Where on earth is Tim ?

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.

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.

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.

Subterranean Activities? You'll need a Police escort

Another day, another Filipino Island. This time we are on Bohol, a sleepy island close enough to the hustle and bustle of the Philippines second largest city, Cebu and far enough that you can still get lost in Island time. We came to visit the exquisite beaches, coral reefs and to do a tour of the Islands interior, including the famous Chocolate Hills. We were not disappointed, once again getting sucked up into a Filipino time warp.

The Chocolate Hills

To explore the Interior, we stayed at a place called "Nuts Huts" in Loboc. They certainly were the Nuts, allowing us a few relaxing days in the Jungle, including some rather late night swimming in the Loboc river while watching the fireflies. Our trip to the Chocolate Hills confirmed them as an impressive sight, with hundreds of conical mounds stretching for miles and poking up through the forest. I had been told they were formed as the limestone plateau on Bohol rose up and out of the sea a few million years ago. I found it impossible to imagine how, it was such a sight it could have been Aliens responsible...or man. Such is the beauty of nature at its finest.

In all we spent a week on the Bohol and on the last day I decided to go Caving. Lonely Planet talks of Antequera as being a caving mecca without saying much else. So I decided to go have a look, chancing my luck on finding someone to show me around. I rolled into town on my 125cc hired Honda to quite a few staring faces. It was quite apparent that they don't see many foreigners in this town! I started to ask about and was quickly pointed to the Barangay Hall, which is the Town hall to the likes of you and me. I wondered in and asked if there was someone who had information on the Caves located in the Barangay and if someone could show me around... I was very quickly shown up to the Mayors office to meet the Honourable Cecilia B. Rebosura. Wow I thought, maybe a little excessive to go right to the top ? But I relaxed when some chap asked me if I was single, gave me a nudge and then told me that the mayoress was single too. Ok, this is small town Philippines.  

The Mayoress was very helpful. She'd get my vote any-day. Within half an hour she had printed me a map, described some of the caves in the area; "Camantong" a cave good for "Python snake watching", "Esteban Cave" which I was told was full of Bats and "Mandahunog Cave" which is a Cave and Spring combined. But the crowning moment came when she offered to organise some chaps to show me around. She organised a police escort.

Police Escort for the day, at this point without my glasses!

So I spent the rest of the day driving from Cave to Cave in the countryside with a police escort. Wow did heads turn as the police drove past followed by a white chap on a Motorbike. I am sure they don't see the police often, nor is it your everyday occurrence to see a Foreigner in tow. What a great way to spend an afternoon of investigative Caving. "Mandahunog Cave" is noteworthy as a blue, gleaming resurgence pumping out from the side of the hill. This place must have a serious drainage area and cave system associated with it, which would be easy to explore with a little Cave Diving. Maybe a project to come back to one day. "Camantong" Cave contained a active stream way and a hot, steamy fossil passage upstream. As a result I took my glasses off as they steamed up pretty quickly. Twenty minutes later I realised they were gone ... lost somewhere in the depths of the Cave.

So there I was in Antequerra. On a motorbike, without a licence, without a helmet, without functional gauges (fuel, speed for example) and with no glasses. But no worries, I had a police escort! Thankfully I made it home safe, but now I needed to visit Cebu City to replace them...Doh !

So off I trundled to Cebu City, the Philippines second largest to get a new pair of glasses. That was easily enough done when we found a copycat but rip-off version of Vision Express. I had a new set within the hour, which allowed Sarah and I to visit the Cinema for the first time in eight months. But whatever you do, give the film 2012 a miss. Its horrendously crappy, but I did rather enjoy the Filipinos cheering and clapping as the film progressed ... something I've never experienced before.

With our early arrival, it give us the next day to explore Cebu City. Sarah opted for the shopping mall experience, which I have to say appeared to be no different to any other decent and large shopping mall elsewhere in the world. I opted for a trip to Carbon Market. No, thats not some massive Carbon credit exchange, its the local produce market in Cebu city. I have become rather fond of Markets during my trip and this one was a cracker. The highlight had to be the sausages being made by hand. I saw teams of guys injecting intestine with Sasuage mix, then another lot tying it with cord into 'Sasuages'. Something which is easily automated in the west is still made by hand here, but having tasted many Filiopeno Longanesa (Sausages), boy are they good.

