PLAN, last update 2012/05/01

Hi,

Not so much travel so not so much to post here since I have started my working life... But keep posted... Things can always change ;)

In the meantime, I wish the blog might still help you traveling. I will still be available for any question!

Cheers,
Simon


Sunday, January 18, 2009

North Luzon

Here we are! First pics of the Philippines!
First trip, first meetings and new way of travelling...
For the experimental trip, the plan was to visit the North of the Philippines through Baguio, La Union's beaches, Vigan and Banaue rice terraces... Hiking, camping and beaches were part of this new adventure!

First, you have to know that here for short distance we use tricycle ( first pict below) which is a kind of private taxi to go to some close areas in cities... And jeepney (second one) which is a kind of dolmus (turkish)... It is a small fancy bus, left from the American after the world war, which goes only from one point to another and does the round everytime. You tell him whenever you wanna stop on the way! I used mainly this one for this trip... The tricycle being use for small distance that I could do by walk!





So, I left from Manila in the afternoon and got Baguio at night... To camp I had to get out of the city... After couple of hours by walk, I found a place to set up the tent...
In the morning, I came back through the city to get the right way to go to La Union, on the east side of Luzon Island... I went through the city quickly to not lose time and didn't snap anything! After one hour, I was on the right road, and could start really the walk to La Union!

The western side of Baguio...


Rapidly, the clouds appeared, and as usual in the mountains, the view became less interesting... Anyway, here are some snaps of the west part of the Cordillera, mid mountains, surronding Baguio...


The road I took...







Lunch time with a nice veiw...





Still on the way, broom makers...



After 25 km, it was the middle of the afternoon... I wanted to be on the beach before the night to enjoy the sea and still 20 km remained to do... That was enough for this first day by walk and I rode a bus which left me near the sea, between Bauang and San Fernando...



Near the coast, between Bauang and San Fernando, the East side...

And the street where I dropped off...


The aim was to sleep on the beach, so I did some shopping and went up to this beach...





The first sunset...

I stayed there the whole evening, swam and took rest after this nice day!

Here is my tent and my backpack... Kind of new house!

In the morning, after having breakfast on the beach, I met Victor, who is leaving in the village nearby... He offered me the coffee and we spoke a bit about everything...
He comes to the beach every morning to see if fishers sell their fish... Indeed, it is more expensive otherwise to buy it from the shop...
" Fishers sell the fish 80 pesos per kilo... Then they sell everything to the shop, and the shopkeeper sells it 100 to 120 pesos per kilo"
Back to the basics of capitalism...

Victor

I rode then a jeepney to San Fernando, few kilometers north... I stopped there because I needed an internet connection... Not much to see there...

San Fernando


I started to walk then to the north, to get San Juan beaches, 7 km away, famous for surfing...


San Juan beaches...




Rice field... Everywhere here!

The next step was to get Vigan, more than 100km north... That was not worth to walk to there, but I wanted to visit some fisher villages on the way... I took a bus to mid way... From there, I looked for having lunch... I met Bads who offered me some rice and some meat and told me where to go on the beach to find out what I was looking for...
I arrived in a wondefull place, where it seems that the time has stopped... An authentic fisher village!
I stayed a while there and took a bath...





On the way to the village...


The village...




Fishers...



And the ladies, playing cards in the village...

I came back then to the main road for few kms...

A boy packaging rice...

I rode a bus to get Vigan and arrived there in the end of the afternoon...

Vigan is old spanish city... The architecture of the buildings is very nice even if lot of them are like dying... And would need restoration!



Plaza Salcero...

The cathedral...



Plaza Burgos...







That night, I stay in an hotel to wash some clothe (and to take a shower by the way ;) ) and to take rest after this three intensive first days...
In the evening, I went to eat in that place... You can find this in many places... They sell food that they cooked before... An other way to get fast food!

Some snaps by night...



The day after, in the morning, it was children fest in the city...




I left the city in the direction of the mountains... The aim of the day was to get Banaue (far away from there), in the center of Cordillera, by walk and by bus, to sleep on the way in order to get there the day after...

At lunch, I asked my way to a policeman, to know if it was possible to pass by a path through the mountain to save time... He explained to me that the road was under construction and that it was not the best choice... He took me away then by car and drop me off on the road I showed him on the map...

On the map, the road I chose, becomes a small road between two villages... I wanted to walk between this two points so I took a bus and then a jeepney to last village given on the map...


Here started the walk... I understood quickly that this road was not used a lot because except some motorcycle, I didn't see any car... Rapidly, there was no village anymore...
On the map, approximatively 40 kms separated the other village I wanted to get, in the next province... I walked in a good rythm to do most of the distance that day... Then I would sleep in the mountain, and end the walk the day after...

Here are some pictures on the way...





I was alone there... No sign of life around... Just me, the road and the mountains!

After few kms, the road becomes like that! Like a dead road...


After 4 hours, walking in the night, I saw some lights far away... I decided to get there and to ask to sleep there... The place I arrived was quite weird... A lot of trees where on fire... A dog shouted so I kew that some people were there... Some people spoke, up to the hill! I went up few meters and arrived at a closed gate... I asked them to come down to open me... They started to ask me many questions about what I was doing there, who I was and so on... They were still hundred meters away from me and didn't want to come to open... They told me to wait a while... After few minutes, they came, and I discovered some men armed with rifles...
It was the army! That's why they didn't open faster... They wondered what I was doing there... Told me that it was a "guerilla zone" because of the communists rebels leaving in the villages around... They thought I was one of them... They checked all my belongings and allowed me to get in! I was the first visitor allowed to get in this camp...
I asked them if I could sleep there... Then, they explained to me what was going on in the area, thing I didn't know before! They told me that the village I tried to get was to far away, like 30 kms more than expected and said that it was too dangerous for me to go there...
I understood that I couldn't make it because I didn't have enough time and provision to go for three days by walk...
So true or false, I was not prepared for that! They told me that some cars are passing through this road in the morning and that they would ask to one of them to drive me to Banged, the city where I came from...

I couldn't take so much pictures but here is one with some of the soldiers in the morning...

"The poor army of the Philippines" as they said...

So in the morning, I did the whole way back I did the day before in only one hour :/ ...



It was to late to get Banaue because I had to be back in Manila the day after... Here is the trip ending up... I took a bus back to Manila...

Back home, I did some researchs on what they told me about this "guerilla"... I found some articles relating some clashs between the army and the rebels (some people died in this clashs)... They were not completely wrong but to me it was not so dangerous as they said, because they are only attacking government forces (and not everytime)... And many people here in Manila didn't know about that... It is still difficult to get really the degree of dangerosity of a situation because versions are differents... Many places I have been to where safe for me, but are very dangerous for some people...

Anyway... The trip was very nice and got some new experiences like sleeping anywhere with the tent... An other degree of liberty!

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