Post #56616 by Rattiki on Thu, Oct 23, 2003 4:51 PM

On 2003-10-22 21:43, seamus wrote:
Very nice carvings. I think I liked the first one the best. So where in the Phillipines were you?

I was mostly in Puerto Galera, Mindoro which is a bunch beautiful beachside villages strung along the north coast of the island just south of Luzon. And I was in Banaue, Ifugao which is where the ancient headhunting tribes built amazing rice terraces cut right out of the sides of the mountains about 3000 years ago. They also traditionally carve rice gods and other deities out of wood to look over their rice fields and dwellings. This has recently turned into a good industry for them as they carve many of the items you now see being sold in Thailand (elephant stools etc,) and wooden Native American 'Indians' which are sold for a fortune in places like Scottsdale, AZ.

The other thing I saw of tiki interest in the P.I. was bamboo furnature which is stupid cheap and of good quality. A full living room set (2 chairs, 2 side tables, 1 love seat, 1 coffee table and a tall lamp, all bamboo) started at less than $50 and went up to only $75 for higher quality 'export grade'. Beds were $25-$50 and there were bamboo bars, tall bar stools, thatch gazebos, bookcase/shelving and the lot. The thing is the shipping can add a lot of cost.

Also I saw and photographed a lot of 'traditional' style uses of bamboo and woven matting for bars. One cool idea that was utilized often (and I have not seen this before) was mounting a 2-3 inch diamater piece of bamboo into the bars ceiling which had cuts made into it so that you could insert stemed glasses to hang down above you. Very Kewl!