Abong da Apong: Abong Project status as of August 2014

The Abong Project

(note: please excuse this blog piece as it was put up in a hurry--so it is still a work in progress)

It took the allocated six months to finish the abong and the dirty kitchen. It is now completed save for finishing touches. Several relatives and friends have seen and/or heard about it somewhere somehow and are now coming to visit so I thought I like gave everybody a quick preview of what it looks like.

The picture on the right shows the entrance to the property right off the main road.

(its ‘gated’ ...hahaha). Rather than calling it ‘somebody’s farms’ or some resort house’, it was decided to call it ‘Abong Da Apong’. It is an Ilocano term meaning “our grandparent’s kubo-kubo”. That keeps the people keep guessing who are the ‘apongs’ in this context.

All the workers and everybody who have seen it refer to this place as ‘kaiba’ (different), as in nothing is copied from another place--starting with the bamboo gate. A little side story on the bamboo gate. When I asked them to build me a steel gate wrapped in bamboo, I got this weird stare followed by a ‘...a what?... are you crazy?’. After I explained and demonstrated how to make it, the workers changed their mind and everybody even I was amazed how it turned out.

The arch is functional in that it is also used to hung the electrical service to the property. The abong cannot be seen from the road or the gate so its a long walk inside. I thinking of installing a wireless intercom by the gate (and maybe even a wireless cctv ...hmmm).

This is what you see as you get inside the property after passing through lots of natural vegetation like bamboos, etc. The two other structures seen on the right--a smaller kubo-kubo is now relocated and the CR is now torn down.

..and closer still.

And this is my favorite view--looking at the back from the end of the fish pond.

View from the dirty kitchen window looking at the landing and the main step.

Beside the ‘hagdanan’ (stairs) are some antique clay jars (‘bornays’) that inang Bebeng used to make bagoongs.

Someday it will be a water fountain when I get a chance...

Inside the landing is the welcome arch etched with "Dumanon Kayo Apo - Tuloy Po Kayo".

looking toward the landing and stairs...

a walk around the wrap-veranda. we used lots and lots of bamboos (bought most of them)...

The outside walls are covered with native sawali sidings. We tried to exposed all the post which are native pine trees (‘aro-oo’).

The ‘textured bamboo’ sidings. These are old rotten bamboos salvaged from becoming a firewood. Some have termite markings are still visible on them. We repurposed these as sidings. This is such a big hit (as well as surprise) from everybody. When asked why we used this material, our response--we are running out of bamboo and besides the termites are very smart, they don’t go back to where they came from. ‘Kaiba’.

These are the four corner lights inside and around the abong--mounted on more salvage materials. Still another ‘kaiba’.

and going inside...its still bare inside kitchen and dining area.

and this is the living room. There is an overhead fan above to circulate the air.
Those ‘skylights’ brings a lot of natural light even when it rains.

The wall covering inside are sheets of ‘banig’ (a handwoven mat made of palm leaves, usually used as sleeping or sitting mats) and the lower part are covered with bamboo strips. All the doors are covered to match the wall coverings as well.

The floor is natural wood lightly stained and varnished showing the peg and no nails.

and this corner cove is the free-standing storage shelf made of bamboo as well as the entrance to the common bathroom...

The kitchen counter top is a black tile with a double sink. The open cabinet is wrapped with bamboo. There will be shelves as well..

There are two identical bathrooms. One is for the master bedroom use only and the other common accessible from either the other bedroom and/or through the living room. Both are equipped with electric hot water heater (in the philippines?).

and both have this handmade 5-LED lights above the mirror as well as exhaust fan...

...and the bathroom counter is also a black tile, the cabinet is also wrapped with bamboo. The floor is vigan tiles while the sides are standard white tiles.