Saturday, June 25, 2005

Emanila Photo Updates

Just to let you know, photos have been added to the following posts:

  • Los Banos
  • Hiking in Batangas
  • First Day at Work
  • Touring Manila
  • Patronising the Megatrend

and the posts below. Hurrah!

posted by batik billy @ 4:18 pm

Saturday, June 18, 2005

Vigan

After the fun of the Volunteer Sharing Session, we were all keen to get out and about to see something a little interesting. So we (the AYADs) decided to hop on a bus to make a 4 hour journey north to the town of Vigan. It was a long, dusty trip, but at the same time it was great to see the local countryside and local farming communities of this northern part of Luzon. We arrived in Vigan at about 5:30 and after finding a place to stay and having a quick shower we headed out to grab some food. We went straight to Café Leona which was having a Thai food night. Since Vigan is pretty close to the sea, I tried the spicy Thai calamari with a SML (San Miguel Light beer). And it was good! We then had a walk through the town and saw the famous Vigan cathedral and squares.



The famous Vigan Cathedral and Bell Tower

Once we got tired of walking, we hopped on a ‘kalesa’ for a longer tour of the town. Vigan is known as one of the only remaining towns in the Philippines withhold colonial buildings, cobblestone streets and for horse carts (kalesas) which are still a regular form of transportation here. Everywhere else in the Philippines was pretty much destroyed by bombing in the Second World War. Some of the horses looked pretty skinny, and I seems they stand around all day in the heat pulling carts around; and while I felt pretty sorry for them, at least (I hope) the money from the rides go some way to help their keep. Our ‘driver’ was really friendly and took us past the main tourist sites of the city. Even though it was quite dark, it was a nice way to see the town. The end of the ride took us up Villa Crisologo, the famous street in all the pictures of Vigan which is closed off to all ‘motorised’ transportation and which is so picturesque. It was a great way to end the day.

Our accommodation - Grandpa's Inn and Restaurant

The next day we all headed off to ‘Mango town’ – well the Illocano translation of Mangotown, which was a little weaving village. There we bought up pretty big after watching some local women working at their looms. I wandered around a little and met a Pilipino man who lived in New Jersey but had returned here to his home as his aunt had died. A tractor drove into the little square (cornered by a school, health clinic, this man’s house and his nieces weaving business) to load bags of corn which a woman and her children were bagging for animal feed. The tractor was just a seat and wheels pulled by a tractor motor – it was strange without the tractor body – and the corn was drying on the floor of the square and the school basketball court. It was such an everyday, rural town setting which really was so far away from everything we know in Australia. And talking to the ex-local resident who now lived in New Jersey – everyone here is just so friendly, willing to share their stories and their lives and eager to know about you, where you are from, why you are here – just to be friendly. It’s a really nice aspect of the Pilipino people here. After some pictures, we headed back to town for some lunch.

to be continued . . .


At the weaving place with the Grandmother and son of the owner

posted by batik billy @ 2:36 pm

Thursday, June 16, 2005

Volunteer Sharing Session - as exciting as it sounds!

Wednesday morning I, along with 6 other AYADs and one of their mums met at SAGRIC at 9:30 to travel to San Fernando, La Union for a Luzon volunteer Sharing Session organized by the Philippines National Volunteer Service Coordination Agency (PNVSCA). http://www.pnvsca.neda.gov.ph And yes, to preempt this post- it was as lame as a Volunteer Sharing Session sounds. After waiting around the SAGRIC office for over 2 hours while our transportation was reorganized, we finally left at about 12 for the 6 hour ride up the northwest coast of Luzon. We arrived at about 6:30 to check into a dorm room and to have a very average dinner of rice and chicken with pink sauce (?!). Along with AYADs, there were volunteers from Korea, Japan, the US, Germany, Kenya and the Philippines. After dinner we all mingled a bit before pairing up and introducing our ‘new friend’ to the group.



Natalie, another AYAD at the Volunteer Sharing Session

The next day, after rice and fish for breakfast, we started a day of ‘fun’ in various discussion groups contemplating the role of volunteers in the Philippines. Perhaps it was because I was in a cynical mood, perhaps it was because I was the only volunteer placed in a government agency, or the only volunteer working on women’s issues, but I didn’t find my ‘governance’ group (who were all social workers??) particularly useful in considering my role as a volunteer at NCRFW. After another lunch of rice and fish, we again broke into regional groups to discuss ‘ways to network with other volunteers in the region’. Finally we broke for the day and all the AYADs went down to the beach to have a look around. Not being able to face another meal of rice and fish, we splurged and bought ourselves dinner at a beachside restaurant. We then returned to the ‘camp’ for more organized fun – a ‘social’. Fortunately for us they had put on some drinks and nibbles which went down pretty well. Some funky dancing went on before we decided to call I a night. The highly productive 3 days ended at lunchtime on Friday after a series of beach games in the super hot sun. Needless to say, we were all really eager to participate while getting burnt and dehydrated.

