In day 3 we continued our intense trekking in Sagada, Mountain Province. Sagada is about 275km north of Manila and is a popular tourist destination for trekking, exploring caves and waterfalls, and other outdoorsy adventures. We started the day in Banaue with this beautiful breakfast from the hotel. Again the view outside the hotel is breathtaking. There were constantly birds flying by our window so here I was able to capture one. While driving down from Banaue towards Sagada we made several stops at particularly beautiful points along the way. This was one such scenic point. But wait a minute, this looks familiar. Ahhh yes, it's on the 1000 piso note, equivalent to about $25. I saw this kid here hauling rocks down the hill. It was a reminder that all of these incredibly beautiful rice terraces that are ubiquitous around the country are painstakingly made one stone at a time. I watched this kid carry at least 10 rocks down the hill within the 20 minutes we were stopped here. We als...

After our 10 hour drive of death north from Manila into the Mountain Provinces (this is the actual name of the district) we went straight to bed at the Banaue Hotel . This hotel is an 81 room hotel and boasts the unbeatable competitive advantage of being state owned and the hotel in the moderate vicinity. Overall the hotel was very nice. The rooms are comfortable, the food is good, and the view is phenomenal. I'd say the only real downside is that it was a bit old. Because we arrived at 1am the night before to complete darkness, this view from our balcony was a very pleasant surprise the next morning:   Finally! Some standard Filipino food! Some of my fellow travelers ordered the 'American style' breakfast with toast and pancakes but I chose to go Filipino. The difference being that the American style comes with bacon instead of this meat, and toast instead of rice. This is typical of the breakfasts we ate in the Philippines. Rice, eggs, some veggies, and some oversalted me...