Trip to the Philippines, Story and Pictures

[Edwin]

We flew over the Western edge Alaska, on around near Siberia, and across the Japanese Islands then landing in Seoul, Korea. We flew on to Manila in a slightly smaller airplane. Every where we went we encountered security. We have to remove our shoes, belts, wallets, etc, and have then scanned. In Korea they asked me if I had a bottle of water in my carry on, and they knew I did, because they saw it in the xray, so I asked them if they would allow me to drink it on the spot, and they said, "sure," so I drank it and threw the bottle away. I asked Al about taking my pocket knife, and he told me that a few years ago they took a pocket knife away from him that had been his dad's, and he felt badly about that, so I left my pocket knife home.

At the Manila airport two of Claire's brothers and a niece was there to meet us. They gave us a ride to the hotel in one of her brother's cars. It was really nice of them, and it was fun for Claire to see her brothers.

We stayed at City Gardens, which is a very nice hotel, but in a bad area of town. We were careful when we were out walking, and walked quickly, and we worried a little, but not too much. The price was reasonable, and they served a delicious breakfast each morning. We stayed there Sunday night, Monday night, and Tuesday night. We did some Jeepney riding, but mostly rode cabs in Manila. The first day we visited Claire's family where they live. They live in modest homes, very small and well maintained and clean. They have green plants of various kinds growing outside their doors. Claire also lived in one of those little houses before marrying Al and moving to the USA. After visiting with them at their houses we took a couple of Jeepneys in to the Mall of Asia. We spent the rest of the day and evening there, eating a coule of times at Gerry's Grill at the Mall. Then we took a taxi back to our hotel. I need to go to bed, so I will write more later about our trip.

[Edwin]

The next morning we went to the mall at Makiti. We went through the mall looking at everything. Then we met with some of Claire's friends and ate lunch. We did a lot of eating and visiting. One of the people we met with was a Claire's cousin. Another was a daughter of a lady who is married to an American living near us here in the USA. Before leaving Makiti we bought small paddle locks to put on our luggage as we found it necessary to ship some of it cargo to avoid an expensive charge on our over weight luggage. Al and Claire were planning on taking some things to their families in Amlan and Tanjay City, so they had extra weight, and I had just plain brought too much stuff, so I had a little extra weight. In the early evening we took this luggage to put it on the cargo to go to Dumaguete this next morning.

We found it necessary to miss breakfast at the hotel as we had to be at the airport too early for that. Then we flew to Dumaguete on a Cebu Airlines Airplane. There we were met by Claire's family. They had a small pickup truck that had a canopy on it, and benches inside, equipted just like the Jeepneys. Then we rode out to Amlan where Al and Claire's new house is. They had lunch already set out, so we began eating immediately, and visiting of course. I forgot how much steamed rice filipino people eat. I was with my nephew's wife's filipino family and relatives in Chicago a number of years ago, and that was my first exposure to filipino food. I have always liked it very much. Some of them eat too much pork to suit me, but it is okay for a while. I grew up eating pork, but I got the idea that too much of it is not good for a person, so I still enjoy it, but in limited quantities.

We then rode a three wheel motorcycle/cart into Dumaguete. It was fairly well loaded with a group of Claire's family members, neices, nephews, etc. Al and Claire went shopping for furiture for their new home. They bought matresses, a refrigerator, a television and DVD player, a dining room table and chair set, and a few other things and had them delivered. After that the house took on a different character with those things added. When we got back we experienced our first of many brownouts that occurred during our almost two week stay there. We went outside and enjoyed the scenery looking out over the water to Cebu Island. There were lots of comments on why Cebu Island had electricity, and we didn't. We experienced down times with the electricity while in Stehekin, so it was nothing unusual, and it didn't bother me at all. I can understand the frustration people experience when it keeps them from conducting business, or interupts other things they want to do. I didn't want to watch television while there anyway, and the fans did stop running during the brownouts, but the heat doesn't bother me, so that part didn't matter at all. They tried to keep the fridge door closed during brownouts, and that is what we did also in Stehekin when the electricity went down. We ate some more, visited and went to bed. We went to bed very early each evening, usually because of the brownouts, and then the lights would come on while we were sleeping when the electriciy would come back on.

[Edwin]

We went in to Dumaguete a quite a few times for various reasons. We also went to Amlan and Tanjay City a quite a few times as Claire's family and relatives live in both those places. We spent a quite a little bit of time on Al and Claire's back porch watching the water, fishermen, and Cebu Island. We saw some electric storms several times. During the brownouts it was fun to sit and look at the lights on Cebu Island when we didn't have lights, and that was fun for me, but frustrating for some of the others who wished we would have had lights.

