BATAD, 12 YEARS AFTER

The rice terraces of Batad has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

I fell in love with the massive amphitheater-like terraces carved straight out of a mountain side the first time I saw it in 1999.

I'm back 12 years older, the 1-hour bumpy ride from Banaue to the Saddle more strenuous, the hike down to the village and back more laborious.

But we came, we saw, and we shoot.

And that includes 3 hours of a scrambling trek to the Tappiya Falls and back with Kuya Egay Carrasco while Kuya Maning Francisco waits in the village to tell us that our lunch of inlagim got away.

FOOTNOTE: The original village of Batad has 2 churches: the big building with the red roof and an older green one as shown in the photo above. The church below we passed by on the way to Batad.