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Published: December 16th 2007
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local lady
these headresses are all the rage in Banaue Originally my next stop was the far North of the Philippines, to visit the former headhunter tribes of the Kaylinga province. But after speaking with several locals, I changed my mind. I had heard this area was a true wilderness, a remote mountain region which is rarely visited by tourists. A place where the tribes still live by traditional means, and you would see livestock running around everywhere and women wearing bones in their hair. But the first person I asked about the area said to me "don't go there". I enquired why, and he just shook his head and said again "just don't go there". He would not speak further on the matter. I spoke to several more local people. Some said that the tribes were friendly people, and I would not have a problem. Other people said that fights sometimes break out between tribes, and it is not something a foreigner should get caught up in. One person said that several villages are currently engaged in a tribal war. Part of me still wanted to visit, but the other part of me wasn't too keen on a spear in the guts.
The closest I got was a musuem
blowout!
on the way to Banaue, the rear tyre on the bus blew out in Bontoc devoted to the history of the tribes. They were originally headhunters, and when they took an opponents head, they would boil the head for hours and hours until the flesh fell away and only bone remained. The jawbone would then be made into the handle of a victory gong, which would be beaten. There was one photo in the museum which chilled me to the bone. It was a black and white photo of an elderly man holding up the severed head of an enemy. The mouth was hanging open as if the man's last expression was one of suprise, and the dead eyes were looking straight at you. Apparently a man was not allowed to marry until he had taken a head. Single men would be teased about this by the women of the tribe. Nowadays the practice of headhunting has mostly ceased. Livestock is taken from the victim instead of his head, as a peace and victory offering. Sounds like a better deal to me. I'd rather someone took my favourite pig than my only head!
So my next stop was the somewhat safer town of Banaue. My imaginary girlfriend was with me once again,
cosy transport
Kevin and I could only just squeeze into the sidecar to help guard against local men trying to fix me up with Filipino women. One thing I noticed in the town was a firearms shop, blatantly advertising the sale of rifles, revolvers and shotguns. I doubt a permit is required to buy these. Outside the town bank was a sign politely requesting people to leave their firearms with the security guard. And outside a bar was a sign saying "Deadly Weapons not allowed inside". But the town felt perfectly safe.
I met an Irish guy called Kevin, and we hooked up for a day of sightseeing. We acquired the services of two resourceful teenagers called Jordan and Mark, who were our guides for the day. Our transport was a tricycle which Jordan had borrowed from a friend. The tricycle, alongside the Jeepney, is a common form of transport in the Philippines. It is basically a motorbike with a sidecar that can hold two people at a tight squeeze. This particular motorbike was only a 125cc, yet it carried Jordan and Mark, as well as the sidecar containing myself and Kevin.
The main attraction of Banaue is the magnificent rice terraces which surround it. I have seen rice terraces
the Eighth Wonder of the World
the magnificent rice terraces of Banaue in other countries, but none compare to these. They were constructed over 2,000 years ago and have been called the "Eighth Wonder of the World". Jordan drove us to the best viewpoints for taking photos and admiring the landscape. Then we headed deep into the countryside to visit some hot springs. Our route took us up and down hills, on mud roads and over rocky paths. The engine was straining on some of the steeper hills, and we had to stop a few times to let the engine cool down. We also had to get out and push when the bike got stuck in the mud. Some of the roads were in a terrible state, and the recent typhoon rains didn't help. We saw a large truck stuck firmly in some mud, and it finally escaped with the help of a JCB digger which lifted up it's rear end.
Our final destination that day was the hot spring. Jordan dropped us nearby, told us it was an hours walk. Kevin and I set off, but five minutes later we realised we didn't have directions! The sensible thing would be to head back and ask for directions. But this is
asking for directions
This is a very rare occasion for a man. A local lady showed us the way across the maze of rice terraces something that men are unable to do. It's in our genes that we cannot ask for directions. Not to begin with anyway. The usual process goes like this
1. Insist that we know the way
2. Get lost
3. Try and redeem ourselves by claiming that we really DO know the way
4. Get even more lost
5. Optionally repeat steps 3 and 4
6. Finally, and grudgingly, ask for directions
But in this case, Kevin and I knew we didn't know the way. But we still couldn't bring ourselves to ask for directions. We decided to wing it. Everytime we came to a fork in the path, we flipped a coin. Heads we go left, tails right. A few coin flips later we found ourselves in a small village with the locals looking at us curiously and asking in a bemused tone "where are you going?" We said the hot springs, and they said we were miles off! Luckily one of the ladies offered to show us, and she walked with us for about 15 minutes until we got on the right path. It was a spectacular walk across the rice terraces, doing a balancing act along
muddy roads
a jeepney struggles over the muddy road conditions the stone walls at the ends. We were rewarded with a gorgeous, steaming hot spring to soak in!
Planning my onward travel from Banaue was difficult, due to several typhoons. A typhoon is basically a tropical cyclone which produces thunderstorms, extremely powerful winds and torrential rain. The Philippines experiences many typhoons each year. A typhoon swept through the area while I was here, and caused a landslide which blocked the main road to the North. But this was only a minor typhoon, so damage and casualties were minimal. The area I was visiting next, Bicol, had been plagued by a very naughty and destructive typhoon called "Typhoon Mina." Many of the roads in that region were flooded and closed. As Mina gathered strength and headed towards Bicol, the government evacuated 236,000 people from areas at risk from flooding and landslides. At it's peak, Typhoon Mina was capable of sustained winds of 160 kph and covered a 600km radius . That's what I call a bad-ass piece of weather. In the end, I headed back to Manila, to regroup, rethink, and plan a new onward travel strategy.
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tim innit
non-member comment
:-)
Keep it up mister! Absolutely loving yr blog and looking forward to the tales "in person"