldn't be any tours for over an hour because all the staff was out to lunch. Chris suggested we take a tour of the penal colony farm just up the road while we waited for the next tour to begin. He wanted another 200P to get us there, and I haggled him down to 150P. Remember, almost anything in the Philippines is negotiable.  We got back in and he drove us another 20 minutes to the penal farm. The scenery was beautiful with open fields, farms, animals and beautiful trees scattered.

 I was a little scared that we were going to visit a place with convicts, but was surprised to see how relaxed it was. The guard at the entrance simply waived us on to the grounds, to my amazement, and we noticed that the convicts were walking around freely while waving and smiling at us. The prison staff teaches the convicts about farming, carpentry, and woodworking in the hopes of giving them some kind of education and learning a trade before they're set free. On the way to the center of the prison there were rice patties, homes for the prisoners and their families, and medium security housing. As we entered the center of the farm, we were shocked to see honest to goodness bars! When I mean bars I mean the kind where we go to drink alcohol! If I had to be incarcerated anywhere, I suppose that would be the place!

We took a loop through the little town and made our way back to the Crocodile Farm.

Lori and I had an 11:30am flight to Puerto Princessa that morning. We woke up around 7 and got our morning dose of caffeine at Coffee Bean. I left Lori briefly to head over to the post office to mail some postcards, and hit the ATM. Meanwhile, Lori updated the blog and sent some emails checking in with family and friends. We took a shuttle van that the Pension has available to the airport, after checking our backpacks we boarded the plane for our 1 1/2 hour flight to Puerto Princessa on Cebu Pacific.

We landed in Puerto Princessa (Puerto for short) around 2pm.  After exiting the airport we were accosted by multiple tricycle drivers for a lift to anywhere.  I said that we were walking and didn't need a ride. As we walked onto Rizal Ave. (the main street) there was a tricycle driver by the name of Chris who was more tenacious than the others. He wanted 100P to give us a ride, and the further we walked from the airport, the cheaper the price got. We agreed on 60P and got in.

We had researched places to stay before landing in Puerto and decided on a hostel called Chilli's Backpacker Hostel which had a double for 600P (300P per person) which seemed to keep us on budget and sounded like a cool place.  Chris had not heard of it before, however, and was having trouble helping us locate the place. Not that he didn't try. He asked many other tricycle drivers and we could see how hard it was for him and the other drivers to pronounce Chilli's Backpackers. Instead it was seemingly struggled an sounded like Shilly's Bockpocker.

 After riding around for a while, we had him drop us off at a hotel. The prices there were a little too high for us, but we decided to have lunch there anyway and use their free internet to find out exactly where Chilli's was located. We definitely lucked out in missing the ensuing downpour and enjoyed the views. We went ahead and made a reservation online at hostelworld.com for the following two nights at Chilli's but it wouldn't let us make one for tonight. We believed that was just a quirk of the website and were determined to find the place and get it tonight too. This is flying by the seat of your pants traveling, keeping your options open as long as you can.

After we ate and were getting ready to leave, Chris came back to our surprise and asked if we needed a ride anywhere else. We found out where the hostel was and tried to call but there was no answer. He recommended a place to stay for 800P a night. We got in and headed over to another hotel. The prices were more than he was expecting at 1200P a night, but they were willing to charge 800P if we didn't get breakfast which was included in the price. We declined the offer. While we were there we finally got through to Chilli's Backpacker on the phone and received some more detailed directions. So we got back in the tricycle and and headed over.

On the way we stopped at a beach and snapped off some shots. Lori went off in search of a comfort room of some sort. A comfort room or CR is how they refer to the bathroom. She asked a German couple sitting at a covered table and wound up talking for 10 minutes. Eventually I went and hunted her down. They were taking the opposite route through the Phillippines and heading up to Luzon the next day after hanging around Palawan.

While riding around talking with Chris, we wound up deciding to take a city tour with him the next day for 500P. After the beach we continued on and found the main road. Heading east past the airport on Rizal Avenue Extension watch closely for the left turn onto the gravel road into the VRC Camp and the small sign for Chilli's Backpacker on a post. Then it's the two blue roofs with the blue gate just a little way down the gravel road on your left. There is also a large sign on their compound wall.

