Day 37

Arrived early morning, about 700am, in Cuyo for an 8 hour stop-over in the small sleepy town. The pier juts out from a very pretty beach with tan colored sand where many taxi pump boats park which service travel needs to the other dozens of islands in the area. We searched local eateries for Filipino dishes but none were veg. I got a rude bought two guayabanos and both were rotten throughout even though one looked perfectly good from the outside.

We were amazingly able to get a transfer out of the “air con” area to the main deck with pretty good ventilation, especially when there is a nice breeze. We also got a refund of the difference between the two classes of travel.

While walking around the small town we met a German man who was with his kindergarten age son and Filipino wife shopping in the market. They have lived here 6 years. We discussed our travels so far and the state of local affairs. He mentioned a University of the Philippines study had found that 97% of the local reefs have been destroyed by dynamite and cyanide fishing. Cuyo Island has an airstrip that is used by charter flights to pick up live fish for transport to Manila and Hong Kong where customers like to see their fish live in the tank before eating it. There used to be passenger flights but they were discontinued due to insufficient use.

As I write this Friday evening, on the last leg of the journey, we are starting to get smells from the bathroom. The upstairs toilets are the kind with the large pool of water that is almost impossible to flush without a large bucket since they require so much water, so waste just sits in the toilet. Fortunately, downstairs, the toilets are the kind that use only a small amount of water to flush and they are continuously being flushed by a vigorous water flow, probably sea water. I wonder where the waste ends up! Although the trash was emptied in Cuyo, the boat’s overall cleanliness and maintenance is not excellent. For example, one of the bath sinks is broken and a light is missing. A toddler vomited just outside the toilet and there is really no way to properly clean the floor. Someone just swished the mess over to the wall. So far it is not creating odors.

This has been our first long haul ferry ride. Maitri is opining that maybe we should fly back to Manila instead of taking the overnight ferry from Palawan. It is her least favorite mode of transportation. When there are so many people in such a small space for a long period of time, the environment deteriorates very quickly.

We met Alma Gensito, 76 yr old retired teacher, who grew up in Boracay Island, had her first baby when she was 19 and went on to have 11 more. Her last baby was born when she was 42. She and her husband have 11 boys and 1 girl. Their daughter is one of the twins, their 7th pregnancy. They moved to Palawan when her husband was offered a teaching position in the southern part of Palawan. She and her husband got their degrees in education while raising their children. She is amazed at herself how she did it all. She said in the 4 years it took her to finish her degree, she gave birth to 3 children. She herself has 10 siblings. She has now 36 grand children, including 6 great grandchildren.

Day 36

This morning we packed our things for today’s trip. Before we left, however, we called Sita, a family member who works in a beauty shop doing manicures, pedicures, and massage to work her wonders on our old, aging, tired bodies. Ole had his first in his life manicure and pedicure and ear cleaning as well as a whole body massage that lasted two hours. Maitri had a manicure and body massage lasting one hour. After this pampering we lunched with the Laneses and then left for our ferry.

The ferry for Palawan Island is via Iloilo City in Panay Island and the CuyoIlslands half way to Palawan. It is a 38-hour boat trip! Our first voyage from Bacolod to Iloilo left 10 minutes late and lasted much longer than we anticipated and we arrived just in the nick of time to catch the ferry to Puerto Princessa City. A further delay of 10 minutes and we would have missed the boat! We stopped en route at the 7th Day Adventist Food Court bar and stocked up on veggie food including 2 mock meat dishes with rice, soymilk, and siopao. There were only air con seats on the long ferry ride, costing P1047 for the 38 hour ride. Unfortunately, the air con was on the blink and it was much hotter inside the aircon area than outside on the deck with its nice breeze. We had to complain repeatedly to get anything done about it but no one was able to fix the air con. At least we got the crew to open all the small windows which provided a slight breeze and pretty much equalized the temperature with the rest of the ship. The reason it can get so hot is that the exhaust pipe for the huge ship motor runs right thru the middle of the ship and it gets very hot!

We met an attorney and businessman from San Jose City, Antique, Panay who was traveling to Cuyo to see his family. He is apparently an ardent environmentalist in his home area and is working to preserve the so far virgin forests of Panay. He mentioned his group had recently discovered a new species of Raflesia flower there. Raflesia is the largest flower in the world, measuring up to one meter across, although the Philippines variety is only half that size.