At one time my mother washed our clothes on a scrub board and a tub of water, but I was little enough that I hardly remember that, but my older brother and sister would remember it well. Where we were staying Claire's family washed our clothes by hand a couple of times, and hung them out to dry, which was really nice of them. I took enough clothes that would not have been completely necessary, but it helped and it was very nice, and they wanted and insisted on doing that!

Each evening we went to bed anywhere from 7:30 to 8:00 p.m., and we got of anywhere from 4:00 a.m., on. Our breakfast was usually for Al and I, oatmeal and milk with sliced and chopped mangoes. The others usually ate rice and fish or something like that. We often had a couple of pieces of toast with peanut butter too. For the other meals we had rice and other foods, pork, fish, etc. We ate very often and ate enough at each meal.

Al and I went out walking each morning, and after the second morning Claire's brother went with us because he didn't think it was safe for us to be walking along the road, being white guys, he was afraid we might be targeted for a kidnapping or something like that. He didn't tell us the reason until one of the last days. We just thought he wanted to walk. Al walks very fast, and I can walk fast but I hung back with Claire's brother to keep him company. We had a good time doing that. Every once in a while someone would call me Joe, and Claire's brother told me that I should have told them my name was not Joe, it was David. The cars passing made walking a little dangerous unless a person kept alert.

I finally missed playing the piano, so I bought a cheap keyboard piano so I could play it. It had a lot of functions and was actually a nice instrument even though it was cheap. I got my church hymn/song books out and played some of them. Claire's sister is like our daughter, she wanted me to sing while I played so I did. When we departed I left the keyboard for Claire's nieces and nephews to play.

[Edwin]

I knew I had too much luggage to check in at the flight, so we were going to take one of my luggage pieces to put it on cargo freight. I worked to get my check in luggage the correct weight, and paddle locked it. The luggage at Manila went through the xray machine, and they didn't ask to have it opened, although I had the key with me and could have. But I was not thinking, and put the key in a safe zipped compartment in my carry on case. We took a Jeepney to Dumaguete Airport, and learned that the person who ran the xray machine was not available until 1:30 p.m. We could not wait until then as we were having company. They needed to open the luggage, but the key was back at Amlan. Claire was mad at me, and I don't blame her, and I was mad at myself. Al and Claire's brother told me not to feel badly, and don't worry about it, but it bothered me.

When we got back to the house the luggage had gone for a round trip between Amlan and Dumaguete. We got to talking, and Al and I decided that they didn't have the weight as they had given away a lot of their things they intended to give away, and some things were staying with the house, like curtains they brought and other things. So I started giving away my things to lighten the load. I gave a couple pair of levis away, shirts, house slippers, a ball cap, and a few other things until they said, "stop giving your things away because you won't have anything left to wear!" By the time I finished giving some of my things away my luggage was off loaded enough so that it fit in one of their pieces of luggage, making the right number of luggage pieces, and we got the weight down so that we were all legal, and we saved another trip to the Airport for cargo freight. When we were at the airport Claire and her brother were trying to pursuade them to make an exception, and they said, "there may be a gun or a bomb on that luggage, so they couldn't bend the rules, but it turned out fine.

The next morning early we ate breakfast, said our goodbyes, and we were on our way to the Dumaguete Airport, and on to Manila. We had a couple more days in Manila to enjoy being with Claire's family and friends there, and it was a continuation of our fun we had been having.

[Edwin]

We went to the hotel, our favorite hotel, and Claire's sister-in-law and her daughter, Claire's niece met us there. We walked to Robinson Mall. We got into trouble with Claire there for the second time. Everything can't go smoothly all the time, but it did most of the time. The first time we got into trouble with Claire we got on the trolley train cars that take you to the correct gate for boarding the airplane in SEATAC, Seattle-Tacoma, and that was at the beginning of our journey as we were just leaving home. Yes I am going back in time about two weeks. We were on this train, if you call it that, going around, and a lady on it told us we were on the wrong one. She said I live here and I know. Al asked me if we should go to that other trolley train, and I agreed that we should. It turned out that we were on the correct one before we changed, and we went to the other one and took a ride for no good reason. Claire told Al, "Why did you listen to that woman!" She told me, "Don't agree with Al when he is wrong!" Well we were pleanty early and it all turned out okay. What happened in the Robinson Mall was that Claire told Al and I to go stand over there while she looked for shoes. After she was gone, I told Al, "let's go look for a memory chip for my camera, as I had used mine up completely." When she came back she was upset and looked everywhere for us. Al told her that it was my fault, and it was, and why should he get into trouble with her when it was my fault. Al told her that we would not do that again! And we didn't.