We were welcomed by Ben and Vic who ran the hostel. Ben is from the UK and relocated to Puerto after meeting his Filippine wife Vic. They opened the hostel back in September and have made it a welcoming place to stay with 2 dorm rooms, and a private room with a double bed, all sharing the same bathroom. The hostel has a bar, laundry service, and will organize excursions for people who want to explore the surrounding area. 

After settling in we walked up to the bar for a beer. We talked with Ben and Graham (also from the UK) for a couple hours sipping on San Miguel and Tanduay Rum. Graham is a writer/musician who moved to Puerto for 6 months to finish writing his book. It was funny listening to them talk about the differences between Brits from the north (where Ben is from), and Brits from the south (where Graham is from). Then they were asking me questions like,"What do twinkies taste like?" and, "Which Hip Hop is actually better? West coast, or east coast?".

Sidenote: When we returned from the Philippines we were surprised and saddened to hear that there would no longer be any more Hostess Twinkies ever!

We were getting hungry, so Ben suggested we head to Rene's Saigon where they serve up really good Vietnamese Beef Noodle Soup or Pho as we call it. If you haven't tried Pho, do yourself a favor and get yourself a bowl right now! The restaurant was 1/4 mile down the road on Rizal Ave Ext  and it was amazing after another long day. It wasn't the last time we were going to fill our bellies there either.

 Just as we left to walk back to the hostel, the rain started to fall. It was a downpour and within 2 minutes, Lori and I were soaked to the bone. It was actually nice being caught up in a tropical downpour. The water felt cool and the air was still warm. We soaked it up literally and spiritually. Dancing in the rain. On our wedding day in Los Angeles, our wedding procession was actually stopped in its tracks just as it started by a sudden downpour of rain and hail and everyone scattered. In which case, everyone came back out when the coast was clear and we had a take two! Like in the movies. Our friends and family were very positive about the experience. They said it was like a fresh cleansing, washing away the old and bringing in the new.

Back at the hostel, we changed into some dry clothes and sat inside behind the bar counter, which was the driest place to be outside, and had a few more beers with Ben and Graham. 

We arrived in Manila at 4:30 in the morning and were absolutely exhausted. We both were unable to get any sleep at all on the bus because the driver had the AC on full blast and was playing loud crappy music (die Michael Bolton) almost the whole way to Manila. We grabbed a taxi, and headed back to Malate Pensionne hoping there would be a cheap room available.

We were lucky that we were able to grab the last private budget room they had. As we were heading upstairs, a woman with her young son arrived who sat in front of us on the bus from Banaue, looking to book a budget room too. Unfortunately there weren't any more rooms left in her price range and was disappointed that she and her son had to go elsewhere after traveling such a long distance on the bus. We began talking, and I pulled out my guide book trying to help her find some other form of accommodation. I recommended she stay at another hostel a few miles away and was so happy that I was able to help her and her son out. I felt somewhat responsible since we took the room she wanted and felt bad that she was traveling with a small child. I hailed down a taxi for her, and told him where to go. The taxi driver like most Manila taxi drivers wanted to set a price for the trip, and I demanded that he start the meter or get lost. He agreed to start the meter and she got into the taxi and drove away.

Afterwards, we went upstairs to relax a little. Lori fell asleep and I wanted to stay up because if I fell asleep, I would be out for hours. The plan for the day was to get to the bank, head to the department of immigration to renew our visas, book plane tickets to Palawan, and get a haircut at the mall.

After withdrawing money from the bank, we took a taxi to Intramuros to the department of Immigration to extend our visas. I wasn't able to enter the building because I was wearing shorts and sandals! It was a about 100 degrees and humidity was around 90%! Having gotten no sleep since the day before, I was a little pissed. I gave Lori my passport and waited for her in front of the building. She came back a half hour later and said that there were some unforeseen charges and that extending our visas was going to be more expensive, which made me even more pissed. Luckily there was an ATM in front of the department of immigration office and withdrew an additional 6000P ($120). After some more waiting, she came out of the building and I was hoping that every thing was cool. They told her that they needed to hold on to the passports for another hour for processing. So after a little more grumbling, we headed across the street to a Starbucks to sip on coffee and kill some time. We got one month extensions on our visas finally and jumped into a cab and headed back to Malate District's Robinsons Mall.

