Around Mt Pinatubo

Tambon(?) Lake is a mere 20-30min 4x4 'Jeep' ride from the jump-off.  Heavy presence of shellfish and snails (their pink eggs in this picture) and fish - make it challenging for a relaxing swim (but possible).

Went to Mt Pinatubo to once again visit the crater lake, but as fate would have it - the crater area was suddenly (and indefinitely) closed due to some 'territorial fee issue' between two towns...  Politics or greed do affect adventure tourism, or someone's semi-planned vacation trip.
But living the motto of 'make the best of whatever is there', my small team went around the area anyway and still had a great time.  Sans the crater view.

Team-building Activities - with Social Relevance

A school visit in Smokey Mountain village in Manila where volunteers participated in an interaction program, feeding and donation.

I recall sending my office's HR a recommendation letter more than 5 years ago - suggesting a re-format or remodel of the usual team-building activities in our company.  You see, after working for quite some time, I had enough of those team sports, and worse - useless entertainment-presentations!

I don't know why Filipinos in particular are so much into presentations be it dancing, singing, theatrics and what not!  It may probably help in team bonding, but I just thought that time spent on activities should be both effective and more meaningful.

The gist (of the reco) was that - instead of doing 'the usual stuff', we dedicate our time, effort and limited budget to something more relevant - either related to environment or community.

Past forward to couple of years back - I am glad that I'm actually seeing changes (nothing to do with my forgotten note) and actually witnessed more socially-focused activities within my own team.
It's probably due to better awareness, or perhaps the pile of work on the 'need area' was just so much that it became evident that we should do something - small or otherwise.

For those in charge of planning or conceptualizing their next team-building or offsite activities, here are some photos / ideas to help you get started. There are obviously so much more ideas out there, it's more a matter of will and desire.

Cheers!

Kayak Around Taal Volcano Island

(from my book Akyat)


When the kayak plan was drafted, I assembled my UPM paddling team and connected with the Primer Group for support and sponsorship. I presented a plan to circumnavigate Taal volcano. The distance was 35 kms, doable in one day. This may not sound challenging for experienced kayakers, but since we didn’t expect to get a much faster sit-in ocean kayak and all members of the party were more adept in handling a beer bottle than a paddle, I thought the distance was just right. The pencil drawing became a colored picture, and the colored picture became reality.

To make it more meaningful, we scouted for a socio-community service
component. I wanted an easy but meaningful contribution to the
education of kids there. Weeks prior, my team visited the island and discovered a small
school with 350 grade school students. “Kayak for a Cause” was born.
The barangay and school officials were cooperative. I contacted the
Batangas office of Gov. Vilma Santos. They were also supportive after
they learned that the trip would promote eco-tourism in Taal Lake and
support a local school. They lent us all their 9-foot sit-on-top kayaks
and provided hauling service.

Nepal Trip Oct 2015 – 10 Days

(last revised Aug17 to include Monjo School Project)
 
When the unfortunate earthquake disaster hit Nepal a couple of months back, a few wondered if it is wise to still pursue a trip this year.

If you read through the news and see pictures of devastation – you may conclude that the infrastructure is totally wrecked that a travel will not be feasible.  

Well, the good news is that – 90% of the infrastructure is still operational, and by autumn – it would even be better.  And in some aspects, maybe even better than last autumn and this recent spring!

There are two major reasons why one should visit this year – first, tourism helps rebuild economy and the lives of those affected by the calamity.   I had a similar campaign post-Yolanda here. 

T’nalak – T’boli’s Weave of Dreams

 

at Lang Dulay's weaving center, bought a piece of traditional T'nalak

One of the more (if not the most) artistic, historic and nationalistic woven art is the T’nalak.  I’ve been actively researching about various Philippine woven textiles and I find T’nalak to be very different especially given its cultu-spiritual importance to the tribe that made them – the T’bolis.

T’nalak’s appeal in the international market recently experienced a mild surge – buyers knew the real significance and value of each woven fabric-art.  Heirloom pieces which existed for several generations, even 100 years old, are highly sought-after and priced highly - sold to international collectors.  Filipinos are just starting to appreciate the true value of this traditional art, thanks to the effort of advocacy groups like HABI which help revive, preserve and grow our woven treasures and heritage.

Abaca - the natural fiber wonder

personal, functional artifacts: bamboo bike used abaca on its joints, t'nalak weave is purely made of abaca, various handle wrapping experiment for my mahogany fighting stick, karambit, igorot bolo - all wraps double as emergency cord;  walking bamboo sticks also have abaca wraps ('laminated')

Abaca (also called Manila Hemp) has been in wide use for several centuries before synthetic fibers came into play.  Abaca fibers come from a plant of Banana family and its fiber is known for tensile strength allowing it to be used as rope, carrying material (net, bag), among other things.  In the Philippines, it’s still widely used as utility rope, for handicrafts, for paper-making, for making useful stuff like basket, etc.

