We met our driver after an early breakfast and set off for two nights staying in Banaue, home of World Heritage rice terraces. This was to be a journey of 9-hours as we wound our way up and around the Mountain Region into the Cordilleras Mountains.

After leaving the sprawl of Manila we soon hit rural areas choc full of paddy fields.

Every 30km or so we traversed through busy towns and along the way were to get our first sightings of the identikit churches that every town & village on Luzon Island seemed to have.

The wooden structures were clearly flat pack, with the only external variation being colour – pink, powder blue or custard yellow.

Nearly 90% of the country is Christian, mainly Catholic, on account of Spanish & American colonialisation. Luckily for us, English is also the official language alongside Filipino.

We arrived in Banaue late afternoon, so headed into town for a quick scout around before dark. It was school closing time and we were surrounded by hundreds of immaculately dressed and well behaved kids aged from 5 to 16.

Family is massively important in the Philippines and a first class education system is a priority for the nation. It was lovely to see all the children in smart uniforms, all with smiles on their faces.

There was not a lot else to see in the town apart from a rather hair-raising bridge that many schoolchildren crossed. It swung from side to side as they went, and even made a creaking sound. There was no way that I would cross it, but Hamish braved it!

As it started getting dark we returned to our hotel, the marvellous 7th Heaven Lodge and Cafe in Ifugao, which cost us £10 each a night. The walls of our room were bare plywood and we had a very basic external bathroom, but that did not matter a jot.

We had our own key to the bathroom/toilet and I managed to lock it inside meaning no access! This meant a journey down a steep wooden staircase and stepping over sleeping dogs to get some early morning relief in the hotel toilet. Doh!

Breakfast was to be memorable. The omelette & rice with strong coffee was excellent, however it was the location that merited a 5-star rating. The narrow breakfast terrace overlooked Banaue‘s rice terraces. Wow!

The hotel made us some delicious sandwiches for lunch and off we headed to explore the terraces on foot. This also took us to nearby Batad, more World Heritage terraces.

The terraces are carved in the mountains and were all built by hand using only basic tools. Walking up and down them in 30 degree heat was hard enough, building them must have been incredibly tough work.

There have been rice terraces in the mountainous regions of Ifugao and northern Luzon Island for over 2,000 years. No wonder Filipinos call them the 8th Wonder of the World.

The terraces were first constructed as a practical solution to the problem of growing rice on land that falls away in front of you at vertigo-inducing angles. See for yourself in the gallery below.

Coming next, part 3, more rice terraces & hanging coffins.