At the mall we had to purchase tickets for the plane trip to Puerto Princessa, Palawan. The Robinsons department store has a ticketing booth on the 1st level. We purchased tickets to Palawan on Cebu Pacific Airlines for 4110P. After adding more credits to the phone, we wanted to get haircuts. I got my usual and Lori got her hair trimmed! It was her first haircut since the wedding a year before. It may not look like much here, but it was over 6 inches cut off.

After some lunch, simple burgers and fries and frosties (Yum!), we walked back to Malate Pensione and hung out at Coffee Bean utilizing their blazing fast Wifi, while waiting for Galen to get home from work. We wanted to take it easy that night after doing all that traveling and getting no sleep the night before, so we decided to chill over at Galen's apartment,  order take out, and watch a movie.

We took a pedicab (bicycle with a sidecar) over to Galen's but first, headed to a 7-11 for some Red Horse Extra Strong Ale. We had a relaxing evening ordering Sinangag Express (SEX for short) while watching Kung Fu Hustle (one of my favorites) and laughing our asses off!

Lori had started to get a bit of a sweat rash on her back which we were told was not uncommon. Fortunately it wasn't too uncomfortable for her but Siara helped Lori apply some Katinko mentholated ointment which has a lot of symptom uses for pain. It was in a stick form which was like applying speed stick or fancy chapstick. The rash was virtually gone the next day and never bothered Lori again. Thanks Siara!

We said goodnight,  took a pedicab back to Malate Pensionne and went to bed.

That day was our one year anniversary! After talking with a few other backpackers the day before, we found out the only jeep heading back to Banaue was at 9am, so after eating an early breakfast, front row overlooking the gorgeous sweeping view, we hit the trail to make it back up to the saddle before the jeep left. The hike up to the saddle took an hour and half. Lori's ankle was still pretty sore so we had to take it slow. I ended up taking her backpack along with mine and carried them both up the mountain. Of course Lori snapped off some morning shots before heading out.

We reached the long stone staircase and it reminded me of climbing the stairs which led to a Shao-Lin temple in a 70's Kung Fu movie. After reaching the top, we were out of breath and relived that there was a stand selling drinks and snacks at the top.

There they were selling coconut juice which Filipinos call Buko Juice. I ordered two and some guy took the green coconuts and expertly opened both with a machete, took a couple straws and served them up. It was so refreshing drinking the juice straight from the nut. After we drank all the juice, I handed back the coconuts and he split both of them in half and gave us spoons to eat out the flesh! 

We definitely felt like we had been to a little hidden part of the world and experienced something few have. Feelings of accomplishment and awe were abound. With all that we had already done and seen we were soaking it up but also getting anxious to hop down to the southern island of Palawan and experience the beach life and something different but just as amazing. Alas... we still had a lot of hurry up and wait travel and business to accomplish in Manila.

We climbed in the jeep and began the 45 minute ride back to Banaue. There was a bus heading back to Manila at 6:30pm, so we had to get back to Banaue asap so I could buy bus tickets before they all sold out.

After arriving back in Banaue, I headed to the bus station while Lori stayed back at People's Lodge icing her ankle. I was lucky enough to get the last two tickets back to Manila! The rest of the day we spent back at the People's Lodge writing more postcards, and talking with fellow backpackers about their travels and where they came from. We ran into Joe from Philly, the couple from Holland, and a couple from France and we spent the day overlooking the rice terraces of Banaue sipping on San Miguel, eating, and talking as we waited for the bus which we were all taking. As afternoon turned into night, we headed to the bus and we were all excited to get back to Manila to start the next legs of our journeys. We climbed into the bus and sat back for the 8 hour trip.

The next morning we took our large packs to the People's Lodge lock-up storage and, hanging onto our specially packed overnight daypacks, we decided that even if we weren't staying at Santa Fe Lodge, we'd go have breakfast there. It was definitely quaint and has wi-fi too. 

We met up with Jeremiah our guide for the day at People's Lodge at 8 in the morning for our hike to Batad. We were able to set up a rideshare with 2 other travelers to save some money for the ride up to Batad saddle. We rode up with John from the UK, and Yoshida from Japan. The drive was a bumpy 45 minutes up to the saddle where the trail began. It felt like my organs were displaced inside my body from how fast the driver hit all the bumps and ruts in the road.

The view at the top of the saddle was absolutely awe-inspiring!

