Trekking and Me

As is evident in this blog, none of my travel experiences involved climbing or hiking or trekking mountains in the Philippines....only leisurely drives, picnics, explorations, and beach stays in Philippine destinations.  

It's only when I started working that I met people who do mountaineering, and even then, it didn't catch on with me.  I always feel it's too rugged an activity, especially with the heat and humidity, and ruggedness of such places in the Philippines.  And I know myself when it comes to these things.  I'm not that strong a person either and don't look forward to carrying a huge load on my back for a long period of time in such conditions.  Hehe!  So it doesn't interest me much to join local mountain climbing treks.  I always think it's too challenging for me and not worth so much effort.  I'm more of a leisurely explorer I guess.

Despite all these, I'm the sort who actually enjoys and looks forward to walking; as well as hiking in places where it's not too hot.  I owe this I think to having lived in a district of Manila and Makati where everything's within walking distance except for my school.  

At the same time, I like taking pictures.

Hence I've only ever hiked Taal Volcano, and Banawe Rice Terraces.  And when I was in North America, I preferred going to their parks and hiking in their national parks over visiting their theme parks or shopping places.  Maybe it's because we don't have such conveniently accessible parks in the Philippine, or because we used to have little information about which mountains to go to, and because we have many places to shop in Metro Manila alone.

And speaking of mountains: in other countries, they'd be in designated national parks, but for the Philippines, that's just how the place is called, Mt. this or Mt. that. Not necessarily known as a national park turns out.  And if one isn't an inhabitant of the places where the supposed mountains are in a country of 7107 islands, back when the Internet and social networking sites weren't yet the norm, how is one supposed to easily know that there are these "mountains" (as opposed to national parks) one can actually drive out to to explore on a day trip?  

I guess it's also because they weren't yet that developed and that is why it's not in ordinary city folks' minds like ours to seek them out.  I mean, if your parents and their friends never went mountaineering/trekking before, then they wouldn't know how best to go about it either with their toddlers and schoolkids in tow.

Even now, I believe that if I go join trekking expeditions to mountains in the Philippines, I should not be surprised if there'd be no loo to speak of 70% of the time, and one would be left with the natural surroundings as the only option with which to answer the call of nature.

So right now, joining local treks don't interest me much, but a few months from now, I'm going with some companions on a two-week trek high up in a famous mountain range in Asia.  I'm such a newbie at it that I've only just begun buying myself my trekking gear and listing several I still need.  And these gear I'll discuss in another post.  hehe!  

For now, suffice it to say I'm excited to go on this trip, both for exploring, being exposed to another culture, as well as to have more interesting photography opportunities.  hehe!