Wow, I didn't know anyone was paying attention

More of you have visited and commented on my Multiply page in the last couple of days than you have in the last year or so!

And all because I ported my blog from Blogger to Multiply.

In any case, if you want to get it hot and fresh ... visit My-Tube instead. I check and update it regularly and can comment back more easily from there as well. (Multiply is really slow for me!)

Reason Number One

When people think of Batanes, they normally think of a wild and stormy place -- and not one which is worth visiting, because of this. Blame the fact that Batanes is the weather bureau's point of reference for the North -- Batanes is no stormier than any other part of the Philippines.

What convinces people to go to Batanes are the images: of untouched landscapes, wave-sculpted cliffs, old ladies in vakuls, stone houses with woven thatched roofs....

Batanes is a place that time and modernity seems to have forgotten --- though if you really need and want it, you have a cellphone signal and internet to plug in to the world of the mainland.

Check out these images from Ivatan photographer Noli Gabilo. See the rest of his images at this link and this one . You can check out his other work apart from Batanes imagery at his site.

Batanes - The Movie

This was the second movie I know of that had Batanes as a setting. (The first one was that really old movie with Richard Gomez and Dawn Zulueta, the name of which I forget at the moment.)

I watched this movie with my wife so that she could appreciate the province which I actually consider my spiritual home. Batanes was always, to me, a place where I could fly off to for a period of peace and lightness of heart.

I went to Batanes many times over a period of four years. And every time, it was always with a heavy feeling that I flew home to Manila.

Batanes was heaven on earth. Manila was... not. No matter that technology in Batanes at the time was archaic -- and that the only way to get to talk to relatives in Manila was to line up at the congressman's house for an hour or two. I always wished that the plane wouldn't make it. And if it did, I always wished that it wouldn't take off because of a sudden change in weather. Once, we were actually stranded for a whole week -- and we liked it. The only thing that drove us batty was the fact that we couldn't do anything except stay indoors -- the rain was so hard, the winds were so strong, it was like the Deluge had decided to come.

But I digress.

Watch this video clip from the movie. Rent it or buy it if you can. And while you might find the story a bit cliched, I'm sure you'll walk away wishing that you could go to Batanes one day.

You should visit Batanes

I've been to Batanes something like eight times already.

Words and pictures fail to describe the full experience --- you just simply have to see and feel for yourself.

This blog is dedicated to replicating to the extent that it can the Batanes experience --- and to convince you to visit Batanes when you can.