After getting out of the van, Jeremiah began leading us away from the trailhead and hiking down towards Batad. The trail started with a long stone stairway that seemed like a steep 20 minute descent. The only thing going through my head was the fact that we had to climb up this steep staircase the next day. At the bottom of the stairs we hit the trail where the descent was more level and the hiking was a bit more easygoing. Jeremiah would stop along the way to give information such as this rice god statue in the photo. After another hour of hiking we made it to the village of Batad.

 Batad was constructed out of the mountainside, and it was so refreshing that there were no cars or motorcycles zooming around honking at each other. The people of the village were so friendly and hospitable as well. The plan was to walk to Batad Pension which has a restaurant, place an order for lunch, and hike to Tappiya waterfall through the crevice on the other side of the terraces. After the hike to the waterfall, we were going to head back and have lunch, and the others would leave and we'd find our way back in the morning.

Before we got to the restaurant, Lori was descending some stairs and rolled her ankle at the last step. She fell as gracefully as she could trying not to sprain anything else coming down. I grabbed a chair for her to sit on so she could wrap her ankle with an ace bandage. Lori has a tendency to roll her ankles, so we came prepared and I was so relieved to have it. She limped around for the rest of the day, but she hung in there. She didn't want to have to sit out while I was hiking around the rice terraces with everyone else, since we traveled so far to see them!

We took a quick walk into the G-String (not the same G-Strings that we are accustomed to. Their scantly clad, but woven. There's a woven flap that covers the front of the wearer) Weaving shop which creates authentic Filipino garb for the dancers and other items. It was really amazing to see them at work using the old weaving ways. The group made their way to the Inn, placed an order for lunch, and began hiking to Tappiya waterfall. Before leaving the Inn, Jeremiah gave Lori a hiking stick for extra stability. The hike through the rice terraces was beautiful. It was so surreal walking through the terraces knowing that villagers still work here growing rice despite the fact that they were built 2000 years ago. The walls containing the rice paddies doubled as walkways. There were a couple people working, slogging through the paddies but they were far away from us. Although the beauty of the terraces was stunning, the heat was relentless. Sweat was pouring out of every pore on my body, and had to keep drinking water for fear of getting too dehydrated. Every 20 minutes or so there was a shelter built on the trail so hikers could get out of the sun for a while and cool off. Some even had people selling water, soda, and beer to drink.

Jeremiah said greeted another guide with a group heading back from the waterfall. The other guide handed Jeremiah some rolled up green leaves. I asked what he was going to chew, so he showed us as he unrolled the leaves a little that there was a bit of white powder and a nutty looking thing. He applied some of the white stuff to his inner cheek, which at first I thought was cocaine! But rather pulverized limestone, and then he put some of the nutty piece in his mouth where the powder was placed. This was Moma! (Moh-ma) The betel nut. We had seen signs all over in some towns saying, "No spitting of Moma". He spat red. You could see some red developing around his teeth which were stained red from the nut mixing with saliva. The pulverized limestone he said was to help numb and protect the inner cheek where the moma was placed. If not for the limestone, acid from the nut can burn the mouth and can be very painful. Moma can be used for things like altitude sickness or to help warm the body up, but can be used anytime. It's very traditional, especially to the elders but we saw younger guys using Moma too. It's easy to recognize, just check to see if their teeth are stained red.

After making it to the other side of the terraces, we began descending further down on the other side where there was a canyon with a nameless river at the bottom. Jeremiah assisted Lori with descending down the trail which was nice of him. Of course he could run this trail in 20 minutes wearing flipflops. The only thing on my mind was getting into that water to cool off. We finally made it to the bottom, where there was a great view of the waterfall which was at least 70 feet high. I was so excited to slip into the water. We jumped into the river and the water felt amazing, we didn't want to get out! 

We swam around for a half hour and we all began feeling a little hungry, so we started hiking back to Batad Pension. Back at the pension we sat down and were immediately served. I ordered the pork Sinigang (my favorite), and Lori ordered fried rice. We washed it down with San Miguel beer and talked with John and Yoshida. They both had to make it back to the saddle where the van driver was waiting all day for them, so after lunch we said goodbye and Jeremiah led them back up the mountain. Lori and I decided to continue to enjoy the view over a few more beers and wrote some postcards to family and friends back home. We also met a young girl who was working at the Pension in conjunction with her education attending a university. It was very nice to converse with someone who grew up in the country and could speak English very well. It was definitely educational for us as we learned more about the country, Batad, and the people. Then we heard the monkey.

