Third Zone by Boboy Yonzon
Third Zone

THE JOYS OF TRAVEL

Apr 18, 2022, 5:09 AM
Boboy Yonzon

Boboy Yonzon

Columnist

MOROCCO-- Travel could expand your mind bigger than a tumbling trek across the Wikipedia universe can. It could lift you to cloud nine quicker than a two-hour deep tissue massage.

As the virus scare slowly dissipates and the summer catapults the Filipinos farther away from their homes to seek for the description of fun, it is a timely to contemplate on the bliss in travel.

To an indulgent, observant and adventurous person, the way travel makes a playground of his senses is one exhilarating experience.

Let us consider the olfactory sense. Take the simple ritual of taking a bath, for instance. The smell and feel of different shampoos and soaps, whether you are in a hotel, a resort, or somebody else’s home, takes a joy ride.

The hint of peppermint and cinnamon in natural soap; the drops of rose, jasmine, or lavender; or the soothing feel of a true Egyptian cotton bar brings you to new worlds and imaginings. Even the hardness and nuanced scent of water differ from one place to another.

As you walk down a street, the aroma of burger patties, for one, has different assaults. It depends on the age of beef, the mix of spices, and the kind of oil they sizzle in. And how these waft with cold or hot air.

The smell of a burning pile of dried leaves in a countryside morning is a romantic experience. Mango oil certainly emits a different fragrance than fresh grass cuttings.

Or ride a Muni bus in downtown San Francisco, and flip over how it differs from the smell of an MRT rush hour ride. Forget the dominance of Safeguard of the reputedly more hygienic Pinoys, and be prepared for whole range – the smell of dregs to dandy, from hobo to salaried honcho.

We may say that some nationals smell of unwashed armpits, but foreigners have remarked how Filipinos or Southeast Asians smell of dried fish, even of anchovy sauce.

That’s just about smell, and that’s just an introduction. Then there are the tastes, the feel, the sights and the sounds!

I count myself lucky for landing jobs – for television, doing documentaries, and public information - that have taken me to nooks and nicks of the Philippines. I discovered Boracay when it still had no electricity and a hut was rented for 25 pesos. Fishermen came in from nearby waters and fish could be had for a song, still beating.

I first visited Sagada and St. Paul’s Cavern more than thirty-five years ago. It took forever to traverse the rough and merciless Halsema Road, and the way we reached the subterranean wonder in Palawan was through a military chopper.

I have ridden many an opened-door Huey and aimed my camera on the landscape below, barely reined by a seat belt. I’ve also flown on a three-seater light plane from Manila to Cagayan de Oro, where we peed on a plastic jug.

My film crew and I were on a rickety military plane that tried to take off twice for Batanes but couldn’t and nearly ran against a wall in Nichols. I took the third attempt as an omen and got off with the guys thankful.

I had the opportunity to mingle with Yakans, Tingguians, Mangyans, Ivatans, Ibalois and other indigenous communities. I first tasted arorosep in our trip to cover the Badjaos and had a better appreciation of the sea!

I saw Zamboanga when it was humming as a barter trade zone; it was brimming with a bigger variety of goods than a PX outlet. But, on the other hand, more than for Hershey bars, lovely linen, and thick Porterhouse steaks, the military bases were places to go to for good bread.

You should have seen Negros Occidental when it was reeling with famine, or Talomo, Davao when it was being filled with refugees from internal conflict. With them, I ate an emaciated duck that a farmer scrubbed with Tide to rid it of its gamey smell before it was thrown to a pot.

Have you ever been stranded in Batanes because planes couldn’t land because of a “banana” storm? Has your temple been grazed by a muzzle of a Garand of an Agusan brat’s bodyguard? Have you nearly died of asthma in Leyte, after sleeping in a room full of kapok?

I keep saying “I’m too old for this” referring to my video documentary work and yet I may find myself giddy whenever a project comes, affording me more opportunities to immerse in new places and meet new people,

On my ever first trip abroad, it was to look for women performers for Japan clubs and this found me in Niigata, Las Vegas, and Mexico City where I stole time to see the Aztec pyramids, folklorico performances, and museums.

God also blessed me with benevolent Chinese clients and friends who sent the wife and me to different tourist sights in China for free just to help promote their country here in the Philippines. My serendipitous involvement in comics took me back to China at least 10 more times, to the US, and to other ASEAN countries. Again, for free.

Fate has been kinder to the wife and me. We were also able to see – although in a blur - Madrid, Barcelona, Amsterdam, Rome, and Paris gratis et amore. It was a stupendous sensation to touch the Pieta, the Moulin Rouge, the Gaudi Park, and all those postcard landmarks. The ladies of Roosebuurt were also within sniffing distance.

How I wish I am as obsessive-compulsive as Jose Rizal and wrote about each and every trip. I may have hundreds of pictures, but notes could be more telling sometimes for they can reveal the emotions more.

Travel has a way of imbedding information and memories more deeply, because it gathers all our senses and shakes them vigorously. And when you start to recall, while you can still recall, the bits become whole and the anecdotes become novels.


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