uhaj native inn

We had actually made arrangements for accommodations for the first part of our mountain trip; we were staying at Uhaj Native Village Inn. We had also made arrangements for a ride to the inn, and we’re glad we did. The inn is actually about 7km from town on winding, mostly unpaved roads. It took 30 minutes to get there via tricycle, and our bodies were a bit bruised. But on the way, we saw glimpses of the big mountains, rice terraces, and a few small waterfalls.

When we got to the inn (on April 1), it was worth the tricycle ride, especially when we saw the views. This is the view from the front viewdeck, which is where we had our welcome tea.

As the inn's name implies, the accommodations are in huts that are built according to the native Ifugao style. These huts are on stilts are are made of wood with a nipa (a type of palm) roof. Traditionally, these huts don't have windows, but we picked the only one with a window. And you can understand why. This was our hut and the view from our window. As you can see, we had our own view of the mountains and terraces and the river. We could hear birds and the river water.











After we had somewhat settled in, it rained and fog rolled in. We couldn't see anything--not the mountains or terraces.

We quickly found out the down side to this place though--there's no food. Well, they serve food, but the menu caters to foreigners, so no Filipino food for us. What we did order though didn't taste that great. But, as we were very far away from town, we had no choice.

In the afternoon, we decided to go to town so we could at least get some kind of food or snacks. We hitched a ride from some French tourists who were driving by. We bought some bread and bananas (for frying). We took a jeepney back to the inn. It involved a lot of waiting as we had to wait for the jeepney to be full before we could leave. (That's the jeepney you see roaring off after dropping us off.)

When we got back to the inn, the other guests--who were foreigners, were drinking and talking with a couple of the tour guides. One of the guides who was our tricycle driver that morning said that these guests wanted to build a bonfire and hang out as it was their last night. So, we did have a fire and we all made plans to go to Batad (another town) together. But after we were out of the smoke and had a hot shower before going to bed, we soon changed our minds about heading out so soon.