Friday, 7 March 2014

Batad rice terraces


Thursday afternoon.
We decided against taking a guide today and set off to explore on our own. Our guesthouse overlooks the whole of the rice terraces, which are shaped like an amphitheatre and decided to start by going up to the highest viewpoint.
We walked through the village and along the edge of an irrigation stream. It had the same little concrete path as yesterday, along with lots of steps upwards. Suddenly we couldn't work out which way to go, and the paths got narrower and higher. We passed a lady working in the fields and she pointed us down the workers track, which we hadn't even noticed. This was just tiny slabs sticking out of the sides of the vertical walls, so yet again quite nerve wracking.
We managed to get back on to the main steps and followed them down the 45 degree slope for many hundreds of metres. We eventually went got down below the terraces and reached an enormous waterfall.
We had thought about swimming, but the spray from the waterfall was so powerful that the water was really choppy, and it was freezing.
We then hiked back up to the terraces and made our way right across the middle to the main village. We couldn't find any shops, just loads of chickens and dogs, so set off up the hill to our guesthouse.
I am now completely shattered and looking forward to an early night.
Ps as I write this a chicken has appeared on the patio and is pecking around my toes. Don't think I like it very much.

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