Where on earth is Tim ?

This is one junction where you can't go wrong, no matter how many bottles you drank this Christmas...

While we were in Hawkes bay visiting Beermonster and Soffi, we went on a wine tour with Vince's Wine tours. Except it was not Vince, but a bloke called Ian. Never-the-less Ian knew his wines, where to find them and best of all the ability to get us home no matter how many wines we sample. It soon became apparent that no matter where you looked there was a winery, at every junction it was impossible to go wrong, no many how many bottles you have drunk...

This is one junction where you can't go wrong, no many how many bottles you have drunk this Christmas...

Hakwes Bay has become famous because of the wines produced on the Gimblett Gravels. This is an old riverbed which has lots in the way of gravels and not much in the way of fertile soil. Apparently this is great for making good red wines as the vine is starved, panics and figures it better reproduce quickly to ensure survival of the species. This means it produces lots of juicy berries aka grapes. Apparently within twenty years, an acre of land on the Gimblett Gravels has shot up from $800 a acre to around $400,000 an acre. It must have some pretty good wines going for it then. We visited five wineries and tasted around 30 something different wines. The wines seemed to get better as the afternoon wore on. Strange that. We bought several bottles for Christmas and New Year, at rather discounted prices and let Ian deposit us back at Beermonsters house. A rather fine afternoon out.

Speaking of the Christmas festivites, while in Golden Bay we came accross the most excellent Mussel Inn in Onekaka. This is pub with micro brewery attached, one of only a few in New Zealand. I got rather addicted to Manuka Beer which is brewed with the leaves of the Manuka Tree, at tree native to New Zealand. Rather different and I quite like it.

Flowering Manuka Tree's in Abel Tasman National Park

What really impressed me though, was finding Manuka Beer from the Mussel Inn in the local 'First Choice' supermarket. This is one of New Zealand's equivalents to Tesco's. What more, other than a selection of the Mussel Inn's finest you'll find local apple juice, local fruit, local cheeses, local milk and much more. And 'local' does not means Devon's finest cream stocked in a London branch of Tesco's. No, its really local produce ... kind of like wild Blackberries (growing along the A4) being stocked in the Ealing's Tesco's (which overlooks the A4).

It was good to visit Beermonster and Soffi. We had the chance to get off the tourist trail and do some proper Kiwi stuff like 4x4'ing down the beach and tramping (hiking) in places where you won't find many tourists (myself excepted). Thanks to tide times we had a rather swift trip along the beach, putting the 4 wheel drive to good use and then spending a few hours combing the beach to see what we could find. The best action was saved for the end of the day when Beerys truck had to deal with a fallen tree blocking the road. Beery whipped out his tow rope, dragged the tree to one side of the road and we all travelled on our merry way, along with a few motorists that has joined the 'waiting for the tree to be moved' queue. This is New Zealand, a no-nonsense, get things done kinda of place.

On the Beach with Beery and Soffi

We also visited the largest mainland Gannet colony in the world, at Cape Kidnappers. Cape Kidnappers takes its name after Captain Cook landed here. The local Maoris kidnapped Captain Cook's Tahitian translators as they thought they were Maoris who Cook himself had kidnapped. This like many bays in New Zealand bears the name given by Captain Cook who charted most of New Zealand on his first voyage here. The Gannets at Cape Kidnappers are another of evolutions 'we are not scared of you' creations. They had no natural predators while breeding on the New Zealand mainland. That is before man introduced the Stoat, Feral Cat and Ferret. Thankfully the family who own the farm surrounding the colony have turned the area into a nature reserve, eradicated all the predators and erected a predator free fence. To fund this they have built a world class golf course and charge punters like me to go and visit the Gannets. As the birds are oblivious to the fact that man (or Mammals) might pose a threat, you can get rather close. We were lucky enough to see the first chick that had hatched for the season.

Gannet on the take off

This year we having Christmas in the sun. New Zealand is also some 13 hours in ahead of 'home' and a nearly a whole day ahead of the US. I've just spawned jealousy in my nice's eyes as she grasped the concept that its Christmas day here, Christmas eve in London and I've opened my presents before she has. She has to wait and I'll be tucking into some late night cheese and biscuits just has she is opening her presents. Merry Christmas Kiah.

And a final note to you all; Merry Christmas. I'll leave you all with a picture of the Pohutukawa Tree aka "The New Zealand Christmas tree".

Pohutukawa ... Merry Christmas all!

Wintery Epiphany

Since emigrating to the UK, from South Africa, some 20 odd years ago, I have started to like British winters. Mostly they are mild but you get the odd cold snap ... like when you get the chance to feel special about a perfect blanket of snow. Or a brisk walk to the bus stop on a frosty morning, when you can play mind games with how far you can blow your breath in the icy wind. Or the nice n' crunchy feeling as you walk along a perfect frost in the morning.

Which is just as well...

