Slideshow for Banaue rice terraces

Banaue rice terraces Perfect civil engineering many thousand years old Date/Time: Sun 18 Mar 2007 01:57:52 PM PHT Man-made with simplest tools and means and yet durable to function since thousands of years - the rice terraces provide food and living environment for far more than the local population and meanwhile the entire region has become a tourist attraction.

Banaue - a tropical mountain paradise hand-made by humans Lush tropical vegetation where ever you look Date/Time: Sun 18 Mar 2007 02:10:36 PM PHT Ifugao - the traditional people of this region with same name Ifugao - care for nature in all aspects, hence the valley and mountain, water and nature are all clean and well maintained.

Irregular shapes in landscaping - a divine law to create with infinite number of shapes All shapes in gardening and landscaping here are irregular - where ever you look nothing is alike anything else. Date/Time: Sat 17 Mar 2007 02:42:46 PM PHT In God's creation we normally create eternally an infinite number of new items, forms, functionalities. When the architects of the natural landscaping created the rice terraces, no two terraces are alike or even similar.

When you walk along the road, every few meters a known landscape looks different. Due to ever changing angles, curvatures and shapes of all man-created terraces - the look of the entire region changes its appearance depending on what angle or height you look at this gardens made by masters in landscaping.

Hot and steaming tropical nature scenery The first day was half cloudy - half sunny, next day rainy and 3rd day sunny again. Date/Time: Sun 18 Mar 2007 02:09:22 PM PHT Clouds glide thru the valley - the nature is steaming and visibility changes every few minutes. Temperature is 20-25 degrees C and all Banaue region hazy these days despite the fact that we actually are in the middle of the dry season.

Rice terraces are rice fields artificially created on steep mountain sloops Rice fields means work, lots of hard labor - and lots of excellent food Date/Time: Sun 18 Mar 2007 01:55:19 PM PHT The native population in the Philippines mainly lives from rice - hence rice production is one of the most important food resources. Almost impossible to imagine any mean from breakfast to dinner without rice.

Rice nursery amidst rice plantations The light green small areas are rice nurseries to grow the small baby plants Date/Time: Sun 18 Mar 2007 02:06:08 PM PHT When the baby plants have reached a certain size, then they are planted plant by plant into their final location on the rice fields. All done by bare hands - one plant at a time.

Young rice plants ready for final planting Baby plants are carried in bundles to the final rice fields Date/Time: Sun 18 Mar 2007 08:49:35 AM PHT Since walking and carrying goods in these steep mountain region is far more difficult than in normal flat lowland regions - often the rice nursery is a small piece of the actual final rice field to avoid any obsolete transportation.

Woman at work The planting often is done by women Date/Time: Sun 18 Mar 2007 01:53:18 PM PHT Look at the size of this single rice field - look at the number of rice plants and imagine that one by one each rice plant has been put into soil by the gentle hands of a woman. Sometimes one woman for an entire rice terrace.

Teamwork Together all is more fun and easier Date/Time: Sun 18 Mar 2007 01:35:11 PM PHT Sometimes small groups of like here 2 women share the work of planting

Mountain houses - living in a tropical paradise The farmers here have mostly nice small mountain houses next to their fields Date/Time: Sat 17 Mar 2007 02:38:06 PM PHT Considering the steep mountains, it makes sense to be as near or amidst your fields. Living amidst your property also makes family life much easier. Kids always are near and within visibility of their parents and husband wife always are near each other and sharing all life together.

When you love your job - then you love to make a good job Look at the nice rows and equal distances between plants ... and imagine the efforts needed to achieve such Date/Time: Sun 18 Mar 2007 08:48:55 AM PHT To see ho w careful these rice fields are created and maintained a brief look at the regular distances between plants and the nice rows that are created will show you how much these people care about their work.

The love for their work and way of living is the key to their success in what they do as a living since thousands of years. Millions of rice plants planted year after year, by hand, plant by plant with such great love and care!

Efficiency as a key to success Every resource is used to its maximum to achieve highest efficiency Date/Time: Sun 18 Mar 2007 02:05:13 PM PHT Where ever there is a small piece of land, farmers have converted it into a small rice terrace. No space wasted, even if its only a few square meters. Every square meter gives food for a few meals. Every additional efforts is contributing to the success and may make the difference between full failure or full success ... if you multiply such extraordinary efforts by the hundreds of thousands of tiny rice terraces fit into the mountain sloops.

Tropical gardens - jungle gardens hand-made with love Beautifully arranged into a clean and well maintained wild nature Date/Time: Sat 17 Mar 2007 02:35:18 PM PHT The rice terraces are even more amazing if you look at the surrounding. Hundreds thousands of exotic fruit trees, blossoming trees and blossoming tropical flowers have been planted around the rice terraces to cover all mountains from down the valley to the hill-tops to make these rice fields look like tropical gardens rather than farmer fields. This natural beauty in landscaping again shows how much these farmers love their work, love their nature and how much they care about more than simple food production measured by tons.

