DAYS 8 - 17: WITH PICTURES!!!

(editor's note: Hey guys, this is the rest of what my mom wrote and it covers until we get back. She wanted me to at least post the whole thing and make it complete. Hope you enjoy!)

We set the alarm for 5:00 am, and got up in time for the boat pick us up at 5:30. The boat is taking us dolphin watching today, and it had to be early. We all embarked on the 12-seater boat, and headed towards the ocean. After about an hour and a half though, we still didn’t see any dolphins. Our driver couldn’t understand it either! The waves were calm and the weather was perfect for them to come out, but we had no luck. We also saw other boats circling by looking for them as well. At 7am, we decided it was time to give up, so we headed back to shore to get some breakfast. On our way back though, we were treated with a very big school of tiny black colored fish jumping in the water – very tiny (as in “dilis” tiny). It looked like they were travelling somewhere and made a jump over the water a couple of times before we couldn’t see them anymore. We saw these a few times before we reached shore, so even though we didn’t see the dolphins, we still felt like we had a treat – just a smaller version of it.

(from left to right: our boat driver JoJo, Sarah, Rachel, Claire, Yagi, and CJ)

After breakfast, we headed to Balicasag Island – a 45 minute ride from Alona Beach, where we planned to snorkel and eat lunch. We found a nice beachside resort owned and operated by the Dept of Tourism, and dropped our stuff on one of the tables made available to guests. They charged a cover charge for visitors, but the charged was waived if you ordered food from their restaurant, so we decided to eat there. The food was disappointing and took forever to be served, so I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone (also, the day we were there, they ran out of ice. That meant not only no cold drinks, but also no smoothies. Dissapointing.)

The snorkel experience however, I'd highly reccomend! Our boat was not allowed within the sanctuary, so we had to hire smaller boats (2 passengers each P150) to take us snorkeling. With 5 boats, we headed to the snorkeling area, and armed with snorkels, masks, fins and life vests (and some bread provided by the hotel for feeding), all except me (you missed a lot, mom)descended down the boat to start viewing the world under water. Unfortunately, I can’t give you a first hand experience of what was under there so I’ll let Robert do it, but even from the boat, I saw diff colored fish that made my trip worth it.

(I'll let this picture explain)

(taken by CJ)

After about an hour, we headed back to have lunch and all decided to go back to the beach. Unfortunately, we didn’t have sunshine that day, so it wasn’t good for sun bathing, but it was not too cloudy, and the waters were still warm enough for a swim, that the kids still had fun. Dinner was again on the cliffside at Amorita, where we joined the rest of the resort guests for some grilled dishes, some made to order pasta and freshly made crepes for dessert on top of what was available in the menu. We were all sad that this was our last day in Bohol, and everyone agreed to meet by the beach early in the morning to get one last dip before we head to the airport at 11:30. We decided to take our free massage tonight (still included in our package) and all of us enjoyed our last night in Bohol.

(Rachel drinking Buko)

DAY 9
LAST DAY IN BOHOL then BACK TO MANILA

After breakfast, we spent the morning on the beach, mostly discussing the possibility of extending our stay. All of us felt like it was too short, and another day or 2 just enjoying the beach would have been nice. The resorts certainly looked like they could have allowed an extension because it didn’t feel like it was full at all, but unfortunately, the logistics of calling the airline and arranging work replacements for some of us was too difficult to arrange. Besides, we were scheduled to attend Renne’s nephew’s party upon arrival in Manila and Tita Dolly and family was also attending Tita Ling’s party later that evening. Oh well!

Our flight went without a hitch back to Manila and by 3pm, we were on our way back to the hotel. Renne’s sister picked us up, and we headed to the hotel to drop off our bags and freshened up before leaving again to attend Renne’s nephew’s birthday party. The party was held at Tropical Hut, and the host certainly entertained those kids with games and prizes and a special appearance by Burgie! (I told mom: I would have laughed if they played 'Burgalicious') We met some of Renne’s relatives, and after the party headed to Renne’s home in Kalaw Hill to meet some more. Because it was a children’s party, some relatives opted to stay at their home where the party extension was going on. We stayed until about 10pm, then headed back to the hotel for a much needed rest.

DAY 10 - 17
MANILA

I’m consolidating the last days in Manila because to be honest, we didn’t really do much here except eat, shop, and eat some more J (<-- another smiley face)

On Monday, we braved the “tiangge” in Greenhills where Claire went crazy bag shopping (well not that crazy as most bags being sold were counterfeit and those were not allowed in the US). But we saw native goods that were very nice and Rachel found some school bags and wallets for use in Sept.

Robert unfortunately, got sick that day. He woke up not feeling well and had a stomach ache. He decided that he was well enough to go with us though, but by lunch time, he had a fever and had to be taken home. Tito Abe and Tita Dolly offered to take him home, and we stayed behind to finish up shopping. I couldn’t focus on the shopping because I was worried about Robert. Also, Rachel wanted to attend the gymnastics class at Sarah’s school, so we left at 3:30 so we can make it in time to the Fort by 4:30 – the start of the gymnastics class. Renne’s brother drove us, so Renne and I went with Rachel while Claire and Oliver stayed behind to finish shopping and as soon as they were done, headed back to the hotel to take care of Robert until we got home. After the class, we went to Market Market to buy dinner to go, and headed back to the hotel. Market Market was a nice place! It had a food court filled with Filipino style dishes, and along the courtyard, a lot of stalls that sold different delicacies from different regions of the country. Renne bought some goodies, and we opted to try this special pancit at Buddy’s – traditionally from Quezon where it is served on a bed of banana leaves and eaten with a splash of vinegar and without any utensils. Robert was feeling better, and rested early for the night.

