After conquering Mount Everest, Filipino adventurer Carina Dayondon is set to sail to China aboard a replica of an ancient wooden boat in hopes of boosting national pride in a forgotten maritime prowess.
After conquering Mount Everest, Filipino adventurer Carina Dayondon is set to sail to China aboard a replica of an ancient wooden boat in hopes of boosting national pride in a forgotten maritime prowess.
Dayondon is planning to sail from Manila to southern China early next year, recreating trade and migration voyages made before Spaniards colonized the Philippines in the 1500s.
“People tell me I am crazy. They ask: ‘Wow, why climb Mount Everest? Why go to China on this tiny thing?’” Dayondon told Agence France-Presse (AFP) in Manila Bay aboard one of the two boats that will make the expected six-day journey.
“I’m excited because our team will be more inspired realizing how good our forefathers were. We have to let people know we should be proud of being Filipino,” she added.
Dayondon, 39, a petite but muscular Coast Guard officer, made history in 2007 when she and two other female climbers became the first Filipino women to summit the world’s highest mountain.
Arturo Valdez, who led their Everest support team, is also heading the sailing mission and similarly sees the journey to China as a chance to inspire Filipinos.
“Like Mount Everest, I want this to be symbolic of what our people can accomplish, of what can be possible out of the socalled impossible,” said the 69-year-old Valdez.
