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.
Asking around, the waiting passengers told us that we should buy tickets for Banaue in the ticketing office. Ticket costs 120 Pesos for Banaue.
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
- 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”.
- The bus will stop and you should be able to climb up the ladder on the side of the bus.
- Sit down on the right side of the bus for maximum viewing pleasure. (Left side if riding from Banaue to Bontoc)
- Hold on. There’s a high probability that you may fall if you are not well seated and secure.
When the bus started to move while we were on the topload, we were greeted by the shouts of fellow passengers such as “YUKO!”, “KABLE!” or “OOOOW!”
Watch out for Electrical Wires and Water Tubes on Top of the Bus
And after you leave the Poblacion of Bontoc, you’ll now be greeted by a very dynamic and magnificent sceneries of the Cordillera.
Poblacion, Bontoc
Long and Winding Road
You do not have to be lucky to spot different species of birds on the way. You just have to be observant.
You’ll also be passing by some cracks on the road, but as long as the bus can pass by you’re still good.
Road Cracks
One of the notable parts of the ride is a part of the road actually passes through the Rice Terraces.
And just when I thought that the bus ride only has great sceneries to offer. The bus conductor came up on the topload while the bus was still moving!
He had to check if all the passengers has tickets.
Ticketing a passenger who does not have a ticket yet
Ever wondered how high and steep the cliffs were?
We also saw the Bay-yo Rice Terraces.
More views and Rice Terraces!
We also passed by some hairpin turns.
Then we passed by a landslide.
What is good about this is that you can see that the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) are really doing their job in repairing our roads.
Many times I hope that there were bigger trees with deeper roots that interlock each other so that this types of incidents would be lessened.Then came the first stopover of the ride, Mount Polis.
And the conductor could continue to do his job by collecting fees from passengers and computing if he had the right amount of money collected.
And after 15 minutes, it was again time to move on and look forward to that long and winding road to Banaue.
Not only did I see great sceneries from the top of the bus, I also saw some illegal activities such as this quarrying. This made me realize that every time I see things as these, I become an eye for the people and hopefully a solution will appear to stop these through my eyes.
I also realized that on these earth, we are just a tiny speck of dust passing by.
We were also lucky to see Ifugao’s practicing in the middle of the road for the Imbayah Festival 2011.
And after 2 hours and 30 minutes we arrived safely in Banaue, Ifugao.
So far this has been the best topload ride I’ve ever experienced and I wish to do it next time from Bontoc to Tabuk! 🙂
NOTE:
When we were in Banaue 4 days earlier, we had a quick conversation with a medical doctor telling us to go down from the topload because he had many cases of patients geeting injured or sometimes death because of doing topload and he do not want us to be on that list. Toploading is fun but dangerous. Be careful when doing this.
This is an entry to Pinoy Travel Bloggers’ Blog Carnival themed Travel is the Destination. Click on the Blog Carnival Logo on the left to see more interesting posts regarding Travel is the Destination in the Philippines.
Kara Santos of Travel-Up hosts December’s Pinoy Travel Bloggers’ Blog Carnival.
To see the archive of Pinoy Travel Bloggers’ Blog Carnival click here.
wahaha.. astig si manong konduktor.. haha. kayanin kaya ang Batad-Banaue-Sagada in 5 days? I’ll be conducting a research there for my thesis bandang october..
Ivan, kayang-kaya. 5 days yung itinerary namin for Batad-Banaue-Sagada. God bless sa thesis mo. Don’t hesitate to ask kung kailangan mo ng tulong. 🙂
Hi Ivan, that’s what we planned on doing last March 3-7 — kaso we didn’t visit Batad anymore because of time constraints of the commute. pero mukhan makaya naman kaso medyo bitin siguro ng konte. In our case, we went the Manila-Banaue-Bontoc-Sagada route. Then pauwi, dumaan pa ng Baguio ng ilang oras. Bulk of our time was spent in Sagada. 😀
Josiah, I suddenly remembered my toploading experience from Banaue to Bontoc. baliktad lang yung routes natin. 😀
crazy toploading indeed, umuulan pa nun at the time! 😀
Ed, mascrazy nga yung sa inyo. umuulan pa. I hope kahit umuulan walang fog to block the view. Isa din yan sa mga pangarap ko. magtopload habang umuulan. 😀
Nakakamiss magtopload! You get an unobstructive of the terraces and mountains. You also get to chat with locals who are also on top of the jeep with you.
If you’re lucky they’ll even explain to you what you’re seeing. Instant tour guide. 🙂
Must-try ang experience na to talaga, we also tried toploading from Sagada to Bontoc and the view was awesome 🙂
I second the motion! Parang gusto ko tuloy bumalik dun just to do it again. 😀
passing thru the rice terraces? that’s cool! i only tried toploading once at ang sakit sa pwet… 🙂
Thanks for sharing the useful tips on toploading for the blog carnival! Panalo yung photos! 😀
Excellent talaga ang view pag nasa taas ano. The longest topload I’ve taken was from Calapan City to Puerto Galera. It was very nice, but the views in Bontoc are priceless!
Saludo ako sa top loading madness na to.
hahaha!! medyo scared ako sa ganyan..
The scenic view is the best
nice.. did topload on my way to Buscalan Village in Kalinga, awesome view of Chico River and rice terraces.. 😀