A TRAVELER'S TALE

I left Sint Martens, Latem, Belgium on Dec.7 at 3:10pm sharp via taxi to Schiphol Amsterdam Airport (AMS). The drive to the airport usually takes 3hours but this time it took 4 hours to reach my destination because there was a lot of traffic. According to the driver, there was a national football match in Amsterdam, the reason why he picked me up 1 hour earlier than usual. The trip was good but long, I slept half the time. I was just on time for my flight to Singapore. Passengers boarded on time and we left as scheduled. As usual, as soon as I settle myself on the plane, I started reading the in-flight magazine. The issue this month really interest me. I've been travelling from Singapore and Tokyo to Amsterdam, Brussels and Nice, for almost 5 years, I never knew that KLM has 6 direct flights per week from NAIA, Philippines to Amsterdam, good to know! Next time I will go straight home to Philippines from Amsterdam.

In this issue of KLM's in-flight magazine, it featured Banaue Rice Terraces, our country's eight wonder of the world, built by the Ifugao people from 2000 to 3000years ago.We went there last May as a present for my son's 14th birthday, we didn't realize it takes that long to go there, not to mention the winding curvy, elliptical, with super elevation curvature of the road....one side of the road is the mountain and a ravine or an abyss on the other.... what a birthday adventure!

People there are friendly and there's a lot of tourist guide in the area if you need one. Although some of the place are now deteriorating because according to the man I asked, "how come some fields looks unattended to?" He said that most young generations are going to the cities and abroad for better opportunities. And their parents are either dead or too old to work on the field. Can't blame today's generation, I did the same. But really, some parts of this we call "The Eight Wonder of the World" needs maintenance. I hope our government can do something to preserve it.

It's really nice to go there, if you are a nature lover like me. But I should say this place is for the strong and the brave, for people who  likes adventure in the wilderness. And you must be a disciplined driver and be sure your gas tank is full  because gas stations are considerably at a distance from one another. On our way there, we use the route from Nueva Ecija, Nueva Vizcaya to Ifugao and we went back via Bontoc to  Baguio to La Union going back to Manila. I strongly recommend going there in groups, minimum of 2 transportation is good. Don't do what we did, we enjoyed our trip a lot, but going back home was so scary.....it's just us, the only car on the dark road, it was raining, there was no street light and no houses along the way. Although, I must say, it was quite an adventure, a memorable one!