He was feeling better on Tuesday, and went with us to Rockwell Power Plant Mall to meet some of my grandma’s former Mahjong classmates (one who reminded me alot of Maya Rudolph from SNL). They treated us out to lunch, and we spent a couple of hours in the mall, buying some music CD’s and enjoying ice cream from FIC (Filipino Ice Cream) (I think the F is for Fruit or something, although really don't know) – creamy mango, ube, macapuno and the kids chose raspberry chocolate and cappuccino. We also purchased some churros from Dulcinea (which sadly was too oily for our taste) but the hot chocolate was divine! We also tried some ensaymada and chocolate cake from Mary Grace before heading back to the hotel. Dinner was with Renne’s aunt, where she took us to the Intercon Hotel in Makati for some street food extravaganza. This was a great idea! Street food fare was served in “bahay kubos” by the pool side, and it was buffet so you can have as much as you want – fish and squid balls, balut (which all but Renne refused), diff barbeques, “okoy”, “tokwa baboy”, fried lumpia and puto bumbong and bibinka for dessert YUM!

(beautiful.)

Wednesday was my reunion with my college classmates and a short visit to the Thomson Reuters in Ayala Avenue. Renne and the kids went with me, but opted to watch a movie in the mall – “The Dark Knight” (yes, I loved it). Renne also met some former co-workers while we were there and had lunch at a Vietnamese restaurant with them. I went to lunch at a restaurant called “Fely J’s” at Greenbelt 5 and their food was exceptionally excellent. Their menu was traditionally Filipino, but it was very good and you can tell that it was made with the freshest ingredients. I especially liked the “binagoongan” which, and I can’t believe I’m saying this because I haven’t yet found a dish that would have allowed me to – I liked over my mom’s (For any of my brothers and sisters reading this (and Dad that includes you, please do not relay that to Mom J) (<-- another smiley face). Renne met me and my friends at the Travel Café where we moved to have dessert and when I saw the kids weren’t with him, I almost freaked! He sent them to watch the movie on their own, and was picking them up at 3:30. The paranoid mom that I am, I was so worried about this, and couldn’t believe my kids were at a movie house in manila on their own. My friends assured me greenbelt was a safe place, but we headed towards the theater before 3:30 to make sure we were there before they headed out. We headed to my office, where I met my cousin (It's weird - I've never met her branch of the family before. Like I think I said before: people have way too many cousins here) who, incidentally, worked there as long as I have (something I didn’t discover until Nov of last year) and met a couple of work colleagues while Renne and the kids waited (long and boring). A quick taxi cab ride and we were back at the hotel, and we had dinner at Gerry’s grill with Tita Evan, Genevieve, Tricia (Ibe’s daughter) and Jennifer. Gerry’s grill had really yummy “sisig”, and their pork bbq and shredded garlic adobo was enjoyed by the kids. We didn’t fit in Jennifer’s station wagon, so Robert and I rode in the back (it was a short 10 minute ride). I must say that they are not strict at all at following passenger safety here – especially for kids. They pack the cars/vans with as many people as possible, and it’s kind of scary – especially since drivers don’t follow traffic rules carefully either. I caved in to this mentality as well, because not riding the back of the station wagon meant I had to wait for a cab which would have taken an additional 20 minutes and it was already almost 9pm!

(on the left side: Tita Evan, Tricia, Geneveive and Jennifer)

There doesn’t seem to by any sense of urgency around here. I thought I would be able to accomplish quite a lot as long as I had an agenda to accomplish but there is so much time wasted – on travel, on waiting, on certain inefficiencies that you just can’t rush. Just a visit to the bank to exchange money took more than half an hour! The concept of running very quick errands just didn’t seem to work. I found this out last week, but I just had to go with the flow, because I would definitely have been too aggravated otherwise.

(What else would you expect?)

Thursday we headed to “168” – a Divisoria type mall in downtown Manila (composed entirely of small stands that sell absolutely everything. The problem is that they aren't organized in any way whatsoever, so you have to really look to find what you want and it takes forever. And I thought shopping in malls was tedious). We rented a van and headed there at 9. I wanted to get Abby’s sweet sixteen favors from there, and also get some clothes for the kids. Another overwhelming experience! I didn’t even know where to look. There was just so much stuff!!! We did find the favors, and quickly gave up looking. By lunch time, we were ready to go back. We decided on a quick lunch at the food court then headed home to Project 4. On the way back, we stopped by Sta. Mesa to get Robert’s guitar. After a few minutes browsing the many guitar stores on the strip, he decided on an original Lumanog with a reddish sunburst design. He was very happy with the purchase, especially since it cost considerably less than we would have spent if we bought it in the States (P3850, which is about $75, which is an amazing deal for a mid-high quality guitar, hard case and a strap). Claire, Renne and I went to the hair salon to get haircuts where it was so cheap – PHP 190 complete with shampoo, blow dry and massage! Meanwhile, Sarah took Rachel to a nail salon place where they printed the design on your fingers. Rachel was truly delighted with that!

(and also her toes.)





Dinner was at Lola’s – to celebrate Yagi’s 29th birthday(or as he put it, his ninth 21st birthday). Of course she prepared a spread again – crispy pata, sinigang, fried fish, adobo, laing, and we celebrated with some singing and dancing. Even Rachel and Robert, who were usually shy about singing in front of people participated in the karaoke (I loved Tito Abe's rendition of 'Bridge Over Troubled Water' and Bem Bem's hilarious performance of 'Silvertoes', both of which I have video of).






(Birthday boy has frosting on his forehead. Unrelated: I love this picture.)



