MY O MY! I LOVE CHAING MAI

 

Chaing Mai is more Thai than anywhere else in Thailand. It is cultured and a centre for learning, making Chaing Mai a bit classier than her sometimes tacky sister, Bangkok. Chaing Mai is not 'in your face. It is impressive without effort. It easily encapsulates ancient & modern Thailand without any clear divide. The sedateness of the ornate temples & monasteries somehow form with the bustle & liveliness of the  present, creating an extremely pleasant city.

The Chaing Mai Night Bazaar  would have to be the best night market in SE Asia. Chaing Mai sits on an ancient trade route from India to Burma. For centuries it has been the place to buy exotic trinkets, handcrafts & just about anything now. Hill tribes sell their unique handmade products. Major brand names & faux brands are all there. Stunningly beautiful Thai dancers provide cultural entertainment for diners. It's the city's major night time attraction for families, backpackers & locals as well.

 And there is not enough stomach space for all the food that l wanted to sample & consume. Everywhere, hot woks are feverishly knocking up aromatic snacks & feasts. Chaing Mai possesses  restaurants of all cuisines , all of extremely high standard, with all the flair and presentation that the Thais do so well. Also great coffee cafés & charming niche style organic restaurants. Chaing Mai is not the place to consider starting a restrictive diet of any kind.

Though there are some fabulous retreats & day spas not far out of town. And quite a bit of healthy competition has created some very reasonable prices. The Thais know how to pamper. They make you feel like royalty & indulgence is your birth right. My budget takes me for a 250 bht ($8) facial at the local massage parlour. Even there l am treated like a very special guest and l soak up the all the attention & 7 different treatments. My face has been scrubbed, steamed, vacuumed, massaged and l float out feeling like a superstar.

And the best part of town for me is in & around the old city. The cheaper accomodation & the liveliest bars are all in this area. The major gates & part of the ancient wall that surrounded the old city, still exists. This main square is framed by the moat, making Chaing Mai distinctive & distinguished.

Trekking in the area is excellent, combined with the cultural experience of meeting & home-staying with the hill tribes. There are many tribes such as the Karen (longnecks),  Hmong, Akha, Lahu, and all are uniquely different. Some of the hill tribes are shy & quiet, where others can be all over you selling their traditional wares. They speak their own language & celebrate their own animistic festivals. They add a richness to the colour of Northern Thailand.

Chaing Mai abounds with activities, particularly focused on elephants. The elephant camps offer rides, mahout courses from 3-10 days and also there are some camps that are conservation & rescue camps that discourage the riding of elephants. I'm in two minds about the morality of it. I love riding them. They are so powerful & so gentle.

A 3 day trek costs about 1500 bht ($50). Accomodation in backpackers hostels costs about 250-300 bht ($10). I stayed at So Hostel & happy to reccommend it.

LUANG PRABANG #LOVELY #LAID-BACK #LAOS

Whenever Im home in the real world & my mind wanders to travel. I am immediately back in Luang Prabang, Laos, enjoying  the fleeting tropical sunset over the mighty Mekong River. Cold Beer Laos sweating on the timber table, I inhale with blissful satisfaction, an Indonesian cigarette. All is well with the world.

 

All my travels are epitomised or condensed in that scene or moment. When l think of travel, all roads lead to Luang Prabang.
It is 9 years since l first visited Luang Prabang, arriving down on a 2 day slow boat journey from the Thai border. I immediately fell for its charms & I have been returning every year since. No other place has impressed upon me such a lasting sentiment.

Luang Prabang is nestled between 2 rivers, the Mekong & the Nam Khan. The rivers imbue a leisurely river town ambiance. The long past French colonization is retained in its rustic elegance. The shady streets are perfect for strolling & bike riding past ornate Buddhist temples. The riverside cafés are perfect for long, deep & meaningless conversations over industrial strength Laos coffee.

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Within all its character lives its cultural essence, the spiritual capital of Laos. Dozens of monasteries house over a thousand monks & novices studying the holly scriptures. The sound of drums & chanting adds to the atmosphere. It inspires your heart beat at a different pace.

 The Laos culture is still undiluted by mass tourism. The promise of major highways up to China & the threat of mass loads of Chinese tourists has fortunately never eventuated. Thank Buddha. Luang Prabang remains a kick-back, very kool & placid place.