Down below us there was a pet monkey. Lori took a few pictures from far away zoomed in, so they are a bit blurry but the monkey seems to have a strange friendship with a dog. We were sad to see a monkey chained up like that, but it was fun watching it interacting with the other animals.

The prices for a room Batad Pension were a little too high for our budget, so there was another inn where the prices for their rooms were a cheaper for 300P ($8) a night and had been suggested by fellow travelers and Lonely Planet guidebook. We checked out the room and decided to take it. The best words to describe this room was basic but clean. The sheets were kids cartoons! (We had sleep sacks to sleep in on top of the bedding.) The back window faced the shower and toilet area. The walls were plywood, and you could hear every conversation that was spoken by your neighbors, but it was a place to lay our heads for a night. Plus I always travel with earplugs to drown out the sound of roosters, dogs, cars, motorcycles, and people so I managed to get a good nights sleep. We also found a large moth in our room which decided to dive bomb Lori several times repeatedly as she sat on the bed, so she put hands over her head as protection after she got "thumped" by its large body. We couldn't stop laughing. Such a wonderful day!

It was our last morning in Sagada. The next stop on our trip was Banaue which is located southeast of Sagada, about 3 1/2 hours by jeepney. Banaue is the starting point to visit the famous rice terraces, which we were dying to see. We had breakfast at our new favorite spot Yoghurt House and ordered the Hiker's Delight again. Lori's affair with Yakult came out again, I admit I was getting a little jealous - ha! It helped ease her stomach and made her go to the bathroom less frequently, so before we left Sagada Lori made sure to stock up on Yakult. This however did take a little hunting as we moved away from bigger cities. 

We threw our backpacks on top of the jeep and to our surprise, the Dutch couple, Peter and Jose, showed up to ride with us to Banaue. The unfortunate thing about jeepneys is it goes when it's full, which make take a really long time. We waited nearly an hour before the driver felt the jeep was full enough and began moving. The road back to the highway was a ruddy, muddy, bumpy ride, always overlooking steep drops. After getting back to the Halsema Road, it was another 45 minutes to get to Bontoc where we changed jeeps bound for Banaue. 

As we pulled into Bontoc we got out of the jeep and immediately, some guy asked me "Banaue?" I said yes, and he grabbed our backpacks. We followed him as he walked down around a corner to a garage and threw them on top of another jeep which was already filling up with people and stuff. Jose and Lori needed to find a public restroom and the jeepney driver took them down around to another street and pointed out where they could go. There wasn't much discussion involved, everything happened so fast and the girls were disappearing around a corner with this jeepney guy leaving Peter and I behind.  I was at least relieved that they were using the buddy system. We pulled out of Bontoc and headed for Banaue. On the jeep we met an American named Joe, and we talked for a while. He's from Philly, and I had to ask him who had the best cheesesteaks. He began to laugh and he reluctantly said, Gino's has the best cheesesteaks. We know there's an ongoing argument on who has the best cheesesteaks, so I had to ask. Having never been to Philadelphia, I took his word for it.

We pulled into Banaue in the afternoon and as we got off the jeep, we were surrounded by people soliciting their hotels and hostels. It was a little overwhelming. Previously we had wanted to stay at Santa Fe Lodge but found it was going to be too expensive after the prices had inflated so we had called ahead to Green View Lodge. One of the young men said, "Green View Lodge", so we followed him down the steps into the town to the main street. Green View had actually run out of the room within our budget so he took us directly next door to People's Lodge to see what they had. We checked into a room with 2 double beds for 800 pesos ($16). Double beds weren't necessary of course but we chose the available room in the back, away from the noise on the street, and with a balcony and beautiful view outside our door. The double beds, however, did provide a nice space for laying out and reorganizing our stuff.

 The view from our room and the restaurant was spectacular. A large panoramic view of rice terraces as far as the eye could see. When we came back downstairs to have a drink and check out the restaurant we asked about the price of the Jeepneys to the Saddle above Batad and it seemed expensive. All the money we carried with us had to feed us and to get us back to Manila and everything in between. As the 8th Wonder of the World, the rice terraces in Batad was going to be one of the biggest highlights on our trip. Batad is a village on a mountainside accessible only by hiking trail and we knew we needed a guide to get us there for fear of getting lost. But we also knew we could make our way back up on our own and allow us to stay one night there. The same young man who brought us there came up and we started discussions about having a guide and transportation. 

