Last Leg of the Philippines

While I was in Luplupa, I was the only guest at the Riverside Hotel excluding the night before the wedding. As a result, the family which manages the Inn did not open up the downstairs restaurant, and I just ate all my meals with the family. It was really nice to feel somewhat part of a family again and, as a result, I got to know the family quite well. Johnny, the father, had to make a trip to Tabuk, the provincial capital of Kalinga, to do some shopping and set up an email account, and asked if I wanted to come. We got there by overloaded Jeepney. Jeepneys are converted Jeeps that seat 20 people but often carry closer to 40, plus their luggage, and are the basic form of public transportation throughout the Philippines. They have also replaced the Smart Car as my dream ride, as they are so fun. The owners paint them up in bright, gaudy colours, then spray paint Superheros, dangerous animals, 'No Fear' logos, and whatever else they want on the sides. They then write funny names for the car and religious passages in various places. On the trip to Tabuk, I sat on the roof to better appreciate the view.



In Tabuk, we stayed with Johnny's relatives in a small village on the fringes which was founded when Luplupa became overpopulated. As a result, more or less the whole village was related to Johnny one way or the other. When we arrived, they asked if I liked goat, and I answered yes. We were sitting around talking, and the next thing I know they're bringing a live goat into the room, where they killed it, shaved it, and cooked it for the next couple of hours.



We returned to Luplupa the next day, and Johnny's relatives from Baguio offered to give me a ride back to Baguio with them. The next day, we left for Baguio, a trip that theoretically can take only 6 hours. It took almost ten, however, because there was a typhoon, so it was very rainy and, at one point, we had to wait for a landslide blocking the road to be cleared.



When we finally arrived in Baguio after dark and in the middle of the storm, the family insisted I stay with them, and I wasn't going to complain :-). I spent the next day meeting their very large and incredibly friendly and hospitable extended family, and then a couple of days touring around Baguio, which wasn't especially exciting.



After Baguio, I caught a bus to Subic Bay, where I stayed with one of the friends I had met in Sagada named Chris. In what seems to be a general Philippino trend, his family was also incredibly nice, and invited me to the Deboo of Chris' niece. A Deboo is a big party Philippinas have when they turn 18. At the party, they dance with 18 guys who each give her a rose, and then receive 18 candles from 18 girlfriends. This got me to thinking whether I had had 17 female friends when I was 18 whom I could have asked to dance with me (the first dancer is a relative), and I'm pretty sure the answer is no. The party was fun, and the food was good, except that it ran too late, so there was no time to eat the cake :-(.



While in Subic, I saw a surprisingly good presentation where a local tribesman explained how to make dishes, cooking pots, find water and shampoo, and prepare your food if you are stranded in the jungle. He even made me a special 'western' style cup with a cut out on the rim so my nose wouldn't get in the way while drinking from the bamboo. Perhaps most impressive was when he made fire just using a piece of bamboo and a knife in under five minutes.



The Iboy (?) tribe of the area used to train US marines to survive in the jungle, and now the camp is a major Subic Bay tourist attraction. After the camp, I went for a short jungle trek, where the guide explained the various uses of the plants in the forest, and showed me how to make a wild chicken trap. He said that the villagers joke the jungle is their supermarket, because they can get everything they need from it.



My last day in Manila I just did some shopping, packing and then hung out with two more friends from Sagada in the evening. The next day was a grueling 20 hour commute to Canada, during which I unexpectedly visited another country. I bought a bottle of duty free alcohol in Manila after confirming I could take it all the way to Canada, despite the fact I was changing planes in Tokyo. They didn't exactly lie. In Tokyo, they told me I could keep it, but only if I cleared customs and put it in my checked baggage. I didn't really have anything else to do during my four hour stopover, so I spent two hours clearing customs and then reentering the airport. So, I have also officially been to Japan for about 20 minutes.



After a quick visit to Vancouver, where I was pampered silly by my friends Heather and Matthew and got to see Ernest and Anna, I am now in Seattle visiting my cousins. Seattle is a very pretty city, with an excellent market and bike paths. It also has an incredible new library that would interest anyone who likes architecture, electronics, or books.



Despite assuming that North Americans are not nearly as friendly as Southeast Asians, I've met some good people. A 7-11 owner who gave me the wrong directions gave me a free slushie when I came back to use the pay phone, and another guy biked with me for 15 minutes to show me the way home when I got a bit lost on the bike paths.

Well, this is the last entry in my blog. I am still technically traveling for three and a half more weeks, but it won't be any place new for me and the main reason is to visit family and friends. I had a great trip, and no serious regrets about the choices I made while traveling. I was very lucky to be able to go on this trip, and very lucky it went so smoothly. I wouldn't say I got particularly homesick, though I am glad to be back in Canada. I also realized a lot of the highlights for me where the trekking and the natural attractions I visited, which Canada has an abundance of, but which I never visit. Maybe next time, instead of travelling halfway around the world, I'll look for nature trails closer to home...

Thanks for all the emails, and the surprising amount that told me they actually read the blog and liked it. The only reason I kept updating it relatively frequently is because you actually cared :-). I wish you all success until I see you in person again. Enjoy the summer .

Love,

Eitan

The Cordillera, Philippines

Hi everyone,

Before I begin on the Philippines, I have two more Thailand stories. The first is about the club I went to in Thailand. I forgot the best part. In Canada, when the clubs close there is a line of cabs waiting outside to take home those without rides, so we all assumed that would be the case in Thailand. It was not so. The nine of us were stranded in the sticks with no way to get back. After a few minutes, one guy leaving the club offered us a ride in his regular four door. We thanked him, but pointed out there were nine of us, but that didn't phase him at all. Since we didn't really have a choice, we all tried to pile into his car. Not everyone was tiny like me, either. Three of the guys were around 6 feet tall. We managed to get 8 of us in (two in the front plus driver, 5 in the back, 1 in the trunk), but try as we might, we could not get in the ninth. Luckily, two motorcycles came by and offered a lift to two of us, and we all made it back.

