Almost there!

'Do you know that saying "today is the first day of the rest of your life"? Well, today feels like it could be the last day of the rest my life!! I have never felt so much pain in my lower extremities! The soothing effects of yesterday's  massage has well worn off! I'm surprised I've even managed to make it out of bed. My legs feel like they're made of wood: In fact I feel like I'm turning into Pinocchio! And this is why I have always gone by the theory that exercise is actually bad for you!

This morning we were up at 7:30. "Ironman" had to be our alarm call, with a subtle knock on the door and a "Come on girls it's breakfast!!!', seeing as both TC and I and even the two Jos, (who's room was next to ours), had not bought our phones and therefore our alarm clocks with us. It seems we were all fearful that we would end up deep in one of the rice terraces and desperate not to destroy any of our forms of communication back home to our loved ones to let them know we had survived!

After I managed to struggle into my clothes, force my swollen knees into my bright blue elasticated knee supports, my swollen feet into my filthy walking shoes and my now extremely frizzy hair into a scrunchie. I managed to crawl out to the breakfast area where the only other person suffering appeared to be Jo M who's knees were also playing up! TC managed to make it for breakfast - just - her stomach was playing up - again! (She's too obsessed with cleanliness and as I've told her on numerous occasions, she needs to eat a bit of dirt every now and again to build up her immune system, obviously she was apalled by that comment?!) She kept mumbling under her breath about the state of the toilet,  mind you you can't blame her when you see what we had to use.

(The above photo was courtesy of Jon, the American guy on our tour, he seemed so impressed by the toilet facilities he put a pic up on Facebook!)

Oh and you may notice a tiny little drain at the bottom of the picture? That is because next to the red bucket is another large bucket with another scoop in it and that is the shower!!

So finally we were off for a 20 minute walk or in my case crawl, around the tiny local town. Johnson showed us around the school, we even went to see one of the classrooms where the children were learning English.

Notice the positive affirmations and lessons in kindness and generosity that cover the walls. This is instilled in every child from a very young age. Maybe contributes to why Filipinos generally are a very kind and considerate people.

Finally we loaded up our day packs and set off for another trek through the rice terraces towards Batad. As we were leaving, a group of young women from the village were queueing up offering to give us all massages again at the end of the day. I felt there was some benefit from my previous massage so I said yes to one of the women, then I asked for her name. "Merlin" she said. I smiled to myself, with the thought that with a name like that the massage had to be magical and that was to be the incentive I needed to keep me going through my trek today. 

Three hours! Yes three hours of trekking ahead of us - well I should say me, as i tended to be further back than most. And yet again my legs were killing me, my heart was pounding and the sun beat down on us. Luckily "Ironman" offered to carry my daypack for me, I reluctantly excepted having to admit that I was weak and pathetic!! But what a huge difference it made, without the 15ltrs on my back  I could finally manage to lift my knees about 2 inches higher than I could the day before! If it wasn't for the pain I would've skipped along!! Besides which, I was being entertained by TC's conversation with "Ironman" just behind me: she was trying to teach him British English slang words. For example she was explaining to him that the term for a nasty, rough man was an "Oink". I had to tell her that that was the sound a pig made, and the word she was looking for was "Oik" as I would have hated our Antipodean buddies to have got their words the wrong way round! Mind you this is a nation that refers to us redheads as "Bluey", so go figure?!

And so after three hours of traumatic manoeuvres and with a little (OK a lot) of support from my bamboo stick and Rosalyn - one of the Kiwis on our tour who was kind and patient enough to lag behind with me and help me on some of the steeper steps - I finally made it to the guest house in Batad!! 

The speciality of Batad are the rice terraces that surround it, they are compared to that of an amphitheatre in the centre of which the village can be found. 

Also found here is The Tappia waterfall, which is 40m (131ft) high and just as deep. Supposedly stunning to see, but when we were told we had the afternoon off and an option to go and visit this waterfall, which would be many steep steps down and as we know what goes down must come up, I opted out, feeling I deserved a well earned relaxing, quiet afternoon.

And so after lunch - vegetarian style with the chicken bits - it was massage time! Even TC was going to have one today, which I was quite surprised about considering that (A) she generally doesn't like being covered in oil and (B) she had already passed comment to me about not liking her bed as she felt she had already felt somebody else's dead flesh on it!!