Friday we headed to Cubao for some barong shopping and to buy the clothes that I didn’t find in 168. We rode a jeep and Rachel was super ecstatic about it! She even wanted to “sabit” outside – just like she saw many passengers did when the jeep was full. Mission accomplished with the shopping, and we stopped by Red Ribbon, where we tasted their Chocolate Margelaine cake (really yummy!) It was made with layers of peanut crust, cream and chocolate. Sort of like a sans rival but not as rich. Renne continued to go to Quiapo with his brother, while we headed back to the hotel for some rest before we headed to Tita Gina’s house for dinner. Claire and I loved the “Pancit ng Taga Malabon” and could eat it everyday. Tita (Dolly?) ordered it for us, and we also had some “Lechon Manok”. Renne opted to skip dinner, because he was having a “boys night out” at his cousin’s beer garden/restaurant. He left the hotel shortly after we came back from dinner and had a fun night re-connecting with his cousins and friends.



(Why don't I have pictures of this?)



Saturday was spent in Alabang to meet some of Renne’s co-workers and to touch base with friends that we haven’t seen in a long time. We hit a lot of traffic coming and going to Alabang and we didn’t get a chance to come back to Proj 4 until after 7pm, a little late for the party that Lola and our relatives are throwing for us before we leave. This is a chance to meet the rest of the Vega clan (my mom’s side of the family) and to spend some time with them before we leave. Yummy food and good company! The night ended late, and we headed back to the hotel for some rest.

Sunday was packing day. We went back to Greenhills to pick up the (three huge bags totalling 65 packs of) pastillas we ordered from Sevillas. All my brothers and sisters wanted pastillas, so we couldn’t buy just whatever was in stock. Also, we needed it to be fresh so we had to order it for a special pick up. We did some last minute shopping then headed home. Our “yaya” was going to visit today, and what a delight that was! She looked the same, but she couldn’t believe how much older Claire and I are. She said I used to be very thin (those were the days) and said that Claire doesn’t look anything like she remembered anymore. During our stay, Claire was constantly mistaken for a foreigner and people were surprised to hear her speak in tagalog. At the salon, she was even mistaken to be Renne’s daughter causing Renne to joke that he was never going back there again, even though technically, she could be! J (<-- smiley) We said our goodbyes because tomorrow, we head out to the airport early and will not have a chance to say goodbye to everybody. After a crying session, we headed for the salon for last minute appointments. Renne headed to Market Market with her sister and also dinner with his family, and we spent our last night packing our bags, and after a KFC dinner, hung out with Renne’s family after they drove him home.

What a wonderful vacation it was! Both Robert and Rachel met a lot of relatives for the first time and even though they don’t speak Tagalog, they were able to enjoy the jokes, the kwentos, and their company. They spent precious time with their cousins who never met them before, and with aunts and uncles and were able to get to know them. Most of all, they were able to see the places where Renne and grew up and met people who were part of lives when we were back home. Renne and I had wonderful time as well - we saw old neighbors, old friends, relatives from provinces we never before visited and got to enjoy a new side of the Philippines that we didn’t see before. I was so nervous and anxious to get on that plane and spent hours in a confined space thousands of feet up in the air. Now writing this on the plane back – I’m glad I did and Robert and Rachel feel the same way. They are as excited to go back to the Philippines as Renne and are!





(I know you guys are looking for witty perspective/retrospective from me, but you'll have to wait until I put together my documentary. Sorry, but I'm kind of writing this in a hurry. What I can say for now is that there are a whole lot of things that are way smaller than they should be in the Philippines. Like for example, a Wendy's Frosty.)

The End.

DAYS 6 AND 7 - BOHOL

(editor's note: I sincerely apologize for the lack of posts here; it's been hectic lately. Today I'll post our first two days in Bohol, which I thought were the best. Also, because it's late at night here and we're leaving early tomorrow morning, this will probably be my last post. Don't worry though: we'll have lots of pictures and videos and pasalubongs for you when we return! See you all soon!)

Our flight was at 8am with Cebu Pacific, and we were told that this terminal would not be as pretty and organized as PAL. We are travelling today with Tito Abe, Tita Dolly, and their 3 boys – Yagi, CJ and Bem (who are now in their 20’s but were little kids when we left). Sarah is flying later to join us in the afternoon after work. We checked in our baggage, then headed to the gate, but not before paying the terminal fees. What’s up with the terminal fees? I am surprised that they charge these (they were P200 per person) and didn’t give us warning that we had to pay until we reached the boarding gate. It was the same experience before with our trip to Bicol. It’s kind of disappointing to realize that your cash allotment for the trip has to be reduced by the terminal fee. I would have liked to know in advance that I needed to pay this. Of course, since this is our second trip, I knew better and was better prepared. I heard the international fees were a horrendous P800 per person. Oh well, I guess it’s not so bad after you convert it into dollars. Money here is so quick to spend! I started with P10000 and felt as if I was carrying my entire bank account with me. I realized quickly that the 10000 would be spent in no time, when a single bottle of water was almost P20 and a meal for 5 at McDonalds was about P800!

Cebu Pacific didn’t publish the gates until the plane was ready to board, so all the passengers were gathered in a central waiting area. We didn’t mind it, especially since the 3 Olaguera boys were keeping us entertained with their funny antics. When they called us to board, we were led to the plane, and I was glad that they were boarding from the front and back which facilitated the boarding quickly. The plane was quite new, and it was in much better condition that the Air Phil plane we were in 3 days ago. We quickly found our seats and shortly after, the plane took off. When we were at cruising altitude, the flight attendants got on the PA and started playing a game with the passengers. They asked 3 questions, and whoever answered them correctly got a Cebu Pacific pouch. The 3 Olaguera boys participated in the games with excitement, causing most of the passengers close to us, plus the attendants themselves, to laugh during the game. CJ won a prize, and shortly after the game, they wheeled a cart through the aisle and started selling Cebu Pacific merchandise. It’s definitely a more profitable choice than serving free drinks for such a short flight. Landing in Tagbilaran was pretty smooth, and shortly after deplaning, we were on our way to the resorts. Luckily, our resorts are right next to each other, and after dropping our bags, we joined the rest of the crew for lunch.