Laos is a breath of fresh air, literally. It's clean & green. With a population of only about 6 or 7 million people who have had very little impact on their environment. Mostly subsistence farmers, the people of Laos practise all the principles of environmentalists without ever having needed to be taught them. There are no flashy roadside billboards along the miles of rolling green hills & peaks. There's no fast food franchises reminding you how far it is to the next burger & fries. There's a feeling of natural space and ease that is rarely felt in SE Asia.

My journey continued from Luang Prabang leaving me wondering how long & how many miles it will be until l am again sitting by the Mekong at sunset. A motor bike is strapped to the roof of the bus, live produce is packed inside the bus & lm perched on a large bag of rice. My mind is full of the energy of Luang Prabang, nothing can ruffle me. There's a long road ahead & lm surrounded by smiling locals. And the road is never long when in good company.

OK I HAVE BEEN GONE & DONE IT!

OK I have gone & done it. I ate dog. Yep, dog, as in a family dog. My Laos friends live high up in northern Laos. Their family had a dog, a black dog, which is traditionally considered better eating or  better for your health. It kept running away and they knew that someone else would eventually kill it for dinner so they decided to do it themselves. They also knew that l was arriving after a 7 or 8 hour journey in a  bus filled with all manner of produce & people along some very tired & winding roads. And they appreciated that I had  gone way out of my way to visit them. So as a festive treat, they cooked up in Laos style, black dog, lizard, bamboo rattan & spiced wood.  How could l refuse?

 And also as they had remembered that a couple of years ago, I had asked many questions about the consumption of dog and that I would be interested in trying it. I had never been given the opportunity before. Dog meat is not as easily come by in Asia as most Westerners think.
Anyway, Im glad that I was not there to see the whole cooking process, Im told that dog meat does not give off the best aroma when cooking.
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The family was over-joyed to offer me something that I had never been offered before. They are very poor and are very grateful for the small gifts that l bring them. One time, Lae my good Laos friend, asked me to buy his father-in-law a miner's torch so he could go & catch frogs in the local pond. He has only one kidney and his health limits his contribution to the family income. It is my favourite & most practical gift that I think I have ever had the good fortune of giving. .And Ive been pleased to accept his meals of fried frogs in garlic & lemon grass many times, presented with a beaming generous smile.

So as hesitant & wary as I was to taste dog meat for the first time, thinking will I be crossing an unthinkable line in doing so. I sat on the floor in good company with generous hearts and enjoyed their welcoming feast served with lots of my favourite sticky rice, and lao lao, a fermented rice whiskey of lethal alcohol percentage. It didn't taste like chicken. It was more beefy & bony
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 Being mostly vegetarian, well probably 80%, I try not to eat mammals, sticking mostly to fish & chicken. But when lm home in Australia, if Mum cooks up a lamb roast, I never turn it down.
So this is sort of how l felt. Not a perfect analogy but morally, how can l discern between the life of a baby lamb and a black dog?

The people in most rural parts of Laos are subsistence farmers. Their religion is animistic Buddhism, a combination of the philosophy of the Buddha with an acknowledgement to the spirit world with all its good & bad ghosts. They have survived for hundreds & possibly thousands of years by eating whatever is available to them. Whether its lizards, insects, monkeys, squirrels ect. There is very little natural wild life in Laos, not even many wild birds. They have eaten them all. Whatever wildlife has survived is now hiding in remote & difficult terrains. And after suffering from the Vietnam War which they had no involvement in except to be the target bombings of the Americans as they were chasing Viet Cong. Laos is the most bombed country on earth. Between 1964 & 1973, the US dropped 2 million tons of bombs on a peaceful country. In Laos it is called the Secret War and hundreds of thousands of Laos civilians were bombed & displaced. There is no exact number of casualties known. But every year, 100 more people are killed or maimed by unexploded bombs, half of them children.

After 2 days with my good friends, I force myself back on yet another crowded bus, heading towards the Thai border. This time there was a motorbike on the roof as well. The journey is 8 or 9 hrs of tight winding roads without a stretch.  All that can be seen is endless green peaks and valleys hanging with heavy mists. There is a wild remoteness in northern Laos. It never becomes monotonous and it lulls you into a deep thoughtful mood like a meditation. It is difficult to imagine any other world and leaves you with a feeling of not wanting to go back to any other world. That's always how l feel about Laos when lm there, it is by far one of my favourite countries in the world.

