Boracay

Cindy and I had a weekend trip to Boracay, one of the places to vacation in the Philippines.  We really had no big preconceptions about the place, other than we heard that there are several "stations" along the beach--places where the boats used to come in.  Station one is quieter, station 3 can get pretty raucous during high season.  Fortunately we went during the off season and it was all pretty quiet.  We stayed at Fridays because we had gotten a weekend stay through a silent auction for charity.   It is one of the older resorts at Station 1.

We arrived Friday at Fridays, and it started to rain.  It rained off and on all day, sometimes very hard.  Also the wind was pretty strong--see the picture I took of Cindy at sunset.


The second day we just relaxed and enjoyed probably the best massage I've ever had at Mandala Spa.  In the afternoon and evening we wandered the "D Mall" and the beach again, had a nice dinner at an Italian restaurant, and rode the ferris wheel.







We also saw Fire Dancers a couple of times.



The last day it turned absolutely gorgeous. We definitely want to go back and do some of the more sporty activities, possibly sailing, kite surfing, or snorkeling. As it was we just enjoyed the down time.

Weekend in Chang Mai

Cindy was headed off to another workshop in Chang Mai, so I decided to tag along for a couple of days beforehand to see Chang Mai as I'd never seen it before.  Yes I know I'm lucky to live close enough to 'hop over' for the weekend.  We flew in Friday, so basically I had Sat/Sun to see the city and surrounds.  Then flew home Monday.

Saturday morning we started out at the Rachamankha Flora House where we stayed.  It is a nice guesthouse in the old city.  We left at 6 am, to get food at the market for the monks were were going to feed.  Then we drove about 15 minutes up the hill past the University to give the food to the monks, before we had local breakfast at a local eatery. From there we toured the city, visiting the market and a couple of temples in town.  I didn't get to the big temple on the hill.  I guess I'll have to go back another time.  We met a friend for a glass of wine, and then proceeded to the opening of an exhibit along with an informal get together for the workshop Cindy was in.  Some more photos from the first day.


Our guide bought a snack, yes crickets. This lady had crickets, roaches, silkworms and other crawlies for sale.
Cindy tried a cricket, and actually liked it.   After the market, we came back to our hotel, had some snacks, and then wandered around the center of town a bit.  We saw the cultural center which used to be the old government offices built by the British when they were here pre WWII.  Some of the exhibits weren't much to speak of, but others were interesting.  After this we walked back through town to see a couple of more temples, and then we took a rest for a while before the evening events to give Cindy's sore ankle a rest.


The second day, I decided that I wanted to go see one of the local elephant camps.  So off we went.  It was supposed to be a group activity, but we were the only ones on the 'tour'.  We were picked up by a nice guy in a worn out old pickup--just like the ones they use for the group taxis around town, but well used shall we say.  His 9 year old daughter was with us as it was sunday and she had no school that day.  She was truly enamored of the elephants, but didn't want to get close to them.  While we waited for the elephant to come for our mahout training, and ride, we heard stories from this man about local shaman who were in effect elephant whisperers.  They could calm down an unhappy elephant, something I wouldn't want to experience, by whispering on a banana and feeding it to the elephant.  We heard other stories also, couples reunited in love, and how to make someone in pain for revenge. Our elephant eventually showed up and the mahout taught us how to mount. There are three ways, one make it lie down and climb on standing on the legs and sort of hopping on. The second is to climb onto the standing elephant when it picks up its foreleg and lifts you part way, you pull yourself up by the elephant's ear. The third, it kneels down and you climb up the forehead. Cindy did the first method, with some help from the guide to get up. She was sitting on the elephant's back. They then turned her towards a tree with a bench around it, and I climbed on her head, and scooted back to her neck. Then we had to learn to drive, so to speak. We had been given a little book with the commands for left, right, stop, go... but didn't learn them very well beforehand. She was hungry and always asking for bananas which we had in those striped bags.







Here you can see her asking me for another banana.
At the end of it all, we got to wash her in the river, while the guide's daughter watched from a distance.

And then she went home, and we went back to the city.

After this, we had a quick lunch, and then Cindy had to go off for various activities for her workshop. I went to the walking market and collected some more photos. There was a dogshow, collecting money for shelters who treat street dogs. There were some many musicians, like these blind guys playing in the middle of the street.
And other performers as well, like this young girl collecting 'scholarship money'.
I met several people handing out flyers for kickboxing, here's one of them.