Day 35

Ole has been working on Beck’s laptop for the last two days. Today he finished the installation of her new operating system and the repair of the two other older laptops that were sent quite a while ago.

Today, we had lunch at Sian Tian, the other vegetarian place, which is a non-denomination mission that promotes right livelihood and moral living and practices. Their sprititual teacher is from Taiwan.

Johann (Ligaya’s son), Prospero (Maiti’s brother) and Isoy (his son) came and we had dinner at Beck’s place. Beck made “bihon” (thin vermicelli-like rice noodles) and “mechado” (gluten dish with tomato-peanut sauce).

Day 34

Went to downtown Bacolod. Visited the tourist office and cathedral, and took pictures of Maitri’s old school, La Consolation College. We also visited the provincial jail and the warden was kind enough to spend some time with us and answered Ole’s questions. Then we walked back to the center of downtown and had a very satisfying lunch at the Veggies & Health Food Corner, where we got sweetened soymilk (locally made), and “siopao” steamed buns with a savory filling. Bacolod has two vegetarian eateries. Then we bought fruits and went back to Beck’s place.

Day 33

We travelled from Dumaguete, Negros Oriental to Bacolod, Negros Occidental. Travel was about 5 hours mostly along the coast, although we crossed over the mountains to go from one province, Negros Oriental to the other province, Negros Occidental. In one rest stop, they had a strange policy when using the restroom or comfort room (the more common term). For urination, it’s PHP2.00 and for BM it’s PHP5.00. When asked why the price difference, the answer was, “That is our policy.” Our main complain was not that we have to pay, but the faucets do not work and there were no toilet paper or soap.

Thea, Beck’s youngest daughter, got sick during the windy part of the trip and threw up. The woman sitting behind her got splattered.

The island mainly produces sugar. Vast tracks of land are planted with sugar cane. We passed by a town that has a sugar mill and the air was thick with the smell of the canes being processed.

We got to Beck’s place around 2:30 pm and had lunch. Ole immediately got busy with the computers and by nightfall, one was working already.

Day 32

Silliman University was a short walk from the pier. Tanya, our niece who is graduating on Sunday, was in the back area of the campus and spotted us right away. She took us to the dorm where we are staying now with her family. To my horror someone was just finishing waxing the floor in our room with a noxious, strong smelling solvent!!!! We asked the guy to open all the windows and the door to let the air conditioned room air out. We left our bags and took off in search for lunch and to spend the whole afternoon out hoping that would give the odor from the wax would go away. We came back 5 hours later, it was still smelly. Miraculously, my asthma did not flare up, but I woke up around 4:30 in the morning and my nose was really stuffy and felt swollen inside. So I got up, went to the bathroom to have a nose bath and took the laptop downstairs in the lobby and here I am writing this entry. I don’t know what to do tonight. There might be another empty dorm as some students are leaving today, it seems.

Using floor wax for maintenance and mainly to make the floor look “nice” is a very old practice. But it’s the most toxic thing. I thought this is not done anymore, but apparently Filipinos have not learned their lesson yet.

Today is Tanya’s graduation. The ceremony will be at 3:30 pm. We’re going to have a celebratory lunch at the Persian Palate Restaurant. We looked at their menu yesterday and they have several vegetarian dishes.

Wifi connection is not a problem here at the campus.

Day 31

Took a fast ferry to Dumaguete, Negros Island—PhP520/person, 2-hour ride. One passenger’s ticket was blown off into the water. Fortunately for him, a guard was right there to witness it, so hopefully he didn’t have any problem boarding. Some seemingly stupid events: Someone painted the ticket counter that morning. There was a sign “Wet Paint” but it didn’t have any arrow to indicate where the wet paint was and it was posted above most of the passengers’ eye level. I got paint on my hand. Some got paint on their clothes and purses. What kind of mind would think that painting a ticket counter during the busiest time of the day would work? I was so mad that I pulled the posters down and taped them lower and taped one on the counter itself. The painting was ruined already from too many accidents. Then it turned out that whoever was issuing the seat number was not keeping track of it. One guy approached me and said, “You’re sitting on my seat.” Turned out we have the same seat number. He was gentleman enough to realize I was issued the number first, therefore, his was a mistake. Hopefully he found an empty one.

