Hannah Asquith – 2023 IWU Freeman Asia

Unlike the previous picture set which was from only the Botanical gardens these photos are from around IRRI and Los Banos.

The flight over was one of the best flights I have taken! I touched down in Manila at around 8 pm and finally met up with the others. Manila is big and busy and was quite overwhelming that first night, luckily we drove to Los Banos where we were dropped off at IRRI at Harrar Hall. The first full day here was a rest day but we decided that we needed to get some items from the South Supermarket. That was a hot and humid walk it ended up drizzling on us as well on the walk back. We went to orientation at 1 pm which was at a hotel and we learned a little about the Filipino culture and some of the language. For dinner that night we went to a lovely restaurant where we got to have our first tastes of Filipino food. The next day started early in the morning at 8 with an orientation from IRRI. We learned about safety and some familiarization with IRRI facilities. On that same day Mr. Fule took us on a tour of Los Banos where we bought some Buko pie and got to see the lake. Buko pie is delicious. It is a Laguna specialty, it’s made with the flesh of a young green coconut and I do believe in some sort of custard as well. We still have Buko pie left over that I am looking forward to eating. On the Wednesday of our tour we later got to meet with our on site advisors for the first time. We are all with the Rice breeding Innovation but I am under the Plant Pathology lab with Dr. Van. I will be working with a PhD student named IA who told me about the new project he is starting to come up with a more long term method of reducing methane production rice farming that is also agreeable with many farmers. I sat through a lab meeting where I learned a little on what the lab is currently working on. under the plant pathology lab there are many division. There are those who work on fungi, on bacteria, on viruses and on Pathogens. The next day was the first full day in the lab. This was a somewhat slow day where I had to take a lab safety course and many quizzes after completing each section. The next day was a bit more exciting where I got to actually start the project by searching literature for markers of Methanotrophs, methanogens, ITS fungi, and 16s bacteria. I was also tasked with finding a method in the isolation of endophytes from roots and leaves of rice. Once I completed those tasks I got to have a tour of the labs and the green houses designated to the plant pathology lab. I got to the lab early that day!

As a group we decided we wanted to go out on Friday and try the Seoul Kitchen. This was not our first time exploring the town on foot since we have gone out a couple of times during the week to find some places to eat. Ince we got to the restaurant it took a bit to seat five people but once we were there the AC was very refreshing. The food was delicious and we were all pretty satisfied with the choices we made. Next we pretty much just explored the town a bit. On Saturday there is a market that sells fresh foods and some other crafts that we wanted to go to. Since it was a nice day, not too hot, we decided to walk the full 23 minutes to the location. Once we got there we strolled a bit to see what was there and finally decided to get some boba and some food. One of Jessica’s coworkers said there was an amazing bakery not too far from where we were so we started our way there. Once we arrived at the bakery I decided to get a caramel croissant. We then headed into town a bit more to get to stop by the store and buy some things we needed. That night as a group we once again decided to go out and got to meet so many new people. We also got to do some karaoke. The next day was Sunday which we all pretty much took as a time to rest and work on our blogs a little. However on Monday we had the day off due to it being Philippine independence day and we decided to go to the Botanical gardens. I love the outdoors and love plants so I was very excited. The air was hot and humid but overall a nice day. We started the path which you can take throughout the gardens but then found a smaller trail called Eco-trail and we decided to see what is there. It ended up being a little bit of a hike with many bud spots and slippery patches in which I fell of course. However, that was our first look into what trails look like here. The trees were dense making it5 overall very humid, but the fauna and flora were amazing. We saw many endemic plant species including the main tree that is used for wood here. We saw many butterflies and very interesting damselflies. There were a couple of spiders as well but not too big of a deal. When we got pretty deep into the forest the bugs at the tops of the trees were so loud that they almost left my ears ringing. Once we finished our exhausting hike we decided it would be better to go back to IRRI so we can all rest for our full week ahead of us. Overall my first here was great! I feel as though I am finally getting used to the heat. The scenery is just amazing everywhere you look on campus there are mountain ranges. There is the smallest smell of ripe mangoes on the wind indicating that it is mango season here. I still need to get some fresh mangoes! Until next time…

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