Our new in-country manager, Lynette, and Naomi, an AYAD in Los Banos at our 'alternative dinner' in La Union

Despite the really nice PNVSCA head, sadly the ratings on my assessment sheet weren’t particularly high- sorry!

posted by batik billy @ 2:34 pm

Sunday, June 12, 2005

Banaue and Batad

After a delayed trip back the unsealed windy road back to Banaue, we checked into our accommodation overlooking the town before heading out to have a look around the town. Unfortunately because it was so late, there wasn’t a whole heap of time before the sun set. So we found a place to eat and had sinigang baboy and pancit canton (pork in a sour soup type broth and stir fried noodles). It was pretty good. We then went home for an early bed time as we were pretty exhausted and had a big day ahead of us.



Neil from our hotel overlooking the town of Banaue

I’ll let Neil take over for a while . . .

“It takes a windey nine hour bus journey to get to Banaue, the central drop off point for the relatively few but steady visitors to the rice terraces. From Banaue, the mission was to reach the rural mountain village of Batad, accessible only by foot. From our hotel room (one of the most expensive hotel in Banaue, at roughly $6 AUD each), a tricycle (motorbike and carriage) dropped us off at an isolated junction on a dirt road nestled within the mountains about an hours drive away. We hiked for a while before we were overtaken by an elderly local who beckoned for us to take his ‘short cut’, a very steep hidden trail which tunnelled its way through the dense fauna on the mountain face. It was paved with stone steps and for a brief moment my long term fantasy of being like Indiana Jones was fulfilled.

The lookout area at the top of the track was the final point that could be accessed by vehicle before beginning a sharp descent into the rice terraces of Batad. On the way down we passed a group of extra fit locals transport huge sacks of rice up the steep track on their shoulders. Before beginning our descent, a local named Darwin unobtrusively offered to be our guide for the day. We were very sure that we didn’t need a guide but his words ‘we help you to help us’ resonated and in future we will be more conscientious of the fact that it was necessary to have a local guide, after all, we were hiking through their private land, their communities and at times their homes.
One feature of my experiences of touring in the Philippines is learning to let go of your expectations and questioning the necessity of your own standards. This happens for most accommodation you stay in and most food you eat. If a bus is parked somewhere, it’s a bus station. If tourists sometimes stop here for a rest, it’s a tourist information centre. If it contains a few crepe bandages, it’s a clinic.

Philippine, we had been treated to an assortment of new experiences contained within such a short getaway, such riding through the mountains on the top of a Jeepney (an elongated US army jeep which is a remnant from WWII, good for about 14 passengers), and tunnelling into a huge cave with swarms of bats at the entrance, but gorgeous waterfalls, pools and rock formations at the base 300 below the entrance. All of these experiences were made possible and most worthwhile through the assistance, generosity, trust, modesty and good humour of Philippinos. ”

OK, that’s all he’s written for the time being so I’ll keep going. . .

The 40 minute hike down the hill into Batad proper was a welcome relief from the hot, muggy uphill walk we had just made from the jump off point. We got to know Darwin a little and he pointed out their local crops and talked a bit about the town and his life there. When we finally descended into the main part of Batad we were pretty awestruck. It was amazing this town nestled in a valley surrounded by mountains and rice terraces. It was beautiful. Darwin took us down through to a part of the town where we stopped a traditional Ifugao hut with a woman and her children. We asked if it was ok to take a photo – she said sure as this was the house of our guide! We met Darwin’s wife and his small children who were gorgeous.

Neil with Darwin's children


We then started a walk along the actual rice terraces themselves on the way to see a large waterfall. It was amazing that after every few meters a slightly different view of the town, rice terraces and framing mountains would be revealed. After a while we started the decent down towards the waterfall. The landscape reminded me of the movie Clear and Present Danger where the army guys all get left along the river in the South American jungle. Fortunately at this time there isn’t any military activity going on in this area!

