New Editions

To keep in theme with the blog, a book pun is always welcome start.  After going into hospital on a Tuesday, we got to see our Amelia Cyrene three days later when she finally arrived via C-section on a Friday at 4.22am and weighing 7 lb 14 oz, in old money.   It was a long ordeal but we got there in the end and have been well supported by friends family and all the workers, midwives and phalanx of other helpers from the NHS.

Before we went to the hospital we just has to time to find out which of those two Michelin star chefs had made the most accurate Kit Kat on that TV show, and then it all went a bit mad.  There was inducing, sleeping through contractions, a Tikka Masala, random bleeping alarms, and finally with baby refusing to come out, some surgery, just to make sure that our stay in hospital didn’t get too uneventful.

Having been surprised with the speed with which baby was extracted, I had the ordeal of walking around Crissy’s still being operated on body to get my hands on little Amelia.  I admired the painted walls intensely so I wouldn’t see anything to make me pass out. I had in mind a vision of the surgeon with Crissy’s intestines slung over his shoulder as he worked to pop everything back in.  In my peripheral vision I did see the surgical team hurriedly moving things like instrument tables out of my way as I keep my eyes firmly on the lovely white paint and blundered about.

Its been a hectic week.  We are still extremely dishevelled (the photo below is pretty much how we look now, minus Crissy’s sexy hospital gown) but elated to be well into day six, with our hungry, bundle of joy.  Amelia has already been enjoying the cool breezes and the sun, as well as discussing when she is allowed a boyfriend and in which order she will be accomplishing her career goals, which are: model, astronaut, ninja, spy, and pilot.

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An Anniversary, a Birthday, and a Huge Surprise!

Recently Crissy and I celebrated our first wedding anniversary, and before I made my way to Manila on the afternoon of the 28th Jan, a bunch of 99 red roses were duly delivered to the Philippine Airlines offices, to make a statement.

Travelling to Manila is always an ordeal, standing for an indeterminate amount of time under the beating midday sun, with little to no shade.  This time made more interesting by the two pickpockets, who assumed that I had no idea what they were doing.  I had to suppress a snigger every time they checked a box off of my mental checklist of Robber Form; shuffle surreptitiously near target, separate, distract, engage in conversation to show no threat, etc.

Leaving these two inept thieves behind, I got on a van which took the scenic route to Mall of Asia.  The highlight of the journey being when the driver attempted to thread our van through the eye of a needle, that being a concrete wall and speeding articulated lorry, it was pretty fun actually!

Its been a great year, reflecting on the adventures as I made my way around MOA, I thought of the build up to the ceremony a year to the day, then the wedding itself and the people who attended. The adventures had since.  I also had time to read a bit of book as well.

Heading to posh casino Solaire (chosen partly because it has a free bus to and from Mall of Asia, we are by nature frugal people) later that day, we get to our buffet restaurant early and took advantage of the photo ops whilst it was quiet.

Villages of West Africa – Steven & Cathi House

Art and especially architecture are often seen as the exclusive realm of formally trained experts. Award-winning architects Steven and Cathi House explore the other side of that reality in a part of the world that has been at the crossroads of history for thousands of years. With more than 500 photographs and insightful commentary, they reveal the remarkable beauty of the people, land, villages, textiles, and vernacular architecture across seven countries of West Africa, situated between the Sahara Desert and Atlantic Ocean. The book celebrates the artisanship of tribal people who use building methods that are both practical and ingenious and that respond not just to local climate, materials, and topography, but also to the needs of the inhabitants with poetic insight, creating environments that are stimulating and sustainable. With their clarity, function, and beauty, these villages are living models of what community life can be.

The authors of this book are architects who travel to remote villages for inspiration and personal growth.  Their wanderings chronicled here, have taken them through a number of West African countries including Mali, Burkina Faso, and Togo.

Approaching such coffee table books as these, you expect them to be heavy on lavish photos and this book does not disappoint.  The photos have a divided emphasis on both architecture and the local peoples.  Although there is some inevitable crossover with European culture – such as Coca-Cola decorated building or graffiti for favourite football teams like Olympique Marseille – there is a lot more emphasis on the countries of today and their lives, rather than focus on the remnants of colonialism.

A Walk in the Park Day 3

Now this is a bridge!  Wandering across it had me in mind of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, the difference being that instead of a man trying to pull my heart out of my chest, it was firmly in my mouth.  Especially in the middle, where despite there only being a gentle breeze it was pretty swaysome.

Before we could get there though, we had to begin our day.  By the time we got going, the heat was already unforgiving and was only offset slightly by the now, de rigueur beauty.  After gifting snacks to the local children and the usual group photo, we took to heading down hill at a sideways jog, as it was easier than walking believe it or not.  Forty minutes of this and my already jelly legs from day two were feeling the pain and wobbliness once again.

