quezon city & old manila..a little journey in history

we went did some touring today; it's a holiday here - independance day - so there was soooo little traffic!!

we began our journey with going to quezon city, where both the kids were born, and showed them both where they were born...caleb in st. ignatius village at 71 fordham - we even reunited with our old land lady who remembered us!

we then went over to gentle hands, to the 3rd floor, where rosie was born in nini's old bedroom..twas lovely really.. :)

then we headed for intramuros...old manila..it was absolutely wonderful there..we drank at starbucks that was orginally a world war II bunker; marvelled at empty old ruined buildings; we walked along the wall that surrounds the city; we rode in a pedicab; we saw the manila cathedral; we saw lots of old ruins; we wandered thru fort santiago where the whole story of jose rizal is based on the history of the philippines..yes it was rich and full..i have suddenly become interested in history..not the books, but the real life stuff.. :) (isn't that rad, scotty??!!)

i'll let the photos inspire you...and here's a site for some philippine history..

intramuros - history

my photo journey of intramuros

3 sleeps

just about to go to sleep..our 3rd to last sleep in the philippines..wow..time has flown...

had a nap this aft..then the kids and nini and emma and i walked over, like last sunday night, to mcdo's with the kids...chuckle..they have mcspaghetti at mcdo..i forgot about that..hahah..

an uneventful sunday in some ways..

today at church dra tess gave us some amazing fresh chinese lumpia (spring rolls)..wow! they were incredible!

we're going to see all the places we have lived tomoro morning right after breakfast; it's a holiday tomoro so the traffic willbe SOOOO light! then we'll go to intramuros (old manila) and have lunch there, then come back to set up for rosie's birthday that nini is throwing for her (early!) which a bunch of people from church will be at..it will be lovely..and tearful i'm sure.. :)

tomoro i also have to figure out our day plan for hong kong on wednesday.. :)

tootle!

a few pics from today...

saturday wanderings in salcedo village...

woke up late this morning..ate some breakfast --fried rice, eggs, fruit, the usual--and then just after 11am, i headed downstairs to meet my dear friend/therapist/mentor, ate zonia..she is a cute little 60something filipina doctor who is married to an american and they have lived here for a long time, teaching inthe seminary and her with her practise.

we were off to mill about the salcedo community market, that happens every saturday, just inthe park a couple blocks away, amongst allthe tall buildings. it's quite amazing really. zonia also said that people who live far away come to this every week..

what is mostly there is food! whether fresh veggies and fruits, or fish, or lechon or shawarma's, or a whole slew of other cooked foods..there are also beautiful, fresh tropical flowers there. ya..its amazing there..and it always amazes me that there is so much cooked food out there in the tropical heat, or sushi, or anything like that, not refrigerated..and people are just lappin it up.. i'm not sure my body would be ok with it.. heheh..

so after dra zonia and i got our bibingka we sat at a table, amongst the others there eating with their friends and families, talking about absolutely nothing of depth, we noticed. dra and i talked about this observation we both made..how they insist oneating together to spend time together, the filipino culture, however they do not go in depths with their relationships. how very sad, in so many ways.

i did buy a little pinya, or pineapple..so so tiny.. for only P30...heheh..just about 85 cents.. mmmm and it was soooo sweet.. :)

from there i went back to the apartment to find no one there, so i walked about the village a bit, taking random pics of buildings and stuff..

then jonathan and i went to greenbelt, all new since we moved in 2001 and met some dear friends, ed and olive, and we ate together and "caught up"...it was such a nice time.. :)

it was an early night for me..feeling quite tired today..must be the crazy heat that feels about 46 degrees, the weather network says. whoa..

only a couple more days here..wow..time has flown..i think mom is going to have a birthday party for rosie on monday, even tho early.. so cute.. :) the cefre's will come out, i'm sure.. good times.

goodnight..

the wanderings in salcedo village

dehydration+dentist+earlgreytea+friends= ok lang!

today we were gonna have the kids and my teeth cleaned; it's only $15 to have it done..so ya.. :) as it turned out, only the kids had their teeth done; i suddenly became quite ill..the headache i had yesterday, that i suspected was from dehydration, became worse..i felt as tho i was gonna puke and dizzy. ugh.

so i resigned from getting my teeth cleaned (i'll go thru the first canadian barter instead when i go home!!) but the kids did; caleb even had 4 cavities filled. so for 4 cavities filled and both their teeth cleaned it was just over P2000 or around $50. can NOT beat it..

so nini and a sleeping emma and i sat and drank earl grey and drank rehydration drinks while i waited for them..it was quite what the doctor would have ordered. we were in shangri-la mall, so its nice and quiet.

after the kids were done, we ate at CPK (second time this vacation!) and then j and mom and emma went back to the house while the kids and i waited for jojo, my good friend that i met back in 96 when we came to the philippines first, and her 4 kids.

it was sooo cool their youngest, jeepee, is 2 months older than caleb; they used to play together when they were toddlers..they INSTANTLY bonded and were inseperable the whole day. rosie, if i didnt see her blond hair and hear her canadian accent, i would think she was pinay; she totally integrated and was so filipina in her mannerisms and actions. wow.. so crazy! she was 4 months when we moved back to canada.