Walking down through the Rice Terraces

About half way down we hit the dirt track and I head someone slipping behind me. Of course it was Neil, but when he didn’t answer when I asked if he was ok, I quickly ran up to see if he was alright. He was, but he had sliced his leg open on a sharp rock. I quickly grabbed a little towel I had in my bag which we tied around the wound to stop the bleeding as it initially looked like a pretty deep wound. Of course we had left the medical kit in our larger bags back in Banaue so there wasn’t really any antiseptic to clean it off. And the water around the area probably isn’t the best water to clean a wound with. So we walked back up to find the chemist – how stupid of us. This is a tiny little village in the middle of the mountains with no road access – as it there would be a ‘chemist’ here! But there was a health clinic worker with some access to bandages and betatine type stuff.

Walking down to the waterfall just before the accident

Neil was feeling a little better by the time we met with the clinic worker (the main health worker who was also the village midwife, was in Banaue for the weekend), Neil felt a little better about his wound, but had met another man who had cut his foot which looked like it had gotten infected. So he bought him some antibiotics and other stuff as well as donating some money to the local clinic for them to buy more supplies. They rely on funding from the local government – but they hardly get enough funding for medicine let alone salaries and other equipment which means their supplies are always very low. They also receive occasional funding from private sources or from politicians around election time. And some of the things they need are as basic as aspirin, bandages, antiseptic and medicine for dehydration and stomach amoebia bugs. It pretty amazing to get a glimpse into the needs of this remote mountain community which is probably a lot better off compared to many in the surrounding area as at least they have income from tourism (which unsurprisingly we were told has both positive and negative effects on the village).

Anyway, by the time all this finished we were pretty exhausted and hungry, so we had a great home cooked meal and then got ready for the long hike back to the junction point. Unfortunately we had a pretty strict deadline as we had to take the bus back to Manila at 5.30 that afternoon.

posted by batik billy @ 1:45 pm

Friday, June 10, 2005

Sagada

At 10 am Neil and I boarded an overnight bus headed to northern Luzon to a city called Banaue. Known as the ‘8th Wonder of the World’ for its ancient rice terraces, Banaue is one of the main tourist attractions of the Philippines. Fortunately, for once, we came well prepared for the 9 hour bus trip – with earplugs and sleeping pills. So that while I doubt anyone could say that a 9 hour overnight bus trip is enjoyable, we arrived at about 7.30 in the morning with sore butts and necks, but not too tired or overwhelmed by the trip.

As soon as we got off the bus there we heaps of touts, however our experience so far in the Philippines has been that people have generally been very helpful and willing to please. Like Denwil – we were keen to head straight of to another town called Sagada about 3 hours from Banaue and he was immensely helpful in providing information on how to get there. He took us in his tricycle down to the main town centre and then up to the Banaue view point for a great view of the surrounding rice terraces. It was beautiful and pretty overwhelming landscape to see these rice terraces carved into the mountainside.


Neil at the lookout point at the Banaue Rice Terraces


After a few photos, Neil spotted a jeepney coming up the hill which we flagged down to see if it could take us to a town called Bontoc where we could to take a jeepney or bus to Sagada. Fortunately it was taking a group of Filipinos from Manila straight to Sagada and was happy to take us along too for a decent price. So we stopped for some breakfast at the Banaue viewpoint before starting a really bumpy ride to Sagada over unpaved roads, but through beautiful mountain terrain.

Em and one of our Pilipino travel companions from Banaue to Sagada


We arrived in Sagada at about 1pm and booked into the Sagada Guesthouse in the middle of town. After a nice warm shower and a change of shirts we headed out for some lunch and a wonder around town. Sagada is not at all like your typical Pilipino town – there is little traffic, no rubbish or pollution, the houses are quite large with gardens that are well taken care of and are in more of a Spanish or European style. Plus it was chilly - for the first time since our arrival we wore jackets and long pants! After lunch it started drizzling, but manned with umbrellas we took a nice walk through the town, over to the large church and then through the cemetery to ‘Echo Valley’ to see the ‘hanging coffins’. It was pretty eyrie walking through a cemetery and then a wooded forest while it was overcast and rainy – it was almost like something out of a horror movie looking for ancient burial coffins in a limestone cliff face. The hanging coffins weren’t exactly what we were expecting, but it was pretty amazing that these ancient people were able to put these coffins so high up the cliff face.