 

 

 

TUBELESS IN VANG VIENG

TUBELESS IN VANG VIENG

Well not exactly, because tubing still exists in Vang Vieng, just not on the scale of drunken & drugged-out debauchery as it did before.

Gone is the infamous 'Smile Bar,'  a bar sitting on the island in the river, burnt to the ground by the authorities. As well as the 9 or so other bars perched along the Nam Song river that sold multi-mega litres of Beer Laos as well as 'happy' shakes & cocktails laced with dope.

I was there in Sept 2012 when it was closed down. It was my birthday & l was so disappointed that my party day was ruined. Not only were the authorities clamping down on raging & raving  parties on the river, they were restricting it in town as well.

Vang Vieng is a picturesque town, strikingly dominated by the view of the magnificent mountain kaasts. It is situated about 4 hrs north of the Laos capital, Vientiane. It has grown over the last decade or more by the influx of backpackers who have made Vang Vieng one of the 'must do' stopovers in SE Asia. Hundreds & sometimes up to two thousand people were pub-crawling or pub-tubing their way down the river.

 I have to admit it was alot of fun. Each bar was unique in its own way, either offering mud volley ball, swinging trapeze out over the river, flying foxes, slides or high dive boards. Loud music & laughter boomed from every bar. Every night the streets were littered with passed out bodies and staggering & spewing drunks. The Laos people saw Westerners on their worst behaviour, night after night.
But unfortunately deaths were becoming more common as more & more people were visiting Vang Vieng. Mostly from drownings, head & spine injuries and over-doses. Not to mention all the minor injuries of concussions & cut feet. There were two deaths every month. And the Australian Government stepped in & pushed the Laos Government to shut it down.

The town has survived as people are still visiting Vang Vieng & enjoying the simple pleasure of tubing slowly down the Nam Song past the stunning view of the beautiful kaasts. Costs about $7. And there is also so many other adventurous actviities to do in the area. The caving is exceptional & it's so cool floating down through a dark river cave. Rock climbing up the lime-stone kaasts offers world class challenges as well as basic climbing, costs $25 for half day. Trekking is great & visiting the local hill tribe villages of the Hmong & Kamu. Some people prefer to kayak down the Nam Song. During the dry season it is possible & well recommended to hot-air balloon over the kaasts, costs about $75, at dawn & sunset. I went hot-air ballooning there for the first time and though l was scared spitless, it was an awesome experience, like nothing else.

A few days ago when l was there, l noticed that the bars along the river are beginning to open up again which was inevitable. There are 4 at the moment but they are not always all open every day, sometimes only 2. The first being the Nam Song View Restaurant which is walking distance from the starting point. Hopefully it will be policed better this time. I fear it will keep growing until there is a death again.


Meanwhile 'Friends' is still the feature in Vang Vieng, that has been running for at least 10 years that l can remember. It all started with someone opening a bar at the main corner T-intersection and calling it the Friends Bar & showing episodes of 'Friends.' It became so popular with backpackers that all the other bars & restaurants needed to follow suit. And now it is almost an institution in Vang Vieng. And it is such a catch, l have wasted so much time there, sitting mindlessly after dinner watching episode after episode. And lm amazed that every time l go back, l always see an episode that l havent seen before. How is that possible? Maybe they are still secretly making them just for the Vang Vieng market.

Guesthouses are very competitive & generally range from 60,000 kip to 100,000 kip ($7.50 to $13) per night per room, depending if you want air-conditioning or a fan. There are a couple of cheaper dorm rooms & some more up-market hotels with a pool.

Laos is lovely. The people are openly friendly & curious of where you are from. Hospitable & funny, their population is much smaller than neighbouring Asian countries and so less competitive for your dollar. They are 'less in your face.'

Vang Vieng is now becoming more of an adventures' town for tourists that may want to try something out of the usual. Or something requiring some skill or strength. Or just hire a bike & tootle around the kaasts, stopping off to buy exotic fruit from the locals, enjoying a relaxed chat with them and then heading for the Blue Lagoon for a swim. Whatever you prefer to do in Vang Vieng, it has to be better than just getting wasted.

BANGKOK TO LAOS

BANGKOK TO LAOS

Usually I stay over the Khao San Road side of Bangkok, usually at Rambuttri. I love the chaos & carnival of Khao San Road. Every night is a circus with different performers from all over the world, arriving & departing at all hours. Banter bounces along the street with hawkers calling out to attract punters, tourists cringing at the deep-fried scorpions, backpackers laughing at someone's new fake dreadlocks, fake tattoo, fake identity, drinking competitions, vendors & punters alike, are a part of the nightly circus. And it's entertainingly different every night.
Some see it as squandering & squalid.  But l love it.


