Making a Living

During our previous trip to Mindanao to visit the Tinuy-an Falls, considered one of the biggest falls in the country, I documented some scenes depicting people's ways to make a living, to feed their families in the best they could within their circumstances. They might not be getting much, but certainly they have the most 'colorful' businesses.

Tinuy-an Falls in Bislig, Surigao del Sur is reached by 1.5 hours plane from Manila to Butuan City, then a 6-hour bus ride to Bislig City, and another hired van for 1 hour from the city proper to the falls. At least there are convenient highways, and roads to the falls are already paved and organized. There are also buses which leave Manila to these areas in Mindanao, but it takes days to complete the travel. Going to Mindanao means passing by a few islands, so the passengers have to disembark in some ports for the buses to be loaded in cargo ships, and the passengers also ride on the ships. They only board their busses again when they reach land. This system of transport is called roll-on-roll-off, which is shortened to "ro-ro" ships. 

The Bachelor Tours buses ply the routes from Butuan City to many parts in Mindanao. We also took this bus for another 6 hours from Bislig City to Davao City, our exit airport back to Manila.

Above is a tricycle terminal in Butuan City. Tricycle is a very common mode of local transportation in the Philippines, not only in Butuan City, but also in other parts of the country. It is a convenient way of transport for very short distances. We also have this in Thailand known as 'tuktuk', in Cambodia, Indonesia and India. Although the forms and models are different in different countries,  it is basically a local transport system in Southeast Asia.

The engine is provided by a motorcycle with two wheels, and at the side of the motorcycle a body carriage is made with another wheel to balance it, so it has only 3 wheels giving the name tricycle. Six passengers excluding the driver can use the above model; 4 at the back and 2 in front near the driver who is on his motorcycle. In other provinces, the motorcycle is in front looking like it is pulling the carriage.

 Bus terminals are complete with colorful stores selling all kinds of small things and gadgets; from small bags, toys, eyeglasses and cellphone loads.  

Above stalls show food snacks, candies and plastic toys.

Walking sellers like the above are also plenty, styrofoam packs contain foods like burgers, hotdogs, sandwiches, noodles, etc. There are even full meals for those who don't want to leave their bus seats and eat at their convenient time, despite inconvenient circumstances. But buses also have stop-over restaurants for passengers to stretch themselves and take their meals or snacks, and go to the toilets. Can you imagine the trash especially styrofoam and plastic trash generated by this system! And who invented the technologies like these? It is so convenient to use, that hazards of using them take 2nd priority. It might take time before these can all be regulated and stopped!

Above items are specialty delicacies made of sweets. Normally these are rice cakes contained in empty coconut shells. I am sure most of us who are environment friendly people prefer this practice.

People who don't want to leave the buses can just buy their snacks from these vendors, who bring their items to the passengers. Look at the expression of the above woman, with all her life's experiences seen on her face. I took this from inside the bus, though hazy because of the glass, i still want to capture the vendor's expression.

This is the close-up of the woman's goods for sale: boiled eggs, fried peanuts, boiled peanuts, different kinds of crackers, pretzels, different kinds of chips, different kinds of drinks, and water. Are you looking for more!

This is one of the stalls in one of the bus terminals. The seller is seen via a very small window where she gets the payments for her sold items. Normally, these permanent stalls have refrigerators inside, where cold drinks and water are available. 

I included this photo because it is another mode of transport during that escapade, when we went to Hagonoy Island, also in Bislig City. 

And this is it, Hagonoy Island. I have already posted about it previously HERE. 

An Early Vacation in 2011 Part 3

After our Borobudur experience and on the way to the airport to send off our companion returning home, we visited another temple on top of a hill, Candi Ijo (Temple Ijo). We had to walk maybe 200m of uphill unpaved road, leaving our car below.  It is a very strategic temple to clearly see the lowlands, but we had only a few minutes to take photos.

 Candi Ijo at present is composed of a big temple with 3 smaller ones. A big area is still not yet reconstructed, but the piles of stones are seen below right.

   
At the left is the linga at the center of the biggest temple, many of these are also seen in some temples in Angkor Wat in Siem Reap, Cambodia. Its top directly points to the rooftop with small hole for water to seep through. Water droplets are collected at the base of the linga and believed to be medicinal or even magical. Top right shows the ruins of Candi Ijo waiting for reconstruction.

After sending our companion to the airport, four of us still continued our Indonesia escapade by taking a train from Yogyakarta to Solo, Surakarta. It is a place often suggested in travel sites as an old town with beautiful cultural traditions. For us it really is an awesome experience! After checking two hostels which were full, our taxi driver brought us to a homestay, located along narrow, circuitious residential areas. It was a bit difficult to traverse these alleys, as there are many motorcycles going around, motorcycles being their primary mode of transport. Chakra II Homestay was our hostel for 2 nights in Solo. It is in a big compound with many rooms, and a swimming pool. Serendipitously, it houses the Gamelan Orchestra that practices there every night. A gamelan is a musical ensemble from Indonesia, typically from the islands of Bali or Java, featuring a variety of instruments (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamelan). We are free to watch them practice and take photos of the traditional instruments.