Day 30

Visited the Tarsier sanctuary at kilometer 14 between Corella and Sikatuna. These are one of the smallest primates in the world, will fit in one’s hand. They are so cute with their enormous eyes. Met Carlito “Lito, Tarsier Man” Pizarro who has made it his life’s work to save the tarsiers which are an endangered species. He’s been working with the project since he was 12 years old. He’s now 52. They have a 1 hectare fenced area with a few mostly female individuals surrounded by a hundred hectare additional site with up to one thousand more tarsiers. We snapped shots of three individuals and chatted with Lito, who has been published in Readers Digest, a National Geographic film, and other publications on his efforts.

Coming out of the sanctuary to the main road, Ole spotted a pathway across the road. We followed it into a jungle of different kinds of trees, butterflies, bumblebees and we heard several animal calls. A couple hundred steps took us to a clearing which was probably a rice field at one time. Ole played with the mimosa plant growing abundantly on the ground. Mimosa is a plant which when touched folds its leaves. Afterwards we walked for about 2.5 km on to Sikatuna Poblacion and then returned to Tagbilaran by jeepney where we watched a couple first run films in the local cinema. This was to get out of the heat. Thank goodness for air conditioned shopping mall. Last night in Tagbilaran, Bohol.

Day 29

Up fairly early to go to white Alona Beach on neighboring Panglao Island via older style mini bus. Walked end to end of the gorgeous white sand beach and stopped at one beachfront eatery/bar for drinks where we sat for a couple hours mid-day just enjoying the ambiance. Maitri had a buko, a young coconut (milk) drink, and then ate the jelly-like lining. Ole had a beer, then we both had stir-fried veggies and rice for lunch. Then continued on with another mini jeepney to Panglao Poblacion, the main city on the island. However, we just passed through and continued back to Tagbilaran City. There, just walking around the market area near the center we came across lots of guayabanos. In fact, we were able to purchase four nice ripe ones and immediately consumed the two smallest when we returned to the inn. There we relaxed but it was not very comfortable as it was so hot. We stripped down and turned the fan on high and both had cold showers to cool down. It's definitely heating up here as the Filipino summer arrives. We'll have more relaxing beach time when we proceed to Palawan Island.

Day 28

Up early and out of the room by 6am to avoid the mid-day heat. Motorized tricycle to the bus terminal, then regular bus to Chocolate Hills, Carmen for lunch of mixed veggies (cabbage, squash, beans, eggplant), coconut milk and ginger, then on to Tubigon by aircon minivan, guayabano snack, then regular bus back to Tagbiliran City, Bohol’s capital. Marang fruit snack, Maitri’s first since Mindanao 1983. Passed by many huge nipa swamps. Ole did not put on sun screen and, despite the lack of direct sun, got very red. It was overcast virtually the entire day. Saw dozens of Caucasian tourists at the Hills. Did not have time to see the Philippines tarsier, the world’s smallest monkey – or so the locals claim – in nearby Loboc. Will check internet for image.

They are called Chocolate Hills because in summer when the grasses dry up, they turn brown making the hills look like giant mounds of chocolate. From the view point, we watched 4 carabaos (water buffalo) plow a field.

A quick word about costs. We did a rough calculation today and found we are spending a little less than $20/day for the two of us. It is easy since costs are quite low. For example, all kinds of baked goods start at $.02 per item. Transportation is also low cost: 2 hours ferries are $3. Bus rides cost about $1/hour. A 15 minute private motorized trike ride this morning was $.40. We typically spend $5-10/night for lodging. Lunch with rice and veggies is $1-2 for both of us. Mangoes and other fruits are about $1 per kilo (2.2 pounds). All kinds of bananas are 2-4 cents apiece. Internet is $.20-.40 per hour. Actually, our airfares to get here will cost considerably more than our daily expenses.

Day 27

All day travel from 5 am to 7 pm. Aircon minivan from Tacloban City, Leyte, then ferry From Bato, Leyte to Ubay, Bohol. Then regular bus to Tagbilaran City via Guindulman and Jagna. Checked into Traveler’s Inn on Main Street, TC. It’s so good to have a refreshing and cleansing shower, even though there’s no hot water. The tap water is not really cold.

In Bato, there were the, what we call, swimming beggars. These are little boys, probably 9 to 13 years of age. They come swimming right next to the ferry and urge the passengers to throw coins and they dive for them. After a while, their cheeks are bulging with coins as they keep their prize in their mouths.
We saw several small islands with white beaches.

