Stunning, That’s All

Lahos Island, Caramoan Peninsula, Camarines Sur, Philippines

This stunningly beautiful postcard comes from Roselyn from the Philippines. I cannot find too much information on the area, except that it is found in Camarines Sur province of the country. It is also home to Caramoan National Park, which is a 347 hectare national park that was established in the area in 1936. It is apparently also popular with tourists but with a scene like this, I guess one could deduce that without having to read about it. Thank you Roselyn, it’s stunning!

Banaue Returns

Banaue Rice Terraces

Farida from the Philippines sent me this beautiful postcard of the Banaue Rice Terraces. It is my second postcard of the terraces. The ancestors of the indigenous Ifugao people carved these terraces into the mountainside over 2000 years ago. Filipinos often refer to these terraces as the “8th wonder of the world,” and I can see why one would call it that. They cover an area of 10 360 square kilometers, the equivalent of about 4 Luxembourgs! If the steps are put end to end, they would encircle half the globe, and to think, they were carved by hand! Everybody knows by now how much I love postcards of rice paddies, so I thank you Farida. These types of postcards are always most welcome.

Cow Plow

Carabao Plow

Jomanne, who sent me my first postcard from the Philippines also sent me this one of a carabao plow. It reminds me of an episode of The Amazing Race where the Americans on the show had to plow a field with a carabao. All I can say is that when they did it, it looked much harder than this show-off on the postcard makes it look. Jomanne tells me that as a youngster he would watch farmers on his grandfather’s farm do their work and even ride the carabaos, which seems rather fun. Thanks once more for a great postcard and a lot of fun facts, written in the neatest and certainly tiniest of handwritings, Jomanne.

Philippines at Last

The Banaue Rice Terraces

From Jomanne in the Phillipines, I received another wonderful postcard of the rice fields in her country. Since this is my first postcard from his country, he wrote down, in the tiniest handwriting that I have ever seen, a number of interesting facts about the country. The Republic of the Philippines consists consists of 7107 islands and is home to 20 active volcanoes. She also tells me that the country is the only predominantly christian country in Asia and has 4 major cultural heritages, including: Asian, European, American and Mexican. He goes on to tell me that Filipinos are always among the happiest people in the world, of course, with such a beautiful country, who wouldn’t be? About the rice terraces he tells me that they were carved into the side of a mountain 2000 years ago with their hands and that if these terraces were put side-to-side, they would stretch across half the globe! This is certainly a stunning postcard to behold and of course, the Banaue rice terraces deserve their place as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Love it! Thanks Jomanne!