Suffice it to say we both retired to our room with Merlin and friend in tow and TC and I laid down on our respective beds in anticipation of our relaxing massages.

I should have guessed that mine was not going to be the same kind of massage as the one I had received from Ophelia the day before, when Merlin pulled out a jar of talcum powder as opposed to massage oil. I lay face down on my bed and she poured on the talc then started on the soles of my feet, working up my legs, pressing with the tip of every finger and each elbow deep into the pressure points along my already tortured legs! It was hardly relaxing, it was hardly agony-free, and I was being very British by trying not to complain. I sucked in deeply with each shot of pain and told myself that this was good, that this was the best way to release the tension from the muscles in my battered body. And then to make matters worse, the overindulgence of vegetables that week started to take effect. I couldn't help it! Ingested vegetables create gas in the gut and when you are lying face down on your stomach and someone else is using all their force to press hard into every pressure point in your lower back sometimes a little bit of aforementioned gas is released! I was highly embarrassed, obviously, but Merlin seem to take it in her stride and carried on with the massage. I told myself this was okay. We are in Asia. This is natural. (Particularly as some of you may remember, after my experience in India four years ago). And then my thoughts were all confirmed, after Merlin seemed to have a similar problem to mine later on in the session!?

The massage lasted an hour, the pain lasted slightly longer, but I have to admit my legs did feel slightly lighter. And it was easier for me to walk down the steps to the scoop shower room afterwards. I paid my extra 50 pesos for hot water and treated myself to a hair wash. This involved me getting on the floor onto my swollen knees and having to literally stick my head in the bucket as I knew there wouldn't be enough hot water if I poured it over my head.

The rest of the afternoon was fun, TC and I spent it playing a card game called 'Uno' with the other Brits and Tracy the Aussie whilst the others were at the waterfall. I'm not saying the friendly game got competitive, but suffice it to say, it's a good job there wasn't any sharp objects lying close by! 

Eventually the rest of the group returned and confirmed for us that the steps taken to and from the waterfall were in fact pretty steep and difficult. Maybe they just said that to make us feel better, but either way, I felt better about the decision I made and was quite happy to just admire the waterfall from their photographs.

Dinner was almost ready and TC stood up and announced to us that she was going to the toilet but didn't have any spare tissues on her. 'Ironman' reached into his pocket and pulled out a half used toilet roll and handed it to her. I turned to Jo M sat next to me and told her to watch TC, I predicted that she would have to remove the outside sheets of paper from the roll before she would use any of it. Jo M looked at me quizzically and I explained that as the outside sheets had touched the inside of Damien's pockets, TC would be fearful of germs, seeing as they weren't her own pockets.

And sure enough Jo M watched in amazement as bang on cue, TC quickly unwrapped the outside sheets and handed them back to Damien!

Dinner was delicious! I had ordered ... Egg and chips!! (Sorry to be a cliche) but I felt justified after all the exercising I was doing! And boy did they taste good! Then TC held court amongst most of the group in order for them to help her compose an email to her ex-boyfriend after finally realising that he wasn't actually that nice to her and split up with a couple of days before the trip, yet he was still pestering her with upsetting messages. 

Everyone was pleased to help, she was pleased of the input from everyone. And I found it all quite amusing considering a few days before she had told me that she is actually quite quiet and not very sociable and hates to be the centre of attention!

And so, after TC's love life was finally sorted out we all set off for bed, tomorrow was the final part of the trek, only 45 minutes - allegedly - but all UPHILL!! Thank goodness our bedroom was on the same floor as the dining area; no steps for me to crawl up tonight ...

Rice Terraces and ruined muscles!

Day two of 'The big trek' and my heart was already pounding with the thought of it all; apparently some of the rice terrace walls we were to be walking along separating each of the rice terraces, are only just about a foot wide! On one side of them is the rice terrace - a deep pool of water - and on the other side is a deep, steep, long drop to the next level of rice terraces - if you're lucky!

The rice terraces were dug into the land over two thousand years ago using only basic, primitive tools, by the Ifuago tribe people who would refer to them as 'The stairway to heaven'. 

Listed by UNESCO World Heritage, they are under threat of destruction, due to natural erosion and imperfect irrigation systems and I have to say, having survived the arduous trek, they are definitely a sight to be seen - close up - if you dare!

