Filed under: Travel: Philippines
When I told one of the carpenters on one of my jobs that I was heading to the Batanes Islands in the Philippines, he said, “Wow! I think typhoon season is over”. That kind of describes Batanes (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batanes)
If you go to the link above, you’ll see that Batanes is the small group of islands to the farthest north of the Philippines. Some islands are actually closer to Taiwan. Batanes is known for being hit by many typhoons and it’s topography is defined by the wind. Very few trees on the rolling hills, lots of low grassy land with cows and carabaos (water buffalo) and gotas roaming around.
We were on the main island of Batan Island which looks a lot like Hawaii. Green and verdant, waves crashing over rocks. Craggy sea shores. Michelle, her sister Merielle and I flew up early on Saturday morning and arrived around 8:45 am on a tiny airstrip and met our guide, Byron.
Byron essentially showed us all over the island over the course of three days. Most of the Ivatan houses are stone with thatched roofs. It’s a tradition, only in this area of the Philippines. The main crops on the island are purple yams (ube), taro (gabi), coconut (buka) and garlic. Most people own some sort of plot of land and farm the land each day and return back to town (Basco or one of the other small coastal towns) each day. Some of the land is on a very steep slope, but it’s still farmed.
We ate Filipino food mainly – lots of meat, rice and not so many vegetables, but since Batanes is an island region, there is lots of fish and cuttlefish (a type of squid). The Philippines is a VERY tough place for a vegetarian, as even their veggie dishes have meat bits in them.
The second day, we mainly headed to the eastern half of the island – more defined by rolling green hills, with tall grass plot divisions vs. the west half– more of a tropical jungle feel. We saw the entries to the bunker that the Japanese army had built for them as Batanes served as a critical lookout point for the army; and we also saw the old US coast guard LORAN (long range assistance navigation??) station which was abandoned in the 1970s. Byron recalls many of the villagers from nearby would enjoy the movies and ice cream from the US soldiers. Now it sits empty and an open shell.
Batanes is a very relaxing place to be – there’s not much to do at night, so Michelle, Merielle and I played lots of cards, particularly a game called Pasoy Dos (sp??).
The third day, we headed to catch an early ferry to a nearby island, called Sabtang. It was a 45 minute ride on a small motorboat and I nearly lost my non-existent breakfast when we arrived. So I mainly spent the ride around Sabtang holding on to the truck, trying to wake up from the grogginess of the motion sickness medicine. We did however have a nice nap on the beach. The ride back was a wild ride with crazy waves. I’m actually really not sure how I survived not getting sick, but I guess the Bonine works.
This morning, we woke early to catch the flight, only to find that it hadn’t even left Manila! So Michelle asked about some bikes and two airport workers lent us their bikes for us to tool around in. The town is only 1km from the airport, so we biked into town and popped in to see our guide, Byron. Then we were up on the far end of the runway and we biked on to the runway! We thought we could cut through, but had to turn around. But it was a bizarre place to be! I’ll be better able to describe Batanes with the photos. It’s a quiet, unspoiled place to visit, it’s rustic in the sense that it’s not very developed and things work the way they work, you just can’t force the issue.
Back in Manila today, Michelle had a dental appointment, so I tagged along and hung out at the shopping mall adjacent – there are many malls- it mainly had western shops, but the Philippines get shops from Europe (Lush, Mango, La Senza), Australia (some Australian Beauty shop) and America (Gap) plus their own shops. It’s fascinating to be here – it feels like how I feel in Taipei – a little lost, but familiar, but the signs are in roman letters, but written in Tagalog, so I don’t understand it sometimes – directional signs are in english. Most everyone can speak english but Tagalog first. So it’s the reverse of Taipei where I can understand what they are saying, but I can’t read. Here I can read, but can’t understand what they are saying. Does that make sense? Other observation here: people here text like there’s no tomorrow. It is the main form of communication. In some ways, it’s the great equalizer – phones are cheap and plentiful and service is inexpensive, so people mainly text – it’s like their blackberry.
Anyhow, tomorrow, I take an evening bus to the Banaue Rice Terraces (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banaue). I will be there by myself so it should be interesting – a few days of not being with a local will make it feel more like a normal vacation where I have to fend for myself.
It’s been a treat to be here in Manila with Michelle and her family. They have been incredibly gracious and generous with their home and time. It’s interesting to see this city not as this scary big entity, but just this place where they exist and it’s their home.
More in a few days when I return from Banaue. Then I meet up with Mel who is currently in Taiwan and our friend Sonali who lives here in Manila with her husband Dale and son, Alex.
Filed under: Travel: Philippines
I’m back in Asia! The messy, muggy, humid zaniness of a large city in Asia. It’s a far jump from Seattle, but I managed to make it to Manila via Seoul on Asiana Airlines. Asiana is a Korean airline and it was an 11 hour flight on a Boeing 777 (LOVE IT!) where I was lucky enough to have no one next to me! Movies: Wall-E and Mamma Mia – plus others I wasn’t interested in – The Mummy version 3? and Ghost Town. The food was decent (because I had the Korean dish, Bibimbap) and the service was great. The flight attendants were all a frighteningly perfect size 2 as well. We crossed the international date line on New Year’s so somehow most of New Year’s Eve was zapped away from my life….I may have slept through it!
Seoul’s new airport, Incheon, is like a high class mall – Chanel, Gucci, Prada, plus everything is new and shiny. Not a bad place to hang out, but alas, my good friend, Susan, kindly sent me Twilight (yes, the teeny bopper gothic romance – like this generations Buffy the Vampire Slayer – only not as hip) to read and I am now totally sucked into it (it pretty much goes with my terrible pop music tastes)
So I’ve only spent one day in Manila and it was basically adjusting to the time zone difference which I think is currently 15 hours ahead of Seattle.
My good friend, Michelle, and her sister Merisse, came to pick me up late at night at Ninoy Aquino International Airport which felt a bit more what I expect Asia to be like – muggy, lots of honking, people smoking. But somehow when I am on vacation, my patience is greater and when I’m in Asia, things that would bother me in Seattle, don’t phase me at all. I should try to have this zen attitude at home.
So Michelle’s family lives south of Manila this morning, she woke with her dad to take a bike ride around her neighborhood (Michelle is training with her pop to ride the Seattle to Vancouver BC bike ride). I snoozed away after staying up late to read more Twilight. When they returned, Michelle’s 93 year old grandma had taken a tumble in the shower so Michelle’s Dad took her to the hospital. The rest of us, Michelle, her sisters, Merisse, Merielle and her mother all had breakfast which included longsilong (pork/garlic sausage)….and the tastiest mango I’ve had in ages.
The rest of the morning was spent trying to figure out how to reserve a seat on a bus up to Banaue (northern Luzon) for next week.
We then headed to the mall for Michelle to get some of her visa paperwork sorted and out and to get ironically a facial and to look for a cell phone for me (since it was agreed that I should not head up to Banaue without some method of transportation). So, off we went. The facial was ridiculously cheap – $5 (or 250 Philippine Peso). While in the mall (there are so many in Manila) I observed many tragic english translations, worst of which might have been Mushy Balls – a stand that sold fish balls, potato balls, other odd things in a ball form. I’ll leave it at that.
The next day we headed out early for a flight to Basco, Batanes. Read more in the next post!