Anyway this time l decided to try over the other side of town. Lots of people stay in Silom or Siam area to avoid the nightly noise of the Khao San Road.  Yes it was closer to the big shopping malls & close to the sky train system. But for me, it was dull. I like everything laid out in front of me, Im not 'into' the search for Bangkok's best anything. For me it's about convenience,  the best & cheapest food vendors in Bangkok, the cheap cocktails, the diversity of restaurants & bars, all packed in close with extremely competitive prices. In Khao San you literally walk outside your hotel or guesthouse & there is 80c Pad Thai & the backepacker's favourite, banana pancakes. The markets are selling absolutely everything that you could possibly want & not need, at almost any time of the day or night. Khao San Road is convenience shopping. I will never stay over the quieter side of town where lm forced to search for a reasonable feed & there is no such thing as a $2 cocktail. It is void of any humour or atmosphere. And the traffic is absurd. At least Khao San Road is a traffic mall.


Well after being stuffed around at the Vietnam Embassy, all embassies are the same all the world over. Customer service is definitely not one of the prerequisites  of an embassy worker.
I decided to visit Bangkok prison hoping to leave some toiletries or visit an Australian prisoner who may not get many visits from family a long way away. A British mate did it after reading 'The Damage Done' & recommended that it was a good thing to do.
So l was a bit scared visiting the prison, dont know why. And when the taxi left me, I wanted to bolt. The smell from the canal between the men's & women's prison was making me retch. The prison looked just like I magined or maybe saw on television.

It was pretty bad from the outside.
Then I bravely walked in to where others were waiting. Every sign was written only in Thai. They really dont cater for foreigners, I thought that was probably a good thing. I couldnt find anyone that spoke English. Then someone took me to an office where a kind Thai guard told me in English to visit my own embassy first. She didnt think it was so strange that I wanted to help out a fellow Aussie.


 So the next day I visited the Australian Embassy. It was far more difficult to enter than other embassies. But it was very lovely with water features & abstract Ausrralian art. I did notice that the clock displaying Canberra time was incorrect by an hour and was obviously permanently set to daylight savings time. Anyway l was informed by an officer that due to the Australian privacy laws, it would be impossible to contact any Australian prisoner. And even though she agreed that conditions there were extremely horrid, she again explained that there was nothing she could do to help. I am still shaking my head about that. I am guessing that all privacy & dignity would be thrown out the cell door after one night spent in the infamous Bangkok Hilton. And I am betting that some soap & toilet paper would be much appreciated. I left a bit disappointed. Someone was missing out on a small gift because of our Australian laws which obviously dont protect people like the Bali 9 or Shapelle Corby.
And besides I had wasted time & taxi-fares. Next time I will try & visit a farang (foreign) prisoner from Britain.

So I went straight to Hua Lamphong station, Bangkok's main train station, and booked a sleeper up to Nong Khai, a Thai town on the border of luverly Laos. Left at 8pm, arrived 8am, cost 750baht, about $25.

 I enjoy train travel & choose it when ever possible over a bus. They are quite comfortable with a privacy curtain but the toilets on board can be pretty grotty. I like to walk around & visit the club car for dinner & a drink. And the rickity rocking of a train is a lulling  lullaby to sleep.

From Nong Khai station, it's a short tuk tuk trip, 20 bht (60c) to the border. Stamped on the Thai side of the border, then a 15baht (50c) bus across to the Laos immigration where you are required to pay $30 US for a 30 day visa. I handed over a $50 US note but they claimed they had no change so was forced to pay in Thai baht, 1300 baht, which is a 400 baht rip off! An extra $13! And yes they had change in baht! Not till later after filling in forms, waiting in queues & generally standing around in the heat, were we herded over to the gate into Laos where I saw a Money Changer. Probably get ript off rates from there as well.

Then a longer 50 baht tuk tuk trip into town, Vientiane.