Before we left home, we had connected via Facebook with the guide our friend Dawn had gone with on her recent trip to the Philippines, Denver Nacod-am, who they highly recommended, but we had come to find that his price was not within our budget. So we took this opportunity to find a cheaper way, face to face, especially since we were tight on time. The young man's name was Jeremiah, and he was able to find a couple other people to join in a rideshare with his friends van bringing our transportation costs down dramatically. Jeremiah wound up being our guide to Batad and we set up a time and place to meet the next day, and then we had dinner at the People's Lodge restaurant. The staff at the lodge and restaurant were very friendly, as we had come to expect with almost everywhere we slept or ate at in The Philippines.  We enjoyed the views and went for a walk.

Waking up in the morning we had a beautiful view from the balcony outside our room at St. Joseph's Resthouse! We only had 1 main day in Sagada, and there are a number of activities to do. There are hiking tours to waterfalls, caving tours, white water rafting trips etc.. However our time in Sagada was limited so we had to do the things that were close to town and we could do on our own. One of the things we really wanted to see was the hanging coffins, a 20 minute hike to the bottom of a valley where coffins are hung from the limestone cliffs at the bottom. There is also a hike to a waterfall we planned on taking later in the day. 

First things first, we needed breakfast. We opened our guide book and found a great spot for breakfast. A restaurant called Yoghurt House which makes their yoghurt from scratch. The Yoghurt House we realized, was also recommended to us by our friend Dawn when her and her boyfriend Jason traveled to Sagada a couple months before us, and said their breakfasts are really tasty. Taking their advice, we left the hostel and made our way there. They have a lovely balcony where we enjoyed our breakfast. Lori and I ordered the Hiker's Delight: a crepe with their homemade yoghurt and a banana filled inside. The crepe was topped with strawberry jam and there was toast on the side. The breakfast was amazing! We met some fellow travelers and discussed the usual topics travelers talk about with each other. Where did you come from? Where are you going? What will you be doing here? etc.. 

The trailhead for the hanging coffins begins in the rear of an old stone church. Following the instructions from the tourist office, we found the trail which led through a Chinese cemetery. 

On All Saint's Day, on November 1st, people will gather around the graves and celebrate with and in honor of their deceased family members. We could still see the remains of small fires that were built a week before. This would have been a fantastic location to experience this holiday, if only we had arrived here sooner. We had been in Manila barely getting situated with help from Galen and did not have a chance to get to a cemetery or see too much in the way of festivities. At the same time, there are just way too many people in the big city of Manila and the cemeteries have become much more policed on this holiday unfortunately due to quantity of people, alcohol, and violence. At the end of the cemetery, the trail led to the edge of a cliff where you can peer down into Echo Valley or back towards the town which flows down its own valley. 

From the viewpoint, you can actually see the coffins hanging from the cliffs on the other side at the bottom.  Then the directions become a little confusing, so I put the directions away, and walked the edge of the cliff to find a way down. There were some French tourists who couldn't find the trail to the bottom, so I guided everyone to a steep path I found, which led to the bottom of the valley.

At the bottom there was a network of trails that seemed a little confusing but I knew which direction we needed to go, and managed to find the coffins. 

The location of those particular coffins are the most desirable in all of Sagada, and we were told by Ike, the curator of the St. Louis University Museum, that in order to be laid to rest there you need to be rich. The price for having your coffin hung there means you need to sacrifice at least 21 pigs or over 100 chickens. A high price for eternal sleep but I suppose even in Sagada, location is everything.

On the way back out of the valley, we stopped to inspect a large limestone rock with a space underneath it. It was beginning to rain, and we thought it would be a good idea to get out of the wetness. 

Above our heads we discovered a coffin, but this particular one was very old and decayed. I grabbed the video camera and began recording as I lifted the camera above my head and pointed the video camera inside. There was a pile of human bones in it!  

You'll have to wait for the videos!