The sales lady didn't want to sell me the chip without checking out my camera to make sure it would work, and that was really nice of her. Some places will sell you anything whether it would work or not. So we all walked back to the hotel. They were afraid to let Al and I go back to Robinson Mall by ourselves, but finally they agreed, and told us if we did not return in one our they were going to come looking for us. We got the chip. It checked out in the camera, and the sales lady agreed to sell it to us, and we got it much cheaper than we could buy it here in the USA, so it was a good deal. We walked back to the hotel, climbed the stairs, 8 floors, and we missed them as they were coming down on the elevator, as they figured we were late getting back. They were not in the room, and we missed each other, us on the stairs while they were in the elevator, and by the time we got down they were gone. We waited in the lobby for them, so that we would not miss them again. When they returned they were tired and a little frustrated, but it was no one's fault that it happened that way. They should have given us 5 more minutes, but they didn't know.

We all walked back to Robinson Mall again and ate our supper there. After that we returned to the hotel for the evening. That is Still City Garden Hotel I am talking about. That is the only place we stayed in Manila both at the beginning and the end of our two weeks' stay.

[Edwin]

I am almost finished with my long story about our trip to the Philippines, and I have detailed most everything that happened with few exceptions. For our last day in Manila and the Philippines we went to the Mall of Asia. We looked around a bit, and then met with the daughter of a lady who lives near us in Washington. We also met with some of Claire's El Shaddai friends as that was what she was into as far as religion in the Philippines. They were very nice ladies. We ate at Don Henrico's Ristorante with them. We had a very nice visit, and then the one young lady whose mother lives close to us had to leave, and then the other 3 ladies, Claire, Al and I went to the department store so that Claire could look at more shoes. She wanted a pair that would match her purse that she bought. The daughter of one of the ladies, a recent Nursing graduate walked with me to show me where the restrooms were. When we returned we couldn't find the others, so we had a long visit talking about dogs, which was fun. When the others came back we went close to the Manila Airport where they were getting ready for the big El Shaddai Celebration. We looked through the place took pictures and had an enjoyable time. I would have given anything to have been able to attend their El Shaddai meeting, but Al and Claire had agreed to meet with some other people, mostly family members for a last get together before me left for America. While at the El Shaddai convention place the nice ladies bought me some handkerchiefs, and I bought a couple of tee shirts, one for me and one for Carol. She said not to bring anything home, but I knew she would like that, and she did. The ladies told me that the hankies and the tee shirts were blessed, and that was nice. I believe in that, and I would have like to have attended their meeting. I know the singing and the praising would have lifted our spirits, and I am into that; singing unto the Lord and Praising His Holy Name.

We said goodbye to the El Shaddai ladies and returned to the Mall of Asia where we meet Claire's family members for one last meal at Gerry's Grill. They had fireworks at 7 p.m., which was fun to see, and I got a few pictures, although the pictures didn't do justice to the scenery of the fireworks. One more meal of rice and fish for me, and others ate other things. I had some pancit as there was a lot of it left, and I like that food. Then we returned to our hotel for one last night's stay. We got up the next morning and ate one last delicious breakfast with one of Claire's brothers at the hotel, and we were off to the Manila Airport with Claire's brother along with us to see us off.

We had a good flight home with very little time in Seoul Korea, only enough time to change airplanes. In Manila Airport we ate a very delicious cinimin roll with hot chocolate. We ate every few hours on the airplane. On the return trip we flew directly across the ocean from Korea to Seattle rather than flying along the coasts of Russia, Alaska, and Canada as we did coming over. We flew over 100 MPH faster ground speed because of a tail wind instead of the head wind we had coming over. We got a cab to where our car was in Seattle and drove on home. We stopped at the mother's place of the young lady we had lunch with a couple of times in Manila. We ate some fried cabbage and an ear of corn, as well as a candy bar. The day after we got home I slept until 11:30 a.m. Al and Claire both had to get up and work that morning. I am getting turned around quite nicely again to this time zone. I took Scooby, my huge dog for his walk this afternoon, and he probably wondered what happened to his walks for 2 weeks. I am back and already thinking about my next trip to the Philippines. It will be a while as I have classes to take and projects that need attention here before I return, but I will be thinking and planning for my next trip. I will be adding some of my pictures too, shortly.

[Edwin]

That is mostly the whole story with a few details omitted. It seems strange that by tomorrow I will have been back from the Philippines 2 weeks! It was so much fun I wish I were still there!

[Edwin]

You guys visiting the Philippines, I hope you have as much fun as I did!

[Tigger82d]

That is mostly the whole story with a few details omitted. It seems strange that by tomorrow I will have been back from the Philippines 2 weeks! It was so much fun I wish I were still there!

I know that feeling all to well. I want to go back (mostly to get my fiancee) but also for the great time I had and all the people there are wonderful. Glad to hear you had a great time to.

[crisipicada]

Glad to hear, too, about your stories