The Mystic Beauty of Banaue Rice Terraces

I can say that the Banaue Rice Terraces was the most amazing man-made structure I have ever seen in my entire life. First, I never though that the terraces would be that huge and this was manually carved by the Ifugaos 2000 years back. 

Prior to our Banaue Rice Terraces experience, we made a short stop in Bontoc also to see the rice terraces their. However, we were not able to see "impressive" terraces there its just the same with the Ankileng Terraces in Sagada. So after a few photo ops, we headed to Banaue hoping that the sky would clear and permit us to see the beauty of the rice terraces in Banaue.

While riding a trike, I noticed that there was a van following us and the driver keeps on blowing his horn. I thought he wanted to overtake us but when we reached the bus terminal we were shocked when the van driver suddenly approached our trike driver, and punched him in the stomach and face very hard. They were arguing which we could not understand because they were talking on their native tongue. At that time, i really don't know how to react, I was just petrified by the incident and the next time I know I was already inside the bus bound for Banaue. I saw the van driver passing us a couple times, then my paranoia takes its toll on me. I felt that anytime, the van driver could shot me because I was sitting on the window side. I really don't know if the van driver was really carrying a gun, I'm just being paranoid.

It took a few minutes before we were back on our senses and was able to talk about what just happened. Then I realized that Anton talked to a van driver in Bontoc about the schedule of trip bound for Banaue or Manila. I asked Anton if it was the van driver he talked in Bontoc, he said it was a different one. 

How the Banaue Rice Terraces was Built:

The Banaue Rice Terraces (2000-year old) were carved by ancestors of the indigenous people of Ifugao. It is commonly referred by the Filipinos as the "Eighth Wonder of the World." It is commonly thought that the terraces were built with minimal equipment, largely by hand. The old style, Banaue Rice Terraces properly build consisted first in digging out a terrace from a hillside and building up on the edge of that terrace a mud wall, then filling in back of that wall with layers of materials carried up frequently from the river beds or brought down from the hillside above, and requiring a great deal of effort to get into place.  

First, they level the area behind the wall so as to form a foundation. Over that they put mud or soil then over that some some clay usually a layer several inches thick of blue or some other very good clay that are available. This is to make the terraces waterproof. Then inside this lining they put a mud or soil again by running it down.

The terraces are located approximately 1500 meters (5000 ft) above sea level and cover 10,360 square kilometers (about 4000 square miles of mountain side). It is said that if the steps are put end to end it would encircle half of the globe.