Showing posts with label rice terraces. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rice terraces. Show all posts

Thursday, March 4, 2010

Coming back from Sagada and the Rice Terraces


Food hawkers at a toilet break on way down from rice terraces. The woman above was embarrassed to have her picture taken. After I took it she wiped her hand across her check. I didn't realize exactly what she was saying, other than it was a shy/embarrassed gesture. But now I do.

Probably road workers getting shuttled back home at the end of the day. Endless work to be done on these mountain roads.

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Coming down from Rice Terraces #2



This stuff was just stellar. Unfortunately on the way up, I arrived rather late, and didn't get to appreciate the granduer. Then coming down, because I didn't know the view would be so good, I didn't set myself up to have a window seat till late in the trip, and by then light was fading then. But this 6 hour, $5 bus ride from Baguio to Sagada is actually one of the highlights of my trip. Well, mostly just the 2 hours closest to Sagada.

One is given the impression before going to the mountains that the rice terraces are just in certain towns. But, no, they follow this road for 2 hours. Some/many are no longer cultivated, but many are. Wow.
Pics above taken around 5 at night out the window of the bus that I would later be throwing up on. Luckily the first time it was at a rest stop. The next, an hour later, I was equipped with a plastic bag, which I then dropped out the window. Six hours of non stop bumps and turns on a full stomach of food, beer, soda. Ouch.

School stuff in Malicong rice terraces

Teachers at the school. Left lady was 65ish, other two on the right were 55 ish I believe.




This was a school/playground at the top of the Malicong rice terraces.

Malincong rice terraces




Unfortunately I got here a little early in the season so most stuff hadn't yet been planted thus no full on green effect which must induce a rather blissed out emotion. Anyway, this stuff is just huge. Go around the bend and the whole thing repeats, and repeats. Amazing.



Above is all from Malincong.
Door to a field.

Bontoc tribal native museum


The two pics above show a pre-modern house for "young women." According to the pics at the museum, this is how they were living in 1950. Now its the regular comfy, ugly stuff we live in.

Bontoc museum

This is the circle where young boys hang out with the elders and learn how to become men, or some such.
This box is the bedroom. I guess it keeps the body heat in.
See the bed box in back.



Pre modern housing local huts.
Following this link to some great 1950 photos by Eduardo Masferre.
http://my_sarisari_store.typepad.com/my_sarisari_store/2009/08/index.html

Leaving Sagada, heaing for Bontoc



Just a couple of pics of the local bus I took from Sagada to Bontoc. The ride was think $.50 for about a 45 minute ride, 20 pesos. The woman in the forground was Swiss, about 50, I met her at my restaurant hotel. Her sister works for Red Cross in Manila, and she is her to visit her. This woman, whose name escapes me at the moment, lives in southern of France on a farm, and has six or so horses. She has also worked with the Red Cross in Sri Lanka with the Sinhalese, not the Tamils, and in Liberia, in a prison making sure detainees were treated properly.



Houses around a small neighborhood among the hills and rice terraces of Sagada.
A local guy named Bernard gave me and my Swiss friend two walks around the area, one centering on the caves, the others goal was to see a small waterfall and rice paddies.



Bernard, the local guide in the foreground. He had a 6 year old boy who lived with his parents, while his wife was working in Canada. The fields were allegedly a bit drier than normal this time of year, and farmers were getting quite concerned.