so we had a great time chatting at starbucks, then the kids went ahead to the arcade and went PSYCHO with the games and got a zillion tickets and then got prizes. the kids all got a long so well.

we all were going back to the church to the service, where j was speaking that night.we decided to take the MRT (like the sky train, sorta) :) and then wee took a jeepney to the church. it was the kids first time to use a jeepney. :) it was so cool. caleb even did the "bayad po"..to pay our fare. he spoke in tagalog..it was so cute. :)

then that night it was so cool to be together. i think we will see them again before we go, as we're having a pre-birthday party for rosie on monday.

it was so sad, tho, as we said goodbye, as we didnt' think at the time if we were gonn a see them til the next time we came back to the philippines. caleb cried so hard, cuz he had to leave jeepee. it almost broke my heart. it was so so sweet.

even rosie shed some tears...so cool the kids bonded with some of our dearest friends here in the philippines.

enjoy our pics from a fun day..

the interesting plane ride home..

how much do you know about the Q300 airplane?

well our lovely aircraft apparently can't have too heavy of loads when taking off from a short airstrip. seriously. they didn't take off until we unloaded all our luggage, of the half full plane, and then told us our stuff would follow us in another flight later.

once the airplane was "LIGHT" enough, then we were able to take off. the stripe is really short and cuz we have this new plane that is fuel efficient, it wouldn't be able to lift off in time or something crazy.

"what if the entire plane was full?" i thought.. what on EARTH would they have done.. oh yes, welcome to the philippines.. chuckle..

it was really sad to leave the island of boracay..sigh.. we had such a lovely time.. and saying goodbye is always sucky.. thank you, boracay, for the lovely vacation..sun burned shoulders and all!

we got to the centennial airport and then waited 2 hours for our luggage. oh the joys.. :)

by the time we got home, we were exhausted (turns out i was dehydrated and the next day, the repercussions was gross) so we went to bed before 8! jonathan was speaking at the church that evening.

also found some fairly amusing signs on our way home..it's so awesome..i should have started earlier with finding crazy signs.. oh well. :)

june 5 pics click here..

our last full day in boracay

wednesday, june 4

day 3 in boracay.

Our “adventures” were done, and today we had one thing in mind, other than the given swimming in the tropical ocean: shopping!

And boy did we ever!

After our breakfast, we headed back up to d*mall, and there we began our spending frenzy…little pasalubongs (souvenirs), bracelets, necklaces, earrings, rings, sarongs, flip flops, shells hanging thing-a-ma-bobs…ya it was great. ☺

4 hours of walking later, with a small lunch break on the ocean front at a café, we decided (nini, caleb, rosie and i) that it was time to go back to the hotel. ☺

and of course, we got there, and j came and met us and into the ocean we went for several more hours, picking shells, having fun..we all were wearing t-shirts today in the water– our lobster burns are so sore!

It was a veg day for the most part, our last day there. we all went to the greek restaurant CYMA in d*mall; it was pretty good, the greek salad that is.. the taste was so great..would have been tons more amazing had the veggies been cold... :S the lamb gyro i had was pretty tastey as well! woot! after dinner in d*mall, the kids and j went on a mini ferris wheel thingy that, seriously, went around about 20 times!! and for only P30 a person!! or 66 cents!!! hahaha.. so funny! and right next to them was a human statue dude! he was soooo good! had our pics with him, as he put a knife to our heads..good thing the knife was plastic...!! :)

when we got back to the hotel, J decided to get a henna tattoo of his really cool cross…and we called it a night...i was looking for a foot massage, as my feet are brutalized from walking 4 hours in sandy sandals...to no avail, i paid my son to rub my feet for 20 minutes for P50. ☺ you gotta do what you gotta do!

Ah yes, our holiday on boracay has been lovely. Rosie said she could live there..as could i. caleb couldn’t wait to get to manila and j, well, with his love for sand in places where sand shouldn’t be…he was glad tomoro was a comin’. ☺

We did see there was a property for sale there..hmmm..a satelite mission burnaby?
Hahahah.. in my dreams.. one must have those you know.. dreams.. they keep you alive! ☺

Goodnight!

our last day in boracay slideshow

i heart boracay...

tuesday, june 3

6 am – our internal alarms went off and we were ready for another day.

We met papa, nini and emma in the hallway and made our way down to the poolside for breakfast. It was buffet..eggs, rice, tocino (sugar-marinated pork) bread, chicken fingers.. yes, I said chicken fingers!! ☺

While we were eating we bought sunglasses from the vendors just outside the hotel who could see/talk with us where we were.. P150 lang (only) - $3.40. ☺

After breakfast, j and I quickly went to the d*mall up a ways to get hats for our boat trip, island hopping/snorkeling. We are going back there tomoro to shop.. ☺

So our boat guy, rollie ( I had said bobby yesterday cuz I forgot!) led us to the boat..we made a pit stop first for snacks..oreo cookies, sky flakes and jellies. Mmmmmmm…so much nutrition.. wink wink!