I've been to Vientiane many times & have enjoyed the night markets & night life there. Also the Pha That Prabang Pagoda is well worth a visit. The most important monument in Laos, believed to house some of the ashes of Buddha brought down by travelling monks over 2 thousand years ago while spreading the teachings of the Buddha
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So l pushed on to get to Vang Vieng, another 4 or 5 hrs north, cost $5. Laos will accept US dollars, Thai baht or their own Laos Kip. In fact on receipts, the price is printed in three currencies.
I eventually arrived by nightfall, in dire need of a hot shower & a cold beer. I was glad that l had pushed on through to Vang Vieng when I woke up the next morning, greeted by the magnificent view of the mountain kaasts. Breakfast on the balcony of fresh mandarine juice, omelette & baguette, cost $3.20.
I love loverly Laos.

MEANDERS IN MALACCA (or MELAKA)

MEANDERS IN MELAKA, OR MALACCA

MALACCA, it has always sounded very exotic & a bit weird to me. And so it is a little bit.
It is a UNESCO World Heritage site with an extraordinary history of ancient power & wealth mixed in with European history & empires.

Malacca is a famous seaport situated on the Malaysian side of the Straits of Malacca.
 It was sort of the old capital of Malaysia before Malaysia really existed.
For many many centuries the Straits  of Malacca offered safe passage between the major trading partners, China & India. The city of Malacca was a strategic & politically important post. And marriages were arranged with the daughters of the Sultan of Malacca,

to ensure security & safe passage through the strait formed between Sumatra & Malaysia.

Islam was brought down to Malaysia & lndonesia from the Middle East along this trade channel, long before Christian missionaries ever thought about saving the simple souls of the people of the peninsula & islands.

 To this day the Straits of Malacca remains one of the world's most important shipping channels linking the Indian Ocean with the northern Pacific. One quarter of the world's oil is transported by sea through this channel.

The Portuguese invaded Malacca in 1511 for it's wealth & to gain control of the strait. There is still a Portuguese territory in Malacca where the descendants of the invaders & their Malayan wives speak a unique creole language & celebrated Christian festivals. The cuisine is also an interesting & exotic blend of Portuguese style & Malayan ingredients. The seafood from the Portuguese Square is exceptional & without equal.

Then the Dutch invaded  Malaaca  in 1641 & dominated for 180 years. There is an old medieval church on top of St Paul's Hill & the graveyard dates well back in the 1600's. The hill also offers overlooking views of the city & out to sea.

Of course then the British had a go as well & they ruled until independence in 1959.

Malacca  is now a UNESCO World Heritage site & an extremely interesting multi-cultural & historical city. There is much to see & do and is well worth a couple of days stop-over.

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I hadnt visited Malacca in a few years & decided to have a break out of Kuala Lumpur.
Malacca is about 2 hrs south of KL in a very comfortable bus, along an extremely good highway. Costs 10RM ($3.50). I hadnt pre-booked accommodation and planned to do it the old fashioned way by walking the streets aided by a few Lonely Planet recommendations.
Well that's got knobs on it!

It was so unbearably hot, considering Malacca is a seaport there was no hint of a breeze.
 I walked around Chinatown without any luck, brinking on heat-stroke. It was a Sunday & the streets were crowd clogged with day trippers from Singapore & Kuala Lumpur.
I politely ploughed my way through Jonker St. market which sells every Chinese tacky plastic contraption ever produced.

 Just as I thought collapse was immediately imminent, l spied an unassuming little guesthouse with a name that rang a bell.
So I rang the bell. One last bed was available! Thank Shiva! And what a gem of a find. A kool oasis out of the heat of the Malaccan afternoon heat & haze. I flopped on the clean, cool, comfortable couch & ordered a beer. All was well with the world again.

The Rooftop Guesthouse is a family run business and has a cosy, homey feel about it. Very clean & spacious. It is decorated with charming Malaccan bric-a-brac with old photos & lovely exotic paintings. And there is a small rooftop garden.

After a freshen up & a few beers with my new friends, we ventured out again onto Jonker St. Dining out in Malacca is a treat & there is vast & varied offering of cuisines. Lots of touristy upmarket resraurants ctering for wealthy Singaporeans has cropped up. As well as some very expensive trendy Western cafes. Fortunately there is still some characteristically cheap Chinatown chow available in quirky little bars along the river.

