sukiing o shimasu!
February 5, 2005The one thing I miss the most about living the US - I was based in California for almost ten years - is without a doubt - SKIING! In a few weeks, I get to hit the slopes after a 15 year hiatus. Ironically, the cheapest place to go skiing (if you’re based in Manila) is - drum roll please - Japan! Winter huts are availble for about $150/night in Sapporo (for a family of 4), with your own outdoor onsen. So I’ll get to see what that’s like - rolling in the snow in the buff then immersing oneself in a really hot spring! The plane tickets are cheaper too - than flying to NZ, Melbourne, or California.
Kudos to the Japanese Embassy for NOT charging a fee for a tourist visa. As far as I can recall, this is the only country I’ve ever applied for a VISA and have not had to pay a fee!
Wine-making in the Cordilleras
Lynn Madalang of EBGAN, a Bontoc-based NGO dedicated to helping the women and youth of the Cordillera, tells me that they are working on setting up a wine-making establishment somewhere near Sagada. They intend to make strawberry, raspberry, and blackberry wine, which retail for about P100/bottle in the markets along the Halsema highway. (She tells me that the raspberry wines are the best tasting). Lynn says that only 30% of all strawberries harvested - that is, only the good looking straweberries - make it to the markets of Baguio. The remaining 70% is either thrown away or used to make jam. The going rate for these “uglier” strawberries is about P10/kilo, and can be used to make 200 bottles of strawberry wine. That’s a potential P20T in sales for P10 in raw materials!
Lynn plans to set up a cooperative and is in need of project-funding as well as help in the packaging/distribution of the wine. Interested parties should contact her at <048ebgan@mozcom.com>. EBGAN’s phone number is 074 4470022.