Day 26

Circumnavigated the city, stopping at the botanical garden, tourist office, tried pomelo, napped and watched TV mid-day, then climbed the hill overlooking the city with the 12 stations of Christ and a large Christ statue. Dinner again of Kangkong at restaurant adjacent to Pension. Best way to beat the heat is to go out like 7 am, hole up in the air conditioned room from 11 am to 4 pm, go out again from 4 pm until dark.

Day 25

Day of rest as we both were exhausted. Watched TV and napped mid-day. Lunch at Dahil Sa Iyo. Dinner of sautéed Kangkong leaves and tomatoes with plain rice at restaurant adjacent to Pension.

Day 24

Woke up around 2 am because of the roosters crowing just outside the window. As far as I can see, the guy who lived adjacent to the inn has 4 roosters, three in a pen and the 4th tied to a post.

We've noted sleeping can be a challenge, especially for light sleepers, since there are often many noises at nights. If it's not the roosters, which usually wake up and start crowing about 3am, it could be barking dogs, squealing pigs, or the sometimes thunderous tropical crickets.

For room company, we had two lizards (one was a baby), a cockroach, and a big daddy longlegs. Took a jeepney to Calbayog. Many parts of the trip were along the coastline with views of other islands in the distance. Some parts were through mountains and hillsides of coconut trees. Many copras (coconut flesh) were laid out along the road for drying to be processed later for oil. The private gardens along the road were very pretty.

We caught an air-con bus around 11 am from Calbayog to Tacloban, Leyte. Samar and Leyte are connected by the pretty two-mile San Juanico Bridge. The ride was slow for the most part due to broken concrete pavement. One of the passengers lost his rooster due to dehydration. He placed it in the back of the bus and forgot to check it. It was a PHP1,500 cockfight breed. (1 Philippines Peso = $.02)

We arrived in Tacloban past 5 pm and through a passenger’s help, we found the Rosvenil Pensione. The room has two twin beds, an air con, tv and private bath (no hot water). We went out searching for food and found a restaurant serving vegetarian burrito served with rice, refried beans and salsa on the side. We had mango and pineapple fruit juice for drinks.

We found an internet café and the owner let us connect the laptop. Downloaded emails and sent some drafts. Cost was PhP10. Went back to hotel and watched tv.

Day 23

Left Legaspi early morning. Headed to Matnog via Sorsogon. Ferry took off 3:30 for an hour and a half trip to Allen in Samar. Met a guy from Amsterdam who brought his guitar along and entertained the locals by his singing. Stayed in Allen for the night at the Bicolana Inn. The innkeeper prepared a nice dinner for us.

Day 22

Today we climbed a nearby hill that overlooks the harbor and Mayon volcano. It was a lovely view. Afterwards we took a walk through what appeared to be a squatter’s settlement right by the beach. Many of the houses were built on stilts using local materials like bamboo and thatch roofs. There were some Mangrove trees in the area and many of the houses were perched over the sea water. Here we were finally able to find some more nice guayabanos (soursop) and star apples.

We plan to leave tomorrow for Samar and Leyte, mountainous islands directly south. We will be taking our first inter-island ferries on this leg of the journey and expect to be traveling through many coastal areas. We will probably pass nearby to the area featured in the news recently were torrential rains resulted in a landslide that killed hundreds.

Day 21

We arrived this morning in Legaspi, a 10 hour bus ride south of Manila, which was itself 15 hours in two buses south of Sagada, where we started yesterday morning at 5am. It's so much hotter here in the lowlands so we splurged for an air con hotel which is relatively luxurious at $19/day! We also want to get some snapshots of the hotel, volcano's cindercone, and other local sites.

We initially arrived in Daraga at 7:30 am and took a 10-minute jeepney ride to Legaspi. We stopped at the town plaza and ate some oranges and took our bearing. We checked 3 inns and hotels and finally found the Legaspi Tourist Inn. It is on the third floor, very nice lobby and an accessible roof top, but Mt Mayon is not visible as there is a tall building blocking its view. We checked in to the only available room and it is the deluxe one for PHP950 (less than $20) with tv, air con, and its own bathroom. After that exhausting 27-hour bus ride, we felt richly deserving of this luxurious lodging.

We took much needed showers and did some laundry and went out to find food as we only had snack type of food during the trip. We went to the public market and found several carenderias (eateries). After much search and explaining what vegetarian food is, we found RJ’s Carenderia which had “pinangat” made with “gabi” leaves with coconut and chili—very delicious. We went back to the hotel and had a good nap for a couple hours.