Heading down into the above valley to the bridge was tiring, and at this point I was looking forward to ascending because I can ‘do’ climbing. The bridge itself, although not too high was another one of those wired together, trip hazards, though it does give the traveller a sense of adventure.  The openness of the mountain beyond was a good reason to slap on more sun cream and led me to ask the question, if the packaging says only apply four times a day, can I overdose on it?

Ryan Tejado

I was walking normally again by this point, which was handy as there were some demanding, long and steep sections of climbing (both track and path) that snaked around corners and took a good five minutes or more to climb.  A brief stop by a pool to let some kind fish eat the dead skin off our feet was reviving.  There followed a discussion about how much this service would cost in various countries, as we hoped nobody would call us to march again.

A Walk in the Park Day 2

Day two started with a nosebleed, not for me but everyone else, which is what Filipinos joke about when they speak too much English, reminding me to up my game with the language learning.  Staggering out of the tent into the pleasantly cool morning air, it was hard to reconcile it with last night’s fog.  This morning was composed of a beautiful blue sky and as ever, accompanied by lovely views.  We were all glad it hadn’t stay foggy until we left.  Before leaving we met the Barangay Captain who came to see that all was well with us.  This position as well as I understand it, is pretty much the leader of the area in charge of getting things done and liaising with local government.  The Barangay is the smallest administrative area so I suppose village leader would be an accurate, if inelegant way of putting it.

Thanks as ever to each of the photographers who contributed. Ryan Tejado

Gazing at the landscape it is hard not to be overawed by the raw power of the earth, geologically in evidence all around. It is terrifying to contemplate the raw forces that could carve out such gashes in the Earth, the power of glaciers, volcanoes and other such forces really are harrowing in the contemplation.

And so to the travel, the morning was lovely, hot, a few too many mosquitoes but there was a gorgeous pool to sit in after a pleasant, unhurried walk.  The refreshingly cool water collecting in a natural bath tube encouraged us to all to strip down and cleanse ourselves.  After such an unexpected surprise, we refilled at the last water source for a while and made our way to yet another bridge this one a lot higher but thanks to photo opportunities, everyone went across one at a time.

Amir Deomel Rogayan

It was then that the struggle s started. It was up, up, and more up from the rice terraces, coming to a gradient that just went up and on for such a time. After many stops on the slope, we made it to a school where we had lunch in the grounds.  It seems children run up and down these incline to the school every day, we on the other hand, dropped down and imbibe as much water as possible.

A Walk in the Park

On the way to our last hike, I mentioned the joy of experiencing EDSA.  This time we enjoyed it at rush hour on a Friday night – which was exhausting in itself – before finally making it to a well-known fast food joint, that was to be the meeting place for our hiking group. I was grimly worrying about how I would survive three days of mountains, strung across three provinces (Benguet, Ilocos Sur, and La Union ). I have to say it was a mixed bag of results over the whole walk but victory was assured for all of us, mainly because we were awesome, and me least of all.  Throughout our collective struggles there was much camaraderie and laughter and I wouldn’t swap any of it for anything, including a big pile of first editions.

Getting only half an hour’s sleep on the journey to our destination didn’t bode well, although a breakfast of chicken curry did help balance this out.   The view once we stopped however was something to gladden any heart.  The beauty of being surrounded by mountains with only the odd local and fellow group of hikers to greet made for an exciting feeling of alone in the wilderness.  A vast sea of greenery and overlapping peaks spread far into the distance on all sides.

Thanks to Ryan Tajedo for permission to republish the photos

Once we had limbered up, we set off and it felt great to walk and breathe in the clean air, unsurprisingly we took many, many photographs. I took more on this day than any other day for reasons which will become clear as you read through each day’s adventures. A few of my fellow hikers have kindly allowed me to show their photos here which are a lot better than my efforts.

The bridge looked fun but as I approached and looked down, the usual slatting problem was in evidence.  It doesn’t fill the walker with confidence seeing this and realising it is the first and easiest obstacle you will come across.  It’s part of the adventure though and wouldn’t be the last time we would encounter such a bridge.

One of things I love about the travels up in this region (for we were only around about 120km from where we last hiked ) is marvelling at the road building and how challenging it must have been to get here and complete it, not to mention plan it.  Once again rice terraces were in abundance and as made our first ascent we left them far below as we rose to a spectacular view of the surrounding area and every so often let out a big woop.

Maligcong

This is the reason why we feel compelled to travel. Before heading to new places, I always make sure to avoid all photos of anything exciting I may encounter, it was the right decision here.  This vista was a stunning surprise and well worth the short hike up Mt Kupapey.