It provides the high that you need for the guaranteed Chaos that is about to ensue. Like getting stuck in the channel tunnel. Or not getting home from work. Or getting your car encrusted in grit and dirt. Or getting stuck on the M25 for eight hours. Or opting for a sunday lunch instead of a day on the Mountain Bike. Or having to defrost the path to the house, the house that you have just spent a fortune heating.

So this year I'm 12,000 miles away in New Zealand. Its summer here and its rather nice. Idilic really, in fact just as Idilic as the picture that Dad sent me of the family Garden in Crawley (UK) from last night:

So my Epiphany... winters have lost their charm. I like summer. Winter can stay at home, some 12,000 miles away. Here is my Idilic shot from about the same time yesterday, in Abel Tasman National Park (NZ):

I have a nagging thought though... spending Christmas in the Sun ? It just does not feel right after 20 years of having adjusted to winters ... I'd swap it for the holy grail of a white Christmas any-day. But then again, that means winters...

Update, 9am 21st December 09: My brother just sent me this picture. Its my Car which he is looking after in Northern Ireland. I suspect i'll have to wash the grime and gitt off when I'm back next month ? In the mean time I'll just have to trudge along to another perfect blue Sky day in NZ, although there is a fresh dusting of snow on the mountain tops today... but they're over 2500 meters high ... and that requires intent and effort!

lIang baka at tupa (Para sa Karen)

When I came to New Zealand, Karen a friend who I met in the Philippines, asked me to send her a picture of a New Zealand spotted milking cow. It says a lot about the stereotypes that New Zealand portrays to the world. Not surprising really as there are some 20 million sheep here (and only 4 million people) and an awful lot of cattle, both of which contribute to the largest industry in New Zealand and the number one export. So in a tribute to Karen here are some certified New Zealand "baka at tupa":

  

A Baka (Think Anchor butter) ..... and ..... Tupa (Think Lamb Chops)

But New Zealand was not always like this. Prior to the arrival of Humans, the only mammals found in New Zealand were a few species of bats. Then Man started to arrive ... first the Māori's who arrived from the Polynesian islands such as Tahiti, some 600 years ago, who brought along Rats, Mice and Dogs. Then the europeans arrived ... spearheaded by the British, who introduced a whole host of mammals to New Zealand. Some were brought here by accident (Rats, Insects); Some for Food (Rabbits); Some to make money (Possums); Some as pets (Feral Cats); Some to control the Insects, Rabbits and Possums who promptly bred out of control without predators (Sparrows, Stoats, Ferrets, Weasels). Then there was a host of flora which arrived, a lot of which was introduced to "mimic" the natural British landscape ... think heather and Scottish thistle. And Finally the European settlers went about burning the natural landscape to make ways for farms. The impact of all of this, not surprisingly, was the decimation of New Zealand's ecosystem.

The genus that has suffered the most was the one that made the most out of the lack of mammals ... Birds. Birds evolved to fill almost every ecological niche in New Zealand, the most famous of which is the Kiwi who became the ground scavengers of new zealand filling the niche that small land mammals fill in Europe such as anteaters and hedgehogs. Consequently, Kiwi's are more characteristic of small mammals than of birds: They have a well developed sense of smell and hearing, a face covered with whiskers, shaggy, hair-like plumage and a body temperature of 37°C. And they have evolved in a world without predators, so that have no inbuilt defence mechanisms against the likes of Stoats, Feral cats and weasels. Most of New Zealand's native birds are now endangered.

Not many Kiwi's left to run over...

Thankfully, not all is lost. I have to say that I am seriously impressed with the conservation efforts that are underway here. There is now a plethora of national parks and reserves, all managed to promotes NZ's native habitats. The Department of Conservation is deadly serious about controlling the predators that are decimating New Zealand's birds. The latest measure that they are undertaking is dropping poison (Sodium Fluroacetate aka 1080) from helicopters into the national parks to control the mammal population, mainly Possums, Stoats, Weasels and Ferrets. In many areas there are teams of people, mostly volunteers, spending large amounts of thier time setting and laying traps for predators. The finest conservation policy of them all has to be the establishment of predator free islands where the Native bird species of New Zealand can be relocated and survive without threats. They have since started establishing predator free oasis's in areas of the main land, thanks to the use of predator proof fences, one which they can't get over, through or under.

My favourite part of New Zealand's wonderful place in mammal-less evolutionary world has to be Wētā's. Theses little critters are insects that have evolved to fill niches occupied by mice and other rodents elsewhere in the world. And they look rather cool, with some of them the size of your hand.

A Bush Weta on the Heaphy Track. About 4" or 10 cm long.