We bought the usual fruits. Guayabano was not widely available, only two stalls were selling them and were not really ripe yet. Ole was desperate for them and bought the only one that was ripe, but it was really overripe and for the most part did not taste good anymore.

We have been unable to find a public Wifi connection here so we will probably just go to an internet café and see if we could connect the laptop there. We took some photos of the volcano, looming large over the city. Back to the hotel, we had our fruits for dinner and just watched our first Filipino tv. It has 70 channels, including the usual US ones, a few Taiwanese, and half a dozen local news and programming.

Day 20

Woke up at 4 am and the bus to Baguio left promptly at 5 am. The fog was thick. We got to Baguio around 11:45 and walked to the bus terminal going to Manila. It took about half an hour and this reminded to really travel even more lightly. I carry a backpack with just my belongings and Ole had his stuff in his backpack and was carrying 2 laptops in another backpack which we usually use as a day pack. The fact that we had that 7-hour walk yesterday just added to our fatigue. And this is just a quarter of the way to Legaspi City in the Bicol region down south of Luzon Island.

The fog was still thick from Baguio to the foot of the mountains. It was also raining heavily with one section being repaired because of a landslide which happened several days or weeks ago. I did thank the driver for bringing us all down safely. We got to Manila around 7:30 pm. Luckily the bus terminal going to Legaspi was just across the street. The bus finally started moving around 9:30 pm for the 10 hour ride. They really packed the bus! It was a long, long day and a long, long night!

Day 19

Last day in Sagada. After breakfast of fruits we did internetting including skyping Krishna and obtaining the remaining web and email information we needed to plan the remainder of our Philippines trip.

Then we took a walk to Suyo, at the bottom of the Sagada area valley. We spent 7 hours walking down to Suyo and back up the other side of the valley, passing through villages named Ambakling, Balugan, and Pido, where we took several dozen photos of the beautiful rice terraces, many streams flowing together, butterflies, and bridges over the streams. It was a very long walk but very rewarding in its really unsurpassed views of the terraces and village life centered on them. We lunched at a SariSari store in Suyo where, Romana, the owner was gracious enough to let us dine on cooked rice in her kitchen. We had brought vegetarian lumpia (spring rolls) with us which were a perfect accompaniment to the native rice.

Ambakling has many banana plants and the ground is covered with kamote plants (sweet potato). The villagers eat what they can and feed most of the leaves to the pigs. Pigs are big business for the families with each pig bringing about PHP8,000 or maybe more. Each family has about 2 to 4 pigs kept in pens.
Gone are the thatched roofs which Ole saw 23 years ago. The houses all over the mountains now are made of concrete cinder blocks and corrugated metal roofs. Plain metal sheets are becoming popular, too, used as walls. In the lowlands there are still remaining nipa huts standing.

Some old women still wear traditional clothes. The fabric is woven locally. Because of the cool climate, nobody wears skirt. In Sagada and surrounding villages, the children are free to roam. We met a bunch of them in Suyo swimming in the river. They saw us and quickly joined us taking fun watching Ole taking pictures and were especially tickled pink when he took a shot of them and showed them their faces on the camera’s viewfinder. They were fearless as they ran back and forth on the bridge and swung on the railing of the bridge with a drop of 50 feet! And there I was having butterflies just crossing the 2 feet metal bridge.

Day 18

Laundry day! Then we went to get emails and to check on several websites for our planned trip to Palawan. There seem to be only one wifi connection here in Sagada and the connection is best at the foot of the steps going to St. Joseph Guest House.
We had fried rice with veggies for lunch. Breakfast was all fruits. After nap, we went for a long, long walk to the nearby village, Barrio Sagada, still part of Sagada, but has its own local government. Ole thinks this is where he stayed for a week when he came here in 1982.

Dinner is pan de sal and papaya for Maitri and a liter of beer for Ole.