Emily at St. Joseph's

Saturday morning we went to grab some breakfast at the Yogurt house. We’d been told that Sagada is well known for its yoghurt and carrot cake. So for breakfast I ordered a banana and yogurt pancake. It was pretty good. We then walked through the Saturday morning market where I bought a banana cake (carrots must not have been in season) for about 50c AU before heading to the Municipal Hall to register for some caving. It cost about $AUD10 to hire a guide which we thought would be a pretty good idea. The guide was Ariel and he told us to be prepared to get wet up to our waists. He lived and worked in Sagada and with his family he owned a couple of rice terraces, a small store and drove a jeepney between Sagada, Bagio and Manila. He was quite soft spoken, but was very friendly. It was an amazing walk through the small town on the way to the ‘Sumaging’ cave. There were more hanging coffins and rice terraces and the views out to the surrounding countryside and mountains was very picturesque.

I was a little freaked out as we started descending into the cave. It was pretty big, but it was really dark and we only really had a single gas lantern to light our way. I trusted our guide as he couldn’t even count the number of times he had been down the cave, but it was still a little scary all the same. After descending for about 10 minutes we heard and smelt the bats. After about another 15 – 20 minutes we came to the underground water. Here we took off our shoes as surprisingly we were able to grip the rock a lot better. And it was beautiful. The cave was cleaner obviously because of the water, the rocks were well warn into smooth artistic like shapes and the lamp reflected pinky earth tones. We descended further into the cave, crawling through small holes and eventually having to jump into a waist deep pool which of course Neil and I fell into. We waded through the chilly but refreshing water before coming tothe bottom of the cave. It was exhilerating and almost disappointing to be right at the bottom. All in all the climb through Sumaging Cave took about 2 hours.

Neil at Kings Curtain in Sumaging Cave


Emily, wet, at the bottom of Sumaging Cave

Soaking wet we walked back up to Sagada for a warm shower and some lunch. We then splurged with a Swedish massage from some local women we hadet at St. Josephs the night before. It was great, although Neil's hairy legs and chest didn't take too well to it. After the massage we went fora great walk through the small paths of the village which tookus past local houses and cottage gardens.- it was amazing to see how locals really live. Here they all really take care of their property and of the town a lot more than in other places we've seen - it's clean and very picturesque.

For dinner we went to a restaurant up the road called the Log Cabin for a buffet dinner. Not just ny old buffet dinner, but one prepared by a French chef. We ate mushroom soup, roast chicken, suteed zucchini and mushrooms, freshly baked bread, watercress and flourless chocolate cake for dessert. And of course a couple of bottles of red wine. We ate with an interesting couple- a man from the UK who had spent many years teaching in Peru, Colombia and now Singapore and his wife from Peru.

Neil at St. Joseph's

After a great time in Sagada, the next day we hopped back on the jeepney for the ride back to Banaue to see the rice terraces.

posted by batik billy @ 1:32 pm

Wednesday, June 08, 2005

No Water means No Toilet

So today at work we have no water on our floor - this also means there is no flushing of our toilet. So we have to walk down 3 flights of stairs for the 'comfort room' that has some running water. This is fun, especially on the one day where the night before you experience a slightly dodgy meal that doesn't sit entirely well in your digestive track! I just hope the water lasts in the 'CR' downstairs!!

posted by batik billy @ 10:52 am

Tuesday, June 07, 2005

The Weekend

We started the weekend with dinner in Rockwell - probably the wealthiest suburb in Manila where many of the posted Australian Embassy staff reside. Here we met two of Neil's workmates, Deon and Gaye for dinner at a Greek restaurant. The dinner was really nice, but as was expected, pretty expensive. After dinner we went bowling at the large shopping mall which connects many of the restaurants and residential areas in Rockwell. At first I bowlded really badly (Neil beat me), but the second game was a vast improvement. We then played some pool and headed home in a semi-drunken haze.

Saturday we slept in then went to our 'local' shopping area, Cubao/Araneta for some lunch. We went to have a look at the large wet/dry market where we saw all types of fish, was nearly sick from the mixture of smells coming from the fish and meat areas and then tried some of the local Philippino fruit in the much more pleasant fruit and vege area. We ended up buying lanzones, mangosteens, pomelo and lychees which were really sweet and delicious. I then met Macel and Dette from work for a movie. We ended up seeing Madagascar which was actually very enjoyable.

On Sunday Neil and I went down to Makati where we had some lunch, and then went to the Ayala Museum. http://www.ayalamuseum.org/ The best part of the Ayala Museum is the series of dioramas which portray selected points of history of the Philippines. They also have some model ships of the Chinese trader and Spanish Galleons which are really well done. When you come visit - you should come to this museum, it was fun. It was a pretty chilled out weekend, but we're planning a bit one next weekend!