Making Longanesa (Sausages) by hand

It was in Carbon that I also had a firm reminder of why the Philippines is still firmly a third world country, coming across a slum in the middle of the market. But it was a quite different to any slum that I have visited. You can buy purified water from home made dispensing machines for a peso (1/2 cent). People are well dressed and clean. It had an internet cafe, which blew me over ... basically some guy selling net time on his computer from his front room, in a narrow alleyway complete with raw sewage and rats. The Children we exciting and optimistic and the Pancake I sampled was coloured purple, to "brighten" up the day. Even in poverty, the Philippines is completely different to anywhere else I have been ... its quite clear that the average slum dwelling Filipino has different priorities on what to spend the little money they have on, compared to their Indian or South American counterparts. Oh and the men still keep Cocks, with the hope of making it big at next sundays Cockfight.

Slum Kids in Carbon Market...

As I left the slum I was commandeered into another Tandauy moment. This time with Fernando, who should have been working but preferred to Skive off with some random foreigner. I was a bad influence obliging, but I'd like to thank Fernando for another excellent TANDUAY moment:

Fernando (left) and friends sharing a Tanduay moment!

Finally: An update on my lost Camera Saga. It was lost but now is found, thanks to Venus with whom I went Caving on Panay. I left it in her Car (Doh!) and thankfully she found it and was able to send it on to Cebu City for me to pick up. So as an ode to Venus, belatedly, I'm posting some of the pictures of the cool looking Spiders in Guizo Cave.

Apparently this one Jumps and is a tad venomous...

A Scorpion Spider

Another nasty looking one. Call it nameless.

We are off to Malapasqua Island, an Island off northern Cebu to dive with Thresher Sharks. To have any hope of seeing the Sharks, apparently a 5am start is needed every day. GULP.

One of civil engineerings finest hours!

This is Loboc. A quiet little town on Bohol, with the oldest catholic church on the Island, San Pedro. What you see here is San Pedro on the left and on the right is the end of a bridge, a bridge to no-where.

It is in fact a double lane concrete bridge across the Loboc river which just ends abruptly. Work was stopped ... how do I explain this ... err ... when the civil engineers realised that the Church was in the way! I mean ... just who on earth would build a bridge without checking that a bloody huge 17th century church is not directly in the way, some 30 metres from the riverbank ? And what about the workmen, surly someone should have raised the question ? Or even the towns inhabitants ? This has to get my vote as one of civil engineerings finest hours!

Needless to say this is a huge embarrassment to the town folk. So much so that the local mayor has tried to patch it up, making the bridge into a 'pedestrianised' boulevard. Pedestrianised ? ... its not like any cars can get on the bridge without the assistance of a crane or a seriously cool act of God. The best bit is the plaque naming the 'boulevard' in memory of some local benefactor. Would you really want this boulevard named after you, 'boulevard' being a thinly veiled disguised for a failed civil engineering project ... a bridge to nowhere ? I guess it must be a nice place to take evening stroll, over the bridge and back, for all of, errr, a minute.

Over our last few days in Siqujor we took a tour of the Island. We visited Cambugahay falls, a local swimming spot and popular spot to hang out. We were met with a few groups of teenagers hanging out and encouraging us to come for a swim and jump. We obliged and each time I walked around for a jump I was greeted by the teenage lads offering me a glass of Tanduay and shouting "Drink Tanduay, its good for the heart". I shouted back "but not for the head", to which the gents laughed and then threw themselves off the waterfall in another laughable position. What a great afternoon.

Another Tanduay fuelled jump off Cambugahay falls

I also managed to visit Cantabon cave on Siqujor, which I highly rate. Cantabon is an active stream way which goes on for well over a mile. This is tourist caving at its finest; turn up at the Barangay hall (village hall) and ask to be shown the cave. At which point a 40 year old mother wondered over and offered to show me around the cave with a cheapo florescent made-in-china lamp and in her flip flops. A highly recommended bit of Caving if you ever get to Siquijor. Come to think of it ... and even speaking as a non beach loving person, Siqujor is highly recommended, a fine place to let time stretch into oblivion. Long may it stay that way.

A little bit of matchmaking, quickly followed by a trip to the cock doctor...

If you asked a Filipino what their national sport is, most people would instantaneously reply that its Cockfighting. And there is plenty of evidence that this is a really popular 'sport' in the Philippines. Just about everyone outside of metro Manila keeps a cock or few in their yards to grow into a prime fighting cock. Its just impossible to miss the plethora of Cocks tethered to poles in the gardens of peoples homes while sitting on the Jeepney travelling down the road. I'm told that for many people, their fighting cock(s) are prize possessions and are treated with the best possible food and care. A fighting cock from a renowned breeder can go for as much as PHP 10,000. Thats £130.

