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 ...

We freely roamed the park in the middle of SaPa Valley and had a great time with the tripod and our poses. We love the relaxing atmosphere of SaPa, despite the fact that Vietnamese walk fast as in brisk walking for us. We also love the maintenance of the plants in the park...  ****  A Catholic Church in Sapa is near the market where the tribal people are selling their goods from bags to dresses to peaches. *** We passed by a stall roasting Lechon de leche... *** By the lake of the Sapa Park. *** Sorry, I have no flashy flash. I just got this hazy photo. But this is for your bird's eyeview of Sapa at night only. *** The intricately designed plant at the park. *** By the garden in the park. Nice flowers. Pretty ladies. *** Click, click before she breezes through me, lol. At the lake. In the morning, one can ride in their duck boat for sure. ***

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...

Please like this Facebook page of SAPA BACKPACKERS . We met Peter Thuong in SaPa valley, north of vietnam last year in his SaPa Coffee Corner, a non-profit org dedicated to teach English to street children in Sapa Valley, where one source of livelihood there is tourism. They now have Sapa Backpackers and Peters Coffee Corner, a Non-Profit Organisation supporting Minority Kids with Food, Shelter and free English-Classes where children can now sleep and learn. Also they can accommodate (Page says at 3$ a night) tourists as well as volunteers. If you happen to go to Hanoi this year, make it a point to go to Sapa too! *** Here are some of our photos when we passed by Peter Coffee Corner in SaPa when we had our vacation last July 2012. We stopped by and were offered the Vietnamese Mountain Tea which is bitter but has a surprising nice taste. My friend Bernadette sitting beside Peter. This makeshift coffee corner is facing the small classroom where minority children...

BYE, BYE. Mr. Son gave his all smiles after I told him to pose as I will bring his smile to the Philippines. We went boating in Tam Coc after a heatstroke-inducing tour to the Hua Lu Temple and Pagoda. We were separated because there are small boats only that can bring 2 persons. And the three of us were accommodated in a boat. We were so happy that Mr. Son was the one who rowed for us as he can row and take photos at the same time. He could even use a Dslr with ease. He also have an "eye" for the right background and view... Here is my video of the talented Mr. Son.

Tam Coc, about a two-hour drive from Hanoi, is another place which showcases the karsts or limestone formations in multitude. If Ha Long karsts are by the bay, Tam Coc karsts are by the river. One more fascinating thing about Tam Coc aside from the karsts is that one can see closely that the river is  actually  planted with rice. One can also row by the swimming ducks and pass by many temples, even in the center of the river. See our favorite spot in Tam Coc in the above photo, courtesy of our talented rower Mr. Son. (He rows with his feet while taking our photos.) A community of rowers with hundreds of boats... Rowers, ready to row. Fellow travellers went in while were going out.  Tam Coc sampling Mr. Son Karsts with rich green trees... Ducks, peacefully enjoying their swim by the growing rice plant. Quack, quack, quack... Ducks in serene mode. Buddy Bads with her Vietnamese seatmate.. Mr. Ten, you are thumbs up...