Back on the Road...

Another flight across the Pacific brought us back to Kuala Lumpur where we had to spend the night before catching an early morning flight to Manila. Despite some of the things we had heard about the city of 10 million+, we found it easy to negotiate, safe, and the people extremely friendly and helpful. All of the street signs and store signs are in English, a legacy left over from years of US occupation. But with only twelve days in this country of over 7,000 islands, we did not want to waste any time in a big city.

We caught a bus northwest to the coastal town of Lucap where we planned and executed several much-needed days of total relaxation. With a little bungalow built out over the water as our home base, we hired a boat each day to take us just offshore to the Hundred Islands National Park. The first day we did some island-hopping and exploring starting with a swim into an underwater cave and followed by a snorkel in a protected reef area. Years of destructive fishing practices, including cyanide and dynamite fishing, have all but destroyed the coral in these parts and measures are underway to rejuvenate the reef by planting giant clams. These clams start off in a lab and then are transplanted in this “garden” where they grow up to four feet in diameter. Whatever it is the clams do seems to be working... the reef is coming back to life and we saw some beautiful coral and tropical fish.

The next two and a half days we spent on our own private white sand beach, a small stretch of sand linking two of the small islands. Our hotel packed us a lunch and our boat dropped us off in the morning and pick us up in the afternoon. Evenings were spent in Lucap, with hardly another tourist to be seen, eating seafood and drinking $0.50 beer in a restaurant overlooking the islands... paradise!

But we can only sit still for so long and it was time to move on. We took a ten-hour, three-bus journey east from the coast and up into the Cordillera Mountains, through the highest pass on the Philippines Highway system (2,255m) and along a narrow, winding, dirt road. The third bus ride was 148km long and took 6 ½ hours... it was slow going but beautiful scenery along the way. We had to spend the night in the city of Bontoc before catching the typical local transportation, a Jeepney (see photo below) for an hour up an even steeper, windier, bumpier road.

Finally we had made it to Sagada and it was worth the trip. Situated on the top of the mountains at 1,500m, Sagada is a peaceful paradise. No pollution, a focus on a sustainable environment, and not a karaoke bar in sight (or sound). Sagada's most famous attraction is its hanging coffins. This custom, unique to this area, dates back centuries. The dead are crammed into wooden coffins (and I mean crammed – most of the coffins are no longer than three feet long) and then suspended on one of the limestone cliff walls or shoved into one of the many crevices or caves. The coffins are abandoned after that, no maintenance is done, no flowers are placed. So obviously after some time the wood deteriorates to the point where the bones spill out onto the ground below. A hike through a valley of hanging coffins and burial caves brought us upon human bones more than once .

The next day we hired a guide to take us hiking to a nearby cave. This cave was not a burial cave but its accessible tunnels run for more than a kilometre. With only the light of our guide's lantern, we entered a huge gaping hole and scrambled down a steep trail, slippery with moisture and bat crap. Finally we were deep enough in the cave to escape the bats and the tunnel narrowed significantly. An underground river seeped out of cracks in the walls to create giant limestone and calcium formations and deep pools of water. Here we removed our shoes and carefully climbed along ridges and through shallow pools. At some points we used ropes to help repel down steep walls. At last we came to “The Tunnel” where we had to slide feet first through a small opening and drop into a waist deep pool of cold water. A narrow corridor lead us into a large cavern where the walls where covered in fossilized shells and fish. Slowly we made our way back to the mouth of the cave where we were met by the police who where there to investigate the theft of some flip flops (thankfully not ours).

On the way back to town our guide took us to one of the largest burial caves in the area where there are over 100 coffins stacked in the entrance. Some of these are over 500 years old but coffins are still being added to this day.

As we have learned, getting anywhere in the Philippines takes a long time so we were prepared for the half day journey to our next destination of Banaue. This trip was made even longer by a flat tire on our ready-for-the-junk-yard-bus, but these things are all part of the adventure.

At 1,200m, Banaue is best known for its rice terraces, many of which are over 3,000 years old. In the steep valleys, these terraces look like the contour lines on a map. Our hotel was built on the side of the valley and the restaurant had a great view of th town below and the terraces above. Here we shared beer and stories with Sharon and Spence from our neck of the woods, Cedar by the Sea on Vancouver Island. The next morning after a night of heavy rain, we awoke to sunny skies. We hiked up steep steps and along the earthen walls of the terraces to a waterfall high above the town, passing small traditional settlements along the way. Later in the afternoon we took a ride in a motorcycle sidecar (called tricycles here) to a lookout where the views of the terraces were spectacular.

Time again for another epic bus ride, ten hours from Banaue back to a northern Manila suburb where we hopped the LRT for a ride into town. The next day was a day to explore the city and we attended one of the premier sporting events in the Philippines (PETA members, skip the rest of this paragraph) a cockfight. A large arena to the south of the city was the venue for this event that sometimes sees over 100 fights a day. The room was crowded and noisy: I was the only woman there. A friendly Filipino named Michael walked us through the action. The roosters are clearly bred to detest one another. The two fighters with blades strapped to one of their legs are brought into the ring by their handlers and two other roosters are there as well just to get the fighters good and angry. Bets are placed by some sort of yelling, squealing, hissing, sign language combination that was far to much for us to comprehend. Then the two roosters are let at each other. They are given ten minutes but we never saw a fight go longer than five. One rooster is either maimed or killed and a winner is declared. It's all quite violent but not as bloody as I expected and apparently they make a very nice curry out of the roosters after it's all said and done.

So now we're ready to check off another continent off our list. We have a one-night stopover in Tokyo before heading off to South America. Asia has been a blast but we're ready for something new...

B.

Photos:
Our Boat at 100 Islands
Our Beach at 100 Islands
Sagada Hanging Coffins
Somebody's Head
In the Cave
Cave Formations
Hiking the Rice Terraces
At the Lookout
Rice Terraces
Cockfight Betting
Roosters in Action
Jeepney

This FFP comes straight from the cockfight. Nice salad...
Cockfight FFP