Secondly, the Khoh Son tourist district in Bangkok has stands and stands of my main clothing weakness: Decal t-shirts. Almost all of my clothes have been bought for me by my mom or Evelyn. The only real exception is a bunch of t-shirts from Value Village and other places with iron-ons that I think are funny or clever. I have so many at home that a vowed not to buy any in Bangkok. The second time I was there though, I couldn't help myself and ended up buying four :-). Oh well.

Now for the Philippines. The Philippines is a sweet place to travel. All the locals speak English, and it is relatively well developed, but lacking in foreign tourists. I would say at least three-quarters of the tourists have some connection to the Philippines; they have a Philippino significant other or parent, they work here, or they are Philippinos from a different city or country. As a result, most of the tourists I have been hanging out with have actually been locals. As an added bonus, some of them have put me up when I visit their cities.

My first day in Manilla was overwhelming. Manilla is hot, crowded, noisy, congested, and expensive, and it didn't help that I had hardly slept on my overnight flight to get there. Nika was still in the Philippines, and we made plans to leave that night for Banaue in the Cordillera, the mountain provinces of Northern Luzon. I spent the day unsuccessfully extending my visa, successfully getting an adapter, and becoming even further overwhelmed as I tried to decide what to do during my month in the Philippines. There is a ridiculous amount to see and do here, way too much for a month. I decided to beat the heat for two weeks in the Cordillera, and then head to a beachy Island after.

Nika and I caught up on the bus ride to Banaue, which was really fun, and I met her cousin Richel, who joined us. Banaue is the starting point for treks into the nearby rice terraces, which are spectacular. They were built over 2000 years ago and are cut right into the side of the mountains. They are commonly referred to as the 8th wonder of the world. The first day we did a one day walk through the most famous ones, and then left on a two day hike to some other villages and terraces the next day. Interestingly, our guide told us that foreigners often pay LESS then locals for their guides, because the local tourists don't like to bargain.



Nika had to go back to Manilla to catch her flight, so the next day I left for Sagada. I found a sweet hotel in Sagada called 'the Greenhouse', run by a wonderful women named Atte Nora (Atte is a sign of respect). The first two days I was there were a weekend, so the hotel was full, and I went on a walk to Echo valley and a waterfall with other guests. Sagada is known for its hanging coffins, as the local tradition is to place the coffins of the dead in caves, preferably high off the ground. We saw a few of these as we toured.



The next day I went with other tourists on one of the highlights of my trip, the 'cave-connection' tour, which is a four hour underground spelunking expedition where you go in one cave and out another. It involved, climbing, rappelling, wading, and swimming, all by lantern light. After the weekend, it was just me and one couple, who had been living in the hotel for two weeks already, who were around.



I spent another 4 days in Sagada just doing day trips to other sights with the couple and with Nora, who didn't have to much to do. The best one was to a nearby big waterfall, which also involved a walk through rice paddies. Sagada is very high up, so the foliage looks a lot like Canada. The cool thing is that the pine trees are next to rice paddies, which you obviously never see in Canada.



Around this time, I decided to just spend the rest of my time in the Cordillera and Northern Luzon, and forgot about going to a different Island. So I decided to go further North to a more remote village called Luplupa in Kalinga province. There wasn't much to do there, and I hardly did anything that the guidebook did mention, yet I stayed for a week :-). I just really enjoyed relaxing. The first day I did a trek to nearby villages led by Victor, the Barangay (village) chief. I think he smoked too much dope over the years with tourists, so he wasn't the best guide I've had. However, because he's been chief for over 30 years, everyone knows him, so it was cool meeting and greeting everyone we passed. Apparently, most of the 'tourists' nowadays are really marijuana dealers, so I was constantly asked how many kilos I wanted to buy.



I also was finally offered a food I couldn't bring myself to even try. Normally, I'll eat anything offered to me, partly out of curiousity, partly to say I did it, and partly because I don't want to be insulting by turning down food. However, at one village, I was offered pieces of boiled pig's face and skin, which is more or less globs of fat with the hair still on it. Luckily, Victor bailed me out by saying I was vegetarian.

The next day in Luplupa there was a wedding, which was a lot of fun. I also saw many tatooed old ladies. Traditionally, married women were supposed to cover their arms in bracelets. Just in case they weren't wearing bracelets, they tatooed bracelets on their arms so they would never be bare. As a result, many of the older generation still have them.



After that, I more or less hung out. The Riverside Inn family felt bad for me because I was alone, so they made sure someone was always visiting me to keep me company, or showing me around to a nearby Barangay. I was supposed to go on a two day trek into the jungle with a hunter named Gill and sleep in a cave, but the weather was really bad, so we had to turn back on the first day. There was also a peace pact celebration with a neighbouring village, but I was sick, so missed most of that.



That's all I have the energy to write about now, so you'll have to wait a week for the rest. Lastly, you have all likely heard about the deadly cyclone that hit Myanmar a couple of weeks ago. If any of you were thinking of donating, but were afraid the money would not go to the right place, I recommend HOPE international as a good NGO to donate too. They are the ones I worked with a bit in Cambodia, so I can vouch for there quality, or you can research them on their website. You can go to http://www.hope-international.com/ to donate or to find out more.