Colourful tri-shaws with flashing lights & booming music are a fun & unique way to trip around Malacca visiting the many historical sites and also the many exotic markets. Malacca is 2 hrs south of KL & about 3 hrs north of Singapore. Buses arrive at the Malaccan Mall & then another local bus or taxi is needed to transfer the 5 km into the city near the Dutch Clock which is right outside of Jonker St, Chinatown. Bus costs 1RM (30c), taxis 12-15RM (4-$5)

BANAUE & SAGADA - It's more fun in the Philippines

Spent an ear-popping & eye-popping day travelling back through the Cordillera Mountains. The scenery was spectacular, high above the clouds with the occasional splay of rainbows against the dramatic backdrop of intense green peaks. l felt oddly comfortable in the over-crowded bus, it was very cosey. The bus driver displayed remarkable skill as we crept around hairy bends, along sheer rock faces while the rickety bus's brakes were screaming with the strain.


The Banaue Rice Terraces are considered the 8th Wonder of the World.  Along with a long list of many other 8th Wonders of the World, claimed by who knows who.
But it actually is an amazing engineering feat constructed by the ancient Ifagao people. Anthropologists believe they may have migrated down from southern China through Taiwan about two to four thousand years ago. The practice of hanging coffins from cliff faces is also of an ancient south Chinese tradition.



The steep terraces are irrigated by a complex system that is still used today. At a height of 5000 ft, covering more than 400 sq km, one can only imagine how much rice has been produced by this ingenious farming method in the past two thousand years, and hopefully continues for thousands of years more. Though farming has become unpopular among the young people and they prefer to find employment in the tourism industry. The irony is, if the terraces are not protected & maintained, there will be no tourism industry in Banaue.


Batad is a small village with the most impressive view of the World UNESCO Heritage site. The most popular trek from Banaue to Batad can be done within the day including swimming at the waterfall. Best done with a private guide. There are large group treks but it is very limiting without the freedom to move at your own pace and a far less personal experience.

Sagada is another popular little town in the mountain provinces. Well visited by Filipinos & international tourists, for its spectacular & quite adventurous caves. As well the hanging coffins, more rice terraces, trekking and waterfalls. But mostly for its quaint & quiet mountain life-style. There are no tuk tuks or trishaws. The authorities are attempting to protect the mountain culture by enforcing a 10pm curfew throughout the provinces. So there is no noisey music blaring or late night venues. Clear of noise pollution & air pollution, its a virtual mountain retreat.

Because of its difficult terrain, the Spanish conquistadores were thankfully unable to infiltrate the mountain culture. That and maybe the fact that mountain people were well known head hunters was a deterring factor. Anyway the mountain culture was unaffected till much later by missionaries. Today their culture is still very strong & unique with an interesting mix of Christianity & animism.

Manila to Baguio to Sagada to Banaue to Manila, makes a neat & well travelled circle of the Cordillera Mountains. From Manila you catch a Victory Liner bus from Pasay bus station to Baguio, costs about 470 pp. Good quality bus with aircon, wifi & movies. Stops for breaks every couple of hours.  Takes between 6 & 8 hours depending on the time of day & traffic. Buses leave every hour. First class bus costs about 740pp, it's quicker & has a toilet on board.



Baguio is well worth a visit. A cool university city with great live music & night life. There are no hostels throughout the mountains, only guesthouses with private rooms. But there is one in Baguio. 'Upstairs Bed & Bath' is precisely what you get. Extremely basic, it has a good location & wifi. Costs 290 pp for a dorm room.
Buses from Baguio to Sagada only leave in the mornings, last bus around midday. Takes about 6 or 7 hrs & costs about 220 pp. Spectacular views. Accommodation is much the same throughout the cosey town of Sagada, costs about 300pp with wifi & hot water. I have stayed at Sagada Guest House & Clarence Inn. Both good. Quite a few really good restaurants in Sagada.
Jeepney from Sagada to Bontoc costs about 50pp & takes an hour or so. Bus from Bontoc to Banaue costs about 150pp and takes about 2 or 3 hrs. Again buses mostly happen in the mornings.
Wide range of accommodation in Banaue. I have stayed at Sanafe and at Green View. Both offer stunning views from their restaurants. Green View costs 250pp but charges 50pp  more for a hot shower & 20pp to charge phones, ipads ect. Sanafe costs a bit more & is a bit better.
Restaurants are all much the same.

Bus from Banaue to Manila takes about 9 hrs and there's one in the morning & one in the night. Costs about 400pp. Extremely cold air conditioning, definitely need a blanket.
This circle can be done in reverse. I would allow one night in Baguio, 2 nights in Sagada & 2 nights in Banaue, minimum. Alot of hours travelling but it is well worth the effort. A highly unique experience.