People at the temple making donations and pouring wax into large candle molds.

And many people getting foot massages.
I was sorry to leave, but maybe I'll get back some day. As always more photos here.

RIce Terraces

I guess I've been pretty busy, because shortly after going to Viet Nam, we went to the rice terraces near Banaue and Batad, as well as seeing Sagada.  It was arranged through the AWCP, and there were about a dozen of us who went on the trip.   It was described as a long bus ride one the way there--which it was, although we were in minibuses or oversized vans, not a big bus.  We collected at 4am to leave from Manila, and arrived in Banaue somewhere in time for lunch.  Along the way we got to see some of the effects of last year's Typhoons.

We also saw many terraces which had been washed down by the torrential rains, but more of those were in Batad than on the way up.  Anyways when we arrived, we checked into the hotel, and then went to see around the town a bit.  Rice Terraces, and rice terraces, and more rice terraces. We also saw a traditional village museum, where there were skulls of Japanese WW2 soldiers on the wall. Yes there used to be headhunters in this region. And we met this guy who was wearing a Chico jacket along with his G-String and other traditional clothing.  We also got to see the colors of the rice being planted and growing, but not getting ripe yet.  We were just at the end of the planting season.  Each of these terraces is owned by a family or person.  In some of the terraces you can see a bright green spot in the middle of the water or mud.  That is the rice nursery, where they have planted the seeds, and will pull them out and spread into the terraces to grow more.



The second day we took a ride up the hill.  First by bus, then we switched to Jeepney.  Here you can see most of us inside the Jeepney, but some of us rode on top part of the way.  The fresh air and tossing jeepney made for an exhilirating ride.   Some of the locals would catch a ride for free.  Somewhere along the way, we stopped at "hanging house"  which looked like it was just hanging over the cliff.  There was a toilet with a view.

Then it was a long hike down into Batad from the 'saddle' where the jeepney dropped us off.  It took us about an hour to get down.  The path down was the only way to get things into the village, so we encountered people carrying all sorts of things up and down.  The village is in a bowl, and very picturesque.  From there some of us went on around the bowl to see different views, and two of the ladies went down to the river to see a waterfall.

At the start of the walk, Jane dropped her walking stick off the trail down into the mud in the terrace below.  Our guide, Darwin, was kind enough to climb down and retrieve it for her.  Here are a few more photos from the walk around to the other side of the bowl.
Russ and some of the others walking along the edge of the terrace. We had to be careful not to damage the wall, but also not to fall in or off, down the hill.

We even noticed some pineapples growing out between the rocks, here you see the water flowing into one of the terraces to water the rice. The terraces were alive with many different things, not just organic rice.

The third day we drove to Sagada via Bontoc.  There we intended to visit a limestone cave, and the hanging coffins.  We also enjoyed the cool air and pine forest around the town of Sagada.  Going through Bontoc, we stopped at a small museum.  There we learned about the peoples of the area, saw a small native village, and pictures from early last century, including one of a person slung off a pole, missing his head.   Yes, they were headhunting as late as 1905 in this region.

There were many beautiful vistas and sights on the way to Sagada, and we did have to go around/over a couple of landslides which had covered the road.
Traveling towards Bontoc, going over the pass.

Green countryside along the way. Rice in full growth, but not yet ready for harvest.

We arrived in Sagada, had lunch at the yoghurt cafe, which was really good. Then we proceeded on to the limestone caves.
A couple of people went into the caves, while the rest of us explored more of the area, including one site where there were coffins stacked in the cave.
This area was used for burials up until not too long ago, when there was an earthquake and many of them fell into the cave. Now other sites are used for burials. Not everyone is buried this way, there are catholic and protestant cemeteries as well, but those who hold the old beliefs are 'buried' this way.
From there we went on to the actual hanging coffin site. We had to walk through the protestant cemetery, and on down the hill to get to this site. There are coffins from as late as a couple of years ago.


At the end of the day, we had a lovely dinner at the Log Cabin.
The last day, we had to drive all the way back home--more than 10 hours. Fortunately we didn't have to ride the way these people did, sitting on top of the bus. Our van was more like the one on the right side of the picture.  As always, more photos here.