Walking along the rice terraces has certainly been one of the most physically challenging things I have done, having a good balance helps - or an excellent bamboo cane! And walking up hill in the heat really doesn't help, especially with a small back pack strapped firmly to your body as well t kind of throws the balance out even more - and helps insulate more heat! I reckon I sweated off at least half a stone in those three hours alone! And my face was probably as red as my hair!  My heart was in my mouth for most of the trek, I was concentrating so much on trying not to fall in, that I couldn't keep stopping to take pictures. But suffice it to say, the exhilaration I felt at the end was indescribable.

I think it took us approximately three and a half hours plus a lunch break, to trek from Kinakin to our guesthouse in Cambulo, by which time my calves were tight and in complete agony, my quadriceps where screaming at being awoken from a long sleep of about twenty years, my knees were aching, my feet were still swollen, my blisters had blisters and I was losing a toe nail! But hey, I didn't fall into any of the rice terraces. Yes, I had slipped over once in the mud, but managed to bounce back up, (literally off my voluptuous back side) and I was in complete awe of the stunning sites before me! I am so pleased I did it!

On reaching the Guesthouse, we were all allocated our rooms, TC and I were on the bloody third floor! More steps - my knees were hating me! And not only that but there were only two bathrooms for us all to share (one had a cold scoop shower, though hot water was available on request for an extra 50 pesos and the kettle would be boiled).  And these were back down on the first floor! My legs were in so much pain it was taking me twice as long as usual to climb a couple of flights of stairs and then I had to use both the bannister and wall for support! 

But it wasn't time to sit back and relax yet, we still had a local waterfall to go visit and the option to go for a swim in the water. I was under the impression that it was a short walk through the tiny village to reach it and once there we could lay out our towels and just relax on the waters edge in the dwindling sunlight. Well it couldn't be further from my fantasy, there was an approximate ten minute walk through the village, part of which was through the school playground, then another load of steps down to the fountain found in the middle of all the flora and fauna with no waters edge, just huge rocks to scramble over and balance precariously on whilst admiring the view. And obviously in order to balance precariously on aforementioned huge rocks, one must engage a load of muscle groups and my muscle groups were screaming to be left alone and allowed to go back to sleep!

Luckily, there were massages on offer back at the Guest House, and as a lot of you already know, my experiences of massages over in Asia have not exactly been without pain, contortion (literally) or in any shape relaxing, but I was desperate!

Meanwhile TC was more concerned about the fact that there was only a thin blanket on the bed. She hadn't brought her sleeping sheet and was therefore concerned that there could be a chance she may catch something from the bed Linen! I didn't quite get an explanation as to what, but knowing her it was probably on the lines of leprosy?! Even so, she managed to pass out quite quickly on her bed whilst my masseuse (Ophelia) gave me a fantastic, relaxing and therapeutic massage. One which didn't  didn't involve any digging of fingers, elbows or knees into my flesh, nor twisting my body into shapes no human should be forced into unless they are planning on joining the circus!

Dinner was welcomed by one and all that evening, as thanks to Bryan and our two local guides: J.R. and Johnson, we had all survived and were starving! I sat and chatted for a while with Karen - another of the Aussies in our group. Turns out she is a nurse and even though she works with diabetes sufferers, I thought it best to hold back on letting TC know that we had a 'medic' amongst us! (That was for Karen's benefit of course!) 

After our lovely veggie meal, (the vegetable soup,had chicken in it and we kept being told, "it's ok, no meat, no meat". I'm not sure that The Filipinos have quite grasped the concept of 'vegetarianism' just yet), I dragged myself upstairs to the bedroom, rubbed some Ibuleve gel into my legs, hobbled all the way back downstairs to the bathroom, brushed my teeth, then crawled all the way back up the stairs and went to sleep. Though still feeling nervous about the next part of the trek the following day and what it had in store for us - even though we had been assured that we had completed the hardest part of the trail!?

And the trekking begins ...

And so it is Wednseday morning in Banaue, (pronounced Bana-wee).

Banaue is a small town in the province of Ifuago and it is here where the renowned and stunning rice terraces can be found, (sometimes referred to as 'the eighth wonder of the world'). Banaue is only 300km (approx 186 miles) north of Manila and a mere 1300km (approx 808 miles) above sea level!! And the best place to view this wonder is from a look out point at the top! 

