My hometown is located in central Luzon. Central Luzon is the rice granary of the Philippines, which means that the main product is rice. Anyway, it’s harvest time in the province when I went home so you there’s so full grown rice. Currently, in our fields, we’re growing watermelons as a way of crop rotation.

 

The pictures are taken from the moving car. Haha. The dark green and the light green you could see are rice stalks that are already cut since the rice has already been harvested. The light brown is, uhm… well… the soil. Haha.

Hmm… I remember… I deliberately didn’t take a picture of the ‘Century tree’ we passed by because I’m a little bit scared. Hehe. The tree is an Acacia tree that had been a century old. Stories involving it would often tell only one thing: never ever try to cut the tree. It’s located in front of a church and each person who tries to cut the tree… DIES. Scary! That’s why the tree is full of marks from the people who tried to cut it but didn’t succeed. I was scared to take a picture so I won’t be able to post it here. Haha. But anyway, my grandma said there’s probably some treasure under the tree that is being guarded that’s why no one could cut it.

So then, let’s take a break from the pictures. While traveling (I was with my family), they keep on complaining that my voice is the only thing they could hear. Haha. So my aunt decided to tell funny stories about my grandma and some relatives.

First story involves my grandma trying to buy eyeglasses.

LADY: Grandma, why don’t you try some over here while waiting?

GRANDMA: okay… (takes a one) woah! It’s sooo clear! (eyes got poked by something) ouch!

LADY: ehhh???

GRANDMA: what kind of eyeglasses are these? They don’t have lenses!

LADY: Wth…

It turns out that the one she took were just frames. The lens would come when they determine what fits you best. When we heard this, my dad said “why the heck are you even buying glasses when you can see clearly even without lens?” Haha. Grandma….

Second story involves grandma trying to board a bus. When you try to board a bus in the Philippines, naturally, it would be crowded. People would be pushing you.

There was a man trying to push grandma’s butt while she was boarding the bus. Grandma has a short temper so she kicked the man and the man fell down. The end result? Grandma got into a fight. Haha.

Third story involves a relative who was also boarding a bus. In the old custom of the Philippines, when you enter a house, you should leave your slippers or shoes outside the house. Old people still follow it.

So then, this distant aunt of mine left her slippers outside the bus and boarded the bus. She was going to Manila. When they arrived in Manila, she went down the bus and of course, her slippers were not there. So she was like “where the hell are my slippers?! I didn’t know robbers in Manila would go as far as stealing slippers!” haha. Crap. When I heard this, I was crying from too much laughter. It was just so funny and classic I couldn’t help laughing. Haha.

The fourth story happened right inside the car. To those who remember the killer van I was always talking about, you might relate to this.

We were traversing a place where there’s a lot of kids playing and grandma made some remark…

GRANDMA (talking to my mom): grab one kid! Grab one kid and take him home. People wouldn’t notice!

MOM (silly expression on he face): Be quiet. If people would hear you… they’ll panic and think we’re the killer van in the news!

ME (almost died laughing)

GRANDMA (realizing it…): oh hell, yes. And then they would call the police and they’ll arrest us!

ME: so you finally realized…

Haha. Anyway, it’s not really funny to those who don’t know the story behind the killer van. That killer van apparently kidnaps kids until 12 years of age and takes their internal organs to sell it outside the country. They return the dead body of the kid with cash inside the abdomen as payment. Creepy. Haha.

So then, back to the pictures.

It’s me, me and me… people don’t want to take a picture with me and I don’t know why. T________T

The one thing that really pissed me off during the trip was my phone getting a low battery. We passed by a totally beautiful scene and I was never able to take it.

So then, I’ll just describe it. There’s a mountain, or rather, a volcano in my hometown called Mt. Arayat. It’s a dormant volcano. Well, it’s not actually in my hometown but from another province (Pampanga) but you can clearly see the volcano from my hometown coz it’s just a 30-minute ride away.

We decided to take a shortcut at the back route and wow… it’s totally amazing! It was almost sunset and you can see the sun reflected on the surface of the flowing river. Then if you would look at it from a farther point, it seems as if the river is just at the foot of the mountain, kissing the mountain’s feet and the only thing that separate them are the softly dancing wild grasses. The sun peeps at you from behind the volcano and the whole scene looked hazy and blurred and light yellow that if you see it… it’s like a scene right out from a postcard. It’s also so quiet as there are no houses… just rows and rows of wild grasses, trees and wildly growing jasmine flowers (the national flower of the Philippines). It’s so beautiful and I was about to take it but my phone cried “hey you! I have low battery’ ugh!

The volcano a.k.a. the mountain and the river both have equally mysterious tales. The river (which name is unknown as local people just called it ‘the flowing river’) is a little scary. Every year, during Lenten season, someone would drown in it. People say the river is taking life every year for some unknown reason. But this year, no one dared to bathe in it. Scary.

The mountain made it as a legend in the country. There was a fairy named Mariang Sinukan, who, as the legends say, lived on the volcano a.k.a. the mountain. She was so kind to the people that she would lend them her properties. But the people abused her kindness so she refrained from interacting with them and instead isolated herself on the mountain. Legends also say that no one has ever reached the top of the volcano a.k.a. the mountain. People who dared to go up never made it back. And I’m inclined to believe that no one really made it to the top. When you see the mountain, there are parts of the lower portions that’s almost out of trees but the halfway up, it’s still luscious and full of trees and shrubs and plants – a sign that it is still undisturbed by human hands. 



mago trees! couldn't take a picture of all but the one in the center is MINE. MINE alone! heehee


these are the kind of mangoes we grow. green mangoes. it's delicious specially if you eat it with this...


it might look yucky but it's totally delicious. What's the english name? shrimp paste? heehee


Turnips? haha. Warning though, don't eat it without eating any decent meal. haha


I'd kiss anyone who would first guess what this is. heehee


it's not clear but that's a live turkey. I took a picture because there was a funny story to this. This turkey would hit anyone who pisses it off. It stings, really. So my cousin who just got circumcised was standing beside the turkey. Our nephew decided to piss the turkey off. But the baka turkey, instead of hitting the nephew hit my cousin's newly circumcised *toot* haha. It got infected. ouch! haha

Anyway, before ending this, let me tell you a little scary story. 

Our house in the province was being renovated. The workers told us when we arrived that during the night, when everyone's asleep, they would often see a little old woman with super long hair, wearing skirt, staring at them. And all of us were like "it's our dead grandma! (from my mother's family)" so no one dares to go sleep there before the house is finished. heehee. And my meanie uncle said to me "the next time you go home, I'm going to tie you inside so you can't get away from the ghost!" boohhooohooo. I wouldn't dare go home again. haha. 

Anyway, that's all with the super long entry. I had fun. haha