The Ayala Museum

One of the dioramas

posted by batik billy @ 10:47 am

Friday, June 03, 2005

My recent post - hiking in Batangas

Just to let you know that I think the links to the photos from my recent post on our hiking trip to Batangas have been fixed - fingers crossed that you can see them too!

posted by batik billy @ 2:14 pm

Thursday, June 02, 2005

Basketball

Last night, Mairin (another AYAD), Francisco (an Argentinean/New Zealander friend of Neil's who is working here as a fisheries consultant for the EU), Neil and I went to the Araneta Centre to watch some basketball. Basketball is one of the most popular sports here in the Philippines which is initially surprising because the Philippinos are generally not the tallest of people. We struck it lucky as while we would have been happy to watch teams from the National Philippines Basketball League play, at the moment the 16th FIBA Asia Champions Cup is being hosted in Manila. So we grabbed tickets to watch Philippines versus Iran. It was great fun and were only about 5 rows back from the court, but the Pilipinas team lost. Here's the game lowdown!

16th FIBA Asia Champions Cup 2005
Manila, Philippines May 29 -- June 5 : Day Four Result http://www.fibaasia.net/

Manila, Philippines (June 1)-Powerhouse Iran-Saba Battery imposed their superiority over the Philippines 85-75 to grab solo leadership in Group A in the Fedex 16th Fiba-Asia Champions Cup at the Araneta Coliseum here. With the victory, the Iranians not only installed themselves on top of the leader-board with an immaculate 4-0 card, they also emerged as the favorites to win this year’s edition of the Champions Cup.

The Filipinos, who were down by 12 points several times, the last at 68-80 with still 2 minutes remaining in the game, suffered their first loss in three games. Iran relied heavily on their imports- Lorenzo Daynard Hall and Andre Doran Pitts who scored 17 and 24 respectively, while the Philippines was led by Dondon Hontiveros and Rommel Adducul who had a combined output of 41 points.

Tomorrow, the Philippines is expected to bent their ire on Lebanon to assure themselves of the number two position at the end of the elimination round. Game time between the Filipinos and Lebanese is scheduled at 7:15 p.m. at the Ynares Gym in Antipolo City, an estimated 20 kilometers away from Manila.

Meanwhile, three-time champion Lebanon, which is slowly getting back on track, smothered Kazakhstan 94-75, their second straight victory after dropping their opening game against Iran 51-71 last May 29. Kazakhstan suffered their 3 rd straight loss in as many games joining lowly India down the cellar of Group A.

Qatar showed no mercy in beating Syria 79-54 as it warmed up for the highly anticipated showdown with Jordan, their archrival in Group B today. Qatar and Jordan have identical three straight victories to show with no defeat. The battle between Qatar and Jordan will be at 2:45 p.m. also at the Ynares Gym in Antipolo City.

Kuwait annexed their second victory against the United Arab Emirates 81-74, putting themselves in the number two position in Group B with a 2-2 win-loss record. The loss pushed the United Arab Emirates dead last with Syria in their bracket, both toting a 0-3 card.


posted by batik billy @ 10:53 am

Wednesday, June 01, 2005

SantaCruzan

On Sunday Neil and I headed over to Ermita for some lunch and to try and find some operational phones to call home. Finding public phones that work here in Manila can sometimes be a bit of a challenge - especially because if you buy a phone card, you can only use that card from the same company's public phone - so it can be a bit annoying! Anyway, after lunch Neil went home as he was feeling pretty sick which I walked up along Manila Bay, through Rizal Park and Intramuros to meet some friends to watch the Santa Cruzan parade.

In the month of May, Filipinos hold the Santacruzan. The festival comes from a religious origin, a commemoration of the finding of the Holy Cross by Queen Helena and Constantine. Young ladies dress up in lavish Spanish-style gowns of lace and beads and parade on the streets, together with their escorts. They walk elegantly beneath arches of flowers in a procession while people hold candles and torches as they sing songs of praise. Some people think that the Santracruzan is an obsolete ritual, but there are also those who believe that it is relevant to the Catholic faith. And more than that, they say, the practice of the Santacruzan also adds color to the people’s cultural life.

The procession through Intramuros was a little more tame than I was expecting, but it was still fun to see the women and men in traditional Spanish dress. After watching the procession, we walked down one of the roads in Intramuros where we stumbled across a cultural fair with stalls, food and entertainment from the northern Mindanao region. We stopped for a while and watched some of the traditional dances before grabbing a taxi down to Manila Bay walk for some dinner. It was fun.

posted by batik billy @ 10:58 am