I was beginning to approach these next few days with trepidation, you see the most walking I do at home is from the front door to the car and as for heights, well I can't even jump of a diving board anymore! But, as I said in my first post, this year was going to be a year of challenges. So here goes ...

We were up at 8:30 on a sleeping pill filled night, (and don't forget sheets that apparently smell of feet?!). Then it was a quick breakfast with the group before leaving at 9am prompt ... Well that was the theory anyway ...

Maybe we should briefly go back to the night before? When both TC and I had spent about an hour packing our day packs for the three day trek ahead of us. I had carefully rolled the essential clothes needed and double bagged all my valuables under the theory that I was probably going to end up doing a back flip into at least one of the rice terraces. While TC did her usual packing and re-packing and more re-packing and packing and huffing and puffing and puffing and huffing over not being able to squeeze her belongings, including her various lotions and potions for each section of her face and body, into her tiny 15 litre bag.

But we were organised ... Or were we?

And so, returning to the morning of the following day; we had had our early breakfast and were about to head off for a quick tour around the town before climbing onto the awaiting mini bus, when TC suddenly realised that she couldn't find her purse! Her purse containing all her money and credit cards! Panic immediately set in. She was quite definite that it was not in her day pack, she had searched it! It wasn't in her large wheelie suitcase, (she can't move with a large ruck sack strapped to her back), it wasn't in her tiny back pack - that she usually keeps inside her day pack?! And it wasn't in any of her pockets! She had had it with her at breakfast and it had just disappeared?!?! 

Immediately the whole group were up and in search of 'the purse'; we turned our bedroom upside down, it wasn't there, we searched around the restaurant, it wasn't there, Damian (Ironman) hoiked up her wheelie suitcase, placed it at my feet and instructed me on where to run my hands along and what to pull out, whilst trying to avert his eyes in order to protect TC's modesty! Both Jo F and I looked through her day pack - twice, thoroughly, honest! But it couldn't be found. The hotel even ran the CCTV footage of the dining room for TC and Bryan to scour through - it was just like an episode of CSI?! Then Tracey (one of The Aussies) calmly walked over to Jo F and I and suggested that we 'calmly' empty the day pack out and feel right down deep inside the pockets ... We did and there it was! Halley-bloody-luyah!! Rammed right down into the depths of the front pocket where TC then remembered she had shoved it for safe keeping!

After a collective sigh of relief and me throwing my little travel buddie a roll of the eyes and knowing look, a rather sheepish TC apologised to everyone, thanked them profusely and with her tail firmly tucked between her legs she joined us on our intro to the town of Banaue, with Bryan, our tour leader, still smiling but probably thinking "And it's only day one!"

The town itself is not that big, in fact it's tiny. There is a market place in the centre, with a few shops, a town hall and guest houses surrounding it. Oh and I vaguely remember seeing a fire truck but sadly no fire men!

First challenge: crossing the bridge to the mini bus waiting beyond ... Tick! 

Finally we were on the bus, with our day packs fully loaded and our main luggage left behind at The Greenview Lodge for us to collect in a couple of days. And we set off on our drive to Cambulo.

Now those of you that have followed my travels on previous posts will know that it is on the long transfers that my petite travel companion and I pass the time watching a TV drama that I've downloaded onto my tablet. This year it is 'River' and as we hadn't managed to start to watch it on the journey out to Banaue, the two of us settled in our seats and I plugged in the earphones and switched on the iPad. So I'm sure you can imagine the distress we felt when I realised that I'd made the dreadful mistake of not knowing that all six episodes had been downloaded straight to 'the cloud' and therefore we were unable to watch it until reaching a suitable wifi spot! And that wasn't going to be for days!! Having to deal with that and the whole 'purse-gate' saga was really starting to try our friendship!

But after about forty minutes we reached the starting point of our three day trek. First part was heading upwards through the rice terraces for a Guesthouse in Cambulo, this was only going to take us ... Three hours!

Leaving Manila ...

This morning the alarm went off at 5:40! TC sloped off to the bathroom whilst I tried to massage my swollen feet! My ankles had certainly turned to 'cankles' and the lower half of my legs were starting to resemble small tree trunks!