Compare this beauty in landscaping with the mass production of modern western farmers ... do our western farmers display and prove an equal love by creating beauty or do they work just for tons, profits and return on investment ?

Mountain climbing skills are needed to climb this terraces We normal humans would need mountain climbing skills, mountain climbing shoes or equipment Date/Time: Sun 18 Mar 2007 11:37:16 AM PHT Farmers here have no time for such toys, they have to carry up and down all the seedlings, harvest and tools ....

But imagine the work to create this huge and steepest structure of rice terraces thousands of years ago. Millions of stones needed to be carried into place one by one. All walls made to perfection to last thousands of years. Irrigation system conducting water from top of the mountain thru each of the terraces in a steady flow and with the smallest loss of water to assure that even the very last terrace is equally flooded by clean fresh mountain water as the very top terrace.

This terrace system reminds of the Egyptian pyramids, except that these rice terraces still serve
their peaceful and most useful purpose in full after many thousands of years after construction!!!

Living in the mountains - finding your ideal home - creating your ideal home Finding an ideal mountain home is difficult or impossible unless you are willing and capable to create your ideal home-village on your own and maintain your ideal home for all future generations Date/Time: Sat 17 Mar 2007 02:42:51 PM PHT This mountain village people in Banaue have created their home - from a nearly empty, steep mountainous valley with high mountains and little original resources, they joined their forces to turn that region into a "gold-mine" of food resources and other natural resources to satisfy all needs of life for all villagers. Thousands of years later their home still is fully functional and supplies work, food and a happy and more importantly a healthy living environment for all families.

If you want a paradise - if you want a home in paradise, then you may as well have to start today to create your home and paradise on your very own. If you have earned your home in paradise here and now on earth, then and only then you know and honor the efforts God has made to create and give us all a planet as beautiful as this one planet we are just about to destroy with combined efforts of extreme superficiality, negligence and selfishness.

Those however having learned to create and maintain their own paradise on earth shall be given a paradise in heaven for free by my father - because people like this village people in the high mountains of northern Philippines certainly value to have a healthy, blossoming, fertile, natural and clean home in the mountains - they have created by bar hands almost anything you see on this picture - the terraces, the fruit trees all over, the water irrigation system, the blossoming nature - created, cared and maintained with love by all who wanted to have a better life and who were willing to work beyond description and far above imagination for more than 2000 years to reach their goal to create a beautiful home in the tropical mountains

Water as the source of all life in nature - learn water management to use available natural water efficiently Without water no harvest - water is the loving energy that creates the rich harvest in agriculture Date/Time: Sun 18 Mar 2007 02:04:31 PM PHT Without water no agriculture - hence water management, the art of using water in a steady flowing way from top of the mountains down to the river in the valley is the key in a successful mountain agriculture.

Rice terraces need to be exactly level - water is collected on the highest most possible point and then conducted by various natural but highly sophisticated means such as hollow logs, bamboo as a water pipe or stone made aqueducts are applied to use the available water in the most efficient way - i.e. with the smallest possible loss of water due to leakage on the way from top to bottom of the valleys.

Beautiful working environment - beauty at work - beauty at home Who says that a working environment needs to be ugly like our city-work places ? Date/Time: Sun 18 Mar 2007 01:38:48 PM PHT Work needs to be fun ! Hence working environment needs to be beautiful because we are made to enjoy beauty as a factor of quality of living. The farmers here have constructed most efficient and most rewarding agriculture environment but at the very same time all have contributed to the creation of a truly natural and beautiful working and living environment .... totally opposite of modern western farming with huge mono-cultures leading to ill nature managed only by herbicides and pesticides.

The mixed culture of rice fields, vegetable fields, fruit trees, blossoming trees and bushes in conjunction and mixed naturally with totally wild and jungle like growth of a huge variety of tropical trees, bushes and herbs - some edible, some just for healing and balancing all natural habitat in the mountains. These rice terraces just look like a park, like water gardens made to enjoy the heart and eyes of mankind living here or visiting this marvelous province in the high tropical mountains of Cordillera.

Landscaping architecture in modern agriculture Turn your farmland into beautiful gardens to make work as much fun as you need to really enjoy life and work Date/Time: Sat 17 Mar 2007 02:34:39 PM PHT There is but one life - and all that one life we work, hence we need to learn to create a beautiful working environment worth to live in and enjoy. Since we spend the majority of each day around or at our work - we need to have a healthy but also truly beautiful work space. Beauty is either created by God or by mankind. Every single piece on property on earth can be converted into a park - a tropical garden growing useful products such as food as much as plants and bushes purely destined to please our eyes, souls and hearts.