(ugh, I really wanted to post pictures, but the server isn't cooperating. I'm really sorry guys, I guess you'll have to wait until we get back to see them! =[ )

I don’t know where to begin talking about Bohol - The island is so breathtakingly beautiful and the resort is definitely amazing! The pictures that we saw while researching different places to stay did not do justice to the place. We stayed at the Amorita resort, where we were welcomed with a “gulaman and sago” drink and a cold towel. The Olagueras stayed at the Alona Tropical Resort next door which had the best beach front in the whole stretch. They even had beach side cottages that were most convenient to beach-loving guests. The distance between these 2 resorts was a 23 staircase up the cliff side for the entrance to Amorita. The beach had white sand – not powdery white, but beautiful nonetheless, and because we came in the summer, we were told that unfortunately, it was a time when the “habagat” winds swept more seaweed and moss onto the beach. But they constantly cleaned the shore, so even with those, it was still very enjoyable. The water was warm, the beach was not crowded – as a matter of fact, most times, apart from some foreigners sunbathing, we were the only ones there. Aside from the beach, Amorita had a very inviting pool, and excellent staff who served all our needs. We sat by the beach all afternoon, eating some freshly sliced mangoes and watermelon and drinking beer (not all of us of course) while talking and enjoying each other’s company. When the sun came down, we moved to the pool, and then had dinner in one of the beach side restaurants, where they had fresh seafood grilled to order (I felt we ate too much seafood on our side trip. All throughout Bohol all they ate was seafood, and it looked so delicous. This was one of the times when I absolutely loathed being allergic. It wasn't that bad though, because Oliver can't eat seafood either, so I wasn't alone). The first day had sunshine perfect for the beach - perfect day, perfect night – tomorrow we’re off to the country side tour!

DAY 7
COUNTRYSIDE TOUR

Today we are headed to a tour to see the chocolate hills, the famous tarsiers and have lunch at a Loboc River Cruise. We rented a van with a driver for the day (P3500) and he took us to all the tourist places. Tours are easy to arrange with the resorts, and need only a day of advance notice. We headed off at 9am, after breakfast – which by the way, was a buffet spread of cereal, diff kinds of bread, chicken relleno, tocino, garlic fried rice, an omelet, pancake and french toast station all made to order – and all included in our accommodation package! The only drawback was we couldn’t eat too much because we would be gone all day, and weren’t sure about the bathroom situation where we were going. Also, Claire and Oliver weren’t feeling well from either dehydration or the food from the night before so both were nervous about eating too much.

Our first stop was chocolate hills – about 1.5 hours from our resorts. We passed by a man-made forest on our way there – a stretch of the road where trees were planted and almost completely covered the sky that it turned dark while we passed through. We took some pictures – while saying “tabi tabi po” (signaling our apologies to whatever mythical creatures we were disturbing along the way).

To be honest, we expected chocolate hills to be a simple stop, because we were thinking: how interesting could it be? A bunch of hills that turned brown and looked like chocolate ? ok! But what we found was fascinating! There was a viewing deck up a 213 step staircase (Oliver and I counted), and the view was just amazing! There were dozens of these hills and it was very pretty to look at from above. We took really interesting pictures – most encouraged by the locals making a living from shooting some creative pictures. They were selling them at P100 each, so it was a good price to pay (They would take them on your camera - but to print them right on the spot cost P100.)

Next stop, Loboc River cruise. But first, we found a butterfly farm along the way, and since we missed the opportunity to see one in Bicol, we stopped. It was a quick 15 minute tour, and the tour guide was very informative, giving us facts about butterflies and moths, and at the end of the tour, we had a chance to see butterflies and touched them – which delighted Rachel a lot!

It was raining heavily on our to Loboc River, but we made it just in time for the 1:00pm ride. Lunch was served at the boat – pancit, adobo, grilled fish, seaweed salad, pork bbq and for dessert – suman and fresh fruit. There was a live singer on board and we enjoyed singing along with him (it’s hard to stop this family from singing!) as he sang Don McLean, Rupert Holmes and a Korean song for the Korean group that joined our tour (of course we couldn’t sing along to that one J) (When my mom types a smiley face into Microsoft Word and I copy it here it comes out as a J. Unrelated, but when she types a sad face it comes out as an L.)

The boat started to move along the river, and while moving, we saw local boys, swinging like Tarzan from tree vines, jumping in the water then as the boat passed, tried to climb on. The rain had stopped, and after a few minutes, the boat parallel parked along a stationary raft where a group of locals were dressed in (neon) green, seated in a semi-circle formation and ready to perform with their ukeleles. As soon as the boat stopped, they all bowed and said “Good Morning visitors” and started singing a song. A dance routine followed, and the group performed with much gusto, it was such a nice treat! The guests were allowed to go down the boat (I don't know if you were allowed to run down, but you guys did it anyway, and we laughed.) and join the performers, so Oliver, Renne, Sarah and I joined in the singing, dancing and the “tinikling” portion. That was a lot of fun and totally entertaining! After the performance, the boat headed back to where it started and the singer on board changed his repertoire to Yoyoy Villame songs about the Philippines! Very charming – complete with the Visayan accent!

Next we stopped to see the famous tarsiers. I must say, this was totally unexpected. The place was a tiny roadside stop, in an area where there were probably less than 10 big potted plants. And after entering the place we didn’t realize that the tarsiers were actually resting on the branches of these plants. They were so cute! They were so tiny! Probably the same size as a small chick. We were not allowed to touch them or be noisy, as they sleep during daylight. We were also not allowed to use the flashes on the cameras, as these would bother them as well (They have ginormous eyes! It's like, ears are to a chihuahua what eyes are to a tarsier). We found a few that were awake, and took pictures of these marvelous primates. The guy watching the area gave us some crickets on sticks to feed them, and it was fascinating watching them grab the crickets with their hands and eat them (They hold the crickets like hamburgers and take huge bites out of them. Head first. It's so cute!). After some of the visitors had left and we were the only ones there, the guy let us hold one of them. Of course all of us took the time to take our pics taken with the tarsier. Some held them with their hands and some put them on their shoulders. The guy said that at night, you can’t hold them because they move quickly and jump from one place to another.

