Archive for May, 2010
The Photography of Masferre
By Thomas on May 21, 2010 | 1 Comment »
One last discovery we made in Sagada has nothing to do with hiking through mountains or crawling through caves but rather with amazing art: the black-and-white photography of Eduardo Masferre.
The local artist, who passed away in 1995 at the age of 86, has left quite an anthropological legacy. In 1934, Masferre started documenting life in the Cordilleras, the mountainous areas of Northern Luzon, beautifully capturing the spirit of the region in his photos. He covered everything from village life to landscapes to architectural styles, but his ultimate collection was that of the » Continue reading this post »
Thinking of Bangkok
By Tony and Thomas on May 19, 2010 | 1 Comment »
We’re sitting here in the Philippines watching the government crackdown in Bangkok on CNN. How surreal. Although only a small part of Bangkok is occupied by Red Shirt protesters, it is the very area we walked through every day while we were in the city.
We see walls of tires with bamboo spears jutting out on corners we used to pass by, gun fights in Lumphini Park, armed vehicles advancing on the Rachaprasong intersection, an area we passed through multiple times a day. It feels like our second home is under siege.
We hope all our friends in Thailand are safe: Poy, Ning, Mr. T, grandma, our friends at 7 Eleven, the little person who plays the Leprechaun at the Irish pub, the staff at the local restaurant near the tobacco factory, everyone who welcomed us and made our stay so memorable. We just wanted everyone to know we are thinking of you.
Sagada’s Cave Connection
By Tony on May 17, 2010 | 8 Comments »
Sagada boasts more than a cool mountain climate, forests full of pines and tree ferns, and exotic burial rituals. Our principle reason for coming here was to bone up on our spelunking skills by doing the famous Cave Connection, a four-hour cave crawling tour linking the Lumiang and Sumaging cave systems. This tour requires its participants to repel down vertical shafts, crawl, squirm, dangle off of ledges, slip, slide, wade waist-deep through underground streams, and clamber over wedding cake cave formations – in other words, it’s serious food for your inner child.
But the trip is not for the faint of heart. No safety equipment was provided and the entire tour is conducted by the light of a gas lantern. Twenty minutes into our tour, our gas lantern started to malfunction and » Continue reading this post »
Sugong Coffins of Sagada
By Tony on May 15, 2010 | 1 Comment »
Exploring the countryside around the hill-town of Sagada, visitors will discover Sugong coffins hanging from cliffs, lodged into karst fissures, and piled into caves. The unique burial ritual is still practiced today although locals have to pay a high price for the honor. Older coffins are quite short because the original animists buried their dead in the fetal position. But later coffins, influenced by Christianity, place the body in a lying position and are therefore longer. It’s amazing how many of the ancient coffins we’ve discovered just hiking around town on our own – very cool!
And while the region is crawling with missionaries who like to believe they have » Continue reading this post »
A Few Friends in Banaue
By Thomas on May 13, 2010 | 2 Comments »
Tony and I met these three old Ifugao men while walking along the viewpoints outside Banaue. From left to right, Hemmiwat, Tundagyi and Thomas (no relation to me) drag their old bones up the hill every day to play music for tourists and pose for photographs in their headdresses and hand-woven loin cloths.
They were so friendly and genuinely into their music, we couldn’t resist taking some photos and giving a donation to their “band.” And after we realized Thomas had walked all the way up to the look-out despite being blind, we thought more power to them. While others stalk visitors for a hand out, these three spend their days bringing visitors a little music.
