back in taiwan
so yeah, im back in taiwan. blah. my filipino adventure definitely ranks as one of the top five journeys i've ever been on. in some ways, it may have even been number one. certainly makes taiwan seem....unsavory.
anywho, picking up from where i left off in the last post, from batad i went back to banaue, and then, effectively, to vigan. to get to vigan, however, was an adventure in itself, as there are no direct buses, and most of the road is through the mountains. the roads in the mountains are absolutely incredible. about a third of the way is not paved, so dust more or less covers you for half the journey. from banaue i had to take a jeepney through the mountains on one of these unpaved roads. three rather stupid americans rode on top of the jeepney with the bags and the people who jumped on halfway through the ride. true, the view is better from the top, but they looked and acted like idiots trying to get "the real experience," and had more dust in them than i vacuum cleaner by the end of the two-hour ride. it's not so much that there were on top the jeepney that was annoying; that's actually not at all unusual. it was just that they were treating it as if it were unusual, or as if it were a rollercoaster ride at Cedar Point and they were the coolest people in the world because they rode it with their hands up in the air. in any case, i had a good time. the view was fine from inside the jeepney. we had a flat tire about halfway through, so we got to stop and have a look around for a bit, too. also, some guy on top lost his wallet about a quarter through the ride, so we had to backtrack about 15 minutes, allowing for a repeat performance of some of the scenery.
anywho, the jeepney went from banaue to bontoc, a capital town of the mountain province. i was in bontoc for about 30 minutes, just long enough to get something to eat and drink before catching the bus to baguio. i could have gone directly from banaue to baguio, but then i would have gone out on the same road i came in on, and im one for a little variety. besides, i had heard that the road between banaue-bontoc-baguio was much more interesting. rightly so.
from bontoc the bus went up, down, between and on top of the mountains until it got to baguio. it was unbelieveable. the first hour or two was unpaved, causing a rather annoying dust storm to wind its way inside the bus, but even then the views were uncomparable. i've never seen mountains like that before; there are rice terraces everywhere, pine trees or palm trees, depending on the elevation. the inclines were so steep, and sometimes we were only a couple feet from an edge that plummetted straight down. at every bus stop there are people selling yummy things to eat, and sometimes you dont even have to get out of the bus because they come to the windows (though usually you want to get out: it's an 8 hour ride). i think almost everything up there is made from rice, but surprisingly it's all quite tasty. i had some little rice gel things with coconut on top somewhere in the middle of nowhere, and now i wish i could go back to nowhere to have them again.
i should also note that i met a rather interesting old man on the way from bontoc to baguio. he got on somewhere in between, i think closer to bontoc than baguio, with two old women. after several hours, he started talking to me, mostly about the usual: where is your companion? how old are you? what did you study? where are you from? what do you do? what is your nationality? he turned out to be quite educated for a farmer who lives in the mountains. he said he used to work in government, but that he had resigned. i didnt push that issue, as i dont fancy talking about politics with old men. in any case, he was interesting because he asked me, "what is the difference between a traveler and a tourist?" i said that i thought they were the same, and he said they weren't. he thought a tourist was a person who was going somewhere in particular (as in, to borocay for a holiday), whereas a traveler is someone who doesnt have a specific agenda, and just goes where the road takes him/her. i thought that this was a cool thing for a guy from way up in the mountains to say, and at the time it seemed very philosphical and contemplative. as time has passed it seems less so, but i still think it's interesting. even though he meant to praise travel over tourism by saying it, in retrospect it doesnt make being a tourist sound so bad. in light of three idiot americans, im beginning to think it doesnt really matter if you are a traveler or a tourist; it's more important whether or not you are a jackass.
eventually we got to baguio. i had already passed through there before, and this time i was planning on seeing some things. unfortunately, the dust from the day's ride gave me a bit of an eye infection, and i had to go up to my room and sleep it off with my san miguel (beer. it's damn good). having associated baguio with an eye infection, i decided to leave early the next morning instead of hanging around. i was sick of cities, and wanted to go to somewhere a bit smaller anyway.