So during the past few weeks I've spoken to a number of Filipino chaps about cockfighting. And I have asked them if they find the sport cruel or barbaric ? In response you'll get a blank look and a response such as "No, whats the problem ?". I've gone as far as explaining that its Illegal in most of Europe and has been for a long time. However after so many responses, I was pretty convinced that most Filipinos find the sport quite acceptable and don't see a major issue with it. I was curious as to why not, to why it was so popular and most of all I wanted to get my head around the most popular pastime in the Philippines. Roll on Siquijor, a small island in the Visaya's with one cash machine, no chain restaurants and only 87k inhabitants.

Another awesome sunset over Siquijor

I decided to take a Motorbike for a spin around the island to visit, amongst other things, at cave at near the village of Cantabon and to climb to the top of the high peak on the island, Mt Bandila-an. Near the top of the peak, I become suspicious when chaps started to file past on their motorbikes, with almost everyone carrying a cock under one arm. Sure enough some 15 minutes later I rode past a small hamlet with a few hundred motorbikes parked outside. The chaps hanging around on the track told me a cock fight was starting, a special derby organised a few days after All Saints Day as friends and family are in town.

I was met by a 20 peso entrance fee, followed by the scene of men, young and old, hanging around with their chickens, eyeing up the competition. It turns out that this is the first step to a fight ... finding an opponent who you believe you have a chance of beating. Of course it takes two parties to agree to a fight and the size of your bird, breed, reputation and aggression are all crucial factors. Many of the chaps will not find a suitable opponent and have to wait until next weeks derby.

Then comes cocks being kitted up for a fight, specifically by having a rather scary looking blade attached to their left leg. Its a rather sobering sight, amplified with the wariness exercised by the handlers while putting the blade in place. The blade is placed over a sharp spur on the birds ankle and the length of the blade will vary depending on the size of the bird. Incidentally, I did not realise that the sharp spur is part of the birds physique thanks to thousands of years of evolution. For survival to be the fittest, a Cock only gets to breed if it is able to fight off other male competitors, and a cock with a bigger, more powerful ankle spur will survive to be the fittest. Or so the theory goes, if cocks were once again in the wild.

Attaching a blade to a Cock. A rather sobering sight.

Then comes the ring. A raised glass platform with a frenzy of men shouting and betting over the next fight. Some chaps will be sipping Beer, Tuba and Tanduay while they try and find a suitor for the next bet. Betting here is between punters with no middleman or bookmaker and is achieved by a series of hand signals signifying the amount of the bet and which bird they want to make a bet on. I found this curiously interesting for a couple of reasons: There is no percentage of each bet going to the house and if there is an overly dominant bird (I.E. everyone wants to bet on it) then there is no market for bets.

The fights I saw were swift. The handlers worked up their birds and then following a quick flurry of fighting you end up with a winner and (a dead) loser. This usually happens all within the space of a minute. The chickens are then whisked off, with the losing chicken ending up on the dinner table, although I am told that the a fighting cocks meat is rather tough thanks to the dietary supplements fed to the bird to make it stronger and bigger. The winning chicken makes a visit to the cock doctor for a checkup and the suturing of any injuries that it may have sustained so they can fight another day. As my dive guide for the past few days explained, his Cock has won four fights, was fixed up every time and has just retired, so that he can breed the blood line with the hope being that his offspring may be able to fight just as well.

Cock Doctor with his box of tricks, fixing up the winner of the last fight.

So having been and experienced the national sport of the Philippines first hand, how did I feel on reflection ? With this being my first experience of a bloodsport I was not as shocked as I thought I would be. Some of the animal treatment in China and Pakistan upset me to a much greater degree. The chickens at the cockfighting area had pretty quick and less painful death than the chickens I saw being butchered on the street in Pakistan. In Pakistan the chickens were bled to death over a miserable few minutes, as is required by Islamic custom of preparing food that is called Halal. That said the chickens in the ring have a fight for their life, which is not pleasant nor can it be humane. Finally seeing dogs slaughtered in front of their companions in a market while I was in Yangshou, China, upset me a whole lot more. That experience still haunts me.

What I also can't help but reflect on is that this sport is so ingrained within the Filipino's culture. They see it as part of their heritage and are proud of it. A Sunday afternoon at the cockfight for a Filipino, appears to him, to be no different to a saturday afternoon at the game for a Brit. But does that make it right ?

Bikes, Trikes and Pigs Copulating!

For the past couple of weeks we have been warned that November 1st is All Saints Day and that the day after is All Souls Day. I don't know much about All Saints Day nor All Souls Day, however we were told to prepare for some major celebrations in the Philippines during this time. It turns out that the majority of people, some 80%, are Roman Catholic in the Philippines. This is all thanks to the colonisation of the Philippines by the Spanish during the 16th century, who, apart from almost completely wiping out any form of pre-Spanish culture such as the script and literature, introduced Catholicism is a massive way. Since then All Saints day has been widely celebrated and the Filipinos do it 'Filipino style' in their local cemeteries.