We met up with the group at 6:30 and dragged our jet lagged bodies onto the private mini van - I'm still trying to remember everyone's names! The night before at 'The welcome meeting', each one of us had been given a small straw bag in which could be found a packet of dried mango and a bottle of rum? Both TC and I had decided that as neither of us were big rum drinkers, we may as well leave the bottles behind, rather than cart them around with us. So it was quite interesting this morning, when we were all about to crawl on the bus, that one of the security guards came running towards us holding out TC's walking shoes that he'd found in the room, but somehow he didn't seem to have found the two bottles of rum?

First stop and I clambered off the bus with the majority of my fellow travellers, I was unaware of what we were stopping to see as I was still half asleep and by the time I realised, it was too late! You see I consider myself a 'Pesci-chickenetarian' (I don't eat any meat apart from chicken and fish) and as my eyes started to focus on the sight before me, I was horrified to see rows and rows of suckling pigs roasting away - apparently Filipinos are mad about pork and will eat it with anything they possibly can! I didn't know where to turn, cause there were pigs being spit roasted wherever I looked and then I realised that the three vegetarians on the trip were still all sat on the bus with their backs to the Windows! 

I quickly turned and ran from the shack like building we were stood in and hurried onto the bus, telling myself it wasn't real?! But a few minutes later when the rest of our group climbed back on board, the stench that followed them proved otherwise.

A quick spray of perfume in the crook of my arm and my nose stuck firmly in there for the next few minutes and thoughts of Julie Andrews singing 'The Hills are alive with the Sound of Music' (I don't know why, it was the first song that came into my head!) and I started to feel better.

(Sorry that's the best I could do, you get the picture of the signage, you can image the rest!)

And so back to the mini bus ride, where our tour leader Bryan gave us a little back story: Manila is named Manila due to the type of vegetation you can find there - Nila! And 'Ma' means 'there' so 'Manila' literally translated means 'There Nila'! Manila itself is divided into a couple of areas, the main one being 'Metro Manila' which is where we were staying, with 1.2 million people living there - and as I mentioned before, most of them seeming to be driving on the road! Manila itself is on the largest island of this arcepelago and the largest diaspora of Filipinos is actually not in the UK, nor in the USA but in Saudi Arabia! 

There are more than eighty languages spoken here, the main two being Filipino and English - strange considering the Spanish ruled here for 300 years?! However, what does still stand since the Spanish arrived is the Catholic religion and over here neither divorce or birth control is allowed - at all! Therefore the population is rapidly growing, with many families living in poverty.

I'm sure there was more info Bryan gave us, but I was so exhausted I fell asleep and woke up in time for our first 'Comfort Room' stop - TC and I had wondered why whilst waiting for our room to be prepared on our arrival when TC asked for the toilet? ... The rest room? ... The bathroom? ... The loo?The woman behind the reception desk didn't know what she was talking about. Over here it is called 'the comfort room' and at some of the stops its 5 pesos for an 'Ihi' or 10 pesos for a 'dumi'! (I'll leave it up to you to work out what that means) suffice it to say I obviously had to ask Bryan if they went by weight or fluid ounce too - apparently not!

Further down the road we stopped off to visit a church that had been affected by the sudden Mount Pinatubo eruption in the 1990's. As you can imagine there were many sad yet uplifting stories to be told by the survivors of the natural disaster and the church was one of them.

Above you can see my photo of how the church stands now, it looks perfectly normal doesn't it? 

Yet if you look at the painting of the church before the eruption, you can see that now there is actually a whole floor missing!

Lunch and dinner was a similar situation to that we experienced in Indonesia last year; if one wants anything vegetarian, one must ask for the vegetarian dish without the meat!!

We finally arrived at our hotel in Banae, TC checked the room and complained about the lack of water flowing from the shower. For once I had to agree with her complaint and we were swiftly moved from a large room with three double beds and ensuite bathroom, into a large room with four single beds and a bathroom off the balcony with all the comforts of a scoop flush toilet and shower pretty much over that!

TC wanted to complain that the sheets smelt of feet, but then I did warn her she'll probably be begging to get back to it over the next few days when we will be staying in guest houses where the rooms will be worse and the two bathrooms we will all be sharing with the rest of the group, will consist of Asian style scoop toilets as well as cold scoop showers! So she needed to appreciate the luxury we had!

