Kalinga - Part I - Scenery

It was only for two days, but it felt timeless. 

From Tuguegarao, a town in the far northeast of Luzon, a group of nine of us left at the crack of dawn for the six-hour drive southwest across the Cordillera Mountains into the landlocked province of Kalinga. 

Our destination was a small mountain village called Buscalan. To get there we passed through some stunning scenery.

 Chico River

The final 1.5 hours of the trip were traversed on foot, down and up mountain sides, often at a 45 degree incline. Where the road ended we were met by "porters" - five women of the village, mothers of three to six children each! They nimbly carried our heavy bags and boxes of gifts for the villagers; while many of us, the visitors, unaccustomed to hiking at these heights, huffed and puffed our way up.

There were a number of spots along the way where I struggled with my vertigo, especially crossing this narrow bridge with no railings. Pity the photo does not fully show the long drop! 

[More bridges can be found at Sunday Bridges.]

 Kalinga, 2012

I link this post with Scenic Sunday. Stay tuned for Part II.

Clouds Over Fall Fields

Austria, 2007

This panorama (better seen enlarged) was taken on an early fall day, when the gladiolas and corn stalks were past their prime, somewhere in the vicinity of Vienna, Austria.

B is for Bicycle

On an otherwise barren country road in the beautiful province of Palawan, I spotted this human being on an amusing bicycle.

Palawan, 2010

I've been biding my time for a befitting occasion to post this bicyclist, and now seems as good as any, when B is the letter at Alphabe-Thursday. I can bare that the bike I rode back a few weeks ago through villages of Kaiping looked nothing like this one!

 

What came to mind was a silly 1971 pop song by Melanie [click name to hear it] called: Brand New Key. Do you remember it? The stanza that got burned onto my brain cells all those many years ago goes like this:

I ride my bike, I roller skate, don't drive no car
Don't go too fast, but I go pretty far
For somebody who don't drive
I been all around the world
Some people say, I done all right for a girl 

The bother with a ditty like this is that once it bubbles into my mind, it takes hours to brush it out! I bet I'm not the only one...

And while we babble about bicycles, watch this boy Danny MacAskill [click to view] bike from Edinburgh to Skye. It will bowl you over! Simply brilliant!

[SkyWatch] More Transylvania Skies

[enlarge to see sheep]

Romania, 2011

I'm hooked on sky-watching, especially when driving through pretty countryside and past charming old towns. These are drive-by shots, and no, I am not the driver.

Find other gorgeous skies at SkyWatch Friday.

[SkyWatch] Transylvania Skies on the Road

To continue my road trip theme of the week, one of the delights of driving in a car is seeing the road ahead meet the changing skies. These were a few of the skies we witnessed driving though the Transylvania countryside last weekend. [The skies look bigger enlarged.]

Romania, 2011

See more amazing skies linked to SkyWatch Friday.

Truss Railway Bridge

This photo of a truss railway bridge in the Romanian countryside I took some weeks ago before spring came to color our world green is for Scenic Sunday and Sunday Bridges. [Enlarge for better view of bridge.]

Romania, 2011

[SkyWatch] On the Road in Romania

Today I offer two drive-by shots taken in the countryside of Romania for SkyWatch Friday.

The bright yellow rape field contrasts nicely against the gray sky.

Romania, 2011

We had to look up towards the sky to spot a number of these large nests with mama and baby storks up on top of streetlamps and power poles. Nice to see them back. These birds had disappeared for some time because the use of pesticides like DDT had weakened the shell of eggs so the mothers had crushed them. A testament to the resilience of nature when given a little wiggle room.

The Common Dandelion

What is the difference between a weed and a flower? Only that the weed grows where it is not wanted, I've learned. Does that make it less beautiful or useful? Well, no. 

Take the common dandelion. Isn't it delightfully pretty? Each bright yellow flower is unique, no two alike, as far as I can tell... so much like snowflakes that way... and humans.

[Enlarge me by clicking.]

Dandelions have medicinal and culinary uses. If, for example, you have low appetite, upset stomach, or liver or gallbladder issues, or you need to normalize your blood sugar level or improve your lipid profiles, you may want to look more into the curative powers of the various parts of this lowly weed. Its young leaves are great in salads or sauteed with sweet vegetables. 

 Austria, 2011

Hey, honeybees love them... and after a spring of seeing bright yellow dandelions everywhere, so do I.

This is my contribution to Today's Flower, Mosaic Monday, Macro Monday, and Mellow Yellow Monday. (If a host of any of these memes frowns on multi-linking, don't be shy to let me know.)

Yellow Fields Yield Flak

Controversy appears to be the order of the day. Even fields flowing with bright yellow flowers are not exempt from incessant human bickering. I refer to rapeseed, a pretty flower so maligned.

Terraced fields in northwest China's Gansu province, 2007

Rapeseed is a relative of the mustard and cabbage family. You can cook and eat the leaves of some varieties of the plant like any other green vegetable. In China and Europe, rapeseed oil was traditionally used to light lanterns. Rapeseed "oil cake" is used as a fertilizer in China.

Today, different varieties of rapeseed are grown around the globe, mostly to process into biodiesel, animal feed or edible oil. Rapeseed also produces nectar for honey, and the oil from the seeds is a raw material for paints, glues, toothpaste, and cosmetics like lipstick. Many of these uses are hotly debated by some.

In the 1970s a Canadian used traditional plant breeding techniques to make the oil of rapeseed fit for our consumption.  To rise above its nasty reputation, the new variety was dubbed canola, a contraction of ""CANadian Oil, Low [erucic] Acid".  

So, where is the controversy? Well, this is Mellow Yellow Monday and it just wouldn't do to go on a major rant, now would it? The issue is in any event much more complex than my photo blog can cover. But here's an over-simplified example about canola oil: on one side you have the many who certify that canola oil is one of the most heart-healthy cooking oils, rich in omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids and the good fats, while the other side decries that over half of rapeseed grown today is genetically modified to be resistant to the effects of a dangerous herbicide which then upsets the fields' ecosystem and that the health benefits of canola oil have been exaggerated.

Do you think these farmers have any inkling of what we in the West argue over?

All I will say here now is that it behooves me to make more effort to be a smart consumer. I'm doing my homework.

I leave you with a final image that took me by surprise. Can you identify this plant growing next to the flowering rapeseed?

This blog is posted for meme Mellow Yellow Monday. Click on the link for a lot many more links to yellows.