The people here can live for thousands of years in the same valley and may never suffer any serious health problems. Can we say same about our industrial plants in large cities such as Paris, Chicago, Tokyo, Milan ??? Certainly never - because we never invested any money nor resources to make our own lives pleasant or healthy or both together. We only invest minimum amounts, minimum efforts, minimum resources for one goal only - for maximum short time profits ... at the expense of 2-digit cancer among most parts of our global human society as well as at the expense of the entire nature on this planet until all planet is killed.

Agriculture land as a living beautiful park In cities we create small parks to compensate for the loss of nature Date/Time: Sat 17 Mar 2007 02:42:38 PM PHT Here all land looks like a living park. These are some of the most beautiful agriculture areas on the entire planet - no herbicides, no pesticides - delicious fruits and vegetable and an extraordinary "red rice" contribute to the wellbeing and health of all nature and all population.

Your house in the mountains - mountain view for free - sunshine unlimited guaranteed Living in your own home certainly is the dream of most Date/Time: Sat 17 Mar 2007 02:39:38 PM PHT Living can be affordable - specially if you construct your own home - and even more if you are ready to construct a natural home made from local construction resources and materials.

People here prefer to live amidst their fields and work. Hence the houses are often individual houses or small groups amidst the hills, mountains and fields. The advantage of living where your work is - is that all family always is at home, children have their parents day and night next, husband and wife share all life, all days and nights together and thus grow together in life. Living at your natural work space also gives all your kids an opportunity to always stay at home, to play in the most natural God-made gardens possible - in free, wild nature around their home.

Living at your work space also reduces all travel time and travel expenses to zero - you always are at home, even when at work, you can do whatever you love to do because you are your own boss. You start working and stop working when ever you please to do so. The only one kicking your own butts is you - because you have a loving family who loves to enjoy love and happiness all life, hence you love to care for your family and make sure life continues to improve all eternity - generation after generation.

Duty first each day - plants and trees need some daily basic care - so may the walls and irrigation system of the entire terracing system ...

but after all the duty there always is time - day and night plentiful of time - for family life, for love life, to be with your family, to be with your best friends and your local community - to play, to sing or to have fun all together.

Life only is worthy to be lived if we all have plenty of time for love, exchange of love, fun and true loving friendship with all - to be, to act and to feel like a loving and beloved family all together is the goal of our love-education on earth to prepare us all to return home to God - home to our heavenly paradise beyond earth.

Living in nature - living amidst forest, plants and fruit-trees Living in wild healthy nature is the best herbal medicine - if you care for your surrounding nature - then nature cares for you, your health and all your family needs as well Date/Time: Sat 17 Mar 2007 02:39:33 PM PHT Nature itself is herbal medicine - living in nature, living surrounded by natural healthy nature means living from natural energy emanating from a strong and healthy nature. Herbal teas only are needed in cities far away from natural environment. When living amidst a natural and clean wild environment with fresh water, clean air and pure natural drinking water, then all our surrounding acts healing upon us all - hence our all immune system is strengthened to the point where no or only minimal health imbalances occur.

Mountain farmers and workers living here in these beautiful small mountain houses are far above average healthy, strong and happy. Children grow up in a natural environment with plenty of natural toys ... trees, animals, flowers, bushes, ... to play with and to learn useful skills while having fun.

IN a mild tropical climate such as here in the northern Philippine tropical mountains a house is affordable by all. Houses are small because houses serve but to sleep or find shelter in heavy rain or storms - all normal life is outdoors, in sunshine or the shadow of blossoming trees, surrounded by thousands of blossoming plants, trees and herbs filling all air with a mystic scent of tropical flowers and blossoms, roses, orchids, blossoming fruit trees all contribute to a gently and exotic fragrance. All mountain region is like a huge aromatherapy center made by God and God's children ....

Men at work in the rice fields of Banaue While women normally do the planting of rice - men do the even harder soil preparation of all rice terraces Date/Time: Sun 18 Mar 2007 01:58:23 PM PHT In lowland rice fields such work is done by men using water buffaloes - here in the steep slopes of the mountains no one else but humans still can walk, hence all such hardest work is done by strong men using bar hands and simple tools to prepare the fields, to plow and to till soil until ready for the women to take over and plant the young rice plants.

Beautiful mixed culture agriculture plantations Easy to recognize that farmers have a deep understanding of creating, establishing and maintaining a balance in nature Date/Time: Sat 17 Mar 2007 02:40:02 PM PHT Amidst fields we see wild trees and bushes here and there. Around fields we see blooming bushes and flowers of various kind. A balance in nature always consists of a right amount of flowing water, fresh breeze of air, direct sunshine, wild herbs, colorful flowers and blossoming trees or bushes.

