Bontoc, Mountain Province

Museum at Bontoc, Mountain Province

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After visiting the Batad Rice Terraces and a van ride from Banaue, Ifugao we stopped by in Bontoc, Mountain Province to have lunch. After dining, Bibang said that she wanted to show me and Maki something but she told us to blindfold ourselves first.

The Bontoc Museum at Bontoc, Mountain Province

At first I thought she was kidding but she was serious. But even if she was kidding Maki and I were both game for blindfolded adventures to make our trip really interesting.

While hoping that a rabid dog would not intersect with our path and Bibang, the girl we entrusted our lives with, would not leave us in the middle of the road, we crossed streets, stepped up a gutter, walked on inclined sidewalks and climbed stairs until Filipinos and foreigners talking. And when she finally commanded us to remove our blindfold what I saw was amazing. I’ve never ever have seen anything like it in my life. Everything was just blurred!!!

Toploading from Bontoc to Banaue

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The jeepney we were riding from Sagada suddenly stopped on the roadside somewhere in Bontoc. The driver came out of the jeepney and instructed us to go down from the topload. He explained that it was actually illegal to topload inside Poblacion, Bontoc. Luckily, there were many passengers who came down that we were able to go inside the jeepney.

The jeepney stopped and the driver instructed us to go down (again!) but this time because we were in front of the bus station going to Tabuk, Kalinga which will be passing by Banaue, Ifugao.

Bus to Tabuk

Asking around, the waiting passengers told us that we should buy tickets for Banaue in the ticketing office. Ticket costs 120 Pesos for Banaue.

Lining up in the Ticketing Office

Fare Matrix

Fare Matrix

Since it was illegal to topload inside Poblacion, Bontoc we luckily found the conductor of the bus (they don’t have uniforms) and he explained how we could do topload and not break the law.

Conductor explaining how we can topload

Conductor explaining how we can topload

  1. Be one of the last passengers to ride the bus. This will make you stand for about 5-10 minutes until the bus reaches the end of the “no-toploading zone”.
  2. The bus will stop and you should be able to climb up the