I rather like them and many of New Zealand's natural parks have Wētā hotels along their trails ... wooden boxes where Wētā's like to hide allowing tourists too have a peek. We took a walk on an alpine medow while crossing Lewis's pass earlier today and came across a signpost with info on the Mountain Stone Wētā. I found out that the mountain stone Wētā's can survive being frozen for months in a state of suspended animation with temperatures down to -10°C. Apparently this is because their haemolymph (the insect equivalent of blood) contains special proteins that prevent ice from forming in their cells. This has to be another one of Evolutions finest creations. But, rest assured, they are in safe hands in New Zealand. The Kiwis now lead the way when it comes to conservation of their natural habitat. This, I am sure of.

How to get hit in the face by a spade and then receive a free skin graft...

As you probably already know, we're in New Zealand and have been for the past week. After a brief tour of Auckland, which I have to say is more like Liverpool than a capital city, we headed off south. Come to think of it, I bet even Liverpool has more people.

We headed to the lake Taupo area to go tramp (Kiwi for hiking) the Tongariro Crossing. The Tongariro crossing is described by most people as New Zealand's best tramp. I last attempted the crossing in 2004 but was a little unfortunate as the weather was rather shocking. Like really shocking, with the only thing of interest being a lake that I almost walked into ... thanks to the less than 10 metres visibility.

So after checking the forecast, which looked good, we headed down Turangi which is one of the starting points for the crossing. As we headed down from Auckland we stopped off in the wonderfully volcanic area of Rotorua for a afternoons walk around the 'Waimangu' volcanic park. Here we were greeted with a Disneyland full of colours, steaming vents, blue lakes, bubbling pools, flowing minerals and hot springs. This is also New Zealand's newest geothermal area with all the geothermal features forming after an eruption in 1898. It has been eruption ever since with the last time being 1975. I was most impressed with how the area has recovered since the last eruption, with lush vegetation clinging onto every crevice it could possibly grow on, including the ones belching sulphur and stream.

Disneyland does Sulphur

Later in the afternoon, as we headed towards Turangi, we stopped at Taupo airport to check the deal with doing a skydive. We had heard that lake Taupo was the place to do one and I was interested in doing a dive in a few days after having bottled it in 2004. We were met by a lovely lady who replied in a subtle Kiwi accent "if you want have a dive, we have a plane leaving in five minutes ... you can dive now if you like!". I looked at Sarah, who smiled, at which point my heart started to beat a little faster. It got even faster as I donned a jumpsuit and harness. And then stepped up a gear as I jumped into a small plane with a bunch of other nervous people looking on. The plane cruised to an ear popping 15,000 feet at which point Damo pushed my out the rear of the plane...

Hit in the face with a shovel at 15,000 feet

I don't remember much of the first few seconds other than trying to grasp for breath in order to scream and of a rather horrible a sinking feeling. And then my senses came too me ... someone had hit me in the face with a spade. Or so it felt. My glasses and mask were pressed so tightly against my eyeballs I could not see a thing. And my skin felt like it was about to be peeled from me like a banana. Some two minutes later I was on the ground, having landed on my arse, in a mild state of shock and exhilaration. This is something I am going to have to do again.

We made it to Turangi later in the evening and after a rather brief nights sleep we headed off at the crack of dawn to the Tongariro crossing. I'm going to let a few photos do most of the talking and conclude that that this has to be one of the best days hiking I have ever done. With the help of a perfect blue sky day, I felt as if I was on the moon. You could easily imagine yourself as Frodo, walking up the sides of Mount Doom, trying to destroy the ring. Thankfully we started at 5.30, when only a few people were about, but after a detour to climb Tongariro summit, we returned to the main path to find something akin to the checkout queue at Tesco. With everyone in the queue sporting spots, hoodies, jeans and plimsoles ... the gap year brigade had caught us up.

Mount Ngauruhoe AKA mount Doom

Sarah at the Emerald Lakes

On Mars AKA the South Crater

I really do feel sorry of Mike and Helen who accompanied me in 2004, when we saw nothing. We could have been the Chilterns for all we knew. I hope they get a chance to come back as this is a truly magnificent walk. And for those of you still wondering, I am still undergoing my reverse culture shock after leaving the third world. Thankfully New Zealand is a good distraction. Next stop after Turangi is Hawkes Bay to visit Beermonster and Soffi. We last saw them in Brunei three years ago.

So in a word Paul ... Yes

For some hard to explain reason we decided to stay at Extreme Backpackers in Turangi. Paul knows this place well after my advice a few years ago ‘a really cool hostel, like really chilled out, you easily lose a few days there, loads to do.’

This is what Paul had to say. His conclusion sums it up quite nicely: 'I may be being slightly unfair towards Turangi as I’m sure if you arrived here with a positive attitude, a hire car, cash, friends, the sun on your back, an ignorance of basic architectural possibilities and temporary snow blindness it could conceivably be bearable as a springboard for better places. It’s just that I've spent much of it hauling myself over garage forecourts in the howling rain, in search of a working phone. There’s just the one here. And the number I wanted was engaged. Tim - is there more than one Extreme Backpackers? Or have I fallen into some alternative universe? Have I got the right New Zealand?'