We happened to be in Dumaguete, a hip university town in the south of Negros, which is hip thanks to the Americans. Shortly after they took 'over' colonial duties from the Spanish at the turn of the 20th century, the American's set up a schools, colleges and universities in a serious way. Literacy shot up from a few percent to over 50% within a few years which was no small achievement and really goes to show the differences in colonial thought between the Spanish and Americans. The American's believed in self rule for the Filipinos but only through Education, while the Spanish left ruling to the colonial power. But hey that's ok ? They liberated and 'saved' their subjects through Christianity. The Americans left it to missionaries. Hindsight is easy, but I am with the American's on this one and the Philippines is a whole lot better for it.

Duamguete Cemetery on the evening of All Saints

So we headed down the the cemetery on the evening of All Saints Day in Dumaguete. The cemetery was packed full of people sitting around their family graves with food, drink and candles. In between this were getto-blasters, food stalls and souvenir sellers giving the place the feeling of a mini Glastonbury. At first we were very nervous about walking on graves, but once we realised that it was quite ok and normal, we just followed suit. And as we walked around, we were quickly asked to join in peoples celebrations by sharing some food and drink. Result? Unable to refuse we ended up at a hog roast washed down with San Miguel followed by Poker till 3am. Yes, that was a full Texas Hold'em tournament, next to the family grave until the wee hours of the morning, with a large amount of beer and Tanduay flowing. The poker game was a lot of fun, although I did have to bite my winning streak and make sure I lost before the evening was out. So once we were down to three people, I went from Chip leader to out in three hands. Disaster !

On reflection it was a great celebration, no sadness, just remembrance for loved ones over a light evening of parting. And who would have thought? Celebrating on top of graves? All-in-all a great evening and one of my highlights of the Philippines. We got to know a Filipino family quite well and were made to feel very welcome. Fantastic.

Mikee's Tricycle on Siquijor ... A 175cc Kawasaki powering the cockpit.

Earlier in the day we planned to visit a set of old Volcano Caldera's in the area, called the twin lakes. Normally we would consider getting a tricycle to a nearby site, but we heard that the road was pretty rough and even a trike would not make it. Which is quite surprising, as Trikes, the Filipino version of a Tuk Tuk, are pretty tough. Consisting of a powerful bike, anywhere from a 100cc to 250cc depending on the local terrain, which is then welded to a carriage. But its no ordinary SE asian sidecar ... these side carriages have been really thought out by the Filipinos, who have sussed out a great design to maximise space efficiency. You quite regularly see a trike with two people up front, four in the rear and two on the back seat of the bike... that's eight people plus driver and they are all traveling in reasonable comfort. In my opinion that beats an India Tuk-Tuk anyday. I wonder how many people an Indian driver would be able to fit into one of these...!

But due to the rough track, we were advised that a motorbike is the only way. In town we were met by chaps flogging a ride to the lakes in their Habal-Habal's. Which is a motorbike with a extended rear... so they can fit up to five people on it at once, giving the bikes their names 'Habal-Habal' which means 'Pigs Copulating'. Another ingenious Filipino invention.

Habal-Habal ... seats five copulating Pigs

We did however pass on copulating like pigs and rented a pair of motorbikes. The lakes were rather good, apart from the extortionate price to get a boat to the other side of the lake.

Finally, I've had to finalised my plans home via Hong Kong, New Zealand and the Cook Islands. After seven months on the road its a little bit of a let down thinking of returning home. The most gutting of all is the realisation that to get to New Zealand, our last major stop, I have an ten hour flight from Hong Kong. Thats long haul and a little sobering. Gulp.

Tomorrow we are off to Siquijor a small island a few miles away which is going to be a taste of small town, small island Philippines. We can be sure there will not be a Mcdonalds.

