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Published: September 9th 2008
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Barlig, Rice Terraces
After the mountain climb, what a rewarding view to return to. Soooooooooooo yup. When writing a blog on a monthly (or more) basis, it becomes pretty difficult to edit the stories down to a manageable load, but here goes...
After a very reluctant goodbye to both Siargao and my Agnes (yes she's mine now) I ventured off again alone to explore the most amazing country I have visited yet (which can't be hard seeing as its only country no.3!). I had heard about the mountains and rice terraces up North and decided that a cool contrast to the heat would be a welcome break. Turns out that Sagada wasnt just cool, it was bloody freezing! In true Lizzie style, as I arrived, a Typhoon signal no.2 was making its way through the little mountain town. SO, I spent a pretty uncomfortable night or two struggling to sleep because my feet and nose were like blocks of ice (kinda reminded me of my old room in the sticks when we only had two fires to warm the whole house!). However, this did not taint in any way my experience of Sagada. It is truly gorgeous. I spent around 4-5 days there caving (or shperlunking as Gerard taught me), mountain climbing and just
generally rambling about...the caving was the craziest experience, 4 hours going underground from one cave to the other having to tactifully climb down (and up!) 20ft vertical drops. Lets just say I was verging on the familiar panic attack, but I pulled through (much to my surprise). I have pics of Sagada but they are on a memory card I cant access right now, will add them when I solve that problem. In Sagada I met a couple, Filipina (Marnie) and Malay fella (Ming). We ended up travelling to Barlig and Banaue together and doing all sorts of treks and (roof of) jeepney rides :-) I left them in Banaue when I was off back to the dreaded Manila to continue the ole solo travels. Barlig is a less travelled town and the lack of development and tourist resources shows, however, it was so lovely and untainted by western traveller influences (like those provided by individuals like me) that I felt I had a true Filipino experience there. I also (almost) climbed my first mountain (Mount Ampacao) - its over 9000 feet up and with only about one hour to go to reach the summit I had to stop. This
The folks I met up North
Yeah the girl with the red hair is the Sarah lookie-likey - for those of you who know her, see what am sayin?! was mainly cause the guide told me it was one hour of vertical climbing and I figured I hadnt had a panic attack in a while so I was due one!). Maybe I will complete next time but I felt it was such an achievement anyway, my legs were dead for about two days after!
Banaue is famed for its beautiful rice terraces and this reputation is completely founded, we stayed in a nearby town called Batad which involved a one and half hour trek from the junction jeepney drop-off point to the town which has the most amazing rice terraces I have seen yet. We spent a couple of nights there and trekked around the terraces and to the lovely waterfall where I took my first cold and fresh water swim since Ag and I were in Laos. Whilst in Batad I met a group of 3 Israelis who I almost went with to dive in Puerto Galera but didnt want to fuss with changing flights. I cant believe how much the girl looks like my best bud Sarah, and she is Scottish!! Israeli....Scottish, I was kinda blown away by the likeness. Anyway, will try to do a
lookie likey test on facebook and you guys can decide. She certainly chatters away just as much, mheh heh.
So I travelled back from Manila, after catching up with my Siargao matey Rhi for one night, down to Busuanga Island in Palawan and from there I did my open water Padi dive course. My Instructor, Arnie was a wicked guy who made me feel super safe. He told me on my second day its like I was always meant to be in the water and I should pursue an advanced diving course or maybe even Dive Master! On day one my first dive was a skeleton wreck, and I saw little nemo's! Whilst in Coron I met two girls from Scotland, Edinburgh to be precise (although one hails from Peebles originally). I cant even tell you how nice it was to spend time speaking 'Scottish' with them. I could stay stuff like 'mingin, ye ken, nae chat, a just come here for the banter' etc etc and I was being understood....it was a wee slice a heaven a tell ye. They left for ElNido on my second day of diving but then I caught them up on what should
have been called Lizzie's private boat cause I had it all to myself! It was a new service running on a Thursday and so I was apparently the only one who knew about it! 6 hours later I arrive in the great wee town of El Nido, the jump-off point to seeing various islands in the Bacuit Archipelago. This place reminded me of Thailand - the islands I went around with Dan and co. I reckon it was a bit Ko Tao with bars and guesthouses lining the beach and lots of tables and chairs set up on the beach in the evening. I caught up with the Scotties and we got drunk, for the first time in almost a month!! Ricsons was the place to be, live music and good company. Of course I grabbed the guitar as soon as I could, having withdrawals I was! So we jammed and it was loads of fun. There was this rather gay/camp dude called toto who played the drum amazingly, he taught me some techniques. He also sounded strangely like Stevie Wonder...
Island hopping in the Bacuit was awesome. I saw three sea turtles (one was missing a fin) just
swimmin about! Also, after lunch I went snorkelling on my own and swam past this crevice in the rock. I looked into the darkness and saw a MASSIVE fish, like the size of a small reef shark but with a huge heed. It was kinda green with black stripes, bulging eyes and looked like it had the potential to blow up huge like a puffer fish. Upon this realisation I figured there could be chance that it was venomous and hot-finned it outta there...it was cool but kinda freaky. The coral there was insanely colourful and the sheer abundance of tropical fish were a feast for the eyeballs. I wanted to stay in the water all day, glad I didnt cause I burned my ass to a crisp anyway...
I tried lobster for the first time also, its good. Im telling you. Its really good.
Anyway, so we got a bus to Puerto Princesa, Palawan yesterday and I spent my last night with the Scotties. Ive noticed that there is always a reason to get drunk, and its usually my last night with someone, or last night in a cool place, or some kind of celebration of an
Coron Pier
also known as the wild west... achievement i.e. learning to dive, caving, (almost) climbing a mountain, getting out of bed in the morning, breathing, eating - you see where Im going with this? Yup, always an excuse to drink :-)
Today I booked a last minute flight to Cebu and had a weirdly smooth transition from the airport (on the public jeepney no less) to the northern bus station and onto Maya, the North of Cebu where I currentle reside until I catch a boat to Malapascua Island tomorrow. The reason I have come here is diving and thresher sharks. Apparently its very rare to see these creatures but not off Malapascua Island, they are totally harmless and have huge long tails. Its gonna be wicked. Im staying at the Abba family Inn this evening and the grandaughter, Joanna, seems to deal with all guests. I think she is around 12/13 years old. She is entering a singing contest here in Maya in the next week or so and she has been practising a lot. She sang me a couple of songs, very pretty voice.
Now Im spent, wish me luck with the shark diving. Next blog installment hopefully sooner then usual xx
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Marc
non-member comment
Will you ever leave?
Might be hard since there are 7100 islands you can head to... Great blog, by the way.