Ideal Feng Shui is when nature can grow freely or when a nature-like environment is created. When all energies are well balanced, then neither herbicide nor pesticide are needed to get a healthy and rich harvest or fruit and crop.

Value and purpose of our nature - The best health insurance is our clean and healthy nature If health is what you want - then you have to care for your nature - without nature no life, without nature no health at all Date/Time: Sun 18 Mar 2007 01:49:02 PM PHT While the Ifugao - people of Banaue region - have invested their life-long efforts toward creating a BETTER world ... think about what you do or did the past few decades ! Do we western "civilizations" invest 90% or all 100% of our time and resources toward the destruction of our planet and living environment or are you among the few ones who has fully dedicated your life toward a truly better world for all!

This planet is being killed - slowly and faster year after year since many decades. Signs of nature destruction and environment pollution are visible since decades, yet our all profit thinking and efforts to make easy money still grows faster than ever before.

If peace and health is what you want in your life, if a better and healthier future is your goal for your children, then it might be time this very minute to fully review your own life and make up to 100% changes to turn your own life into a better and happier life.

No insurance can return a death planet, no insurance can return a death child or removed cancer breast or cancer lung ...

There are things money can buy - a piece of chocolate, a pair of shoes, a bike or car - there are Billions of things no money in the world ever can buy - such as a new planet, healing for a planet, healing for a cancer ill human, real happiness, true love, a entire and healthy family ...

Think about your own goals and review your own intentions - life is an eternal process far beyond imagination, millions of years beyond your present life time. Now these very minutes you are constructing or destructing the future of your kids as well as your own far future living environment.

Human motivation as a driving force to achieve goals If you have a picture of your goal - if you visualize your goal and start working endlessly working until you have realized your goal - then you can achieve any goal - even God-realization Date/Time: Sun 18 Mar 2007 01:51:23 PM PHT Those who have learned to work toward a goal until goal achieved will achieve any and all goals. If the goal is loving - then the work toward that goal is bless by God. If the goal is destructive or selfish - then no one ever will bless your work and all needs to be done and paid by you.

If "God-seekers" learn to achieve simple but loving material goals first and apply the very same focus toward greater and greater goals until ready to work toward returning home - then all God-seekers will finally succeed. Until then however God-seekers may experience millions of failures until God-seekers have learned to invest ALL toward achieving such an eternal and most valuable goal. ALL - all your financial resources, all your time, all your strength, all your skills, all your knowledge - to succeed you need to join all forces with all your enemies and family members alike. Like the constructors of these beautiful and thousands of years lasting terracing systems across hundreds of square kilometers had to do - full coordination, full combination of all avaliable human resources focused toward one and only one single goal ... your return home.

Learn from others and look up to those having achieved more than you The spiritual lessons of the achievement of these rice terraces built by an entire population of some 120'000 people is essential to understand - because the vast majority of all Gods-seekers is far away from focus and decisiveness needed to succeed as mu Date/Time: Sat 17 Mar 2007 02:37:05 PM PHT Millions of humans have been here already many thousand years ago - most likely all of you as well - being here and now again or still means that your previous efforts have been far insufficient.

The reason why people are here instead of at home in God is the lack of focus toward love and love only in their entire life. To make it home a full proof of sincerity of love is absolutely required by each and all. Can you live an entire life without revenge, without punishment, without killing, without war or support of war, without destruction of nature ??

Can you focus many decades non-stop in working toward a higher goal for the better of all planet, for a better life of entire human civilization, animals, nature, planet ? If no then it might be time to review your true intentions in life. Are you sure the way your life goes is the way you actually want to go ?

Think about and ask yourself what to change and how to better turn your life into a life toward love and peace - a life toward your home in God.

Landscaping - our best landscapers are our farmers Landscaping as a side effect of farming ... much more than just producing your daily food Date/Time: Sat 17 Mar 2007 02:37:05 PM PHT Since thousands of years some farmers did their work with more love than others - beyond producing food. Like the rice farmers here - farmers often are landscapers who turn a wild piece of land into fertile production land looking like a paradise garden.

Healthy housing for all family - living amidst nature For all family always the best situation to live is in wild nature amidst your working environment Date/Time: Sat 17 Mar 2007 02:40:02 PM PHT Working where you live and live where you work - saves you time to travel each day and allows you to be always with all your family.

Children love to be always around parents - parents, no matter what exact kind of work they proceed - will always be able to offer the best grow up environment if their children can watch working and learn while growing up in a playful environment.

