the Philippines

That's what we saw while boarding our flight out of Vietnam. Hmmm. And I thought you just plain weren't allowed to bring them on. I guess if you ask politely...

Anyway, the Philippines...




Right away as soon as we got off the plane we began to fall in love with the country. People are really nice – and not because they want to sell you something. Everyone speaks English to a very high level, which just makes everything easy, and there's a ton of things to do and see, which we discovered as we traveled north to the tiny village of Batad. Home to just 3,000 people, Batad is almost that many years old. The village mainly exists for the terraced rice paddies carved into the mountain side. This is basically a rice farm on a 45 degree angle!




Since there are no roads to get there we had to walk a few hours from the nearest road. Hot and in need of a bath, where better to freshen up than the waterfall (which was another hour walk away)...




We planned to spend the night there, and lucked out when we found a villager who rents out a traditional hut for the night. This is the real thing – over 200 years old. You walk up and duck under the low roof to find a ladder that leads up inside...



And once you're inside, when you look up at the ceiling inside, it had all these animal skulls. Creepy...



We wanted to cover more ground, so we just spent one night, and then walked out early the next morning. We caught a bus to another small village – this one named Sagada. One of the interesting attractions of Sagada is the huge cave



We sort of ended up at the cave by accident and thus unprepared, but we ventured inside anyway. It didn't take us long to realize that without lights we couldn't get too far. That's when I remembered that my camera has a little red-eye reduction light (separate from the flash) and it can be forced to turn on. Not much of a flashlight, but we did get a ways further. That's when Amada's wisdom prevailed and said something along the lines that this tiny light will only be able to get us into trouble, but not out of it. And wouldn't you know it – right about then a tour group was entering – with a nice big lamp that totally lit up the inside. So we asked if we could pay and join their tour and then we were all on our way. At one point it is necessary to get a little wet as the water is about knee level, so we rolled up our pants and removed our shoes and continued on.

There is another cave withing walking distance, and we visited this one also – but for a different reason. This one is known because of its use as a traditional burial site. Bodies were put into hollowed out tree trunks and placed into this cave.



The last body to be placed in this manner was not all that long ago – it was the late 1980's.

And while on the topic of burial ceremonies there are also the “hanging coffins” in Sagada. These are wooden coffins placed onto the vertical face of a mountain cliff.



But I'm telling the story in reverse. Before a body is put into a coffin (hanging or otherwise) the deceased is first placed on a wooden chair, and their body tied in place to hold it from falling or slumping. The wrists and ankles were bound to the chair, straps hold across the waist and chest, and then a wide strap to hold up the head is strapped across the mouth. This chair was then hoisted up – maybe five feet up, and people came to “talk” with the recently departed. This could last from a day, to maybe even a month – depending on how much money the departed's family could afford for hosting the visitors. And paying your respects could be just about anything – you had carte blanche to even tell the dead what a terrible person they were. But hopefully you had nice things to say. The photo we saw of this practice was really creepy looking – the dead looking like a deity being worshiped. And with that strap across the mouth – wow – that looked really creepy!

So if I'm telling things in reverse order, why not discuss how someone might die out in the remote villages of norther Philippines. Well if you were terribly unlucky, you might succumb to headhunters. Of course everyone has heard of this practice before, but I must admit that I didn't know it was from these parts that headhunting originated. And it was our interest in this which took us to the next village called Bontoc.



Anyway, if you were ill fated enough to run into one of these warriors you might lose your head – literally.



Did you see what he was holding in his hands? It probably came from this poor guy



Wow – that's serious. And we're told they did this for sport. We're also told that headhunting has long since stopped, but I don't know. Some of these remote villages without roads or any connection to the modern world still cling pretty firmly to their traditions, and don't have much need for “civilized” laws, etc. We heard from one traveler that in the region just a little further north than we ventured that some of the tribes were preparing to go to war against each other. He said they had all their weapons laid out and ready and were just waiting for the sign. Apparently that's when the red bird sings. Luckily there were no red birds singing while he was around.