so i got on a bus to vigan. im going to skip over to the next post now, as this one is probably enormous by now.
anywho, picking up from where i left off in the last post, from batad i went back to banaue, and then, effectively, to vigan. to get to vigan, however, was an adventure in itself, as there are no direct buses, and most of the road is through the mountains. the roads in the mountains are absolutely incredible. about a third of the way is not paved, so dust more or less covers you for half the journey. from banaue i had to take a jeepney through the mountains on one of these unpaved roads. three rather stupid americans rode on top of the jeepney with the bags and the people who jumped on halfway through the ride. true, the view is better from the top, but they looked and acted like idiots trying to get "the real experience," and had more dust in them than i vacuum cleaner by the end of the two-hour ride. it's not so much that there were on top the jeepney that was annoying; that's actually not at all unusual. it was just that they were treating it as if it were unusual, or as if it were a rollercoaster ride at Cedar Point and they were the coolest people in the world because they rode it with their hands up in the air. in any case, i had a good time. the view was fine from inside the jeepney. we had a flat tire about halfway through, so we got to stop and have a look around for a bit, too. also, some guy on top lost his wallet about a quarter through the ride, so we had to backtrack about 15 minutes, allowing for a repeat performance of some of the scenery.
anywho, the jeepney went from banaue to bontoc, a capital town of the mountain province. i was in bontoc for about 30 minutes, just long enough to get something to eat and drink before catching the bus to baguio. i could have gone directly from banaue to baguio, but then i would have gone out on the same road i came in on, and im one for a little variety. besides, i had heard that the road between banaue-bontoc-baguio was much more interesting. rightly so.
from bontoc the bus went up, down, between and on top of the mountains until it got to baguio. it was unbelieveable. the first hour or two was unpaved, causing a rather annoying dust storm to wind its way inside the bus, but even then the views were uncomparable. i've never seen mountains like that before; there are rice terraces everywhere, pine trees or palm trees, depending on the elevation. the inclines were so steep, and sometimes we were only a couple feet from an edge that plummetted straight down. at every bus stop there are people selling yummy things to eat, and sometimes you dont even have to get out of the bus because they come to the windows (though usually you want to get out: it's an 8 hour ride). i think almost everything up there is made from rice, but surprisingly it's all quite tasty. i had some little rice gel things with coconut on top somewhere in the middle of nowhere, and now i wish i could go back to nowhere to have them again.
i should also note that i met a rather interesting old man on the way from bontoc to baguio. he got on somewhere in between, i think closer to bontoc than baguio, with two old women. after several hours, he started talking to me, mostly about the usual: where is your companion? how old are you? what did you study? where are you from? what do you do? what is your nationality? he turned out to be quite educated for a farmer who lives in the mountains. he said he used to work in government, but that he had resigned. i didnt push that issue, as i dont fancy talking about politics with old men. in any case, he was interesting because he asked me, "what is the difference between a traveler and a tourist?" i said that i thought they were the same, and he said they weren't. he thought a tourist was a person who was going somewhere in particular (as in, to borocay for a holiday), whereas a traveler is someone who doesnt have a specific agenda, and just goes where the road takes him/her. i thought that this was a cool thing for a guy from way up in the mountains to say, and at the time it seemed very philosphical and contemplative. as time has passed it seems less so, but i still think it's interesting. even though he meant to praise travel over tourism by saying it, in retrospect it doesnt make being a tourist sound so bad. in light of three idiot americans, im beginning to think it doesnt really matter if you are a traveler or a tourist; it's more important whether or not you are a jackass.
eventually we got to baguio. i had already passed through there before, and this time i was planning on seeing some things. unfortunately, the dust from the day's ride gave me a bit of an eye infection, and i had to go up to my room and sleep it off with my san miguel (beer. it's damn good). having associated baguio with an eye infection, i decided to leave early the next morning instead of hanging around. i was sick of cities, and wanted to go to somewhere a bit smaller anyway.
so i got on a bus to vigan. im going to skip over to the next post now, as this one is probably enormous by now.
posted by bethany at 00:02
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