I decided to grab the 9pm bus to Banuaue so I gave myself some time to see if I culd find the Columban monks in
Malate.This was no problem as Singalong street was just a couple of blocks away from the hostel.When I knocked on
the door, the woman that answered didn't seem to be too friendly so I moved on to a local restaurant, where I bought
some Tapsilog
I tried the columbans again
but I got no answer so i moved on and explored Malate for a couple of hours. Here is a pic of the price of diesell in Manila (per litre).
I forgot to say this earlier... I was told of the story of a famous Philippino news reporter who was making a documentary about mosquitos when he was bitten by one.He died a month later.(Note to self: keep taking the Malaria tablets)
Anyway, I grabbed a late bus from Manila (I got a taxi from the hostel to the location of the bus stop and it was the best journey (remember, it was a Friday evening so traffic was chaotic) EVER. All the drivers over here should be F1 drivers \ football goalkeepers as their reaction time to a slight move in traffic is unreal!!!
Anyway, I got on the bus and sat as comfortable as possible in anticipation of the 12 hour journey.
I landed at Banaue around 8 o clock the following morning.
View of the mountains from Banaue
Downtown Banaue before rush hour
A 'lady' Dentist? Surely, a Dentist is good enough!
I was met by a tonne of people who were willing to offer tonnes of help as regards tours. I grabbed a room from the hostel (I had a look at the dorm and the private room and they both looked the exact same to me . Both had 2 single beds.)
I had a look outside the hostel and I could see lots of houses dotting the mountains.
View from the hostel\restaurant
The Comfort room was situated pretty close to the room I was sleeping in.
Come in and look at all that comfort
View from inside the C.R (After doing your business, just use the green bucket and the water provided in the red bucket to fluch out the toilet.Cool!)
Anyway, I met a guy from Texas and he mentioned going on the hot springs tour so I booked myself in for a sidecar trip to The hotsprings followed by a trip to viewpoint (where you can see the 8th wonder of the world (The rice fields of Banaue))
The infamous sidecar...which can top speeds of 15 mph ...sometimes
I met up with the driver\tour guide (Elmer ) and we were on our way.
Elmer - the tour guide
We had a look at he Saturday market (Everyone from the surrounding villages comes to Banaue every Saturday.It takes
some people 7 hours to get here by foot.) These are REALLY remote places.
I noticed the music that was being sold was mostly country and western.This seemed quite odd. Actually, come to think
of it, the guy who driving the bus changed radio stations as we were entering the mountain regions and for the last 3
hours of the bus journey this morning , we had a how down - Philippino style! Elder told me that the guys living in
the mountains loved c and w. as they had been influenced by the U.S at one point and their music seeped into the
local culture!
I had a go at a 1 day old fried chick. It tasted like a fly would tast or a rat would taste (I guess) if it was
fried,
Fried one day old chicks
Meat\Fish stall at the market
Fruit stall at the market
salty eggs (coloured pink to denote the salt)
View from sidecar of a Jeepney
View of house in Banaue
That's a long way to fall
..I took some random shots of the rice fields including the church. here they are....
The rice fields of Banaue
Closer view of a rice field
The red tree indicates the boundary of the field
A closer view of that plant that divides the land
Waterfalls everywhere
It looks like I was superimposed onto this picture. It's all real though!
Better view of the background and of my footwear which are now sadly deceased. The shoe shops love me
A couple who got married in a church surrounded by rice fields (I think I should become a wedding photographer)
A palatial home amongst the rice fields
springs of sulphurous water.Unfortunately (or maybe that should read fortunately) the camera ran out of juice just
before I got into the hot springs.
I alternàted between the hot springs and the cold river.It was very theraputic , I think (although I could have been having hallucinations due to lack of sleep from the night before.
I asked Elmer why I was hearing loads of people in Manila shouting 'hey Joe' at me while I was waiting for the bus to get to Banaue. He told me that it is a throwback to the US army being here .So anyone resembling a westerner is called Joe (as in G.I Joe) I think I'd rather be called 'americano' (as one other Philipino called me last night!)
Elmer mentioned the class system that can be seen when tribes wear traditional dress. e.g: G - strings (Ta-ag) are made with the following colours: white ,black ,orange and red/. Rich people would wear g-strings with all 4 colours.Poorer people would wear gstrings with less orange and the poorest would wear g-strings with less red. Nobody would dare wear the wrong g-string as it
would bring shame to themselves. Unfirtunatel, I have no picture to go with this comment and if I went to the trouble
of wearing a g-string, I fear the blog might get shut down.
In Banaue,they chew a mixture of,,,
1. Tabacco mixed with
2. Lime powder (to give it a kick)
3. a Vine leaf and
4. a Beetlenut .This is called 'chewing mommy'
Ingredients for chewing 'mommy'
. you see loads of people spitting out the mixture of the 4 ingredients all the time!! Apparently,it's more
popular then smoking for the people from Banaue (This is a custom specific to this area.)
During the tour, Elmer made a sound and a bird ( chew chewro ) that looked like a butterfly responded by making a sound like a cricket and landing on his toes (just like a regular Dr Dolittle!).
Sunday:
I took the Jeepney to Bontok (a.k.a frontier town) The driver let me sit on the top of the Jeepney for nearly all the
journey!!
Listen up ass. You will be sitting on this for the next 90 minutes, Don't get too comfortable
There's a storm brewing! (note: I meant to take a pic of the statue of Mary but I had to hold on to the roof so this was taken in a 'blind' manner. didn't realise the guy was so close! I think he thought I was a bit mad )
Steady as she goes Mr Jeepney driver
I hope the road doesn't get washed away! (This part looks just like the phoenix park roads in November!)
Almost there, watch out for the edge of the cliff!
Class view (Once I can wipe my glasses)
Bontoc.) To be honest, I felt as safe as houses (whatever that means) when I was on the roof. The only worrying thing
was the overhead power lines but I was able to see them nearly all the time [It rained for most of the journey.I found out later tht the storm was classified as a typhoon]. I took a few photos but I am not sure if
they turned out ok as it rained quite a bit during the journey.By the way, if you are ever in Banaue and are
traveling to Bontoc (so, going down the mountain) stay on the roof of the jeepney.It's the only way to travel!!
(although, it's not that comfortable. Your ass might hurt a bit but the views are something else!)
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