sagada

If there is one place you should visit in the Philippines, that is Sagada. You have to at least go and see this place and natural wonders it can offer.  Sagada is a 5th class municipality in the province of Mountain Province, and is located 275km north of Manila.


There are two ways to travel to Sagada from Manila: (1) via Baguio route or (2) via Banawe-Bontoc.  I prefer the the second route because for me it is a much faster route and going back to Manila you can choose to have a side trip to Baguio and get to travel the whole cordilleras region just like what i did. :)

The place is so laid back and the climate is soooo nice. Sagada is 140km away from Baguio but it is much cooler here than in Baguio. The crops are like those of Baguio and Benguet: cabbage, tomatoes, green pepper, potatoes, carrots, beans, and other temperate products.  But they have a special Arabica coffee as well.  And they have rice terraces in Sagada to, though the terraces in Sagada are smaller than the Banawe rice terraces.

According to our guide, Sagada used to be submerged in water hence the abundant limestone mountains at Sagada, kinda hard to believe considering how high is this place but you have to because how else would there be limestones without water right? Also if you look closely in the above photo there are "hanging coffins" in this limestone which is also one of the famous tourist attraction in Sagada.

Sagada is famous for its hanging coffins and burial caves. This was a traditional way of burying people that is not being practiced anymore. But the photo above is the burial cave, you can found this hundreds year old coffins at Lumiang Cave entrance. 

A peek inside Sumaguing Cave. I will post more pictures inside Sumaguing Cave in the next few days.  Spelunking is one of the popular activities in Sagada and doing the cave connection Sumaguing-Lumiang Caves really requires that you are in good health, tiring but definitely worth it. 

Sagada has many natural wonders. Backpackers and tourists can enjoy spelunking, rappeling, trekking, seeing the Bokong and Bomod-ok Falls (which unfortunately i havent got a chance to see when i visited Sagada, but there's still next time hehehe). 

A street in Sagada, the red "house" is actually a Sagada weaving house.

Sagada Church

Sagada Hospital

Sagada was also featured on a local film Don't Give Up on Us.

cordillera

The Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) is the Philippines' only land-locked region. It is consisted of the provinces of Abra, Apayao, Benguet, Ifugao, Kalinga, Mountain Province and Baguio City (the regional center). The Cordillera region encompasses most of the areas within the Cordillera Central mountain range of Luzon, the largest range in the country. This region is home to numerous indigenous tribes collectively called the Igorot.

Tourist attractions in the region include the world-famous Banaue Rice Terraces in the province of Ifugao. Nations around the world boast of their own self-proclaimed "eighth wonder of the world." The Philippines considers Banaue Rice Terraces as its "Eighth Wonder of the World." The Banaue terraces, ancient sprawling man-made structures from 2,000 to 6,000 years old, are a UNESCO World Heritage Site. They are part of the Rice Terraces of the Philippine Cordilleras, widely found in the provinces of Apayao, Benguet, Ifugao, Kalinga, and Mountain Province.

Natural attractions of the region include the Sumaguing Cave in Sagada and the mummy caves of Benguet and Mt. Province. There are four National Parks: Cassamata Hill, Mount Pulag, the highest mountain in Luzon, and second highest mountain in the Philippines, following Mount Apo of Davao, with an elevation of 2,922 meters above mean sea level, Mt. Data, and Balbalasang-Balbalan, located in the province of Kalinga.


Source: Wikipedia

banaue rice terraces

The Banaue Rice Terraces (Hagdan-hagdang Palayan ng Banawe) are 2000-year old terraces that were carved into the mountains of Ifugao in the Philippines by ancestors of the indigenous people. The Rice Terraces are commonly referred to by Filipinos as the "Eighth Wonder of the World".

It is commonly thought that the terraces were built with minimal equipment, largely by hand. The terraces are located approximately 1500 meters (5000 ft) above sea level and cover 10,360 square kilometers (about 4000 square miles) of mountainside. They are fed by an ancient irrigation system from the rainforests above the terraces. It is said that if the steps are put end to end it would encircle half the globe.

The Banaue Terraces are part of the Rice Terraces of the Philippine Cordilleras, ancient sprawling man-made structures from 2,000 to 6,000 years old. They are found in the provinces of Kalinga, Apayao, Benguet, Mountain Province and Ifugao, and are a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The terraces are vastly found in the province of Ifugao and the Ifugao people have been its caretakers. Ifugao culture revolves around rice and the culture displays an elaborate array of rice culture feasts linked with agricultural rites from rice cultivation to rice consumption. Harvest season generally calls for thanksgiving feasts while the concluding harvest rites tungo or tungul (the day of rest) entail a strict taboo of any agricultural work. Partaking of the bayah (rice beer), rice cakes, and betel nut constitutes an indelible practice during the festivities and ritual activities.

Another thriving economy in the Banaue Rice Terraces is tourism. The Tourism industry has developed a number of activities for visitors which may include the traditional sight seeing of the terraces and visits to the tribes at the foot of the terraces.

Source: Wikipedia

chess

Spotted these chess players at megamall this evening...  from the poster learned that it is already the championship tournament sponsored by Shell.

to learn more about the shell national youth active chess championship, click here

book swap

may you be a book lover or not but have some spare books (specially children books) that is just lying around in your house you are invited to a book swap to benefit the abandoned girls of Maritxell, Marikina.

When:    October 23, 2010, Saturday from 10 AM-6 PM
Where:   The Balcony, 110 Dona Angela Building, Carlos Palanca St., Makati City
How to Join:

1. In order to enter you need to bring one (1) educational or children's book plus your unwanted books
2. The educational books go directly to the abandoned girls of Meritxell, Marikina
3. You may choose from the books other people brought and can bring home the same number of books as the amount of unwanted books you brought.