Hence to find, create and maintain a family business that allows you to live in mountain homes, amidst nature and in a healthy natural environment always produces the happiest, healthiest and strongest children in life.

Millions of different jobs could be done in such a natural mountain environment - from computer jobs, designer jobs, architects, engineers, software or web design jobs, graphic artists and many more jobs are fully suitable to be done in nature rather than from unhealthy artificial cities.

Banaue rice terraces - a garden for all family and thousands of happy children Banaue rice terraces is but one part - artisans of many kind have found a home here Date/Time: Sat 17 Mar 2007 02:42:38 PM PHT Wood carving is one of the many old traditions here - weaving another. Excellent local rice - red rice - in addition to many vegetables and local tropical fruits also has brought up an excellent gourmet tradition in several local restaurants.

How much love and loving work is needed to create a living art piece of that size ? Art has many forms and manifestations - an entire landscape scenery can be a piece of art Date/Time: Sat 17 Mar 2007 02:42:46 PM PHT Spending time here is most pleasant. People who work for 2000+ years to create such beautiful rice gardens in terrace form surely have proven an extensive amount of persistent love toward God and all creation by creating such beautiful landscape.

Banaue rice terraces - nature scenery The lower part of the mountain slopes and valleys are almost fully covered by rice terraces and gardens Date/Time: Sat 17 Mar 2007 02:42:51 PM PHT The upper part of mountains are covered with thousands of fruit trees, mango, star apples and other tropical fruits and blossoming plants and bushes.

Beautiful pink hibiscus Farmers love flowers Date/Time: Sat 17 Mar 2007 02:46:56 PM PHT All over the Banaue region an abundance of flowers around most houses to give loving color to all life here.

Mountain homes A home in the mountains - fresh air and a piece of true nature around your home Date/Time: Sat 17 Mar 2007 02:38:06 PM PHT A children's dream and paradise - to live in nature, climbing trees, having millions of nature adventures day after day - be with dad and mom all day - always at home and yet always free to explore and venture into mountains with their best friends

Mountain homes - affordable homes for all family While homes in or near cities often cost a fortune far beyond the financial capabilities of most Date/Time: Sat 17 Mar 2007 02:39:33 PM PHT A mountain home is affordable for all - even here in the Philippines most people living in provincial areas always own their homes. No mortgages, no loans of any kind. Mountain homes are small because life is outside in nature - the home only serves as shelter for the night.

Why eat or sit inside a home if you have a tropical paradise garden just outside your mountain home, a splendid mountain view into valley and a beautiful nature scenery ...

Mountain homes amidst tropical forest Fruits growing just outside your home - all your mountain home surrounded by fruit trees and blossoming flowers and bushes Date/Time: Sat 17 Mar 2007 02:39:38 PM PHT Reach out to grab a fruit - enjoy the scent of tropical flowers that floods all valley these days, the exotic scent of pomelo trees and other citrus fruit trees.

Banaue Banaue village center Date/Time: Sat 17 Mar 2007 03:10:10 PM PHT Way up in the mountains there is little space for big buildings - hence the small village is crowded with a few dozen rather ugly looking buildings.

White Amaryllis Beautiful white Amaryllis near the center of Banaue Date/Time: Sat 17 Mar 2007 04:25:06 PM PHT In the garden of a small dental clinic - a beautiful small flower-garden with plenty of white Amaryllis and orchids

Dental clinic Banaue A small dental clinic near Banaue village center Date/Time: Sun 18 Mar 2007 08:28:47 AM PHT Even in remote mountain regions or provincial islands you always find all basic medical services needed at very reasonable prices.

Rainy day in Banaue Any time - even during dry season you may experience rainy days Date/Time: Sun 18 Mar 2007 06:59:20 AM PHT Mountains attract clouds - and rain. The beautiful part of this is a year round blossoming lush nature

Now and then a rainy or cloudy day is an easy price to pay in exchange for the beautiful nature scenery and fertile farming environment.

Dark clouds thru the village Living in the mountains means also living in the clouds Date/Time: Sun 18 Mar 2007 07:04:07 AM PHT All valley looks like sun switched OFF when the clouds move thru the village

Banaue by day on a rainy day Darkness all over Date/Time: Sun 18 Mar 2007 07:06:01 AM PHT Dark cloudy days are easy to take if you switch ON the sunshine in your heart

Banaue rice terraces The beauty of Banaue rice terraces is due to the individual form of each terrace Date/Time: Sun 18 Mar 2007 08:42:22 AM PHT God creates diversification - hence there are no 2 absolutely equal creations - so did the farmers here in Banaue. No 2 terraces are close to similar.