12:15 still up. Ole fast asleep. Heard outside approaching loud voice or voices which escalated and then running footsteps while shouting. Sounded like drunks. Based on cases and cases of beer found in stores, there’s a lot of drinking going on in this otherwise peaceful little village. The commotion caused the dogs to bark loudly.
There’s so many dogs around, maybe several hundreds. Last Wednesday on the way to Bontoc, the jeepney we were in hit a dog and no one seemed perturbed, except me (Ole was riding on the top). I couldn’t really understand the local dialect, but I caught the comment of turning the dog into “pulutan”, any meat eaten while drinking alcoholic beverage. And the guy who said that was laughing. There’s a restaurant here that serves dog meat. We also saw pigs on their way to be slaughtered and chickens torched (!) to burn the feathers. I remember the old way was to dip the dead chicken in a bath of boiling water to soften the feathers. Ugh! A kilo of meat is PHP130.

Day 17

The last few days we have been visiting the local area here in the Mountain Province.

First we journeyed to Bontoc, the capital, in a jeepney. Ole was able to ride on the rooftop which affords the best views of the dramatic landscape of heavily forested higher slopes and meticulously tended rice terraces at lower elevations. In Bontoc we met Dr Penelope Domogo, a local physician who works in local health promotion efforts. We had a long conversation with her about traditional diets and lifestyles. Apparently, many locals are now succumbing to Western-style chronic diseases, like hypertension, diabetes, and coronary heart disease brought about by the radical change in eating habits. The traditional mountain diet had no refined carbohydrates or oils, for example, but nowadays refined fats, sugar, and carbohydrates have become the norm. She herself suffered from hypertension and was taking two medications. This lead her to examine lifestyle changes that could reverse her problems. She adopted a near-vegan diet and was able to get off her medications. This inspired her to open the Chico Restaurant where native and vegetarian foods are available. Every Wednesday the restaurant offers an all-you-can eat vegetarian buffet of traditional foods.
The following day we stayed in Sagada where we visited the local Anglican cathedral, St. Mary’s High School, Echo Valley with its steep limestone formations, Sagada weaving shop, Bokong Waterfall and our first rice terraces.

Yesterday we journeyed to a nearby village of Banga-an, about a 20-minute ride by jeepney. Ole again sat on top of the jeepney. We walked more than 1,000 steps down to a neighboring village, Filidisan, to see a well known waterfall. As this path is the main one, the villagers have installed a concrete stairway all the way to the village, a distance of at least half a kilometer. So long is the walk that they have constructed several shelters along the way. We met in one shelter a man carrying a 50-kilo sack of rice on his back! Here is where we photographed some of the nicest views of the rice terraces, where almost the entire mountainside has been transformed into lush rice paddies. We were told the village was on a holiday and that we could not go into the village as it would bring bad luck to them. The woman said that the elders of the village sacrificing a pig under the big pine tree. Later, we found out through some villagers we met that it is a 5-day holiday to celebrate the end of the rice planting season. The killing of the pig is to bring a good harvest. So we were unable to see up close the Bomod-ok Waterfall, although it is visible (and audible) from the top also.

Today is market day in Sagada and the plaza outside our guest house is covered with vendors selling local produce as well as imported goods. Normally there are only a dozen or so vendors. Today there must be a hundred. From the photo you can see Alfredo's Inn where we are staying. The market actually continues down the street several hundred meters with more stalls.

12:16 pm
Many vendors are packing up now. The crowd was heavy between 7 to 11 am. There are bus loads of tourist pouring into town today. Many probably are coming here for the day only. Alfredo’s Inn is fully booked for lunch.

We spent around PhP300 on fruits (papayas, mangoes, red bananas), some pastries (steamed grated arrowroot with fresh shredded coconut), and a very delicious lightly fried veggies (carrots, beans, pechay or bokchoy) and aromatic red rice. We also had one tsisa—-a pasty bright yellow fruit.

After that feast, it’s time for siesta. We’re taking the day easy today, maybe just walk around town. The last 2 days have been exhausting because of a lot of sun on our backs as we trekked in the villages. We also spent quite a bit of internet time trying to find out our options going to Puerto Princesa in Palawan.

Tonight, we went to a vegetarian buffet at the Log Cabin Restaurant prepared by Chef _____. He sounded French. For vegetarians there were rice, baked tomatoes and zucchini, soup (possibly with potatoes), baked sliced potatoes (unfortunately with cheese), local greens salad, sourdough bread, and lemon cake (unfortunately with eggs) with chocolate topping and strawberry sauce. It was an all-you-can-eat for PHP150 per person.

Day 16

Took a jeepney to Banga-an, about a 20-minute ride. Ole sat on top of the jeepney. Walked more than 1,000 steps down to a neighboring village, Fili______. As this path is the main one, the villagers have installed a concrete stairway with a shelter half-way down. We met in the shelter a man carrying a 50-kilo sack of rice on his back!