We made one last stop to Baklayon (Oliver took advantage of the hiilarious pun) church before heading back to the resort. There were 7 stops for the tour, but we skipped 2 in favor of going back sooner to have some time to dip in the beach or pool. Besides, we were discouraged from going to the Hinagdanan caves because the locals said it wasn’t as nice as it used to be, and the Blood compact site was not really interesting for anyone of us, so instead of these 2 stops, we headed to a souvenir shop area and spent the last hour there. Back at our resorts, we dipped in the pool/beach for a couple of hours before heading for dinner. The restaurant manager (really funny guy named Rolley) prepared a special table by the cliff side exclusively for us, and we enjoyed a very special night of dinner with a great view of the beach and under the shimmer of a full moon. Tomorrow, we have an early day to take a boat ride to go dolphin watching. (I can tell you now, because it's over, that this trip would not be fruitful.)

DAY 3 - LEGASPI AND LIGAO - BICOL

(editor's note: I forgot to post this because my mom numbered the days wrong. What I posted as day 3 was actually day 4. This is day 3. It's going to be out of order temporarily so I hope you don't mind.)


We had an early day today because we needed to get a head start on our trip to Mayon Volcano. Today’s itinerary included a visit to said volcano, lunch at a well known restaurant called Waway, the Cagsaua Ruins, merienda at a popular halo-halo specialty shop, Bicol University, and dinner with the Vega relatives in Ligao.

Mayon was amazing! Legend has it that Mayon chooses when to reveal itself to first time visitors and if you are welcome, you will get a chance to see it’s almost perfect shape. The almost-perfectly cone-shaped mountain is beautiful even when the view is partially covered by clouds covering its peak. We drove up to the middle of the mountain, and took some pictures of the view of the city. The temperature was very different up there - very cool air and windy and we even had a few minutes of sprinkles when dark clouds passed by. We were a little disappointed that Mayon didn’t “reveal” herself by the time we were ready to go down, but when we were just about to reach the bottom, we looked up and saw that the clouds cleared for a bit and there she was! How majestic! We were surprised by how beautiful she retained her shape even after the eruptions! The lava pathways were visible on the mountain, and it was amazing how even after people know how active it is, we saw so many little houses and communities living along the way. (Apparently, Mayon only erupts from its central spout and only in one direction. That's how it retains it shape and that's why people built houses on it - they're on the opposite side. That doesn't mean it's impossible for it to erupt somewhere else, but I sure hope it doesn't!)


The Cagsaua Ruins were fascinating! Here was an old steeple of a church built in the 1700’s, and the steeple is the only part left after the eruption in 1814. There were about 1200 people killed; most took refuge in the church thinking they would be safe. The last eruption was in 2006, and around the church steeple was visible evidence of the devastation from the area. Fortunately, the lava avoided the Cagsaua ruins, and it preserved the spot from further damage. But, in the same year, the city was also hit by a typhoon so strong that it created floods as high as coconut trees. (According to my mom's aunt, the area was hit by three typhoons, but it was the last one that was the strongest and the most devastating.) The floods brought huge boulders from the mountains and the whole community around the mountain that was along its path was destroyed. Around the ruins, the “tour guides” (young kids who sell pictures of previous eruptions and tips on where best to take pictures) informed visitors of their local experiences from the eruptions and the floods. They showed pictures of the mountain during one of the eruptions, and “before” and “after” photos of some towns around it. One of the most fascinating photos was of the mountain right after the 2006 eruption which showed it brown, barren and very dry from the heat. Now, not even 2 years later, it is lush with plants again, and rich with vegetation. We took lots of pics – some following the tips of these guides and they turned out great. In the ruins were also some crafts made of abaca – bags, slippers, home décor and some snack stores – ice cream, water, and soda. Rachel, since she came here, has wanted to do 3 things: drink soda from a plastic bag, ride a tricycle and eat sugar cane. She accomplished the first one at the Ruins with Orange Soda.

A short trip to the halo-halo specialty place cooled us off on a very hot and humid day. We were lucky that we hadn’t experienced intense rain, and were able to see Mayon even while it was cloudy. The halo-halo was special indeed – as it was the first time I saw halo-halo prepared with cheese! After the treat, we headed off Bicol University to pick up my Aunt Ofelia (she's whom I mentioned before), then to the local church to pick up my other Aunt Nena, and then we went off to their house for dinner. Dinner was fun reminiscing about relatives and listening to stories about my mom’s ancestry (which can get confusing at times. People have so many cousins here!). We fondly said farewell shortly after 7:30. The rain that we had been fortunate to avoid came down strongly during dinner, and as soon as it calmed down, we headed back to Naga. We were all exhausted from a day full of great experiences! Tomorrow – we plan to take it easy – or at least we think it will be easy!

