No trip to SE Asia is complete without a trip to a Karaoke Bar. In no particular order I assassinate the following songs.
Viva Las Vegas
Buning Love
I am all shook up
Just when I thought I could not do any worse I picked the cheesiest love songs that I could find on the list and sent them to a painful death as well.
I took a long bus rise (9 hours) from Manila to Banaue to see the rice terraces. Fairly quiet and peaceful hear compared to the madness of Manila.
Unfortunately I will not get to go diving or see the whale sharks but I might come back in the winter when the weather gets better here.
I went to a local place for dinner and had some great local good and experienced local hospitality which is often a highlight of a trip. There were kids everywhere. I have them my camera to take pictures and they were so funny. A mini riot. That is why there are so many pictures of kids on the picture section.
I did get bit by a dog while I was there. It barely broke skin so I did not go for a rabies shot. That was a couple of days ago and so far so good. But I do have a tendency to take leak in inappropriate places and hump the odd stranger’s leg but I was going that anyway.
Banaue Rice Terrances
The Banaue Rice Terraces are 2000-year old terraces that were carved into the mountains of Ifugao in the Philippines by ancestors of the Batad indigenous people. The Rice Terraces are commonly referred to by Filipinos as the "Eighth Wonder of the World".
It is commonly thought that the terraces were built with minimal equipment, largely by hand. The terraces are located approximately 1500 meters (5000 ft) above sea level and cover 10,360 square kilometers (about 4000 square miles) of mountainside. They are fed by an ancient irrigation system from the rainforests above the terraces. It is said that if the steps are put end to end it would encircle half the globe.
The Banaue terraces are part of the Rice Terraces of the Philippine Cordilleras, ancient sprawling man-made structures from 2,000 to 6,000 years old. They are found in the provinces of Kalinga, Apayao, Benguet, Mountain Province and Ifugao, and are a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Locals to this day still plant rice and vegetables on the terraces, although more and more younger Ifugaos do not find farming appealing, often opting for the more lucrative hospitality industry generated by the Rice Terraces. The result is the gradual erosion of the characteristic "steps", which need constant reconstruction and care.
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