After feeling rather sheepish at having sent Paul to a cow shed in the middle of concrete heaven, I was curious to see how wrong I could be ?

We arrived a little late, 8pm by my reckoning, and found the hostel reception about to close. The lady behind the desk was by this point a little grumpy as she was meant to finish at 7.30pm, but had to wait for us. "This is Turangi" she said. I guessed she must have meant that "this is Hicksville" and that we're in trouble as we're up past curfew. She may have been right.

With a 5.30 start the following morning we needed some basic necessities such as dinner, breakfast and a packed lunch. We walked to the local precinct, which was completely devoid of human activity and found the supermarket, liquor store, pub ... basically everything shut. We were in a ghost town and without dinner. Thankfully Turangi also has an above average number of garage forecourts and we managed to hash together dinner, breakfast and lunch from what little we could muster from the local Shell garage, which incidentally shuts at 9pm.

Things picked up a little the following day. After one of my best days hiking ... ever, we returned to find the supermarket open. We seized the opportunity, bought some beer, various parts of dead animal and some vegetables. We had a fine BBQ washed down with beer as we lounged around in hammocks in the hostel courtyard. It was rather good, but I think a lot of that may have been the sun. We met a rather annoying British guy, who's name we don't (want to) remember, who seemed to be hanging out at Extreme Backpackers for the best part of a week "waiting for a mate". We took pity and left the following morning.

Having travelled for the past eight months I've realised that travelling is a mix of people, places and how you're feeling. You can be in the best place in the world, but with no-one to share it with or even if you're feeling a bit yucky, its not such a great place. Likewise you could be in the blandest place in the world (Tuarangi), but with great company it can be a good crack. Which reminds me, I met Mike and Helen at Extreme Backpackers, had a great BBQ and travelled with them for the next week or so. Maybe thats why Extreme Backpackers was so cool, or maybe I was, yes, in an alternative universe.

Mike and Helen at Fox Glacier

Turangi seems to have rebranded itself since all the negative publicity it has been receiving. You'll see "The trout capital of the world" plastered everywhere. And they have dug up part of the supermarket parking lot and put in a mini-golf course, which was beautifully crafted in concrete. We saw no-one fishing and the mini-golf course was gathering leaves.

So in a word Paul ... "Yes"

The Acid is Kicking in...

We have just arrived in New Zealand. Its rather nice; Nice food, Nice wine, Nice walking, Nice Scenery, Nice people, in fact everything is just Nice. Very Nice and its rather comfortable. Within the space of 48 hours I've managed to have one of my bestest hiking days ever on the Tongariro Crossing and I also got hit in the face by a spade, but more on this in the next blog.

But I feel that there is something missing ... everything seems to happen as planned ... just like you thought things should. Things just happen to work. You can use Credit Cards. People drive normally. When you buy meat its wrapped in cellophane and more than a minute old. You can change travellers cheques. The roads are in perfect condition (but I cant hire a motorbike, after all I don't have a licence) and its incredibly clean.

I am suffering from a third world hangover. Its really bad. I am expecting some surprise around every corner, yet everywhere I turn I just see niceness, along with some 20 million Sheep. In the past two days, the closest thing to surprising me was a rabbit that ran out in front of the car. Like a good Brit, I hit the brakes. I was however, chastised a little later ... a good Kiwi would have put their foot to the floor to help wipe out another of New Zealand's most unwanted alien mammals.

And for all of this we are spending a fortune for the privilege, at least compared to the philippines.

Anyway in the midst of my hangover I stumbled across a Tarsier on the Internet. I last saw a Tarsier a few weeks ago in the wild, on Bohol in the Philippines. These little critters are one of the smallest primates in the world and have eyes larger than their brains. They are pretty cool and I was lucky to see one.

My shot of a Tarsier in Bohol

Well, during my hangover therapy, I could only chuckle at the satire demonstrated in the latest take on the O'Reilly UNIX book I came across on the internet.

I'll write more soon... once my Hangover is over... after all, New Zealand is the most incredible place. Really.

Welcome to the Philippines, the blade runner version...

I arrived in Hong Kong Airport after a short hop from the Philippines. Having spent my that morning wandering around Manila, my first self assignment in Hong Kong, while waiting for my bags, was to go and freshen up before I was met by Brian and Lilly. Well freshening up really just means washing the days grime off my hands and face. So I wondered over to the airport loo's and put my hands under the faucet. I was promptly dispensed a load of soap. Perplexed, I worked the soap into a lather and put my hands under the faucet again. This time I was dispensed water. It seems that soap is mandatory in Hong Kong airport, or at least I think so ... and It was at this point that I realised that eight months in the third world had come to an end (Sorry China, while Beijing counts as first world, its not China...).

My welcome ... The Hong Kong lights show...

