8th WONDER OF THE WORLD

Yesterday we headed deep into the mountains to see the famous Rice Terraces of Batad.
First was a gruelling motorbike ride for 0ne hour on rocky bumpy assed roads,it was fun but pretty rough.Then we had to hike up to the saddle,another 45mins,then climb down the mountain into the valley where the terraces were,another hour.
On the way we were aproached by many guides to guide us through the terraces to the best spots,it would cost us 300 pesos (12 ozzy dollars) but being tight ass's we decided we were adventourous enough to figure it out ourselves (and we were).
Once in the valley the terraces dawned upon us,it was an amazing sight,these things are up to two thousand years old, a world heritage listed area and known as the eighth wonder of the world.Their constuction is all from well placed stone work and for me it was up there with Uluru and Macchu Pichu.
We headed out barefoot and guideless into the terraces,we soon found ourselves in the middle of it all tip-toeing along the edges of the terraces.
It was a pretty tight balance act with only minimal area and a four meter drop off the edge.It would have been serious if a fall occured but there was no turning back,vasia did sooo well and conquered it without fear,something i didnt think she could make.
We got lost, we were awed, inspired and dumbfounded with the beauty of this place.
We were high up but made it out after two hours of exploration,then the walk back,
well it was a killer,tight thighs,tight calves and tight chests,mmmmm and then the motorbike ride back to town.A Great day.

QUAKE @ 4am

Last night was a bit of an experience,at the time i was scared shitless but looking back it was a pretty exciting thing to experience.
To put it into perspective we are in the mountains,about 2500 metres up,there are cliffs everywhere,landslides everywhere and all towns are built into the sides of these mountains.
We are staying at a motel (look at picture,we are top floor on the left) three floors up in a what looks like a pretty dodgy building.
Anyway cutting to the chase i awoke at 4am to what felt like i was sleeping in the van while someone was driving along a dirt road hitting every pothole they could,it didnt take me long to work out there was an earthquake happening,i waited,then it got rather big and violent,the room creaking and bed shaking quite a lot.As vasia woke i said "lets go", she shit herself too.
If we were in a single story building i would not have been so concerned but as to our position on top floor on a cliff i was very worried.As we took off to climb down and head for safety it stopped just as soon as it had started,luckily we were safe and nothing happened to the building,although it didnt sound great.
There were a few aftershocks and as you could imagine it was hard to forget about what had just happened and return to sleep. Then on top of that the church started with its nightly christmas carrols blaring (i mean blaring really loud) through the town at 4.30am, for 45 minutes.Its crazy,they do it every night leading up to chrissy,its sooo loud.
So we didnt sleep but we felt lucky to be alive,i was as worried as i have ever been about my safety,we were rocking side to side pretty hard.
I found out later in the day it was a 5.4 on the richter scale,solid i guess

PHILIPPINES

Well its 2009 just,heading into christmas and i find myself in south east asia travelling free willingly,fancy free and once again barefoot in the philippines.
Its been a week and i ,sorry we (me and vasia) have travelled north along the west coast of Luzon from Clark (just north of manila). We spent four days in San Juan chasing waves but really ended up chilling out in a crafty little surf town a la moncora Peru or Mexico.Eating good food and flopping over an afternoon beer or two.
It feels sooo fuckin good not to be working,not to be stuck in the white lines of an australian highway,not to be paying rent,bills,not to be stuck inside a house night after night.I feel again the freedom and excitement of travel and dream of this forever to be my life.
Anyway am up in the mountains now en route to the rice terraces which are regarded as the eighth wonder of the world.filipino's are super friendly,helpful and its an ease to get around.
Will post some photo's soon