Yesterday, I went back to the trail I found the other day along Bued River. Unlike the other day, I wore my shoes and brought a backpack with a small journal, a pen, some tissue paper, and a 100 peso bill.
I left the house around 4:30-4:45 pm and arrived at the site around 5:15 pm. I intended to go straight ahead to the small pond I stopped the other day but I saw that the large machine where I saw two girls staying up the other day was vacant. So I took pictures of the machine.
I also took a picture of the beautiful rice field that a man was working on the other day.
The dogs who wanted to chase me the other night when I was passing by to go home were quiet. The white one stared at me.
I then went straight ahead to the pond. I had to cover my nose as I smelled that really disgusting smell. I walked and surveyed the place. I realized I actually have some difficulty paying attention to something closer and much longer.
I heard a young boy and an older gentleman down near the pond.
I started walking. After just a few meters, I saw an open gate on my left. It is probably where the trucks are coming from. Then just below that gate, the path started to go down. There was a fork in the road. One path smelled like the disgusting smell I had to cover my nose for. I realized that the smell was coming from the ground itself. Something in the ground made that smell I just don’t know what. The ground smelled particularly off at the path covered with red loose almost humus-like soil which I was afraid to ride my bike on. I look back at my map and saw that this path was the main path and the other path which went further down was actually a path towards the river itself.
I also started feeling like I was actually inside a private property. I was feeling weird. Not the calm I was looking for and that my old trail provided me.
Nevertheless, I went down the path and realized that for the first time, I was down at the river itself by myself.
I watched the dark green water and the ripples that possible creatures living in the water were causing. There were also birds flying around the marsh. There was a particular bird that caught my attention. Their sound was peculiar. It was my first time to hear their sound. Now that I’m writing it, I think I may have heard this bird first while on the path filled with talahib or Sachharum spontaneum.
I continued walking until I reached a spot where water was flowing over the path itself. It is the river although small. I was afraid to pass it as the land could be soft. It was 5:30 now and the sky was starting to darken. I sat down, got my journal out and drew.
I drew the still plant standing at the middle of a flowing stream. I drew other plants around it and the pebbles that are at their feet. I drew the water and the bird that passed by.
After drawing. I stayed a little while. By about 5:55 I started my ascent.
On my way back, I heard that peculiar bird song again. I still don’t know the song. But it is one of the challenges I am excited to pursue. I wish I could identify the birds soon.
I rode my bike back home using the highway. It was a fast and physically exerting ride. I went home fulfilled, tired, and sleepy.