I was a little sad. I then spent the next few days trying to rid myself of some of the third world habits I picked up. The worst being searching for the 'used toilet paper bin' which I did not find in any Hong Kong toilet ... nor did I ever get the hang of drinking water from the tap, as I have already concluded its in fact soap. Nice and smelly soap mind you, even though Brian reliably tells me its ok to drink in Hong Kong.

After a late arrival and the following morning I headed out into one of the worlds most densely populated metropolises. And soon afterward I came across the first of many shopping malls. But I had a rather strange feeling. There was a fast food joint selling Chicken Adobo, Sinigang and Lechon (Roast Pig). Poker Face was blaring from the nearest shop. And there was a PNB Bank, which I now know is the Philippines National Bank. With every other face being Filipino, I realised I was back in the Philippines... I bought a coke, said a few words in Filipino to the shop attendant and got a huge smile. I later found out that there is a huge Filipino community living in Hong Kong, primarily working as home helpers for HK$ 3750 a month. That's £300 quid a month and about five times the average wage in the Philippines.

I came to Hong Kong on the recommendation of Paul 'Visit Brian and Lily in Hong Kong, it's really great' and so I did. I was expecting a dark, busy, skyscraper packed, people ignoring you version of Bladerunner. But no, it was a rather soothing and relaxing experience. I had no pressure to dart about seeing Hong Kong, yet during four days of leisurely wondering around I felt that I had got to know the place well, even though around every corner there was something new and different. And I have to say Hong Kong is surprisingly chilled-out for one of the most densely populated metropolises on earth. Some of my notable highlights are:

Goldfish Street: Being into aquariums I took a visit to Goldfish Street. As the name suggests, here you can buy just about any aquarium fish you can think of, many of them pre-bagged ready for a sale. I was really impressed ... within the space of a single block you could buy just about any tropical fish you could think of, not just your run of the mill guppies. Shame that many of the fish were suffering, but then its a lot less than under the butchers knife as you'll see later...

South East Asia Games: As it happened I was in Hong Kong for the opening of the East Asia Games. This is some sort of mini Olympics for the East Asian countries. I don't know the bounds of East Asia, but I have a sneaky suspicion that its rigged to draw an east-west line that means that China is going to win everything. Certainly every time I saw a game being played out there was a Chinese flag on the podium.

Fireworks Arm Race: Due to the start of the South East Asian game, Brian and I have the fortune of visiting the opening ceremony from one of the best viewing spots in the city. The ceremony went on for a whopping fifteen minutes, as if Hong Kong is in a giant Arms Race to build a bigger, louder and more spectacular show that the last host. It was simply the best fireworks show I have ever seen.

Cheap and rather cool gadgets: Very cool gadgets at rock bottom prices. Just as well, as I had my iPhone nicked in Manila and picked up a rather cheap iPod Nano as a temporary replacement.

If you want Thresher Shark fin soup, you'll find it here: If you want shark fin soup you'll find it here. You'll find fins by the thousands, and you wont find many sympathetic Cantonese to the plight of the sharks. In one shop, I pointed to the picture of the tail fin of a Thresher shark on my t-shirt and asked 'Do you have this fin ?"... he said no problem, "just give me five minute"

The longest elevator in the world: Honk Kong island is a rather steep place. So much so that they have the longest elevator in the world. Its actually a series of elevators which take you from sea level to the 'mid levels'. I don't know how high that is, but it took me a whopping 10 minutes walking up the series of elevators. Thats allot of steps. It would have been even quicker if one of the Belgium chaps in front of me understood the concept of standing on the right, but then again if i remember Belgium is rather flat! Apparently the elevator goes down in the morning rush hour and then up for the rest of the day. What I was left wondering is why they only built one elevator ? Why not two elevators: one always up and one always down?

Internet faster than your average Cheetah: Wow its fast, the fastest I've come across ever.

Getting your fresh food skinned alive: Visit the fish market and watch frogs, terrapins, eels, crabs, big fish, small fish, yellow fish, you name it fish being skinned alive. It was quite extraordinary. The amazing part was one rather large fish which which was cut into several pieces for display, while the heart was still beating and the fish gasping for breath every few minute or two. I left with my jaw open and wondering how quickly the RSPCA would react if this was in the UK.

This is what China should have been like: Brian took me to visit a Buddhist Nunnery. It was rather good, with detailed architecture, original statues and spotlessly clean mix of old and new. I finally felt as if i was visiting the China that I was expecting to see several months ago.

and one of my favorites, Its got some Man Kei stores:

All in all Hong Kong is a rather relaxing and very interesting place. In a strange way, I also felt at home. Not only thanks to the hospitality of Brian and Lily, but also a quaint English pub where we drunk too much beer while listening to some hip Filipino band. Its right up there as one of the coolest cities I have visited.

Next stop New Zealand, via a rather scary ten hour flight. Gulp.

Can't read my, can't read my. No he can't read my poker face...

