Nagacadan is a village in Kiangan, in the province of Ifugao in northern Luzon, and its rice terraces are shaped like a vast green amphitheatre, with stone-walled steps climbing the slope in tight curves above the Ibulao river. The Ifugao rice terraces of the Philippine Cordilleras are UNESCO listed, and older guidebooks describe them as two thousand years old, though more recent research suggests that many of the surviving terraces are younger, perhaps a few centuries. What nobody doubts is the effort: dry-stone walls, bamboo irrigation pipes and generations of hand labour, all passed on without machines.
The terraces are not just farming but a whole culture. Rice is a sacred crop for the Ifugao, and harvest rituals involve chants, sacrifices and the drinking of tapuy, the local rice wine. Carved wooden figures called bulul guard the granaries and the fields. The same hills saw a very different moment in history in September 1945, when the Japanese general Yamashita surrendered at Kiangan, a small town you pass on the way, and the end of the Pacific War reached this remote valley.
The look of the terraces changes with the season. In planting time, around February and March, the water-filled steps mirror the sky; in April and May they are a brilliant green, and by June the rice has ripened to gold. The rainy season and typhoons from July to October can bring landslides on the mountain roads, so check the weather before you go. Early morning is best, with mist pooling in the valleys and the light low.
The riding is memorable but demanding. The roads into the Cordillera are narrow, winding and steep, often cut into the hillside with a sheer drop on one side, and surfaces can be broken by landslides and rain. Traffic is slow, with jeepneys, tricycles and trucks sharing the lane, and the cultural rule is to take your time. The villages of Hapao and Monamon are close, and Banaue, another famous terrace town, is a little farther along. Fuel is scarce in the hills, so load up in the bigger towns on the approach, such as Lagawe, and carry some cash, since rural places seldom take cards. Local guides from the villages are a good way to understand the terraces and to support the community.