Home Disaster Response Plan

official poster of OCD re: Disaster Consciousness

Related post:  Preparing for Disaster

I occasionally talk about home preparedness with friends and office mates and as a way to illustrate the 'how to plan', I came up with this rough 'home disaster response plan' several years back.

I think everyone should have an easy-to-read-and-follow plan available to all family members, yaya's and helpers included.  Kids and elderly should also be aware, and even join the practice.
Here below is a sample response plan that can be customized (based on your needs) and printed and shared to your household. By no means that this sample is complete or perfect - but it can be a starting point or guide for anyone to build his/her own version.

Tacloban Visit June 2014 - Summary

RELATED POSTS: What to See or,What to Do, and Where to Stay and Eat

Moving on...

I would like to thank the following partners and supporters for accommodating my team: Cebu Pacific Air and DOT Eastern Visayas

Seven months after typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda) wrought devastation in Visayas and Palawan – the struggle and fight continue on…

While the battle is somewhat subsiding in most parts, Eastern Visayan cities or towns are still fighting and just slowly recovering from the nightmare brought about by the strongest recorded typhoon that ever hit the Philippine shore.  Or the world.   

Rebuilding Economies through Tourism

After the initial chaos of donating and sending relief goods, concerned citizens have been asking – What else can we do to help? 

Contrary to what we may have assumed, putting Yolanda-stricken areas back to their working and stable form is still a long and arduous process.  Rehabilitation work, though happening in many areas – will take many months and years to complete.

 While it may not be practical for all working-class to visit and participate in week-long, even month-long effort, there’s one simple way were ALL of us can do to help.  Rebuild local economy through tourism.    

After a Disaster




wilderness know-how and long
hikes may be good preps for after-
disaster survival (pix:checking
matulid river)

 I’ve spent one restless night reflecting on the recent Yolanda super typhoon effect, especially the ‘after disaster’ chaos and lawlessness. It made me think how I / we will act and behave after a super disaster struck our big city. Take Metro Manila for example, home of 15million people. The looming/ predicted 7.2 magnitude earthquake (West Valley fault) was the first thing that came to my mind. Surviving the disaster was one worry, surviving the after-effect was an even bigger concern.

People were shocked with the looting and ‘criminal behaviour’ displayed by some survivors. I’ve observed this in past post-calamities in the news. Even on non-calamity ‘event’ like that one in Jakarta (where I worked on a stint) during the anti-Suharto people power wherein on the side, rich families were attacked, women raped, house ransacked and looted. Mob ruled the city. At least for several days.

Minor (and understandable) human-survival behavioural changes are commonly witnessed in relief operations as well. After Ondoy, a joined a relief team in Montalban and instead of doing goods-giving, I switched role to truck-goods security to prevent unruly snatchers from ransacking our supply. In Marinduque, I also joined a group, and witnessed how rampant the cheatings were in getting free goodies (i.e. hiding their goods in bushes to queue for more, or several family members pretended to belong to different families to hoard supplies). Even simple outreach activity in remote villages offered some of this ‘survival looting’ scenes (never mind the details).

So, to be conservative in our future after-disaster planning – let’s assume that these bad things (chaos/lawlessness/mob rule) will be part of the survival game.

I’ve posted pre-disaster tips here including what to put in one's survival kit -  hopefully we’ll be able to survive the onslaught and the after-effects, or at least buy us precious survival time before help arrives.

Below are just my thoughts on how I think I/we should act and behave after a disaster;

Prepare for Disasters



Khumbu icefall (Everest), a small, 'safe'
avalanche approaching my team

 I recall reading a Belgian study stating that Philippines was the most disaster-prone country in the world. This study included earthquakes, frequent typhoons, landslides and mudslides, flooding, political/ civilian unrest, armed conflict among many other things. I think this has been ‘downgraded’ but Philippines may very well still be on the top 5. After Ondoy aka Ketsana (which caused severe flooding in Metro Manila and left hundreds of dead)– I realized that it’s just a matter of time before we, (I mean each of us) become victims of another looming disaster. (I wrote this a while back, then Yolanda/ Haiyan typhoon came - reminding us that more disasters will come).


Not just in this country, but ANYWHERE! Think climate change and its effect of unpredictable strong typhoons. Think armed conflict that seems to never end (despite our so-called modern, civilized society)! Tectonic ‘instability’ (well – I just meant bad earthquakes)! Or volcanoes and tsunamis! Let me tentatively dismiss zombie and alien invasion for now. :P

River Swimming for Kids

Swim to School

volunteer instructor -Jose, teaching
proper swim stroke

Swim! Tube! Raft! To go to school. When I first saw the video and picture – my first thought was – Transfer the school! Followed by ‘Build a bridge!’ Not bothering to really understand the issue. The images were sent by a contact in SMART (my team’s sponsor in Search and Rescue) at the time soliciting for any help we can provide. Doubt and laziness are powerful enemies – my team soon got busy and refocused our effort on other ‘realistic work’ (partly because of the thought that my group is powerless in addressing the main issue). It will take another year before I see the pictures and videos again, and an eventual site visit to explore what we can do.