When we read the Lonely Planet is described Sagada as a hippy hangout full of travellers. We were looking forward to chilling out in bars mingling with other like minded folks and going for walks during the day. We checked into a cheap room with communal shower. I don't mind doing shared bathroom, except their idea of a shower was a cold water tap on the wall and a bucket. It felt a bit like camping. We arrived the first night and went in search of dinner. We found one restaurant open in the town and it was the eeriest place. It felt like we were in a horror movie ( I don't think it helped to watch Nightmare on elm street the previous night after some strong beer), no people on the street and then this wierd little restaurant. We were the only people in the restaurant and they wouldn't have the lights on anywhere else part from where we were. Cold food and limited menu and strange service from the resident lady boy. So the next day we set out to go walking, probably heading out at midday was a little wrong. Despite being in the mountains it was still really hot here and we ended up in a cafe having a drink instead. We did get to coffins in a cave and hanging coffins. We took a guide to show us some coffins and he took us for a hike through the undergrowth. We came back muddly and scared. That night we tried again to find the friendly atmosphere. This time we managed to find the only other open restuarant (down a dark road we hadn't wanted to venture to on the first night) and actually found people. It was a novelty to be sitting in a cafe with other people. An early night though, the village had a curfew at 10pm, which is actually strictly observed where people close their restuarants and lock guesthouse doors. It can be safely said we were happy to move on the next day. - But beautiful scenery.
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