The complaining stopped and we settled down for the night, both a bit nervous about what was to be in store for us over the next three days of trekking through the rice fields found high up on the hills sides.

I was thinking that maybe I should prepare Damien the Aussie school teacher on our tour that he could possibly be carrying me most of the way, after all he competes in triathlons and Iron Man Australia so how hard would it be to carry a pathetic, overheated red head up a hillside? I mean I don't think that I'm being unreasonable?

It's one day in ...

Praise be to the sleeping pill! One little tablet and I managed to sleep through the jet lag from 9pm until 7am this morning when TC woke me with her shuffling around the room 'quietly' as she got dressed cause she was starving and needed food!

After managing to eat breakfast in 31 degrees of heat, TC and I set off for a days excursion in Manila. I had learnt my lesson from last year when my heat swollen feet got ripped to shreds by my flip flops.  So I had brought myself a pair of walking sandals instead - obviously they were raspberry pink! And to my surprise TC had brought the same, so they have now been re-named 'The Raspberries'! And suffice it to say, as I lie here on my bed after our day out in this busy polluted city, I am staring down at my swollen feet now suffering from 'Raspberry Blisters'! And feeling very sorry for myself!

We left the hotel around midday and headed straight for The Intramuros (NOT the intramural or Intravenous as I kept calling it?!)

Just south of The Intramuros is Rizal Park, which involves a beautiful walk through greenery and various statues scattered around. We were quite surprised to find that we had to pay a very small entrance fee to go into the park, but paid our dues without question only to find once past the gate that we had in fact paid to go into the children's play ground! And so after admiring the various themed slides, swings and climbing frames, we hurried back out and headed through the park and over to The National Museum of The Philippines, only to find that it and ALL the museums are closed on a Monday!! (This was turning into 'one of those days' again!!).

And so we continued to head on up towards The Intramuros, where surely there would be plenty to see.

The Intramuros is the walled area in the heart of the city built in the 1570's by the Spanish. Basically it is a walled city within the city. Inside of which can be found: St Agustin church, with its Baroque decor and troupe l'oeil murals and what seemed to be a mass wedding going on! 

It was built between 1586 and 1606 and is the oldest stone church in The Philippines. It is pretty stunning inside, though I felt a bit conspicuous walking through in my three quarter length jeans and t shirt amongst the many women in their bright pink, or turquoise wedding style dresses. (Don't worry 'south London Geezer' I wasn't getting any ideas!) 

Inside the walled city you can also find the 'Casa Manila': absolutely stunning replica of an 1850s mansion. The courtyard was being set up for the aforementioned wedding so TC and I just snuck around the hustle and bustle to look around the outside of the buildings, which was in fact four houses built together. We didn't manage to go inside to see what I can only imagine is stunning decor, nor did we see the 'double latrine' built for the husband and wife to gossip away from their servants whilst at the same time going about their 'daily business'?!?

Other famous structures found within the old walls is: Fort Santiago, in which can be found The Rizal Shrine and then there is The Manila Cathedral which has been destroyed and rebuilt numerous times since it was originally built in 1581.

TC and I were taken around these famous landmarks within the walled city by a friendly Tuk Tuk driver called Rico. He showed us his official tour guide ID and told us that the tour takes 30 mins at 300 pesos. We thought that was a bargain. That was until at the end of the tour when he dropped us outside The Manila Hotel and proceeded to charge us 1200 pesos each claiming we had been with him for two hours and it was actually 300 pesos per person per half hour!! I was impressed with TC, she didn't do her Banshee rage thing like she had done so many times in India, instead, every time Rico spoke she just told him to 'shush' until he agreed, that we had been with him for under an hour and would pay him accordingly!

We hurried off the Tuk Tuk and headed inside The Manila Hotel, a stunning five star hotel which opened in 1912 for the best of the best in colonial times. Celebrities and politicians alike have stayed here and we were about to see why.

However, we got as far as the luxurious lobby lounge and had to rest our feet, then got drawn into having a cocktail - the height of decadence at 2 in the afternoon. And as I sat there sipping on my chocolate martini whilst my travel companion enjoyed her Mango Daquiri (which she kept insisting on pronouncing Dak-Kirri and couldn't understand why the waitress was having a problem understanding her), I sat back and tried to enjoy the comfort and tranquility around us, cause over the next few days, we will be experiencing quite the opposite - the Asian style loos and cold scoop showers!

