It was monsoon season when V and I had landed in Batad in Ifugao province of Philippines.
Batad, as we all know, is a UNESCO Heritage place in Philippines and its claim to fame is its many hectares of tall rice terraces; all of them hand built over thousand years back and their descendants still farming here!
During monsoon reaching Batad itself is very difficult with only one trip of Jeepney per day on a muddy one lane road on mountains. Invariably it gets stuck in the mud with no one in …

Picture of the moment: Rice terraces of Philippines.
Note:- Picture of the moment is a weekly series exhibiting pictures, through which I show you a bit of my journeys and my world.
Rice terraces are common throughout Asia but nowhere are they as spectacular as in the rugged mountains of northern Luzon of Philippines.
The Batad Rice Terraces are 2000-year old terraces that were carved into the mountains of Ifugao in the Philippines by ancestors of the indigenous people. The rice terraces are commonly referred to by Filipinos as the “Eighth Wonder of …

The children of Batad village could not have impressed me more. They are tech savvy, fashion conscious, speak English and fond of latest English songs. All of them possess mobile phones as well.

Batad is a relatively tiny village in the mountains of Northern Luzon in the Philippines. Its big brother next door, Banaue (pronounced as banawe or बनावे) is the one you hear more about around Manila.
From a four year old to a teenager, they all are comfortable with English language unlike in the capital Manila. They are very poor …

Warning: This is a colorful post.
Before I start writing about my recent trip of Philippines and Malaysia, I thought it better to recollect how was the year 2010 for me in terms of travel.
I think I will skip some of domestic travels since a few of them happened in a jiffy and I do not remember the details now. Also, I am not counting the local exploration of lesser known places of my town such as watching Flamingos at Sewri fort.

Flamingos enjoying their meals.
The year started with a …