| CULASI: Oh, Pretty Fair! |
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| Posted by Hans Kianti | |
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Page 4 of 6 INTONGABAN RIVER Rivalling Mararison in popularity among excursionists and picnickers is Intongaban. There is no rivalry, however, between two places in point of beauty beacause the beauty of the one is of different order from that of the other. While Mararison rises conspicuous from the sea, Intongaban hides itself among great enfolding hills, a full hour's hike from the town, which is the reason why those who have passed through Culasi or made a brief sojourn there have never seen Intongaban. As just I said, Intongaban is at least a full hor's hike from the town; but it is fully worth it. The way you take,--upstream along the river bed,--is picturesque throughout. On a general summer day, start just after the shafts of the rising sun have begun to touch the tops of the trees on the hillsides, for then the morning breeze is still sweet and cool, the landscape looks fresh, and the birds among the 'camonsil' trees have not yet flown away but instead are singing their matin songs in the soft morning light. But you do not get your first sight of the beauty of Intongaban until you enter the gateway of hills. There the water is deeper and cooler; the stream there is more loquacious and charming as it merrily runs and skips and dances over and around large stones; and there the river bed is made more picturesque by the great boulders and the encircling wooded hills. There is an increasing beauty in store for you as you follow the stream deeper into the hills until you reach the heart of Intongaban, and the place of its greatest beauty. There the hills are taller and wilder. There are massive overhanging rocks and rocks that extend far into the water, causing the river bed to rise abruptly and the stream to form cataracts and cascades of cool and limpid water. Behind the big rock that stands in midstream, the river, as though weary with laboring over the obstacles in its course, has fashioned for itself a stopping place in the form of a great, deep pool, which makes a fine place for fishing and swimming. |