A few hours later, having to have had some lunch to soak up the alcohol and managing not to get lost, we made it back to our hotel in time to relax a bit before meeting the group we are going to spend the next ten days with. As per usual I cannot remember everyone's names just yet. But it looks to be a good group consisting of a few of us Brits (all English), a couple of Kiwis, a handful of Aussies and two Americans.

Our tour leader Bryan took us out to a Local restaurant where there was to be some traditional dancing. I wasn't sure that I would stay awake long enough, jet lag was kicking in but I soon woke up when I realised that TC was pointing at me as one of the dancers came over and I was led onto the stage to do a bit of hopping between two moving bamboo canes without getting my ankles snapped! (Yes it was part of the dance). I wouldn't mind but I had my 'Raspberry Blisters' to contend with! 

TC has now been warned that I will be seeking my revenge later in the week.

And so tomorrow the tour officially begins! We are leaving the hotel at 6:30am heading out on a ten hour coach ride to Banaue! (Pronounced Bana-wee).

Those of you that have followed my blog in previous years will know that I generally load my iPad up with a drama series to fill the time on the long coach journeys. This year it is a thriller called 'River', I have been assured by those who saw it back home on TV a few months ago, that it is excellent. Let's hope so!

And so until tomorrow, I shall pop my sleeping pill and bid you all goodnight!

Heathrow to Manila in a day - literally ....

So there was a slight hitch with the first part of our trip - and that was before we even left the UK! 

My cousin Ros was kind enough to take both TC and me to the airport at 10am this morn. We pulled up outside TC's flat, she climbed into the car and just as we turned the corner, she realised she didn't have her phone! 

So, we drove back to the flat, TC ran inside and searched it from top to bottom, but to no avail. Panic was setting in, I rang it and from a small distance away, beyond the front door, we could hear the dulcet ring tone and ran outside to find the phone lying in the middle of the road!  I have never seen my little curly haired friend move so fast, (well apart from 'the Monkey Incident' in India four years ago), she ran over and grabbed the little device from the wet Tarmac, within minutes of a car rounding the corner and innocently driving over that spot!

Panic over and we headed off to Heathrow to catch our first flight to Abu Dhabi and then the connecting one an hour and a half later to Manila. Or so we thought ...

Having spent a couple of hours mooching around the shops in terminal four, I glanced down at my newly bought watch and realised we had five minutes to get to Gate 10 at the other end of the terminal! We belted down there, (TC even managed it in her new walking shoes that were pinching her bunions!) and we arrived in time to find out the boarding was delayed by half an hour.

Finally we were allowed on board and with our flight socks on and seat belts clicked we were raring to go. The plane started taxing towards the run way and the pre flight prayer came up on our mini TVs! (I don't know, maybe this is normal on an Etihad flight, but I've never experienced that before - a preflight prayer!!? It felt quite disconcerting?!) Suddenly a lady two rows in front started to feel unwell! The poor woman was feeling sick and breathless, so unwell in fact, that the plane was turned around and taxied back to the airport, where she was taken off and eventually so was her luggage.

We waited and waited and waited and waited to move off again. No one came to inform us as to what was going on, no one came down the aisles with a few soft drinks or snacks and so we continued to wait and wait and wait. The air conditioning went up full blast and even the toilets remained locked for the first twenty minutes, so by the time they were unlocked again, the rush for the loos was like a stampede of Wilder Beast!

Eventually we set off for Abu Dhabi, over an hour late on a seven hour flight trying not to worry about missing our connecting flight and having to stay over night in the United Arab Emirates.

Luckily there was a whole host of ground staff waiting to direct nearly everyone from our flight to their respective connecting gates and we managed to make it to Manila, arriving 5 minutes early?

The city of Manila is the third most populated city in the world and on our taxi ride to the hotel, it seemed as though every resident of this busy city was on the road!

Having checked into the hotel, TC approved of our room, we went for a quick walk around the block and realising that darkness was setting in fast and there was an array of pot holes everywhere we opted for a quick dinner at the hotel and an early night.

