The rambling recipes & travels of a home baker

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.