Landscaping with love To make a perfect system of beautiful natural rice terraces requires infinite love for beauty Date/Time: Sun 18 Mar 2007 08:42:47 AM PHT Beauty is a firm part of love - without love no beauty - without love for nature and all neighbors there would be no driving force and no inspiration to create an ever changing system of rice terraces across hundreds of kilometers.

Shapes and lines in landscaping Learn landscaping from masters of land-architecture diversify your shapes and lines Date/Time: Sun 18 Mar 2007 08:42:58 AM PHT If you plan to restructure your own garden - try to apply same principle of infinite number of different landscaping forms. Make each piece of your own garden looking different and avoid straight lines and regular shapes

Mass production and mono culture vs individual farming Quality of living depends on many factors - beauty of landscape is one such important factor Date/Time: Sun 18 Mar 2007 08:43:18 AM PHT Living in modern farming regions with hundreds of kilometers of mono culture and straight lines soon turns boring. Mono-culture brings imbalance into nature - mixed culture like here maintains natural health and a strong Feng Shui in farming regions.

Problems are there to challenge you - problems are made to be solved by you There is no problem to big to be solved by mankind - it's just a question of how many forces you add up working toward the same goal Date/Time: Sun 18 Mar 2007 08:43:34 AM PHT The joint forces of all can overcome all obstacles no matter how big the obstacle. The rice terraces are an ideal example of how simple people can overcome any obstacle simply by joining forces and agreeing on a common goal.

Every problem in life you encounter is made to challenge your limited imagination and to make you grow beyond existing limits of mind and body.

Joint forces for a common goal Without agreement on the common goal there can be no progress toward that common goal Date/Time: Sun 18 Mar 2007 08:43:54 AM PHT The first step to mutual progress is the agreement on the truly basics of life, the true values of life - a cozy home and abundance of food and living resources for all.

If one rock of 10 tons is obstructing the access of a 1000 people village - no single person alone can remove the obstruction - however all village together joining forces can easily move a much larger object than a 10 tone rock.

Hence to achieve or to fail is nothing else but the result of agreeing on joining forces to achieve the goal or failing to agree on the necessity to join forces toward that one goal.

Construction machinery or manpower Moving thousands of tons of gravel, stone, rocks and soil by simple manpower Date/Time: Sun 18 Mar 2007 08:44:27 AM PHT No high tech machinery was needed to move these huge masses of rocks and soil, only firm decisiveness and a full agreement among all population to fully cooperate and to fully agree on a common plan of action.

Egyptian pyramids or Banaue rice terraces Huge masses of rocks moved simply by manpower Date/Time: Sun 18 Mar 2007 08:44:39 AM PHT Many examples of past have shown that manpower is capable to create miracles and wonders of architecture. The key ingredient always is the critical number of people needed to9 overcome the obstacle and achieve success.

Environmental destruction vs environment construction It takes little carelessness to destroy nature and lots of care to construct nature Date/Time: Sun 18 Mar 2007 08:44:44 AM PHT In modern times we carelessly destroy entire valleys or regions - while at the same time some invest all their life to construct an ocean of new resources Compare how little efforts it takes to trow a beer can out of a car into a forest or field and how much efforts it takes to create a food producing piece of natural art such as these rice terraces - look how tiny little the effort to avoid trashing our nature vs extreme and thousands of years lasting efforts to construct such monuments of nature wonders.

Values of modern society Computers, TV, electronics and more gadgets Date/Time: Sun 18 Mar 2007 08:44:53 AM PHT Modern society focus on electronic gadgets, toys, machinery and luxury items - and neglects the true value of life - family, love, friends.

Caught in abundance of high tech gadgets, we also get caught in loans, mortgages, credit card limits and finally in the need to work overtime just to pay back our loans while forgetting those who needed our love ...
until we lost our loved ones by divorce or death and realize that no money nor any insurance ever can bring back the worthless, timeless values of life - love.

Mountain homes - nature homes At home in the mountains means at home in clean air and healthy living conditions Date/Time: Sun 18 Mar 2007 08:45:00 AM PHT Enjoy the purity of clean air - An essential key to healthy living is clean air and a clean environment for you and all your family. Purity of living environment is the most powerful assurance of good health and a strong immune system.

Everything in live ha a price - health as well. If you continue to live in polluted cities amidst chemical industry and overpopulated living areas the price might be cancer or any other disease killing you slowly or quickly. Hence the price for dirt and pollution is death.

Looking at death - the opposite is life - happy and healthy life ...

What in hell could match in value the value of healthy happy life ? Once you have lost your health in many cases to restore your health might be manifold more expensive than any short time financial benefit you might have had from living at the wrong place. Who and how would you pay a new liver, new kidney, new lungs or new stomach ??

That in mind the little reduction in living standards you might have appear and are tiny compared to the many benefit of living in a natural environment with all your family.