And so now I am writing to you from our room at The Oasis Park Hotel, our dinner was delightful, no complaints from TC about dodgy chicken, we did share the bean casserole so there may be few complaints about that tomorrow?! We met up with 'the two Jos' and their Aussie friend Tracey. Got the run down on what to do here and now I am trying desperately hard to stay awake a little longer in the hope that I can get a full nights sleep and wake up early in the morning, fully refreshed! Hmmm ....

Preparing post Philippines!

And yet again it is 'that' time of year when I pack up my pink and grey back pack and take you with me to travel off to somewhere far and wide and extremely hot away from the revolting British Winter.

You may be pleased to know, that my travelling buddy for this years adventure is once again, the one and only, feisty and maybe slightly OCD, 'TC' (aka 'Travel Companion' due to her desire to remain anonymous should fame - or possibly infamy - be too much for her?!?) 

This year we will be checking out The Philippines. "Why the Philippines?" You may ask. Well after much discussion and agreement on Asia being the favoured option, it was then hard to find a country out in that particularly large continent that was hot, affordable, not a war zone and that neither of us have already been to. And after reading about The Rice Terraces on this particular archipelago being considered 'The Eighth Wonders of the World', well how could we miss it?

Due to the fact that 2015 having been a rather busy and hectic year for me, sadly unlike the previous four years when I've managed to take at least a month off, this time around is going to be a shorter trip of only two weeks. However, just like last years trip to Indonesia, we have opted to travel with Intrepid Adventure on one of their organised tours and unlike last year when there were only two other people on the trip with us (the two Jos) this time round the tour is completely full! There will be twelve of us traipsing around the main island and although we are travelling thousands of miles away, to prove what a small world we actually live in, it turns out, by pure coincidence that amongst our group of twelve are - 'the two Jos'!!!

I will give you a very quick run down on the events of last year since last we met and set the scene for this years trip: on returning to the UK in Feb I had a few weeks to wash my clothes and repack before going to visit my great friends Mitzi and Roger that live in Canada. And after a couple of weeks over there - and my birthday - I returned home and decided it was time to be a grown up again and move out from my friend Sandie's house where I have been renting a room for four years and to go back to living on my own in my flat in North Finchley.

And so, last August, I packed up my things, moved back to my flat, had it completely redecorated with bright colours (my mothers reaction to the pink wall in my living room: "Well it is quite bright, but you're the one that has to live with it every day!") then got myself a lodger - Kelly; the Welsh vegan, (so much for living on my own!?!?!) and met an amazing guy Tony: The South London Geezer. Now those of you unfamiliar with the North-South divide in London should be aware that those of 'us' North of the river Thames and those of 'them' South of The river Thames have a love/hate relationship (kinda like us Brits and the French - well sort of!?!) - and so through our shared interest (in each other!?!) I feel as though I am now doing my bit for race relations.

2015 has for me been filled with many highs and a couple of lows. Sadly an old friend of mine passed away suddenly at the age of 47. Yet again reminding me how short life is and that we really must grab opportunities whilst we can and make the most of them. And so TC and I booked this trip despite the fact that we have a rather large mountain to climb, a night camping on said mountain and a couple of days with trecks of 3-5 hours! And worst of all, a few of the places we will be staying in only have 'Asian style' toilets!!

I am not the fittest of people and since moving out of a three storey house into a ground floor flat my legs have forgotten what it's like to climb a flight of stairs let alone a mountain side!!

So no doubt there will be moments of anxiety and muscle ache! 

TC has yet again assured me that her OCD is greatly improved and all will be fine. Though I did see the blood drain from her face and a slight twitch appear above her left eye when 'The South London Geezer' told us of the time he had the worse case of food poisoning from rice. Because apparently if rice is cooled down slowly and not heated thoroughly then one can get a good old dose of Botchulism from it. Probably not the best story to tell TC a week before going to a country where rice is a staple part of their diet! And she has also expressed her deep concern about the possibility of having athlete's foot due to the tip of the fourth toe on her left foot being a bit tingly! 

That said, no doubt this trip will be filled with plenty of challenges and hopefully even more laughs - this year is my 'big birthday' so I intend to see it in with a few more adventurous stories under my belt.

We are due to arrive in Manila at 3:30 in the afternoon local time, so until then, I will bid you farewell and catch up with you in 28 degrees of heat - let's hope it doesn't set TC's tingly toes off!!

See you on the other side ....