Foot and Fire

When one is past her infancy in travelling, she learns to choose her steps carefully because time has more meaning now than before. It is not about ticking off the number of items in the list anymore. It is more about retracing the steps taken and carefully trailing the steps to be taken because space takes on a different dimension now than before. April of last year, Osmena Peak of Dalaguete, Cebu colored my summer. The first thing you will learn while going up the Peak is that Dalaguete is not pronounced as Dumaguete. It is silent E as in palette. But of course, when you reach the peak, the first things you will experience are: Fresh air, summer breeze, ocean salt feel, grassy hills, rocky cliffs, pretty karsts, short and long climbs, provincial scenery all conspired to evoke country songs in my mind and the paintings of Amorsolo of fields and golden colors. While taking in everything, you will also think of a thousand enormous and tiny karsts of Halong Bay as well as Tam Coc ...

The Karsts lining the Campomanes Bay is verdant unlike the ones I saw in Halong Bay, Vietnam and Coron and El Nido, Palawan... One can't appreciate the karsts immediately because they appear to be a forest except for a few bald area as photographed above... Of course, this is a good news because greens still grow in the rocky mountain... We left our home base temporarily for a boat tour. We went to Obong Cave in Hinobaan first which took us 45 minutes by small boat. We passed by many areas, including the "Pulo" which is the first stop for most boat tours. The photo below is the pulo and the next two photos  are the shots of an opening from end to end. I observed that there is still a live portion of the rock in the "cave." One tourist touched it, a no-no action because it has the tendency to die after being in contact with human sweat, skin and human bacteria. There should be a warning of sort. Tour-guiding is not yet a commodity here. Lastly, I should neve...

This is one of the many photos I got with karsts on it.  The pristine beach, the fine white sand and the smiles of the tour guides  will always be the feature of this tour. This is from EL NIDO, Palawan, Philippines! *** This is one of the many karsts I photographed in Halong Bay, North of Vietnam.  The monstrosity and the number of karts will amaze any traveller. ** I decided that my El Nido Trip vs Halong Bay Cruise are two different experiences. I encourage all Filipinos to take the El Nido trip as one can really appreciate the truest sense of the word archipelago when one gets to see the beaches and karsts there; it also made me prouder of our natural riches. Friend Doc Judy Ann, a certified traveller and top-notch photographer, says, "One should see El Nido in his lifetime... Truly a wonder of nature... God's gift to mankind... I would want to visit El Nido again and again..." Meanwhile, my multi-awarded photographer friend Bernadet...

This is the postcard photo representative of Coron Island... The karst fronting the Kayangan Island can be taken up above the cliff and by the cave on the way to the Kayangan Lake. This is indeed a picturesque beauty of nature.. *** A photo before climbing the cliff via those rocks. ***  Photo taken halfway up. *** Photo taken of the Kayangan lake on my way down. *** The placid lake of Kayangan is worth the dive. *** There are many stick fishes swimming in the lake of Kayangan. *** The postcard photo of karst in the Coron Island loop... *** A photo of me just after the swim to the cave across the lake... ***