We were told the village is on a holiday and that we cannot go in to the village as it will bring bad luck to them. The woman said that the elders of the village are going to kill a pig under the big pine tree. Later, we found out through some villagers we met that it is a 5-day holiday to celebrate the end of the rice planting season. The killing of the pig is to bring a good harvest. So we were unable to see up close the Bomod-ok Waterfall, although it is visible from high up also.

Day 15

Visited the cathedral, St. Mary’s High School, Echo Valley, Sagada weaving shop, Bokong Waterfall and our first rice terraces.

Day 14

We're here at Sagada, our second destination in the Philippines. Although Sagada is only about 146 km away, it was a 6-hour trip from Baguio through the Philippine's highest mountains with beautiful vistas of rice terraces, little villages and through a very, very windy road, halfway paved and halfway gravel. We passed through the highest point in the country, 7,400 ft and also the coldest point where it can get down to freezing level. The only way I made it was to close my eyes most of the time as I was getting sick.

In one of the stops, we bought two kinds of rice cakes for lunch. One kind was called 'puto', steamed rice flour with delicious freshly grated coconut. The other was gelatinous rice flour mixed with brown sugar and topped with boiled syrupy shredded coconut. Very custardy, closest thing to jello.

We arrived in Sagada around 2 pm and quickly found a place to stay called Alfredo's Inn and Cafe. It is situated right in the town plaza where there are vegetable, fruits and baked goods stalls. There are many children running around and many dogs as well which play and bark all the time. After checking in, we strolled through this sleepy, laid-back village and to Ole's delight and total surprise found a wireless connection.

We had an early dinner (3 pm) of fried rice with vegetables and 'chopsuey', a mixture of stir-fried vegetables with cornstarch sauce. For desert we bought mangos, oranges, bananas and cinnamon rolls. I was hoping to shed some more pounds but it doesn't seem to be happening with all these goodies available. But for sure our legs are getting stronger from all these walking. We probably spend 5 to 7 hours of walking everyday, and these are hilly places.

Today, we're going to Bontoc, half-an-hour ride to attend a vegetarian buffet. It should be fun.

Later...

We had a 65 peso per person, all-you-can eat vegetarian buffet. This was at the Chico Restaurant, owned by Dr Penelope Domogo, whom we met. We had a long conversation with her about vegetarian and traditional diets. Apparently, many locals are now succumbing to Western-style chronic diseases, like hypertension, diabetes, and coronary heart disease brought about by the radical change in eating habits. The traditional mountain diet had no refined carbohydrates or oils, for example, but nowadays refined fats, sugar, and carbohydrates have become the norm.

Day 13

Left Baguio for Sagada at 8 am after breakfast of 2 cups rice, 4 toast and 2 teaspoons of jam ;-) courtesy of the hotel. We added our own fruits.

Day 12

We spent the day looking for alternate lodging and decided to stay at Benguet Pine Tourist Inn as this is our last night in Baguio. Next time we come, we will stay at Starwood Hotel as it is very clean and dorm bed is only PhP 250. Ole carried Shant’s laptop all day and finally got connected with Shant in the evening. We went to Katrin’s place and got her to authograph her book “Kapwa” which we will give to Rebecca when we get to Bacolod.

Today we simply enjoyed strolling and people watching around Baguio City and more gorging on tropical fruits. The photo shows pineapple, mango, guayabano, fragrant bananas, papaya, and the round green one is star apple. That made up our desert after a lunch of noodles and veggies.

Right across from the hotel is Baguio City's orchidarium and it is a nice collection of both orchids and other pretty flowers and greenery, including many familiar varieties like roses, hydrangeas, amaryllis, fuschias, and cacti.

We had hoped to take advantage of the full body massages offered by the local association of blind masseurs today. They spend 90 minutes and it costs $4. Unfortunately, we just did not have time due to the preparing for tomorrow's trip to Sagada. These massages are, however, offered all over the country so we hope to do one later.

RE: Filipino transportation via jeepney (see photo): Jeepneys are locally made privately owned jeeps with a long passenger area in the rear where passengers face each other during transport. It is the quintessential filipino transport mode and we are continually using them. They will stop just about anywhere for discharge or pick up. Usually they are brightly painted and decorated with ornaments and have popular music blaring continuously.