Landscape your neighborhood - Create your neighborhood If local people of Banaue have managed to create this wonderful rice terraces then you can create your own hometown as well. Date/Time: Sun 18 Mar 2007 08:45:13 AM PHT All you need is to chose a simple and natural landscape design. Work toward turning your home town into your paradise by working step by step in improving and strengthening already existing natural beauty rather than creating a totally artificial landscape.

Walls of stone and rocks Wall can be green if proper construction material is selected Date/Time: Sun 18 Mar 2007 08:45:48 AM PHT The beauty of the thousands of kilometers of walls is created by the living green growth covering most of the walls.

Rice - major food source for an entire nation While there would be many other food resources - rice traditionally is the most preferred food in the Philippines Date/Time: Sun 18 Mar 2007 08:46:05 AM PHT Climate would be ideal for many other much easier to grow quality food, vegetables, fruits and many other food resources grow much easier and with far less efforts and work than rice, yet the traditional food starts and ends with rice. From breakfast to diner almost nothing is eaten without a major portion of rice.

Flowing water - water as carrier of purifying and energizing life force Water always has been magic to mankind - hence the great love for all kinds of water gardens Date/Time: Sun 18 Mar 2007 08:48:02 AM PHT An essential part of the cozy and pleasant natural environment here is caused by the huge quantities of steadily flowing clean water throughout the entire valley.

Rice nursery To facilitate rice plantation - often the rice nursery is amidst a rice-field Date/Time: Sun 18 Mar 2007 08:48:43 AM PHT To have the rice nursery in the later rice field reduces transportation of the small plants from nursery to the final rice field. An obvious choice when you look at the steep walls to walk or climb each time you need new supply in a rice field.

Young rice plants Lots of work and care for a handful of rice Date/Time: Sun 18 Mar 2007 08:48:55 AM PHT Each rice plant is carefully placed by hand into the soil

Beautiful green rice plants A beautiful green ncovers all rice fields like European spring colors of fresh green fields Date/Time: Sun 18 Mar 2007 08:49:03 AM PHT As the plants grow the field become more and more saturated with the beautiful green color of healthy rice plants. The abundance of fresh and clean water welcomes a rich aquatic life that grows and prospers as long as the rice fields are flooded - here in Banaue all year long.

In Cambodian rice-fields for example each rainy season the flooded rice fields accommodated huge quantities of small delicious fishes - about 5-7 cm long - that supplemented the food value of rice fields.

Another food resource potential in rice fields used in some countries are frogs - abundant in the clean waters of rice fields frogs grow by the thousands again and again.

Spiritual value of large public projects Without common goal and mutual efforts no success on our all path home to God Date/Time: Sun 18 Mar 2007 08:49:10 AM PHT In God's creation we all have to live and work like the rice farmers thousands of years ago when they started these beautiful rice terraces. We have to learn to fully focus our all efforts and invest our all resources toward our all common good and goal.

The modern world's splitting up of interests and goals into thousands of individual goals - often competing parties with different goals in political systems of most countries - will lead to a loss or better waste of our time, resources and lives.

An eternal life in God's home is like the home created by these rice constructors and farmers. An eternal home requires an eternal steady focus on mutual projects that benefit all and harm none at all. A vital lessons almost all "first world" country-population still has to learn and to practice a long time before qualifying for full freedom beyond this planet.

A handful of seeds creates food for a nation It all started with a few seeds - multiplied and cared for Date/Time: Sun 18 Mar 2007 08:49:35 AM PHT When you import a new plant such as any vegetable, potatoes, rice, fruits, etc - then usually it all starts with a handful of seeds or a few dozen of seedlings, cared for and multiplied season after season until a village and later an entire valley can feed from the harvest.

The same principle applies for spiritual life. We all - absolutely ALL - got a handful of divine gifts, a strong and healthy body and a healthy, clear common sense. Now it is up to us to multiply our efforts and create an ever growing flow of resources for the mutual benefit of all mankind and all creation.

Some have lost all "seeds" given by God and need credits, loans and mortgages - other have multiplied so much that they have a steady flow of love and loving goods / services to share with all world.

To create an abundance out of what God gave us at the beginning is the ultimate goal for all mankind - a lesson we all will learn and master for the remainder of eternity - to become a source of love, help and fun for all creation - God-like.

Self-sustaining culture Every person, every village and every nation should be self sustaining. Date/Time: Sun 18 Mar 2007 08:49:48 AM PHT In addition to our development of self sustaining cultivation of food and products needed for daily life - we then start to develop a surplus to be shared as gifts with the villages and worlds beyond our own culture and home - to create new bonds and maintain new relationships of love beyond our own world.