DAY 5 - BACK TO MANILA

We flew back to Manila without incident – just some delay deplaning because of the strong rain. People are so considerate here! The flight attendants and Air Phil employees ensured that passengers didn’t get wet, escorting them through a covered staircase, then providing umbrellas until we hopped on the bus (The end of the stairway was about 3 inches from the door to the bus. There was literally one guy standing there with an umbrella bridging the gap between the staircase and the door). Tito George picked us up, and toured us through the Fort: Serendra, Market Market (This isn't an error, it's actually called Market Market.), and the surrounding areas. We rested at the hotel for a few hours, and waited for our friend Oliver to arrive. We then headed to Mega Mall to eat lunch. We opted for the food court, thinking it would be the easy and fast choice. Oh man! The food court was huge!!! (Judging by the exclamation points, it seems my mom thought it was three times as huge as any other food court.) It took us a long time just to browse through the choices! We were so confused as to what to eat! Robert settled for some bbq at Reyes which he really liked (It came with a sauce that was exactly like Yoshida's), Rachel for spaghetti at Tropical hut - of which she ate 2 servings and Renne had some goto. Then on to shopping at SM. Yikes! I surrendered from shopping after just going through the children’s section at SM. How can people shop these HUGE malls? I was so tired! And I didn’t even go through the actual mall. I did notice that the sales ladies at Shoemart were still wearing the same uniform they did 21 years ago – what I didn’t realize was that they all wore heavy make up! I guess you had to look quite pretty to work there (According to Tita Claire and Oliver, the employers, especially at malls, are very age biased. You have to be young to work there, and after you get older they demote you to a part time job at most). The kids were tired too and we found some chairs to sit in at Dad’s (a buffet) where we decided we would eat dinner with Renne and Oliver’s families. Back at the hotel, we finished packing and retired for the night. We have another early day tomorrow as we head to Bohol.

Editor's paragraph:
SM Megamall is indescribably big. You kind of have to be there to appreciate just how big it is. It's kind of like its own little self sufficient world in there. I mean, they have their own seperate gym facility, movie theaters (yes plural), ice skating rink, and mall. Yes, I said mall. Cyberzone is a collection of tech stores within SM Megamall, arranged such that the stores form a mall within a mall. Cyberzone has its own escalators, food, and stalls in the middle of the corridor.
Outside in the big mall are little stalls on each of the five floors that sell everything from guitars, to trading cards, to dungeons and dragons dice. There's also one stall that allows you to create a bobblehead out of an image of yourself.

DAY 4 - LAST DAY IN BICOL

We are having a lot of fun in Bicol! And for such a short trip, we were able to see so much. Today we planned to take it easy. Tito Abe and Tita Dolly, who generously accompanied us on our trip will leave tonight for Manila. We started off with visits to Renne’s old schools. His friend took the day off and came with us. First stop: Renne’s elementary school. One of the things he wanted to do was visit during recess, and see if there were still makeshift stores around the school exits that sell all kinds of stuff. We discovered that not much has changed in the last 21 years, although instead of makeshift stores, some actually had permanent stalls in the area. There were people selling banana Q, fish balls, toys, drinks, etc. We stopped and got off, and bought banana q, maruya (sort of like banana fritters), and turon. We were skeptical at first, because it was street food, but thought “what the heck!”- those banana q’s looked too good to resist! Rachel finished 2 sticks! (editor's note: with my help, thank you very much.) After the elementary school, we headed to his high school where his friends are now teachers. Claire was also interested in observing the differences in class instruction between here and in the states, so we toured the school and saw some of Renne’s classmates. They didn’t recognize Renne at all! One lady said “Renne Vinluan??? OMG, you look handsome now! (I would assume she said "Oh My God", right? She didn't actually say O-M-G did she? Because that would have been weird.) We all started laughing!
Lunch was at a local “turo-turo” place called Geewan, which specialized in Bicol dishes – yum! After lunch we headed out to a butterfly farm, but unfortunately couldn’t locate it. A trip to the Dept of Agriculture confirmed that it was no longer available. We stopped by the Camarines Sur Sports Complex, where we saw some people (no celebrities though) wakeboarding (They closed off the wakeboarding to the public; they only let in people who were competing in some wakeboarding competition coming up. So maybe you can't call them celebrities but they're not just ordinary people. For the record, I would have gone in and done it, but it was closed.) We also stopped by the Basilica and the original shrine of Pena Francia, where the Bicolanios celebrate the feast every September. The Virgin Mary was so small, and she was enclosed in a glass case high above the altar. Behind the altar was a single person staircase where people line up during the festival to touch and kiss a piece of her garment exposed through a hole in the glass case. Then we stopped by the local market where we shopped for some “pasalubongs” – pili treats which were delicious! We actually had to get 2 boxes just to pack our treats! My aunt had given us 500 pcs of chocolate balls (for pure hot chocolate) and the scent was filling our room all night! Dinner was at Max’s and Renne’s friend and his family joined us. YUM! We forgot how good the fried chicken and lumpiang ubod were! After dinner, we said goodbye to the Olagueras who were taking the bus home to Manila. We couldn’t have had such a wonderful trip without them! Back at the hotel, we treated ourselves to another massage (even Rachel!) and relaxed for the night. Tomorrow is an early flight back to Manila! Our Bicol trip was truly memorable!

Day 2 - OFF TO BICOL (NAGA)

Had an early start today – left for the airport at 4 am for our 6:45 flight to Naga. Renne and I couldn’t sleep anyway, so getting up at 4 wasn’t hard at all. Claire and the kids woke up pretty quickly as well, and we were all ready by the time Tita Gina and Tito George picked us up. The Air Philippines terminal was big and very similar to any US airport – actually even better than LGA. The ticketing agent processed our tickets and baggage – but the weird part was she didn’t even ask for ID. How’s that for security? We had to pay a terminal fee of P200 – and I thought it was weird that no fee was mentioned when we purchased the tickets. What if I didn’t have cash? Anyway, we were all starving and decided to buy food – good thing they had Goldilocks, Red Ribbon, Mister Donut and other stores at the terminal. The flight boarded on time, and we were led to a bus and walked up the stairs to the plane. (editor's note: before then I had never boarded a plane by stair. It was cool, it kind of made me feel like The Beatles, except there was no crowd) The flight attendant gave their usual safety instructions – most of which we couldn’t understand because she kept pausing and was half giggling while she was talking. The flight was about 32 minutes (I think it was longer than that), and 5 minutes before landing, she announced - “Ladies and Gentlemen, the pilot would like to inform you that we will be having a hard landing due to a very short and wet runway”. It was bizarre! We all kind of looked at each other in bewilderment and wondered what to expect. What came 5 minutes later was something we will remember for a long time. Talk about hard landing! We touched down, sped on the runway, and the pilot did such a hard stop that we all jerked forward! (We were moving so fast when the landing gear touched down that I didn't expect it. I was looking out the window and it looked like we were just descending a little bit and then BAM! and less than a second after we touched ground the pilot hit the brakes. We slid for about 10 seconds which felt like forever and the noise of the friction kept getting louder and louder. Tita Claire regrets looking out the window because there was so much smoke coming off the side of the plane) Rachel and I found a plate of “pancit” by our luggage that rolled over from 3 rows behind us. We all looked at each other and started laughing. We had never experienced anything like it! It was raining outside and we descended down the stairs with umbrellas provided by the airline for every passenger (I thought it was thoughtful of them to have umbrellas, but it's the Philippines, so this probably happens often).