Day 11

It seems like we've been gone forever, but it's only day 10 of this fantastic journey. We are now lodged at the Benguet Pine Tourist Inn which is right in front of the Burnham Park, the center of Baguio city. It's clean and quiet. It includes breakfast but we're expecting virtually nothing for us vegans because they reportedly serve eggs, ham, sausage and rice only. No veggies or fruits. Before deciding on this place, we had fun checking all kinds of cheap lodgings and came upon some really seedy places, including several where patrons pay by the hour.

Our previous lodging here in Baguio was the loft of the 5th floor of a building called Vocas. The owners have a son who is an artist and you can see in one of the pictures how artful he is. We stayed here free as Shant knows the owner, but we couldn't stay the whole time. We set up a tent in a small space above a restaurant. This place had the balcony overlooking the city center.

Baguio is pretty much the same as any big city here in the Philippines -- crowded. But it is very pleasant as it is pretty high up in the mountains. Ole has been gorging on guayabano (also known as sour sop, a tart fruit like a cross between peaches, guavas and strawberries which cost 15 cents a pound) and pineapple segments, which are 10 cents each. I've been really enjoying papayas, the many different kinds of bananas, chicos and local pastries mainly made of sticky rice, coconut, brown sugar and sesame seeds and rice cakes. Our lunch or dinner would mostly be rice and very lightly stir-fried greens, such as sayote or water cress. We sometimes bring fruits for dessert and the carinderia's (food stall) management does not mind. People here are very accommodating.

Ole has been spending time with Shant teaching him how to use a laptop which we brought for him. Shant is learning fast and they have covered quite a bit including how to do email, browse websites, download programs, etc. We installed open source programs for email, sound recording and editing (Shant is a musician), and chess, Shant's hobby.

We probably will stay in Baguio one more day and then move on deeper into the interior, where the native tribes live. We hope to see some rice terraces and experience village life. I am looking forward to visiting a weaving shop. In the guide book, it says that one can watch the women weave table cloths and napkins, jackets, purses, etc.

Day 10

Met Katrin de Guia, visited Baguio's largest park with her and her family dog, and then her Tuding house under construction, spent the night at Vocas.

Day 9

Today we just spent at Vocas catching up with Shant, who we are seeing now for the first time in many years.

Day 8

We arrived yesterday afternoon in Manila after a one and a half hour flight from Hong Kong. It was really hot after the cold, rainy days we spent in HK. We both shed multiple layers of clothing that we needed there, and were still sweating! I had to put my head band on to catch the sweat.

We immediately proceeded to the bus station and caught a 7 hour ride to Baguio, a small city in the mountains. We met Shant, Maitri's brother, who is a musician and artist there. Here in Baguio, due to the higher elevation, it is quite pleasant. He is working with a group who owns a tall building right in the heart of the city overlooking an amazing view. We stayed in the top floor in a commodious tent in a spare area. However, since we were sleeping on the floor, it was not as comfortable as we would have liked. Today we will get a mattress to make it more comfortable.

We are now just about ready to go visit Shant's friends and have a shower at their place which is nearby.

We have been really fortunate with internet connections on this trip. Hong Kong, which is so high tech and connected, did not surprise us. There we had broadband in the park and on the balcony of all three hotels we stayed at. Here I was not expecting such luck. However, our balcony here overlooks an even more favorable area and our WiFi speed is relatively fast.

We plan to stay here several days before going deeper into the Mountain Province where entire valleys have been terraced with rice paddies, what some have called one of the wonders of the world. Then we will head back to the lowlands and go to the middle of the country to the Visayas to see Maitri's family. Philippines has 7000+ islands so we will be spending a lot of time near the sea and on beaches. With the many mountains, volcanoes, beaches, and warm tropical weather, we hope to have a pleasant and interesting holiday here. The only thing that's a struggle for Maitri is the heavy pollution -- car and cigarettes. As she stepped out of the bus last night, she quickly got a full-blown hay fever. Baguio is having a flower festival and there were festivities on the street with loud music and street vendors.

We will be returning home via San Francisco on April 11 where we have booked a few days in the Green Tortoise hostel downtown. We will be back in Portland on 4/16. I have to be back to work in Portland April 20.

Day 7

Today we finally bought our tickets to the Philippines.

Today is free admission to museums: Art Museum, Science Museum, Historical Museum, and Space Museum.