So after four days running through a few of these small villages we took a day to head back to Manila, and that's where one of the little travel miracles happened. Discomfort, bad luck, and being ripped off happen often enough, so I really cherish the times when something unexpected and good happens. It was on the first leg of our way back to Manila that we took a jeepney, which is a custom retrofitted jeep with a long back end attached to carry maybe 20 or 30 people. Sort of like a 4x4 bus. Like this...



A fellow backpacker suggested that we should try sitting on the roof for the two hour drive from Bontoc to Banue, and we did just that...



And that gave us the chance to see completely unobstructed views as we traveled the dangerously high, and dangerously twisty single lane road past some of the roughest and most spectacular views to be had anywhere. Like this....



And just a short 12 hours later we were back in Manila where we arranged transport to go south on the main island of Luzon. Our destination – the coastal village of Donsol, which is famous for.....




whale sharks! These truly are gentle giants. Growing as much as 18 meters in length and weighing up to 20 tons, these guys are actually docile. And Donsol had, literally, tons of them. We swam around with them for maybe three hours (and got quite a sun burn in the process).

Here's a video I took during one of our many encounters...



We headed to Manila after this to deal with several things and did manage to see much of this city of 11 million. One thing we did was visit the Chinese cemetery, which was really interesting. They say that when you die you can't take it with you, but these rich Chinese families are sure trying. Rather than burial plots this cemetery is full of mausoleums. Nice ones. Think two story house with running water, flushing toilets, electricity, air con, kitchen, even maids (living ones). These mausoleums were nicer and larger than many the homes in Manila.



And that was about it for the Philippines. We then boarded a plane for Hong Kong, so stay tuned for that. Oh ya - my so called "tough" Olympus camera died. Again. Ugh. Well, lucky thing we're off to Hong Kong next. That's probably the world's best place to pick up electronics for cheap, so I shouldn't be without a camera for long.

Vietnam

Upon entering Vietnam we headed straight to Hanoi, in the north of the country. It's a big busy city, but doesn't have all that much to offer tourists. We went to the water puppet theater, enjoyed some great food, and visited the prison where captured American pilots were held during the Vietnam war (which, they refer to as the American war).

This prison was sarcastically dubbed the “Hanoi Hilton”. In fact, former USA presidential candidate John McCain was held here after his bomber was shot down during his attempt to take out an electrical power station. Here is his flight suit...supposedly...

It was almost humorous to read the biased description of the treatment of the American prisoners. Apparently they received better medical care and food than Vietnamese citizens, and spent much of their time playing volleyball and doing crafts. And when they were released they all received a gift bag and they thanked their captors for teaching them the best of Vietnamese culture. Hmm - ya - I'm sure that's exactly how it happened.

Next was the World Heritage Site of Halong Bay:

We did some trekking around the larger islands and even did a little gentle kayaking around some smaller islands.

Of course there's also the caves in the bay. And to improve upon nature's artistry, some government official thought it best to add colored lights inside.

Ahh - yes - that's much better with the colors.

Further south we went to Hue, and did a day trip in the area known as the DeMilitiarized Zone (DMZ) which marked the 1960's ear border between the separate countries of North Vietnam and South Vietnam. Once the Americans sent soldiers into active fighting, this area became the theater of intense fighting.

Here's a few remnants of those days...

To defend against the superior American technology the civilians and North Vietnamese army made extensive use of tunnels. In fact, they credit the tunnels as a key element in their victory. Entire villages lived much of their lives below ground – only coming up to farm the fields. We visited the tunnel system known as Vinh Moc

Families were each assigned a tiny room in the tunnel network to live in.

Imagine having such a tiny place for your family. They even had schools, maternity rooms, kitchens, etc. underground. Some children born here spent the first five years of their lives living underground.

And Hue had more than reminders of the war to offer. Such as these gardens from an ancient royal burial grounds.

A little further south we stopped at the fantastic town of Hoi An. What a great atmosphere in the area known as “old town”. Great restaurants, fantastic looking buildings, no cars allowed, and inexpensive tailor shops - yup – I got myself a suit. Custom fitted and made in just one day.

Ya - I didn't buy any socks.

