Mayon Volcano- The Beautiful One

Derived from the word Magayon, which is beautiful in Bicol dialect, Mayon lives up to its name.  Being the most perfectly formed volcano, it is easily one of the most beautiful  volcano because of its symmetrical cone.  Tourists flock to the province of Albay to see it.  

It is as dangerous, as it is beautiful. Mayon is the most active volcano in the Philippines and can be very destructive.  Many tourists come to see Mayon- but more tourists come during eruptions.  It is a sight to behold during eruptions, specially during night time where you will see the glowing lava rolling down its perfect slope. 

I used to wake up to it during my 4 year stay in Albay- and it never failed to give me the feeling of awe. The very same feeling I had when I saw it once again during my recent trip to Bicol. One beautiful reminder of how magayon life is. 

Getting to know JiaXian

Our second day at Jiaxian was the visit to the communities. JiaXian was mountainous, and the weather in the villages is cold.   

In the early morning and on our way to the communities, we dropped by a Daoist temple.  It was a nice one on top of a hill.  We brought some dried dates, one of the main products of Jiaxian.

The Daoist temple from afar...

We visited communities, talked to our partners, teachers, parents and the children. The people in the community were in awe when they saw Shanta, our colleague from Nepal because of her Nepali costume, and South Asian feature.  I, on the other hand, was again mistaken to be Chinese (but of course :-) ).

There is one reality in China , which I did not see in other countries I have visited.  In this part of the world, there is a  huge number of "left-behind" children.  These are children who had to stay school dormitories because their parents work in another place and there is nobody home to take care of them.  The school teachers or caretakers become their second parent.  And I believe, our organization's programs there is a good response to this situation.  We train the caretakers  and children about proper child care, nutrition, hygiene and about children's rights. This will enable the caretakers to take good care of the children, and knowing their rights, the children would also be able to take care of themselves.  And I commend our China colleagues for coming up with these programs- and also the school authorities and teachers for taking on the additional responsibility of being the caretakers of these children.

Children live and are cared for in these school dormitory

After the visit, we did a short debriefing about our findings together with our field office colleagues and our partners.  In the late afternoon, we traveled back to Yulin where we spent the night before we fly back to Xian. 

 

Nepal and the Himalayas

Facebook's "On This Day" feature showed my posts about Nepal in my newsfeed yesterday. I can't believe it has been 3 years ago!  

To this day, my visit in Nepal remains my favorite, among all my travels around Asia.   I was there to participate in a management training in September 2012.  One of the activities was the interaction with the community members in villages we work with.  For that, we had to travel to Makwanpur, the closest of all the Nepal field offices.

Among the places I have been to, Makwanpur is one of those with the most beautiful landscape. The travel was difficult- many of my companions felt nauseated and had breathing difficulty because of the 3 hours travel along a (very) winding road, and because of the altitude.  We were travelling up the highest mountains I have ever seen or been to.  From the window, I was looking down the gorge, which seemed never ending- I could not see the bottom. I remember myself wondering how many hours it would take for us to hit the bottom if we fall into it- I shuddered at the thought.

Up, up.....

 

..and away!

Nevertheless, the road to Makwanpur is one of the beautiful roads I have travelled (if you don't look at the gorge). The scenery is just too beautiful.  I am glad I have mastered the art of taking pictures on board a speeding vehicle, using my mobile phone (it is one useful skill!).

How's this for a playground?

Meadows...

...mountains...

..just like a painting. 

Lovely day.

It was cold in Makwanpur- and I think that was one time when I have consumed that much hot milk tea!  Our colleagues in Makwanpur welcomed us at a tea shop, had a brief introduction about the programs we were implementing in the area and then in groups, we met with different groups of people in different communities.  

At the town entrance...

Typical house in the town center..and those are corn and chilis, being dried...

Dried chili is a staple in Nepali cuisine...

Ladies..carrying loads of wood

It was already dark when we finished the meetings, and we headed to the Everest Panorama Resort in Daman where we spent the night.  We had dinner and had a bonfire where a fire-eater performed about a local folklore.  Then it was time to call it a day.  We were booked in separate cabanas- and my cabana happened to be the farthest.  It was very dark, very cold, very quiet and very scary. At midnight, somebody was roaming around the place and I could see his shadow from my window.  Possibly it was the security guard- but still I could not sleep. 

It was finally morning, and despite the fact that I hardly slept, the cold shower kept me awake all day (the hot shower was not working- lucky me!)

But- the moment I stepped out of my cabana, my jaw dropped.  I was greeted by the most beautiful sight ever: the long stretch of the Himalayan mountain range. Layers and layers of mountains, with the farthest mountains capped with snow.  It was so beautiful, and so beyond words.

We spent around 2 hours taking pictures.  Then, with regret, we had to leave to do more community interaction, and on to another arduous travel  back to Kathmandu.

Myself with colleagues from India, Cambodia and Laos

What made Nepal special?  

The beautiful mountains.... 

waking up to cold weather and beautiful sunrise....  

and the beautiful people who lovingly welcomed us to their villages. 

And of course, the yummiest warm milk tea I have ever had. 

Day 4- Pakistan Visit: Saidpur Village

9 April 2014. Day 4 did not quite start right. We were supposed to go to another slum community at 9AM.  Earlier, however, there was a bomb blast in one of the markets close to that community. The Security Officer called up and asked us to wait at the office for another hour, and then he will give us another advice.

We decided to just continue with our system and document review.  After an hour or so, we were given the clearance to go.

On the way to the community...beautiful park turned into clothes drying area :)

We went to another Christian community and had the meetings in another small church. It felt good to be able to talk to some project beneficiaries- it does validate the work that we do. We talked with some youth volunteer health educators  and I was amazed to find out how much they are learning and how their involvement are helping them develop themselves.

Meeting with children and community

 After the meeting, we headed to Saidpur Village for lunch. On the way, I cannot help but notice the lovely roses lining the major streets. Wish we have this too in Manila- but then that might not be possible due to the terrible air pollution.

Aren't they lovely

 Situated at the foot of a hill, Saidpur Village is a heritage place.  It is an old village and the government are taking pains to maintain it and they are not anymore allowed to build more houses there.  The hill, flowers, blue skies and good weather all together made it the lovely place that it is.  

We enjoyed  a good Pakistani lunch and then headed back to the Program Unit office for a quick presentation of our findings and recommendations.