Top left: Chakra II Homestay Gamelan Orchestra playing on the floor; Top right: one of the side lobbies at Homestay where we take our free breakfast.                                                        

Top left: an elaborately carved walls for another set of Gamelan instruments. Top right: Wayang Kulit puppet at the Museum in Solo.

Top left: Batik making in one of the batik shops; Top right: image of Visnu in a side street

Becak (pronounced betsak) - unmotorized tricycle and manually pedalled by the operator is a common local mode of transport. Photos 8 & 9 are not becak but #8 is a mobile delicacy store, while #9 is a carriage drawn by a horse. All of the mentioned modes of transport are always very colorful in Yogyakarta and Surakarta, most especially in Solo.

Colored doors and windows of Solo. It is a cultural tradition in Solo to have brightly colored gates, windows, doors, as well as the becak (pedalled unmotorized tricycles).  At bottom right is a mosque door.

Our trip back home entailed an hour by train from Solo, Surakarta to Yogyakarta; followed by another hour of Asia Airlines domestic plane to Jakarta, and lastly, 4 hours via Cebu Pacific Airlines to Manila. We lost an hour in crossing the dateline, but we gained a lot from the wonderful sights and experiences.

Postscript: For a more detailed article of our trip to Indonesia, please visit http://www.lagalog.com/

Medyo nakakatawa sa siryosong paraan!

We were in Occ Mindoro for a training invitation. The resort hotels are incredibly full, so we were housed in an old hotel, many rooms, but... many buts! We had the whole morning, we cannot sleep maybe because its not our habit to sleep in the mornings. So we tried to ask the counter ladies for tourist information, they cannot provide us any. We asked how to go to the islands which are clearly visible: White Beach, Ilin, Ambulong; how long how to get there, where can we find people who know the answers. They know nothing but one! At the front of the Maranatha School, which is just at the other side, is a picture of the "Grease Resort". We can go there and read the information.

Encounter #2. I asked the guard outside the hotel 'the direction to the Maranatha School, if to the right or to the left'. He doesn't know where it is! He returned to me the question "saang banda po yun?".

Ako: "Kaya nga nagtatanong sayo dahil tagarito ka!

Guard: hindi po ba kayo tagarito?

Ako: Palagay mo kung tagarito kami e titira kami sa hotel nyo? Meron bang ganun!

Guard: Sandali lang po itatanong ko at pupunta sya sa counter ladies.

Ako: 'wag na hindi rin nila alam yun!

Working as guards or hotel information counter ladies, these people definitely cannot relate to. I wonder why they are there!

Encounter #3. I asked the driver of the parked tricycle if we can walk to the Maranatha School.

Driver: pwede naman po kung gusto nyo, pero pwede rin mag tricycle.

Ako: sige po salamat

Then he left.

When my companion arrived we called for another tricycle. We asked to be brought to Maranatha School. It's been a few minutes and it's so hot at past 9:00am and we still cant see Maranatha.

Ako: Alam mo Dennis pwede naman talaga maglakad maski 4 na araw, kung gusto natin!

Dennis laughing: pwede mo rin lakarin hanggang Boracay, kung gusto mo!

Ako: Oo basta wag ka lang tatawid ng dagat, lakad lang ng lakad!

Ako: gaano pa po kalayo tayo sa Maranatha?

Driver: malayo-layo pa ho!

Dennis: maski sakay ka ng barko to Boracay, pwede lakad ka pa rin ng lakad sa barko.

Tawa kami ng tawa. Mukhang na-pilosopo kami ng tricycle driver na nagsabing pwede lakarin yung layong yun ng Maranatha. Then finally, we saw our goal!

Fasten your seatbelt:

The tarpaulin advertisement in front of Maranatha School says "GRACE RESORT" located in Ambulong island. 'Grease' is actually Grace, ONLY IN THE PHILIPPINES! It says of the amenities in the resort with some phone numbers, but did not say how far is the boat ride, or where to get the boat. We just surmised that it is too far, because Ambulong Island is already just slightly visible and fadingly bluish as we see it from the beach of San Jose. Grrrrr! What else can we say.

We just content ourselves in a hut in the beach, ordered pansit and softdrinks, Dennis tinkered his laptop while i watched people pulling the fishing nets hoping for a big catch. I took lots of photos until noon, under the scorching sun! Another Grrrrr!

Final encounter. We decided to have our lunch there as well. Our host has come to fetch us. We decided to have shrimp because "Sugpito" (only in San Jose maybe) is not available.

Ako: gaano ho kalaki ang Hipon?

Waiter: malaki-laki rin ho.