Ok, I know, I'm a little behind in my blog. That has probably something to do with Sagada, a rather cool chillout place in the northern Philippines followed by a trip to see Hong Kong with Brian and Lily, which I have to say is surprisingly chilled out given its one of the worlds largest metropolis's, the sort you would expect to find in Bladerunner.

So Sagada ... The Lonely Planet talks it up as a place with fresh mountain air which provides a rather cool chill-out scene, spent in the company of likeminded travellers...basically backpacker central. It also breaks with my Lonely Planet's guide to Getting High as it goes on to advertise Sagada as the Filipino home of seriously cheap dope, which I find rather surprising for the Philippines ... especially with a Lonely Planet endorsement, it has yet to be busted. I chose this as the place to spend my last few days in the Philippines, which would draw an end to my travels in Asia and of all the goodness that comes with traveling in the third world. It was a good choice.

Hanging Coffins in Echo Valley, Sagada

What Lonely Planet does not tell you about Sagada is that it's limestone heaven with Karst features littering the place. This means caves and a Karst landscape which has been put to use by the indigenous Ingnot people to bury their dead in centuries past. Yep, here they stack their loved ones in entrances to caves and with caves being prime real estate, even more impressively they hang coffins under overhanging cliffs to avoid the prying paws of predators. Its certainly a major attraction for tourists to visit Sagada, especially to hordes of Filipinos from Manila. It has also transformed this place into an adventure playground with Hiking, Mountain Biking, Caving and Waterfall Tours all on offer.

I would imagine that going caving in the final resting places of the Ingnot ancestors would have been a no-no in the past, especially with coffins decaying over the years to scatter their remains. Its just as well then that a certain Reverend John Stanton arrived some 100 years ago to build a sodding great big Anglican church, complete with Speleotherms to decorate the alter. Needless to say that the whole village is Christian nowadays and are cashing in on a roaring trade in taking people 'adventure caving'.

It was during my first day that I bumped into Jay and Karen walking in Echo valley the home to several caves and hanging coffins. Jay and Karen, who are both Lawyers from Manila, were pretty interesting and before I knew it we had followed the valley to its conclusion ... an underground river that I had been eyeing up. To my complete surprise they were happy to follow me into the cave, facilitated by Sarah's spare Petzl head-torch. 15 minutes later we emerged back into daylight, on the other side of the river and then proceeded to try find a way out of the valley we were in. This took some time, with a few too many painful encounters with brambles and a rather lucky encounter with a water buffalo. I guess thats why everyone else pays 500 peso's ($10) for a guide.

So the next day I opted to go for the more conventional tour, with a guide, to do a through trip in Surmaning Cave. I can report that the cave was up to the usual fine standards I have come to expect in the Philippines, but my highlight has to be our guide. Apart from the standard Filipino attire of flip-flops and shorts, it was the rather large joint that he smoked at the entrance which caught my eye ... and once finished he dipped his stub in paraffin and used it to light a Tilly Lamp, the sole means of lighting on our little adventure (Ok, I'll also admit to having my Petzl with me). Thankfully the Tilly did not go out or we would be in need of another stub! Its at times like this that I wonder if I am ever going to ween myself off South East Asia when I return to the first world. Oh, Bloody Hell, its New Zealand next week.

Our guide, posing with Tilly Lamp, a great Cave photography asset!

After a few more days of enjoying Sagada, I had the pleasure of having dinner with the local mayor in my home-stay turned guesthouse. He was a rather nice chap, who started to pick my brain on what measures would attract more people to Sagada, while he did a pretty good job of trying to force some Filipino gin down my throat. And I learnt that he has refused to arm the police in Sagada, in stark contrast to the rest of the Philippines ... "this is Sagada, we have no need for guns here".

Sagada is a seriously cool place with some seriously happy (and high) people. I like it and it was a great end to my trip in the Philippines. I made some great friends along the way, which like my travels in Burma, had a highlight at the end ... Salamat Jay and Karen for a great time !!!

  

Much happiness at Sagada's Saturdays Morning Market

On my final morning in Manila, I can across a couple of chaps who make a living by picking debris off the river in home made canoes. They sell what they find, mainly wood and plastic for whatever money they can get. It goes to show that after eight months travelling in asia, there is still plenty to surprise you. I left smiling and then got my iPhone nicked as a final farewell whilst walking back to my guesthouse. Well I bought insurance for a reason.

Picking Debris from the river in Manila

Goodbye Philippines. I will miss you, but I will be back someday soon. Next stop Hong Kong.

One of Darwins finest: Just a mere piss away

I'm a big fan of using Rough Guides as my guide to the country I am traveling in. Sarah prefers Lonely Planet. However Rough Guides have been proving pretty hard to find while we are on the road and I've been loosing the battle. Alas, for the last few countries we have had to resort to the ubiquitous Lonely Planets to get by. So while passing through Cebu City a few weeks ago I spotted 'The Rough Guide to Evolution' on the shelf and snapped it up. I now can't put it down. It's a pretty engrossing read, especially if you gloss over a few places where Latin seems to have gotten the better of the author. And it has left me thinking how incredible the many facets of evolution are.

