Where in the world is Jaybanga?

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I was reading my Twitter feed one day and then I saw this post from the Twitter account of Skyway SOMCO (which I follow to find traffic information before I leave the house for Manila).

THERE ARE RICE TERRACES IN BATANGAS!!

I've been to Lobo, Batangas before and it was so difficult for me to get there by driving because the roads were steep and winding. But because I've been there already, I knew that I could find Jaybanga if I just had a day to explore the town. And so, I invited Val and Nikos to go on an expedition into the unknown. We drove to Batangas, searching for the enchanted rice terraces of Jaybanga.


Curiously, I didn't find a lot of blog posts about this place; nor did I find specific instructions on how to get there. So we decided to follow Waze. It brought us through Ibaan and Rosario, Batangas. But after Rosario, that's when things started getting iffy because our mobile phones' signals weakened as we drove on narrow dirt roads somewhere increasingly off the grid. We were surrounded by trees and the people we met along the way were friendly. 

Finally, the road became so narrow that we questioned if Waze gave us the right directions. We didn't want to go any further because we might end up at a dead end. So we turned back and returned to town, with Jaybanga remaining a mystery for us.


We'll return someday, I'm sure. But because we had other errands to run (aka grocery shopping), it was time to abort mission.

Jaybanga, we'll be back.

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