Pride of Ifugao: Banaue Rice Terraces

It was my dream to see and visit Banaue Rice Terraces since I was in grade school. Every Philippine History books, like Sibika at Kultura, Hekasi, and Araling Panlipunan to name a few has picture of it. And I never failed to include the post card of Banaue Rice Terraces whenever we have a compilation project of top tourist destinations in the Philippines. I had always wondered how the people of Ifugao managed to create such an awesome rice terraces.

Background

According to Wikipedia, The Banaue Rice Terraces or Hagdan-hagdan Palayan ng Banawe in Filipino are 2,000-year-old terraces that were carved into the mountains of Ifugao by ancestors of the indigenous people. The Rice Terraces are commonly referred to by Filipinos as the "Eight Wonder of the World. It is commonly thought that the terraces were built with minimal equipment, largely by hand. The terraces are located approximately 1500 metres (5000 ft) above sea level. They are fed by an ancient irrigation system from the rainforests above the terraces. It is said that if the steps were put end to end, it would encircle half the globe. Read More

So here I come!!! 

When my fiend Luigey invited me to join their Banaue-Sagada trip, I didn't hesitate to join them and I also invited one of my friends from college. It was declared non-working holiday for the celebration of Chinese New Year 2014 that fell on January 31, Friday. Yep Yep looong weekend.

It was a long drive from Manila to Banaue. We left Manila around 11 PM, Thursday and arrived at Banaue at around 9 AM. When I got out from the van I didn't notice that it was cold. All I wanted was to stretch my tired legs and take lots of pictures. After several minutes I started to shiver and that's when I realized that the weather was much colder than the aircon inside the van. I rushed back inside the van and got my scarf.

Welcome to Banaue

I felt a quick sadness when we visited the Banaue Rice Terraces because the farmers are just starting to cultivate the land so the terraces weren't in green. I asked some locals when is the season of farming. They said it is best to visit Banaue during months of May to August. I thought planting and harvest seasons of rice or palay are the same in our province or in the lowlands. A local told me that in the high lands they only plant rice/palay once a year because the palay plant can't survived during rainy and cold BER-months. What they do instead of planting rice during those months they plant vegetables like cabbage, broccoli and lettuce.

One of my dreams came True

Even though the rice terraces were not in green yet I was still happy that one of my childhood dreams came true. Not all the Filipinos have the chance to see this wonderful creation so I should be happy enough :). And the weather was perfect too. If I will be given another chance to visit Banaue when rice terraces are in full grown I will definitely go back, I don't mind about the long travel hours just to get there.

There are also available souvenir shops near the rice terraces view point.