It was was while I was halfway through the book, that I visited the Langun-Gobingob cave system near Calbiga in Samar and met these little critters at the bottom of the cave.

Caecogobius Cryptophtalmus in the Langun-Gobingob cave system near Calbiga

What your looking at is a cave fish, the Caecogobius Cryptophtalmus which belongs to the Gobiidae family. It has no eyes, no colouration (unless you count pink!) and it is the first cave dwelling fish to be found in the Philippines. Unbelievably its the only eye-less Gobiidae known in the world and it is only found in one river/pool of Langun-Gobingob (Calbiga) cave system. Along with some blind shrimps and blind white cave crabs, they eek a living from a pool at the bottom of the cave, I guess, from eating insects that get trapped on the waters surface or from debris that is washed into the cave from time to time.

Caecogobius Cryptophtalmus

And now, with my new found knowledge of evolution, I can tell you that this little beauty of a fish, not only has evolved from a sea dwelling species ... the Goby family ... but has also lost its eyes through the 'use it or loose it' principle of natural selection. Its the same reason why my skin is white (with my forefathers originating from a cold and not-so-sunny Europe) and that you and I no longer have tails (we don't need them). To think how these little critters survive in just one place and to think of the evolutionary process of how they got here, over many thousand of years ? Incredible.

The cave also happens to host the third largest chamber in the world, cathedral chamber, which is large enough to house a few dozen football pitches. I was simply awestruck with the place, having to walk a full 20 minutes across the chamber, with my Petzl headtorch giving off no-where near enough light to see the walls. It was a small shame that the local Barangay (Village) have cemented in a bunch of poles strung together with a rope to mark the way across the chamber, thanks to three guys who entered the cave and inadvertently spent three days inside as they only took one rechargeable light with them, which promptly failed.

Looking up and out of the entrance doline of the Langun-Gobingob cave system

Not surprisingly, the Langun-Gobingob cave system is taking off as one of the top adventure caving destinations in the Philippines, in no small thanks to a glowing report in the Lonely Planet. This cave is special and its rightly a great place to generate tourism dollars with the right eco-measures in place. But some trips now run for three days in the cave, including a night spent inside the cave. I was aghast to find that the camping spot, some 30 minutes caving from the entrance, is just a few meters from the pool where the Caecogobius Cryptophtalmus live ... that's just a piss away from destroying many thousands of years of evolution. Is it really necessary to camp only 30 minutes from the entrance and risk such a unique species all for the extra bit of adventure-tourism buzz ?

To visit the Langun-Gobingob cave system we stayed in Tacloban on Leyte, which is near the MacArthur Landing Memorial. The monument marks the spot where General Douglas MacArthur landed with the American Liberation Forces in October, 1944 starting the Battle of Leyte. MacArthur previously fled the Philippines when the Japanese invaded three years earlier to the woefully unprepared US and Filipino forces. General McArthur fled the Philippines and made a promised to return. He did three years later in October 1944 and following months of fierce fighting, the Philippines were liberated.

1944 ... today

"I shall Return" ... and he did. General MacArthur stepping onto Palo Beach, Leyte

The memorial is one of the most striking war memorials I have seen. Its beautifully sculpted, larger than life figures emerging from the sea gives you a warm and fuzzy feeling about the nobler things in life. Its a proud testament to all Americans and Filipinos of a promise kept. Just around the corner is a 50th anniversary memorial, with a set of plaques donated by visiting dignitaries on the occasion. But what a complete sham to see a plaque laid by a certain Senior General Than Shwe, the Chairman of the State Law and Order Restoration Council of Burma (Myanmar) with some comment about eternal peace and human rights. This has to rate as the highlight of hypocrisy...

As we enter December, one note about Christmas in the Philippines. Christmas started at the beginning of November, at least it felt that way. Its a big thing here, with all the Barangay Halls, Churches, Malls and many houses decked out in full Christmas regalia. Christmas tunes are being piped out everywhere (in between Lady Gaga) and most Filipinos are getting ready for Christmas. Some of the decoration feature snowmen, which I find slightly amusing as we are in tropics. But by now, I've had enough of jingle bells running through my head. I'd rather go back to Poker Face by Lady Gaga, the usual Videoke feature in the Philippines.

As I left Calbiga, I saw a Tricycle (Filipino Tuk-Tuk) laden with 12 people. OK, they were mostly school children but it breaks the record to the question I posed in my first travel blog "How many people can you fit in the back of a Indian tuc-tuc ?". That beats India and is a record in my travels.

While Sarah has gone to get a bit more diving in south of Manila, I am off to Sagada, a mountain town a days drive north of Manila to have a few days of chill-out before our trip in the Philippines comes to an end. Next stop is Hong Kong for a few days, then New Zealand for Christmas and new year.