Jumping up at 6am, having had a restful first night, we loaded up on the local coffee, and with a wave at the view which was slowly becoming defogged we started on a climbing experience, that was for the first twenty minutes, brutal.  Thanks, in part to the altitude and also my laziness of late with not walking too far due to the nature of the traffic around the local area.  Once it levelled out and we had a rest for the obligatory selfies, it became much easier and I felt healthy, as opposed to the imagined teetering on the edge of unconsciousness.

Getting to the top generated a good feeling of camaraderie, thanks to what we were looking down on and experiencing together.  It was a perfect place to just exist in the company of the few people who joined us.  The terraces reminded me of Machu Picchu and I pondered how Hiram Bingham must have felt when he accidentally stumbled across it.  Bizarrely the sounds of The Lion King soundtrack which was playing from someone’s mobile was oddly appropriate for the occasion.

That view alone easily justified all the travel.  We then wandered over to the other side of the mountain and found yet another valley rich in beauty.  It felt like a timeless place of natural rhythms, coming down the terraces it was virtually silent (which I hardly noticed at the time) apart from the odd stumble from our group, it felt like descending into a land that time forgot.

The rice terraces were pretty steep in places and the paths, a mixture of concrete or compacted soil,  It made for slow going as the sun beat down but also provided many chances to take in the view and greet the odd traveller or worker who passed by.  Although later in the year the terraces are a sea of green, I liked the patchwork effect and the different colours on offer. In short, it was blissful.

Going Over to Suzette’s House

The jeepney rumbled off and we were left to soak in the peaceful atmosphere, hardly anyone around, no bustle of any kind ,just peace and the glorious knowledge of being in parts less travelled. As luck would have it – or should I say the kindness of Anne and Louie, who sorted this adventure out for us as a wedding gift – we landed in Suzette’s homestay which had the best view of the rice terraces.

It is certainly a place conducive to writing, especially on the balcony where all the residents can gather and load up on the free coffee, encouraged by the friendly and welcoming staff.  That first afternoon – just before a generously proportioned meal of chicken and rice – I sat to reflect on our first short walk just taken and the journey that we undertook to get here.  The view (below) was what met my gaze.  A gentle breeze was blowing, a few birds and crickets making their own casual noise, a distant bark of one of the many dogs that roam free up here and plenty of sunshine, It is just the sort of place one would come to write a novel.

With homestays and hostels, there is always a high chance of meeting some really interesting people and as the sun went down, we made the acquaintance of good number of such people.  Plenty of stories of past hikes were being exchanged, mostly in Tagalog which was fine, I got the gist but also enjoyed the game of working out what was being said and piecing sentences together as the rapid fire of conversation bounces around me.

Bound for Bontoc

To experience this lovely view from our homestay…

…the challenging must be faced, namely EDSA.  This highway is the longest and most congested in the country, and it’s not just the road that’s jam-packed and choked with fumes.  The coaches are rammed full and people don’t give an inch and will gladly push against those seated, then barge their way off with little regard to fellow passengers or politeness.  To make matters worse, a pirated version of Kingsman:  The Golden Circle was playing throughout the trip.

It was a hot messy chaos,which is what happens when big businesses and all the coach stations decide to take up location in one area.   After eating siomai from the local Chowking, we took to avoiding the sun and hanging around in the local malls, whilst waiting for out bus. It was a shame to see the police doing nothing about the flagrant flaunting of stolen phones. by pickpockets wanting to make some quick money.  I counted 11 people with both hands full of phones offering them to the passing crowds.  No wonder there are so many phone shops in the malls.  Finally it was time to go, past all the passengers queuing without a ticket (if which their were many), hoping for a seat so they could get to their loved ones for the Easter weekend.

Animal Farm

Animals are great and even if I wasn’t a fan, living with a horde of the critters would certainly change my mind.  The kittens have been spoken about elsewhere on this blog before, my favourite of which is still Mr Boffles:

Here he is, attempting to line up with mum Alut and uncle Rambo, in what I assume is a homage to the opening scene of the magnificent 2001: A Space Odyssey.  As mentioned before, he enjoys gangster movies and the music of Louis Armstrong.  Since then he feels confident enough to run at Rambo and be mercilessly pawed at in return, as well as meowing at Die Hard 3, dramatic stunts are expected from this little one.

Our latest new edition – a dog this time, just to mix things up – which arrived yesterday is this little lady, Rexie:

Having spent little over a day with her, I can confirm she likes the taste of slippers, nibbling Rambo’s tale and disappearing at various times to make me worried that she has wandered off somewhere.  Now that we are up to six animals, life is getting more interesting both in and out of the house.