We were met by the hotel van pick up (The van we rode wasn't supposed to pick us up but we convinced it to anyway. It was supposed to pick up some guy named Oliver Tayo, whose last name we were making fun of.) and when we got to the hotel, Tito Abe and Tita Dolly were already there to meet us (they rode a bus the night before). (I keep on expecting the hotels we go to to be so much bigger than they actually are. The room we had is actually really big, but the building looks so inconspicuous, at least for a hotel.) We rested for a couple of hours, then headed to the Panicuason Hot Springs. It was a 45min ride from the hotel, and the resort was nestled within Mt. Isarog. On our way there, Tito Abe gave very strict instructions to Robert and Rachel – “do not follow any short creature if they entice you to go with them”. (I think his exact instructions were: "If you see any small weird people, don't follow them. And even if you do, don't eat what they give you.") WHAT?!?!?!? (That's exactly what I said when I saw how much punctuation you used) We all stared at each other and wondered what it meant. Apparently, Mt. Isarog is notorious for having fairies and mythical creatures like dwarves and elves and there have been many cases of kids being “enchanted” by these creatures and disappearing forever. Another instruction to me – “wrap your children in a white light – a prayer of protection that can never be broken by such creatures”(Tito Abe told you this? Because it doesn't sound like something he'd say. Unless he cracked some joke afterwards)Yikes!!! (That's exactly what I said when I saw how many exclamation points you used) I completely forgot about these folk tales! Although I can’t say that I completely believe in them, you better believe I prayed over Robbie and Rachel before we reached the mountains and a kept close eye on them at the resort! (My mom's not superstitious; just paranoid)

The resort was beautiful! The place had cottages with picnic tables, and pools that were naturally placed to take advantage of the springs from the mountains (You know, people told me otherwise, but I really doubt those springs are natural. What with the fact that their temperature seems to be controlled, and also probably because there were two guys building a jacuzzi right next to one of the pools). It was surrounded by lush greens and fascinating flora and fauna (Fauna? Like what, spiders? Sure, I guess, but they weren't the most fascinating things there), so it was a treat just trying to discover the different flowers growing everywhere. There were butterflies and dragonflies around too, and if there were monkeys swinging from the trees, it would have been the perfect jungle paradise (Also you'd have to lose the screaming kids.) The pools were different temperatures, from hot to cold, and Rachel had a great time moving from one pool to another. The only thing that was sort of inconvenient was that there were no food facilities (and you know how we are about food!) so we had to bring our own lunch (McDonald’s which BTW also had the rice wrapped in paper with their Fried chicken meal) (The mayo is weird over here. Just thought I'd mention that.) We Spent about 4 hours (Two of which I spent unsuccessfuly attempting to draw a portrait of Tita Claire. I guess that just isn't my thing) at the resort, then headed back to the hotel to rest. The kids slept right away; Robert didn’t even wake up for dinner (I do remember waking up for 10 seconds and somebody saying something about Carbonara, but I went back to sleep thinking I'd be awake in like 5 minutes but when I woke up it was like 6:30 in the morning. Oh well.)

Renne went out to dinner with a long lost friend (This makes it sound so much more dramatic than it actually is. Maybe they haven't seen each other for like 20 years, but long lost? Hardly.) and Claire and I bought food at the hotel restaurant and brought it back to the room to eat there. After dinner, Claire and I scheduled a massage (P500 – that’s about $10 for one hour – complete with hot rock treatment – how much better can it get?). The masseuse came at around 8:30 and I was already half asleep by then! Claire ended up cancelling hers because the masseuse was late and wasn’t there yet by 9pm, and she was already exhausted. She canceled by calling them on the phone, and we had a very funny conversation after. She claims that when she hung up, I asked her why she was speaking in Tagalog. And when she explained that she was talking to the front desk, I got annoyed because I still didn’t understand why she was speaking in Tagalog. I guess I was so asleep that I didn’t even remember that conversation. (I laughed the first time I heard this, but hearing it now, and I think because it's in English, is a bit strange. I think when the conversation is in Tagalog it's much funnier. I'd say the humour gets lost in translation, but that would be corny or something. Whatever, I digress.) Anyway, I’m not surprised about what I said because many times since we came, I had to remind myself that I was in the Philippines and that it was normal to hear people have conversations in Tagalog. =)


