Once Upon A Time in Vietnam

I got the chance to see Vietnam recently. Because of an official invitation to our office to participate in an international conference, I was sent to go and see what's in store for us there. So that's when I got to see another nature's wonder, another finalist in this year's Wonders of the World -- the Halong Bay of Vietnam.

The Halong Bay, with 1,969 islands and about 100 caves to boast with. The bay features thousands of limestone karsts and isles in various sizes and shapes and about 120 kilometer long coastline and approximately 1,553 square kilometers in size. Most of the islands are hollow, with enormous caves, other support floating villages of fishermen, who ply the shallow waters for 200 species of fish and 450 different kinds of mollusks. Another specific feature of Halong Bay is the abundance of lakes inside the limestone islands. All these island lakes occupy drowned dolines within fengcong karst.

Its legendary stories would even describe it as "when the Vietnamese were fighting Chinese invaders, the gods sent a family of dragons to help defend the land. This family of dragons began spitting out jewels and jade. These jewels turned into the islands and islets dotting the bay, linking together to form a great wall against the invaders. The people kept their land safe and formed what later became the country of Vietnam." (wikipedia). So Halong means the 'descending dragon'.

It's 165 kilometers away from Hanoi City, about three hours drive, but getting there eased all our backaches... pictures will explain it all... During the tour, I got to meet other tourists who went to Vietnam to see the Halong Bay and what Vietnam still has to offer.

We also passed by some souvenir shops showcasing Vietnam's handicrafts, arts and silk... all a pride of the country...

Location: Halong Bay, Quang Ning Province of Vietnam

Exploring Aurora Province

Another site for an upcoming project... we're happy to note that Aurora Governor Bellaflor Angara-Castillo is so accommodating and she welcomes us to her province wholeheartedly. She doesn't even forget us even we got to know each other for very limited time.

I heard Aurora as a place that is so far and sort of unreachable community due to limited facilities in there. That's how i understood it, when we were planning to go there. Imagine, it's like seven hours of traveling from Manila and there are so many rough roads, not so many establishments, aside from the fact that it used to be hit by natural calamities.

So when we went there, we experienced traveling to what they say as its main link to the rest of Luzon - the narrow mountain gravel road that twists through the Sierra Madre Mountain Range, just to reach Aurora.

Because of Sen. Angara's initiatives and our office has been tapped to work with the other agencies for his proposed project for Aurora, we were forced to visit the place.
Little did we know, that despite of the difficulties in reaching Baler, Aurora, we enjoyed staying there and yes, now we don't mind going there again and again.

At first due to a very limited time, we were able to visit some facilities for the project that we are working on and a side trip to Ermita and to the Museo de Baler, one of the places I enjoyed visiting because of the stories behind it. And we were able to stay in one of the best accommodations there, well fortunately because other hotels were fully booked then. It's beachfront, so we got to enjoy the waters of the Pacific Ocean.

In our second visit, I was able to bring along my son with us. This time, he enjoyed not only the waters of the Pacific Ocean, but also another pride of the province, the El Pimentel Waterfalls, which despite of the rough roads that we had to pass through, it is all worth it.

For sure, we will get to explore more of Aurora once our project started.

If you're interested, you might want to get to know Aurora more at www.aurora.ph.

At the Sagada, Mountain Province

It's my first time to go to the Mountain Province. I have heard it many times, that Sagada is such a beautiful place and nobody told me how it looked like and what I could see if I go there. All I knew it's 13 hours away from Manila.... such a long way.

Then I got the chance to be there, and oh yes, I became one of those people who were strucked by the beauty of Sagada. Even foreigners did not bother the travel time just to visit Sagada.

I got the chance to see some places there for the first time. What I appreciated the most was how the locals there are maximizing the soil of the mountains. There are so many terraces, that I thought what we have in the Philippines was the famous Banawe Rice Terraces. Little did I know that there are a lot of terraces in Mountain Province. They planted not only rice, but they also plant vegetables.

So far, it's in Mountain Province where I got to witness that almost all the mountains are planted with crops --- from the bottom to the tip of the mountain.

So beautiful, so greeny...

Then I got to see what's inside the Sumaguing Cave, one of the famous spots in Sagada. Something like accepting a challenge when you go inside the cave, since all movements must be done carefully and surely.... or else you're dead... :)

At first, I appreciated the Underground River when I saw it and so I supported it to the Wonders of the World. But when I saw what the Sumaguing Cave has, then I told myself -- hey its more challenging than the Underground River aside from the stages that we've gone through as we traversed inside the cave and I got to touch and step on the many formations of the stalagmites and stalactites inside.

A truly amazing experience....

The locals of the Mountain Province also boast their traditions especially on how they treat their dead people. We got to see the Burial Cave and the Hanging Coffins.
They explained that they do not believe burying under the ground, since they wanted the spirits of their loved ones to be free. The way they wanted it to be.

The burying involved all the locals, as their social responsibility. What I saw were the coffins for 200 years already. Though the locals still practice such, they just place the coffins in other hidden places, which are not for public viewing anymore, since it is sacred for them.

The locals wanted us, those of different culture, to understand them. And I am amazed how they preserve their culture.

These are just some of the features of Sagada, Mountain Province... but we saw them, we really had to undergo some physical activities, that challenged us whether we would like to see it ourselves or let others just describe it for us.

I was one of those who took the challenge, though my muscles hurt for two days, I did it. I saw them myself.

And so I could say, "I came, I saw, and I was conquered by the beauty of Sagada."