Ako: Gaano nga ho kalaki yun, kasing laki ng hinlalaki o kalingkingan? (Tinaas ko ang daliri ko).

Waiter: Kalingkingan po.

Pagkadating ng order: tawa ulit kami dahil ang hipon ay actually "hiponito"!

Ako: Ang ibig sabihin po pala ninyo ng kalingkingan ay sa bata!

Ngumiti lang ang waiter......

Grrrr!

Lots of people pulled the two sides of the nets, a boat guiding it!

Sorry for the small catch, at least a big trevally (talakitok) is there!

A concrete small contraption for the "Undisciplined"! A guy is currently inside, maybe drunk.

The Mekong Delta Tour

Mekong Delta Tours can be arranged for 1 day or many days. We got only the one day tour. We took a bus for about 2 hours to the pier, then a bigger boat and then smaller boats. Tourists in our company used 3 busses and we mixed in a big boat. We came from maybe all continents, but i recognized and talked to some from Australia, Canada and South America; also recognized some Chinese, Koreans, and Americans. We visited the islands Phoenix and Unicorn. We are fortunate that our tourist guide is good in English and memorized a lot of statistics about Vietnams population, agricultural production, exports, etc. He certainly did his homework well.
We took small boats of 3-4 persons per boat in going upstream to the islands. Nipa palms grow on both sides of the river. Inside one of the islands we visited coconut candy making. The tombs you see here are children's. Maybe because they are so far from the mainland they just bury their dead near their houses. The tombs are scattered and not placed in a sort of cemetery.

During lunch all of us ate at the same time in a big covered area, and everyone had fun. We were also delayed in the island by a strong rain. The Venezuelan guy and i joked about everyone having a bench for the evening to sleep on if wind will not stop. The brown murky waters of the Mekong suddenly had big waves. Fortunately it stopped and we were able to return to the boats safely. On the way home in the busses again, we were confronted with a deluge of motorbikes in every intersection. I tell you it is a wonderful sight to see. Ladies on 3 inches stilletos riding on motorbikes, can you beat that!

Our last night in Saigon was spent at the Water Puppet Show. It was beautiful. We were thankful Nico did not make a scene, contented himself breastfeeding.

Promised Travel Report from India

Hi everyone who happens to drop by, and those who constantly follow me here. From a long detour i am back!

My trip to India was really stressful! That was in terms of real physical experiences. Imagine waiting at the KL departure area from 8pm to 8am! The check-in counters open 2.5h before the flight and that is consistently followed in KL, as i observed. I envy people who can sleep while sitting on the chairs, with periodic buzz from the sound system as a prelude to an incoming flight or a boarding call. I tried several times but did not succeed. I just equated it to a full night vigil, when relatives die waiting for interment. However, in my case i did not experience it when my father died. I only experience full night vigil when still working in the lab with hourly or bi-hourly monitoring of ACC production into ethylene. (Hello postharvest alumni, do you still remember this?).

From KL i went to Chennai then to Coimbatore. I stayed in a budget hotel there before an official car fetch me the following day to Ooty. A 2.5h delay is the time difference between Malaysia and India, so i slept most of my stay in Coimbatore. I just noticed the mosquitoes and baby cockroaches in the room the next morning when i saw the sting on my arms . I will not be elaborating related things here anymore, or i might not stop!

A typical passenger vehicle is a modified tricycle or 'tuktuk', which they call rickshaw. They said it is used all over India. It is a carriage built around a motorcycle, the driver in front while 4-5 passengers sit at the back (see picture at left).

The 3.5h travel by car to Ooty was good. Plenty of tamarind trees lined both sides of the streets, and a lot of people in their traditional dress did not mind the painful heat of the sun. I've never seen anybody using umbrella nor a fan to alleviate the intense heat. The undulating roads climbing the mountain to Ooty is wonderful, reminding me of Kennon road to Baguio City. Then the tea farms immediately loom in the background. I did not know that tea plants need partial shades which are obviously prunned despite of their heights. I did not see anyone prunning, but i cannot visualize if they are using ladders or climb the tall tress by foot. Another unusual entertainers which really fascinated me are monkeys playing on the roads, not on the roadsides. The drivers have to blow the horns to drive them to safety.

Our conference schedule continues until about 7pm so we looked around at night or in the morning before 8am. Bhaskar and i were able to visit the Rose Garden at sunrise and took pictures of different rose varieties. It was Archna and Polomi who took me to the top of Ooty the morning before we depart to Coimbatore. This place is near the Tea Museum and a hotel. Archna and I agreed to build our dream resort house in that area. I hope Archna will be very rich someday to materialize that dream. Peace and tranquility with lots of birds and wild flowers are all there. The yellows and violets carpet the area, which adds charm to the place.

The intention of reliving or experiencing parts of the "pasts" was not in vain. I had some glimpses. Besides, my favorite flower is there in different colors, the pansies.