Written by Joy Vinluan, edited by Robbie

Day 1

Renne and I were up at 6:30am. We couldn’t sleep anymore because the fast moving traffic in Katipunan was unfortunately too loud to ignore. We decided to take a walk – which didn’t sound like such a challenge until we actually started doing it. We walked on Katipunan towards Aurora Blvd just to see how the streets have changed. It was pretty challenging because there were no sidewalks, and you constantly had to watch out for dog poop. When we got to Tom Castro Street – we realized that it was the corner where the Pharmacia Lydia used to be so we turned left into this street to go to JP Rizal. The labor Hospital was huge! And It was interesting to see the uniformed nurses and medical staff in the streets, eating at nearby “turo-turo” places, getting off from a tryicycle, or a jeepney. There were a lot of eateries, drug stores and individual vendors waiting on corners selling spaghetti in plastic bags and individual cookies. We walked all the way to P. Tuazon, and I realized that I couldn’t walk any longer. I’m usually a pretty good walker, but walking in the Manila heat was something else! I couldn’t stop sweating, and I was feeling very sticky and uncomfortable. No wonder we used the tricycles even for the shortest trips of a couple of blocks. We walked back, and decided to stop by Lola’s house to check if they were awake. Our streets were so small! The distance between Lola’s gate and Bracken seemed like a few steps away! Lola’s front gate was covered in a trellis of yesterday, today and tomorrow. How pretty and fragrant the flowers were! Lola had already gone to mass and the market. She was planning to cook adobo and fried tilapia for lunch. We saw Manang Longaniza on our way home. I don’t know if she knew who I was but it seemed as if she recognized me. I said hello and she asked how Mom was doing and when we arrived. We chatted for a few minutes and said goodbye. We went back to the hotel, tidied up a bit and prepared our pasalubongs for distribution. Tita picked us up to eat lunch at Lola’s then we headed to Gateway in Cubao for some shopping. The mall was super crowded so we didn’t stay long. We met Renne's family there, and agreed to meet them back at the hotel. We rested for a little while, then dinner at Lola’s for some KFC!! It was the coolest thing – instead of biscuits, they had rice wrapped in paper as a side! Dinner was super enjoyable, with Lola and the Gil clan (including Sara’s boyfriend Toby) joining us. The kids had their first experience with the flying “ipis” (cockroach) during dinner time. Rachel was really tired and resting when it landed on her shoulder. She thought it was a bat and flicked it off…it flew to the wall! Toby tried to kill it but didn’t want to do it on the wall – after all, we were having dinner and it was just going to be too disgusting to witness such yucky stuff! It flew to the door, and Tito George tried to swat it out of the house but it flew to his back instead. At this time, we were all screaming – Gin, Claire, me and Sara. We were hysterically laughing at the same time. When it landed on the floor, Tito George finally stepped on it and gone was the ipis!
That was certainly interesting for the kids – of course I had to assure them that the hotel room didn’t have those (cross your fingers). Looking forward to showing them what a gecko looks like!
(editor's note: we've seen them.)

Written by Joy Vinluan, edited by Robbie

Flight and Arrival

Our Phil trip was off to a good start! No waiting in the lines at the check in counter, and we were able to switch our seats to ones that are by the window. The flight was 45 minutes delayed though – but no worries bec the terminal had a decent food court and stores to browse around. When we finally boarded, our concerns about surviving a 16-hr flight were somewhat diminished. The plane was in tiptop shape, very clean and modern and the seats were quite comfortable. Also, we were able to hijack (editor's note: not the best airplane vocab) one empty seat across from our assigned seats so Claire and Rachel could spread out in the 3-seater. The entertainment was first rate too – movies, tv, music and games galore! We couldn’t decide which movies to watch first! Claire and I decided on 27 dresses, and Rachel saw Horton Hears a Who and fell asleep shortly after (The only thing the girls watched were romantic comedies. I'd like to make a point that my dad and I saw Vantage Point and I thought it was awesome). The only complaint we had was the food – even if I don’t count the accidental spilling of orange juice on me by one of the flight attendants (don’t worry – she felt really sorry). They served 2 main meals – one right after we took off and one just before landing – both meals were not good at all so Rachel hardly ate anything but the chocolate mousse dessert. They served peanuts for snack – my share was rudely eaten by my Chinese neighbor. They also had cup-of-noodles – which was better than the main meals they served (This is funny because it is true). Good thing we had lots of snacks as "baon"! For the Manila flight, they served fish sandwiches – how weird! Of course neither Robert nor Rachel ate it – and I didn’t particularly like it either.

The HKG (Hong Kong, in case that wasn't clear) airport was HUGE!!! It looked more like a mall, with very fancy stores, but they had very confusing signs and by the time we reached gate 34 (out of 80 gates), we only had 30 min to spare for the connecting flight. The Manila flight was a breeze, and we went through immigration and customs without any incidents. The customs officer kept asking questions and hinting that they taxed everything, and I kept answering I didn’t have anything worth taxing, and our electronics were at least 2 yrs old, and all for personal use. Tita Gina and Gin met us at the arrivals area, and we quickly saw Tito George and Tito Abe with the vans. The porters helped us load the baggages, and off to Lola Pu’s we went.

Boy did Lola prepare a spread! We were served Pancit Molo, shumai, cheese rolls, ensaymada, biko and lanzones (which Rachel loved). All were welcome treats especially since we didn’t enjoy the food on the plane – especially the hot soup! After some chit chat – off we went to the hotel – which was really pleasantly nice even for US standards (Albeit kind of small. It's not just the people, mama). There was an armed security guard at the front of the building and the owner met us when we arrived. Best of all, the hotel is 2 blocks from Lola’s house – so very convenient! Claire and Rachel shared the 2 twin room, and Renne, Robert and I shared the other room (which only has 1 full bed. I'm on the floor). We slept really well, but had to wake up from the sound of the traffic downstairs. (I slept until much later - my mom and dad went out for a walk at 6:30 in the morning. How crazy is that? Very.)

(Editor's Paragraph: I'm posting this the day after my mom wrote it because she got angry at Yahoo 360 yesterday. Blogspot is much better. I don't know if we'll be on time from now on, but she hasn't written anything for today and I had better sleep now because our flight tomorrow is at 6:45 AM. Goodnight all!)

Written by Joy Vinluan, edited by Robbie