Churya-a Hotel & Restaurant Bontoc

... home! Even the dogs don't bark at me as much. We are staying in an old wooden house. It is one of the only surviving buildings from before World War II. It is cool in the evenings and warm in the day. Despite the tropical latitude, bugs don't much live here. I suppose it's the 5000 feet elevation. It's a beautiful place, this Sagada. It is full of friendly faces and stunning scenery and a great eatery called the Yoghurt House.

Living in a place makes it feel uneventful. Novelty ...

... damning dams. I passed a city dump perched on the cliffside. A sign posted near the edge said "dispose of your trash properly." There was the smoke and smell only burning garbage provides.
I wound and wound and wound southeastward toward a place I couldn't pronounce. I wound up from the plains to a world where the pines grow and a cold air makes things more comfortable. It is different here. Coffee trees overhang. Persimmon trees spread over sweet ...

... we carried on to Sagada. Before the dusk we hired a guide and underwent the rough tour through Sumaging cave. It was definitely the most adventurous caving I've ever done. It took us around three hours, walking partly bare-feet, ducking through tiny holes and occasionally being in the water up to our chests. Before entering the cave we observed some wooden coffins located in a cave or hanging from a cliff. Local tribes still use ...

... Currently the roads are in a terrible state at points, making it not the most accessible place but that will soon change ...

... the "saddle" which sits above Batad. Only jeepneys and 4WDs make the trip up so we had to walk. There was a lady selling carvings and native art at the junction and she sent her son with us to show us a guest house. Good thing he came too, because I had two backpacks, each probably weighing 5-7kgs and he took one of them. He also showed us the way to go. It took us about one long hour to get to the saddle. Both Janice and I were exhausted by the time we got ...

... We had to take our shoes off because bare feet was better to grip on the certain rock, then it got trickier. We had to wade through water, climb through gaps and through bat poo.. then came a bit where you had to lean back, hold a rope and climb a few meters with a big drop behind you.. oh god. You needed a bit of upper body strength and Fran was a bit nervous especially when one of the men made ...

... Grimpette jusqu'a la pension ou je serai seul encore, la terrasse donne sur les rizierres, installe avec mon bouquin palpitant ("Birmane") je respire, loin de la civilisation. Cet endroit est tellement perdu que les espagnols n'en ont jamais eu connaissance, ni meme les japonnais durant la seconde guerre mondiale. En attendant le diner, la fille de la pension me fait un massage, loin d'etre le meilleur de ma vie, mais un massage ici, a la lueur de la bougie, je ne vous ...

... Il est un peu etrange depuis. hihi Quand il voit un chien, les yeux s'agrandisse, la bave coule et ils appellent tout les chiens avec un interest dangereusement amical. Ils les appellent tous "ragout". Il les flattent avec un regard bien interesse. Il calcule le pourcentage de viande potentiel. (on rigole bien avec cette experience). Nous sommes alle voir une chorale a l'eglise. Tres indicipline les Philipinois. Les chiens qui se promenent ...

... was rainy, it was sweaty, and it was very tiring. Was it worth it? When we reached Batad, the answer was clearly yes. Huge monsters hewn out of the mountain rock by their bare hands 2000 years ago. Using the most primitive of tools, and a lot of broken rocks, the local tribes had created out of inhospitable terrain a rice growing paradise. It really did take your breath away, maybe partially attributable to the bloody trekking, but no doubt a large part due to ...

Week 51 July 18th Feeling much better today so made preparations for the Manila evacuation. Had lunch with Tintin and co near Robinson's Shopping Centre and packed my bags. Dossed around the hostel until 8pm then with my pack and trusty guitar (becoming a bit of a travel liability..knocking people with it and banging it against anything in its way...but its worth it) I made my way back to the bus terminal. Getting to the right terminal here in ...