PERMANENT DANGER ZONE: But completely spellbinding

The Philippines sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire and has a number of active volcano's as a result. Top of the list probably goes to Mount Pinatabo which erupted pretty violently during 1991 and resulted in lowering the average temperature on earth by half a degree in the following months. So on my list of things to do in the Philippines was to check out a volcano. Having got a few days to spare I decided to climb the 2435 metre Mount Kanla-on on Negros. Lonely Planet touts it as a highlight and a worthwhile trip on Negros. So thanks to a Caving contact in Iloilo, I was put in touch with a guide and the Department of Environment & Natural Resources (DENR) in Bacolod to get a permit to climb the mountain, as both a guide and a permit are mandatory. So off I trundled to the DENR where I was greeted with a number of glossy posters of the summit of the volcano. Pictured was a grassy summit with a large grass filled depression, that I took to be the crater. It looked pretty tame, but never-the-less I was enthusiastic about getting some good hiking done and enjoying the superb views, including, I was told, the spectacular sunrises and sunsets. Twenty minutes later, I was in possession of a permit which contained one small footnote that caught my eye:

"[Mt Kanla-on is] One of the most active volcanos in the country and is considered by the Philippines volcanology and seismology (PHIVOLC) as one of the most unpredictable in terms of it's volcanically eruptive nature. PHIVOLC has designated the four kilometer radius from the crater centre as a PERMANENT DANGER ZONE within which all human activities are therefore declared RESTRICTED."

Looking back at the glossy photos I wonder how such a benign looking place can also be so dangerous. My conclusion: It's hyped up.

Sunset from Kanla-on

That afternoon, I travelled on to Guintubdan, at the foot of the Volcano and met by Rey, who is a local guide. Rey kindly offered me a homestay at his house, which I happily accepted, along with dinner!  My stay with Rey was a pretty interesting insight into rural Filipino village life, although any chance of getting a decent nights sleep was dashed during the first night when I was greeted with a cacophony of Roosters crowing at 5.30am. Guintubdan it turns out, is a major Cock breeding centre, that is, Cocks to be used for Cockfighting, one of the national 'sports' in the Philippines.
After a pretty rough few hours trying to sleep in, I met my guide, James, later that morning. We started the 1300m ascent through rainforest to our campsite on the 'saddle'. We aimed for the saddle as it is situated on the edge of the tree-line allowing for spectacular views. The ascent is through a rather unique rainforest with a wealth of sounds, smells and sights, but without a view until you get to the sdaale. "Alimatoc" a.k.a. leeches where in abundance and we spent much of the climb flicking the little critters off our clothing, particularly a type of leech which aimed for you ears, eyeballs or mouth! After a long slog, we arrived at the saddle around 3pm, allowing us to climb the final ascent to the summit before sunset. It was at this point that James, my guide, explained that from the summit we will be able to see into the Crater.

I got the the summit and looked down. My Jaw dropped. What I saw was one of the most fearsome and impressive sights that I have ever seen. A sheer sided, 300m deep crater, stinking of sulphur and stained with vibrant colours from various seeping minerals. I could see into the centre of the earth, witnessing the destructive power of a volcano right in front of me. It was awesome and I was completely spellbound.

Looking down the crater. Its so deep that my Camera's lens was not wide enough to capture the whole hole!

I had no idea it would be like this. Until this point, I thought dangerous volcanos are the sort that Paul encountered in Hawai, with lava oozing from every crevice. What I didn't know and I do now (thanks to Wikipedia) is that there are two types of Volcano: firstly the Shield Volcano which are some of the biggest in the world, but relatively benign, just oozing lava from crevices at various speeds. Hawaii is a classic example with all the Hawaiian Islands made up of shield volcanoes. And then there are Strato Volcanos, like Mount Pinatabo which just goes BOOM when it is ready! A day later Rey (from my homestay in Guintubdan) looked at the photo of me standing on top Kanla-on, pointed to a 'hero' plaque on his wall and then commented:

Looking across the crater

"I was standing there in 1996 and the Volcano suddenly went BOOM!" He went on to explain that he and the clients promptly ran, as fast as they could, away from the crater while being bombarded by rocks and ash. One chap did not make it and the rest of the group had to be helicoptered off later that day with more or less everyone sustaining rockfall injuries. And in writing this blog, I have since spotted the following on Volcano live:

"There has been a large increase in volcanic earthquakes at Kanlaon volcano, Philippines. Between 23rd August and 1st September [2009] there were 257 earthquakes measured. This seismic activity is higher than the background levels, which usually varies from 0 to 4 events in 24 hour period"

We were camping at the tree line, a tree line that was defined by the limits of the falling heavy debris from the last eruption. I am left pondering that if there is an eruption, lets hope it is smaller than the last one for the sake of the regular campers who visit the summit!

Conclusion: This is a truly scary place but one of the most spellbinding sights I have ever seen in my life. And the bonus was my first proper cloud inversion when we woke up the following morning. Perfect.

Cloud inversion on the summit of Mt Kanla-on

Tomorrow I am off to Damuguete on the south of Negros. Its hip university town, so Sarah and I have heard, and its on Lonely planets must see list. We will see.