EdVallance's Guestbook

Better than any book
Ed, I was kind of regretting at first time when I arrived to Australia that I have only one book that I brought with me from Moscow. I thought I couldn't find anything interesting to read. Now I really think that I spent my day for nothing if don't read one of your posts. It's much much better than any novel! You definitely has the talent! Write! Please, don't stop. I'm more than sure that all who read your stories want now to visit all that places that you described. It's so amasing to know that some of your friend has such an extraordinary and inspiring experience. Thank you for that!

Why have you replaces all village names with X, Y and Z? You don't want another curious travelers to bother that peaceful place and that kind people who live here? Do you? When I was reading your post I felt exactly the same feeling with that when I first time was reading The Lost World written by Conan Doyle. Thanks for that.

Ed, you mentioned the priest who was traveling from one village to other during that time that you were here. Does it mean that Western countries still send missionaries? Or he acts on behalf of some local Church that is nearby that place?

Amazing!
A fantastic blog and what a fascinating experience! Well done ofr giving it a go, very brave I think!

That was brave to try it. Although i should say it's a bit unsafe. Such things have been the topic of several tv documentaries here in the philippines and no one could prove that it's true...i myself is too skeptic regarding such things. But faith, I believe, actually can do mircles...

http://www.winnickfoundation.com/
Nice sharing. And you have really good memory.

NPAs and Mining
Back in my hometown, there's lots of talks about NPAs but I haven't seen one, or wasn't aware that I was already seeing one. It's true, you'll really never know which one is which but I'm sure there's lots of them back home. This also reminded me of a Mining site we visited back in high school. It had cost alot of troubles in the community, and people had been killed because of that Mining operation. I hope I'll get to visit there again so I can write about it ... or help a bit ...

New People's Army (NPA)
I am deeply moved by your interest in our culture and injustices done to the native people of the Philippines. Since you're curious about the NPAs, I would like to share with you a personal story. My very own grandfather who used to be a barrio captain was killed by the NPAs when I was just a baby. My uncle's father in-law who was a barrio captain as well back in the 80's also shared the faith as my grandpa. Any government officials who doesn't bend to their rules and wishes gets killed. The NPAs were very active in the province where I grew up. I even attended funerals of my schoolmate's brothers who got killed by the military because they were NPA supporters. I still remember the sheer horor living through a couple of nights of an all out gun battle between the NPA and military. I clearly remember lying flat on the floor with my hands covering my ears. Our neighbours who lived in flimsy nipa huts took shelter in our home because it's made out of bricks and concrete. I'm very surprised that the NPA are still active to this day because when the corrupt government ruled by a dictator Ferdinand Marcos was overthrown back in the 80's, the new reigning president Corazon Aquino gave the NPAs amnesty and urged them to come down from the mountains and go back to their normal life.

quite educational ...
hope to go someday...

Still waiting...........
Ed, we are still waiting for your photos!

great!!
I really love touring around, and Mindoro was a wonderful place. Thanks for the information :)

Interesting information....
and well written too. Thank you for posting it here. I would think that your written narrative would be of interest to some travel editors out there. Travel by ferry boat by visitors in that region should receive the proper attention and circulation, as a informational alert to other travelers. Thank You for taking the time to submit your interesting and well written narrative.