January 21, 2008

temporarily

Buggered.

The navigation and comments, that is. Forgive.

This blog is now without an engine. The guts, subsequent posts and default styling can very temporarily be seen here.

January 15, 2008

a skill

If I'm very careful, I may succeed in bringing down my rate of posting to one entry per year.

July 15, 2007

lounging

I may be the first man to have wandered into the first class lounge at Manila International covered ankle to thigh in mud, but they couldn't rightly stop me; I have a pass (it's genetic, I can't actually afford to fly first-class) and a strong urge to check email, and there be computers here!

The last few weeks have been even busier than before, including lots of archipelago hopping on overnight boats (one came with a typhoon, which was... novel), travelling on top of cargo on trucks and, of course, climbing mountains -- just as well since I'm here to do just that.

Amongst all that, our happy trio has discovered three new species of plant, and rediscovered one not seen since 1908. That discovery involved imprisonment for three days, but since this was voluntary and a prerequisite to finding the plant in question, it was borne with much joy. That's what happens when a plant grows in the grounds (by "grounds", we're talking many thousands of hectares and about five mountains) of a prison colony for murderers and violent criminals -- bureaucracy and fear of the inmates keeps the sensible botanists out. The mad ones turn up eventually and have a ball.

Did you know that there's a dish eaten all over the country that consists of partially developed duck embryos? Yup, yup, incubate that fertilised duck egg till it has a heart beat, bones and small feathers, then nuke it. The unsuspecting tourist peels the egg to find a baby, egg-shaped bird, wrinkles his nose a little, dips it in salt, and presto, scrummilicious! It's even tastier than hu-hu grubs and fried maggots. I really will eat anything. It's called balut - see it for yourself.

Inspired by my own words, I'm off for a fluffy little snack.

June 5, 2007

Contrast

Arrived by ferry at Calapan, the capital city of Mindoro province, after a very eventful 14 hour bus passage down from Mountain and Ifugao Provinces.

In the last 20 hours, I've been caught up in a massive landslide - the mountain gave way on the road ahead of us and literally buried the route under 10 metres of heavy soil and splintered tree ferns; we negotiated a passenger and luggage exchange with a vehicle on the other side of the slip, unloaded and hiked over the landfall in the rain (it felt so epic!) - and then, as we continued down to Batangas for our ferry, a woman on the bus went into short-lived labour.

Our immediate diversion to hospital was pretty pointless, as the baby popped out in one bloody mess in all of five minutes (lucky woman), covering the aisle in blood. Apart from the roaring engine and constant emergency honking by the driver, there was total silence till the baby cried, then much relief all round as mother and baby were carried off the bus in a stretcher, health intact.

And now, off to climb a mountain that is supposed to be arduous to even Everest hikers because of the mad up and down terrain (fortunately, not so cold). I hope it's exaggerated, though there was a death up there not so long ago, which just goes to show that you have to be diligent at all times.

Before doing this, we visit the town mayor to get his blessings (permission) for the ascent.

There's a certain hint of adventure here; happy homo I are.

Anon!

June 4, 2007

Sagada, Mountain Province, Luzon

And who knew that even tiny villages up in the mountains would have internet?

This is just a brief one to say hello from the Philippines! A 10 hour bus ride brought me here, and another one lies ahead at the end of the day. Next stop, Mindoro!

Incidentally, not a durian in sight.

May 31, 2007

double-edged

"Your cum tastes like durian."

Relationships have failed over less, but a relationship that can't withstand attacks of attrition by a tropical fruit probably isn't worth holding on to.

We remain stalwart in our struggle against fruity pericarps and odious pulps. Enough said.