But that's not all – there are, of course, the ubiquitous massage shops. Now this is sort of strange, but I remember when I was in Taiwan seeing people having some sort of treatment where small warmed glass jars were put onto the skin of people's backs. When the air in the jars cooled, the jar was sucked onto the skin. Anyway, I was suffering from a cold (congested, coughing, etc.) so the massage lady recommended I try this as it's supposed to be therapeutic. Well, part of what this trip is all about is trying new things, so I gave it a shot.

She lit a small fire and used its heat to warm small jars one at a time. Once a jar was heated a little she put it directly onto my back. Within a few minutes my back was completely covered with 30 of these jars.

And sure enough, as the air inside each jar cools a suction is formed – a really strong (read: painful) suction. After about half an hour she removed them and, well, now I have a polka-dot back.

The verdict is still out as to whether this particular eastern medicine works, but I don't think I'll be trying it again any time soon.

We also made a day trip out of Hoi An to see the oldest temples in all of Asia – the My Son ruins. Tragically, many of them were heavily damaged by American bombs during the Vietnam war, but a small number remain. These even pre-date the Khmer temples of Angkor.

Our final destination in Vietnam was Saigon (aka Ho Chi Minh city). For us the two big things to visit were the Reunification Palace, and the War museum. The first of these two - the Reunification Palace - can be said to be the place where America lost the Vietnam war. It was from the roof of this building that helicopters began to evacuate diplomats, etc. while three stories below Vietnamese soldiers had stormed the doors and were taking the palace, and indeed the whole city by force.

We also visited the War museum, and found it to be a very biased propaganda tool. The museum exists to highlight the many atrocities committed by the American solders during the war. And there were many examples - the worst (if such things can be measured) might be the legacy of terrible disfigurements of developing fetuses caused by Agent Orange, Agent Purple, and other dioxins that were sprayed over populated areas. I thought the pictures were a little too extreme to post here.

Also mentioned were American attacks on civilians and the habit of destroying entire villages suspected of sympathizing with the VC. Here is one of the most famous images from the war showing terrorized children fleeing the remains of their homes.




There were many other pictures showing the most grizzly and violent scenes. Again, I didn't think it appropriate to post them here as they really were extreme. They are among the most gruesome things I've seen in my life.

The museum presentation was entirely one sided, but that does not change the fact that war is a terrible thing. I'm very fortunate to have lived while my country is at peace - something I have never taken for granted.

We finished our time in Saigon with a reunion with a British couple we met months ago in India. We first met them in Amritsar, and then later in Goa. And now our paths crossed again in Vietnam, so we arranged to see them for dinner.

Ahh - what a fun night. Hopefully this won't be the last time we meet up!

Laos

Next we went to Laos...



Our first stop was at the 4,000 islands just across the border into Laos. We spent three days in a sleepy little village there. These islands are made by the Mekong river delta, and are quite picturesque with the river flowing by.



We took the opportunity to hire a boat and went out to the Laos / Cambodia border to see the rare Irrawaddy river dolphins, so that was sort of neat. We did see a few, but our pics aren't great, so I won't bother posting any of them. Otherwise we rented bicycles and peddled around the island looking at some of the waterfalls, and other sights – like the old French railway and locomotive.

We took a bus (yes, I know – but options are limited) up to the capital city, Vientiane. Like a European city with its cathedrals, Vientiane is full of Buddhist Wats.



which in turn are full of monks in their iconic orange robes



The oldest wat in Vientiane (Wat Si Saket) is home to more than 10,000 Buddha statues:



Another of Vientiane's sights is Patuxai, Laos' less attractive version of the Arc d'Triumph. Apparently it was constructed from cement donated by USA for the construction of an airport runway. I guess the cement was more urgently needed for a “beautiful” victory monument.



We had hoped to travel further north in Laos, but running of out time we chose instead to jump into Vietnam. Yes – by bus again. But this was by far the best “sleeper” bus we've seen yet



...and good thing – the ride from Vientiane to Hanoi was 24 hours. And now we're in Vietnam, after just six days in Laos.