Roads? Where we're going we don't need roads...

We are on Malapasqua, a island north of Cebu to do a bit of diving with the hope of seeing some Thresher Sharks. Malapasqua is a small island, with only around 2000 adults and some 5000 children! I can report its another slice of paradise with white sandy beaches, palm trees and like many other islands in the Philippines, its has no food outlets, no ATMs and here there are no roads. I did not know what to expect, other than to see the Thresher sharks, its needs an early start ... sunrise, that's 5am!

We've done a fair bit of diving in the Philippines over the past few weeks and, other than wrecks, we have only really see the small stuff, basically critters. I wanted to see some big stuff, the pelagic species, like Sharks and Rays. We planned four days on the island to give us a good chance of sighting the Thresher Sharks, the raison d'etre for the dive resorts on Malapasqua. However as we are traveling and I don't need to turn up to work until January, this could be extended depending on our luck.

Tim with Toto

So of we started with our daily schedule, a 4.30am rise to hop on the boat and head off to Monad Shoal. Monad Shoal is a sunken island at a depth of some 20m which has sheer drop off to the bottom of the Cebu-Leyte trench, some 800 metres deep. The thresher sharks come up from the trench to be cleaned by small cleaner wrasse, who pick parasites off the sharks. They really only come in the mornings, as the sharks have big sensitive eyes, adapted to living deeper than 100 metres.

The first four days Sarah and I spent an hour every morning just looking out into the blue. Despite the best efforts of our divemaster, Toto, we saw nothing. I was beginning to wonder if our luck would ever turn and the early starts for an hour of boredom were getting a little frustrating. But day five was different... it turned out that there was a fiesta on the island, the most important annual fiesta for the island folk. This means some speedboat racing, a cockfight and a disco until 2am. After diving with Toto for the past five days, I promised to back his two chickens in the cockfight, two cocks that he had personally grown from chicks for the past 18 months. He was quite pleased as the more backing a Filipino can get for their chicken, the better ... it gives them a better chance of organising a decent opponent. I handed over a few hundred Peso's and following a morning diving I turned up at the fiesta later in the day.

The speedboat racing was something else. Small minimalist wooden boats with a 6.5Bhp lawnmower engine strapped on top to make it fly across the waters surface, as best as they can. They is no clutch or gearing, just a few chaps holding the revs of the boats back until the flag goes down. It was impressive to see and there was a clear sense of pride in the winners, having custom made their boats with minimal resources ... just wood nails and a small 6.5 BHP engine.

Getting ready in a custom built speedster!

The cock fight was very similar to the one I have seen before but as this was a small island, it was on a much smaller scale. I was just about to head back to base when Toto turned up with a glass of beer and the promise of some Chicken soup ... both of his chickens had lost, so chicken soup was the only thing on the menu this evening! After a fill full of chicken soup and a skin-full of beer, I limped back home at 1.30am... and with no hope of diving the following morning.

Malapasqua speed dragsters on the off!

Sarah, being the sensible one, was already in bed, saving herself for the the 5am Thresher Shark start. And with a stroke of luck she saw a couple of sharks and a couple of devil rays. I was a little gutted, coupled with feeling a little delicate. To help ease the hangover out of my system, I decided to head out for the 1.30pm dive to try see Manta Rays on Monad Shoal. I was told that this is the wrong time of year, but "you never know, you may get lucky". Sarah, brimming with glee from the mornings dive, decided to pass. So off we went at 1.30pm, without too much in the way of hope. I was diving with a Japanese geezer, who spoke no English but as we spend most of the time underwater, it did not matter. We descended the line and promptly had a 5m wide Manta ray loom overhead. This thing was HUGE and I was gobsmacked, to the point that my regulator almost fell out of my mouth. After trying his best to get some pictures the Japanese chap came over and shook my hand ... very aggressively.

Manta Ray on Mondad Shoal

But this was not the end. We had a further nine passes from Manta Ray's, by at least two individuals, one with lobes, one without. It was an exceptional experience. I can only thank Toto and the late night of drinking as without this, I would have not seen the Manta's. Following this dive resolve set in and, after an early night in bed, the following morning I finally got the chance to see the Thresher Sharks, at least 4 individuals circling for the whole hour. Paul our Dive Guide on this occasion rated this as is best ever Shark dive as one shark breached the surface with us underneath. I didn't see it, but heard it and saw the shark return to the cleaning station. I left with a gleeful smile and the some satisfaction at letting the fiesta get the better of me two nights before !

Thresher Shark off Monad Shoal

With the help of a few video clips from my Japanese dive buddy and another German diver with us, I compiled a short clip of our final day on Monad Shoal. Enjoy:

Thresher Sharks, Devil & Manta Rays on Monad Shoal

We are leaving Malapasqua on a high, after seven days diving, in which we were lucky to have an incredible couple of dives to finish it off. We are off to Leyte when I am planning to get some caving in thanks to a caving contact.