Meritxell, Marikina has been housing marginalized and abandoned girls ages 3 -16 years old since 2007. Those who are old enough to study are sent to private schools for education. Ateneo has recently listed them as one of their NSTP areas. In order for them to further improve their studies, they need more educational books. The event hopes to collect 200 educational books to benefit three more orphanages.


Reposted from Chuvaness

makati at dusk

help the children of ulingan

A few months ago, together with some fellow bloggers, we visited "happy land" and my heart was broken seeing the plight of those unfortunate kids who had to make a living scavenging from garbage and exposed to the deadly fumes of ulingan.

Sitio Ulingan is a temporary resettlement area of the people from Smokey Mountain (Manila's old dumpsite), which is now home to a small community. The "ulingan people" are making a living making charcoals aside from scavenging garbage from nearby dump sites to make ends meet. 

"Sitio Ulingan defines poverty in a novel way. No one can ever know what real poverty is until one takes a glimpse into the everyday life of the Ulingan people." - Dennis Villegas

It is really heartbreaking to see the kids working at the charcoal pit instead of playing.  Thankfully, there is someone like Melissa Villa-Wilcox who co-founded Project PEARLS with her daughter to help alleviate the lives of underprivileged children in the Philippines.

Project PEARLS is a registered non-profit organization in the State of California. Its mission is to help underprivileged children in the Philippines to have a better life by giving them PEARLS: PEACE. EDUCATION. ASPIRATION. RESPECT. LOVE. SMILE.

And they have been doing a great job helping the kids at Ulingan.About 2 months ago they had their first Ulingan outreach program with Photo Kalye and distributed goods to the kids.  To show how amazing this group, they had another outreach program 2 weeks after that and gave boots to the kids. And just recently Project PEARLS had another outreach program at Ulingan and i believe that Ms. Melissa is planning to build a better daycare center for the kids of Ulingan!!! woot! woot!

"She has big dreams for the children of Ulingan. But this special lady knows how to make her dreams reality.
Congrats Melissa for the wonderful job you do together with your volunteers and PhotoKalye." - Sidney Snoeck

You can help too and make this dream a reality.  Please support or give donation to Project PEARLS. You can join their page on facebook here. or give your donations here.

star wars lego

I spied these cute stormtrooper starwars lego display at the SM megamall last night, during their 3 day madness sale :)  

super cute lego star wars figure of princess leia, luke skywalker, han solo, chewbacca, c3po, and r2d2 (apologies for the grainy pictures i was using my camera phone.)

PS. if you havent heard or  check out the 3day sale at ortigas area, you still have a chance to get up to 50% discounts till sunday... but do expect heavy traffic too ... aside from megamall, robinsons galleria and other malls at ortigas are conducting their 3 days sale. 

ang pagbabalik ng batibot

Yehey! our beloved Batibot program is back!!!! We grew up watching pong pagong, kiko matsing, kuya bodjie, ate sienna, and the rest like manang bola and i am estatic with this news that TV5 is bringing them back.

so let ya all sing with me in this classic  batibot theme song

Pagmulat ng mata,
Langit nakatawa
Sa batibot,
Sa batibot
Tayo nang magpunta
Tuklasin sa batibot
Ang tuwa, ang saya

Doon sa batibot
Tayo na, tayo na
Mga bata sa batibot
Maliksi, masigla. (2x)

Dali, sundan natin
Ang ngiti ng araw
Doon sa batibot (2x)

Tayo nang magpunta
Tuklasin sa batibot
Ang tuwa, ang saya

Doon sa batibot
Tayo na, tayo na
Mga bata sa batibot
Maliksi, masigla. (2x)


Photo Source : Batibot returns after 2 decades!

galleon andalucia

Galleon Andalucia is a replica of a 17th century Spanish galleon which plied the Manila-Acapulco route centuries ago. The name of the ship, Andalucia, refers to the land of the galleon's birth. Andalusia, located at the south of Central Madrid, with Barcelona in the northeast is region to 3 million inhabitants. It is here where they lay the keel and raised the masts of the galleon, between Punta Umbria and Huelva.

Galleon Andalucia arrived at Pier 13 on the South Harbor in Manila on October 6, and left on the 9th enroute to Cebu. Galleon Andalucia will dock at Cebu waters on October 13. The arrival of the galleon Andalucia was the highlight of the 1st Día Del Galeón Festival being hosted by the Philippines under UNESCO which declared October 8 as Galleon Day to commemorate the beginnings of world trade and cross-cultural exchange.

Built by the Nao Victoria Foundation of Spain under the design of Seville Ignacio Fernandez Vial, a historic shipbuilder; the galleon Andalucia is 51 meters long, comprising of 6 decks with a usable floor area of 320 square meters, 3 masts with seven sails, and about 40 feet in height.

The ship's body is made of iroko wood, oak and pine fiberglass and polyester resin, cast iron, wrought iron and galvanized iron nails. Two engines of 350hp each assist the galleon during port arrivals and departures, as well as during bad weathers and wind mis-directions. 170 tons of concrete and iron served as the ship's ballast and stabilizers in the bottom deck.

Source: Aboard the Galleon Andalucia

UPDATE: Galleon Andalucia will be open to the public at Cebu City's Pier 1 from October 14-18, 2010. The visits will be coordinated by the Provincial Government of Cebu. It will be open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 4 to 7 p.m. For more information, e-mail bessfrancia@yahoo.com