Progress step by step and all projects can be within reach When you think too early about how much is to be done - you may get frightened by the amount of work to be done ... Date/Time: Sun 18 Mar 2007 08:49:58 AM PHT When you focus step by step on the ongoing step of work and properly prepare for your next step - always step by step - then you realize that an entire family or village easily could build any project of any size as long as you focus on the smallest unit the projects is built of.

This rice fields with ten thousands of kilometers of wall and millions of tons of rock - are all build of single stones / rocks weighing each a few kilograms only. even a 5 year old child can carry a 3-5 kg stone. one at a time, a few hours each day - lifetime after lifetime with all work secrets being forwarded from grandfather to father - from father to son.

One day all project is accomplished by placing the last 3-5 kg stone. the first stone and the last stone all being more or less the very same in size and weight and both, the first as well as the last stone could have been placed all by a single 5 year old angel girl ...

If a girl or boy could place such stones - then adult men can do the very same, faster and better. Hence every truly important project in God's creation is the result of accumulation of a huge number of tiny steps - steps each and all of you can do all on your own to progress and grow mature until ready to return home to God.

Motivation as a vital factor of success Without motivation no success - to motivate you need to look at the time before and the time now Date/Time: Sun 18 Mar 2007 08:51:50 AM PHT How was your life before - how is your life now after your first many successful steps on your spiritual ladder. look at the difference and create your own motivation by looking at how much better a truly loving spiritual life can be compared to the often ill and tormenting life of selfish society.

Home of a farmer's family A magnificent view into Banaue valley offers this beautiful mountain home Date/Time: Sun 18 Mar 2007 08:52:18 AM PHT Built on a small terrace - fruit trees just around the corner. No neighbors to complain if you sing too loud or if your children scream of joy while neighbors have siesta. Living means being free - having fun, enjoying life in full - what else would be God's reason to create such a beautiful planet.

Some of the guest houses here have similar view.

Rice terraces and your fields right outside your home Look down and enjoy the growth of your work Date/Time: Sun 18 Mar 2007 08:52:51 AM PHT Always within sight of home - at home always a clear view to your fields - a farmers life is to be always with and around his family at home all life.

Hence to be farmer requires to be happy family, to be in peace with all family and finally to love all.

Upstairs on the way to heaven - a small home May be just for a little rest before going all the way up ? Date/Time: Sun 18 Mar 2007 08:53:24 AM PHT Surrounded by hibiscus and other blossoming flower - a tiny home for happy people.

Life without flowers is like life without love Flowers bring color and joy to your living environment Date/Time: Sun 18 Mar 2007 08:54:09 AM PHT Flowers are healing for our emotions - hence to have natural wild flowers around our living and working area is important for our overall health and wellbeing. That is the reason why happy people like the ones in Banaue have plenty of flowers all over.

Small jungle like forests between the fields Children love to climb trees - hence we need trees around our home Date/Time: Sun 18 Mar 2007 08:57:00 AM PHT Trees provide fresh healthy breathing air, fruits and wood for construction and other purposes as well. In addition trees give shelter for birds to sing for us and for a variety of other life to make our life more pleasant.

Looking at the rice terraces - you see here and there small but wildly and strongly growing mini-jungles. Beautiful for the eyes and beautiful for our global climate!

Large projects in life Large projects in life start with the first step Date/Time: Sun 18 Mar 2007 08:57:24 AM PHT Think of such a project and you might get scared to start - yet start with one tiny terrace and then do next one and so on, day after day, year after year, lifetime after lifetime. As you see your first step of your life project done, you will receive motivation and strength out of your first successful day to carry you on and on until job done.

Without starting however you would never be able to succeed anything you ever dream of.

Key to success in agriculture If you cultivate all - square kilometers - all valley - then you fail Date/Time: Sun 18 Mar 2007 08:57:32 AM PHT Nature is made to be shared. To be successful in gardening or agriculture requires to share with nature, to leave a piece of land totally free for nature to compensate and rebalance the overall environment's energy system and aura of the entire neighborhood.

If however an entire region is mono culture like in so many western countries - then the entire country's energy system in nature is out of balance. The result then is an artificially man-created need for herbicide and pesticide.

Sayote - chayote First a climbing and yellow blossoming wine then a vegetable Date/Time: Sun 18 Mar 2007 09:01:44 AM PHT

Without water no life - clouds are nothing else but potential life To visit Banaue means to live with clouds and sunshine Date/Time: Sun 18 Mar 2007 09:02:27 AM PHT Some days during dry season like here on this photo or even weeks during rainy season may be cloudy all day long. Hence you need to switch on your inner sunshine else you may fall into a deep depression.

Mountain people however know: Without clouds no rain, without rain no rice and now harvest of fruits nor vegetables - hence clouds are the beginning of vegetation. No rain no vegetation at all.