We wanted to check out a waterfall, which was an hour hike into the jungle. We found the trailhead behind a weaving shop and again, the rain began to fall. The rain fell in big, hard, consistently fast beating drops. Wanting to avoid getting soaked hiking through the jungle, we wandered into the weaving shop to purchase a couple souvenirs. Sagada Weaving has been in operation for more than 40 years and makes a variety of handwoven goods like handbags, wallets, purses, shoes, blankets, scarfs etc.. I found a trifold wallet which I thought was pretty cool, and Lori found a small shoulder bag with lots of different pockets that she loves. All in all we paid just over 400 Pesos (about $9), not a bad price for a couple souvenirs! 

Since the rain continued to fall we decided to take refuge in a bar, so we walked back into town and found a local watering hole called Kimchi Bar. The walls of the bar were decorated with beer bottle caps from floor to ceiling and there were posters of Bob Marley everywhere. The reggae was blasting from the speakers and we thought we stepped into Jamaica. There we met a nice couple from Holland named Peter and Jose (joe-say), and talked over a few San Miguel beers as the rain continued to fall.

The rain stopped finally and by that time night had fallen. After all those beers, we were feeling a little drunk so we headed back to the hostel and had dinner at their restaurant to soak up some of the beer. Lori's favorite! And they were nice and fluffy.

We woke up to our last day at Tam-awan. After eating breakfast, we packed up our backpacks, said our goodbyes, hailed a taxi and headed for the bus terminal. 

 After arriving at the terminal, I had to pick up some food for the ride to Sagada, and get to a bank before our bus left. I left Lori at the bus and went to take care of some business. It's really the only time we parted from each other for more than a few minutes, and was nervous as hell while I waited for food and withdrew cash from an ATM. The central station in Baguio wasn't the safest place to be, but it had to be done. Perhaps I was getting a little paranoid, but we were in a foreign country and the thought of something happening to her while I was a away scared me. Luckily, when I returned her and our things were still there. She was perfectly alright, but she shared the same fears as I had.

We boarded the GL Transport bus and sat down only to realize my knees were shoved into the seat in front of me, and realized this was going to be one uncomfortable bus ride. To make matters worse, the lady in the seat in front of me leaned her seat back adding to the agony of having long legs. We pulled out of the station and began making our way north to Sagada. 

After making our way through Baguio City proper, we began climbing up into the mountains on the Halselma Road. A windy twisting road that snakes through the mountains, that is wide enough for one car but is designated as a 2 lane highway! It was probably the most nervous bus ride we have ever taken in our lives. We just had to remind ourselves not to look down out of the window as the bus skirted the cliffs. (Of course you can't stop Lori from taking pictures.) It didn't help matters much when the rain came down. Not a light rain mind you, it was more of a torrential down pour which lasted for at least 2 hours. The Halsema Road was once a dirt road which over the years was paved section by section. But mile after grueling mile  and one turn after another, we finally made it to our first pit stop.

The lady in the seat in front of me left to go to the bathroom, so I reached over and tilted her seat forward to give me a little relief. Feeling the call of nature, I and every guy on that bus began peeing in a trough. And if you've ever been to a baseball game, you know what I'm talking about. Poor Lori on the other hand wasn't so lucky. There is often a cost of three to five pesos to use a restroom along the way at bus stops. Once Lori paid the five pesos to the attendant out front, she came in to see a raised tiled platform with 5 stations and no dividers. These stations were open with simply a rectangle cut leading back to an open trough. So, without question, she followed suit next to the two ladies and took over the next open station. Luckily it was only number 1. For a first timer in this experience, I hear she didn't bat an eye. Go get em Lori! And of course, no toilet paper was provided, but she came prepared. We ran into some western travelers that had expectations of finding their western world here, which to us is ridiculous. Lori and I had accepted and looked forward to new experiences, leaving our expectations at home.

As the journey continued, we miraculously were able to catch some sleep. The bus ride took over six hours and as we arrived in Sagada, it was night. We made reservations a day in advance and stayed at St. Joseph's Resthouse. We checked in, dropped off some laundry that desperately needed washing and went upstairs to our room. We were so relieved to find that the room was immaculately clean and we had our own private bathroom with HOT WATER! We were so excited, as we had spent the last few days washing ourselves with cold water from buckets. Not that we were complaining, of course, just found the hot water a very pleasant change.

After cleaning up and putting on some clean clothes, we left the hostel and searched for some food. We ate at a little local family restaurant and feeling the need to unwind, we ordered a liter bottle of Red Horse Beer to share. We made our way back to the hostel, and collapsed. It was one of the best sleeps we have ever had.