Luzon Blog: Easy trekking around Sagada Unlike much of the rest of Southeast Asia, the Philippines is not yet a backpacker destination, although things are evolving on this front. The southern island of Palawan draws budget travelers, but beyond that skinny land mass, the other major concentration of backpacking activity is in the middle of Luzon's Cordillera: the small mountain hamlet of Sagada. I use the word 'concentration' with reservation. Sagada is tiny enough as is, and the amount of backpackers pales in comparison to locations like Thailand, Cambodia or Laos. Still, the area provides exactly what a young budget wanderer wants: nice mountains, restaurants serving passable approximations of Western cuisine as opposed to local food, a strip of cheap accommodation (most of which is cozily up to snuff; I've noticed, over the years, that budget hostels and hotels have been forced to cater to the increasingly picky tastes of increasingly coddled young travelers. How's that for a veteran travel writer grumble?) and lots of guides leading treks into the surrounding jungle hills. The mountain scenery around Sagada is wonderful, and at night and in the morning the temperatures drop to positively alpine levels; I have been here in mid-August and worn a layered hoodie, knit cap and jumper on mornings where you can see your breath. In the upcountry, the main sight is Sagada's famous hanging coffins. Local ethnic groups have a practice of interring their dead (in the fetal position; one leaves the world as one entered it) in coffins placed on rock overhangs or wooden frameworks jutting out of seemingly sheer cliff faces. You hike the fuzzy hills of Sagada, see a grey sheet of rock, and then realize what seemed to be ledges are in fact a family cemetery plot. The sight is obviously foreign, and I'd say the greatest moment of travel juxtaposition I experienced here was learning about the hanging coffins from an American Peace Corps volunteer and his Filipino friend, and then witnessing a French student blog about said coffins on a Mac Book in a café that wouldn't be entirely out of place in Hoxton.