We hopped onto our boat and away we went.. rollie’s brother was our guide. Our first stop after trekking along for about 20 minutes was crystal cove island. It was absolutely breathtaking. We paid an admission fee to get in P150 and half price for adults $3.40 isn’t bad for what we saw.. ☺ the flora was incredible and then they led us thru paths where we went to not one but two different caves where we could snorkel and see real little fishies! Oober cool!! ☺ ☺

Rosie was a little hesitant but wanted to try at the first cave..was so cute.. ☺ we went to the second cave, that only j and caleb went in; they followed a rope cuz it was deep and then went thru a cave to the other side.. I’m glad I didn’t’ go in it – claustraphobic I’m sure!

then we did the most amazing thing i have EVER done..we left crystal cove and drove the boat about 15 minutes away and then we went snorkeling in this bay, where there were many other bankas. we got our life jackets on, cuz the current was very strong, and got our snorkel gear and were told to hold on to the rope that was attached to the boat, cuz of the strong current. what happened next, in some ways, i wish i had a camera; yet in other ways it is my own little experience in my head. the had us throw some crackers in the water and then look down into the water.

it was overwhelming; the most wide array of tropical fish coming to the surface to eat. then j took a cracker in his hand and they were feeding from his hand..hundreds upon hundreds of colorful fish..even nemo was there!! :) i could have stayed there a very long time..it was so beautiful. i have never experienced anything like it. what an amazing god we have..sigh..wow... :)

After spending a better part of an hour there, we went back to the banka (boat) and made our way along the east side of boracay island . about ½ hour later we arrived at the secluded beach called “puka beach” .. puka is a kind of shell. It was the most magical beach I have ever been..we picked shells of all sorts..frolicked in the tropical waters. After about ½ there we headed back on the boat and headed to our beginning point. On the way there we passed white beach, the stripe of beach where our hotel is.

Of course rollie greeted us on the shore as we approached, all smiles. ☺ we had a wonderful time. We paid for the rental of 3 sets of snorkel gear – P300, just under $7. We walked back to our hotel where we headed for some lunch first at yellow cab pizza. Was very good pizza! ☺ after we were sufficiently fed, off to our beach we spent the afternoon. A few hours later, then to the pool, where nini and papa and emma joined us.

We decided it was dinner time and so Indian food was on the menu for tonight. We walked back up to “d*mall” and just before there was this exquisite Indian restaurant, called TRUE FOOD. We would have eaten in the actual restaurant, which we sat on the floor on pillows, really Indian style..but it was so hot and there was little air circulation, so we opted for outside their restaurant on the beach.. ☺ everything on white beach is facing the beach, so all the restaurants extend their restaurants to the beaches directly in front of them.

Yum is all I can say about the food.. and off to bed we went after that! What a great day! ☺

click here for today's photos!!

monday's slideshow!

have some sporatic signal here...we found it on the 2nd floor of the cafe at our hotel...so i will probably only be able to upload monday's (its wednesday here now) slideshow now, as it's really a slow connection.. can't have it all on the paradise island! :) but it's sooo worth it! :) hee hee..


monday's boracay slideshow

kase di ba?

that simply means “because right?”.. used almost anywhere in a conversation..ah, the filipino language..it’s a beautiful thing really.. ☺

plus mom and I were being silly sayingn some of the most vaguest filipino phrases…or pwedi yung ano (can that what?) and this one kase dib a, came up and I told her I’d call today’s blog that. so there. ☺

papa, nini and emma made their way to the airport MUCH earlier than us this morning; they left at 530 – we left at 645. hen we sat in the airport for almost 2 hours – better sitting in the airport than in traffic and possibly not making it to the airport!

we went thru the xray scan; had to even take off our shoes..hehheh..then we found a “home”, got some chicken (curry at that!) turnovers, and some honey dipped donuts from mr donut and that was breakfast! then we used our new travel scrabble game…woot! mommy kicked children butt.. ☺ however caleb was not far behind!

at about 845 we were called to board our plane..we had to take a bus to our plane, way down yonder, the wee little plane – 2 passengers on each side. but it was fun! Rosie and I took lots of pictures!

so we arrived in caticlan, a 45 minute plane ride south of manila. we got off the plane and heard, “miss tracey hepppner”..the tour people who were taking us to our hotel found us! hehehheh..we jumpedin a super airconed (brrrrr) van to the jetty port where we “caught” a banka (boat) to the island of boracay! when we were almost there, rosie and I got soaked so had to move to the other side of the boat!

finally our feet touched the island of boracay..ah, yes.. ☺ from there we hopped into an open van to the resort. as we walked towards the resort, la carmela de boracay, I was already getting really excited. then I saw it:

the infamous white sand, blue water beaches of boracay.

seriously, it brought me to tears. and I’m not even PMSing! ☺ here is our little family on our first holiday together..sigh…it’s a beautiful thing really..

we met papa there, got our room key, found our room and decided to eat lunch first as we were STARVING! so we headed down the beach away to a cute little restaurant. after we ate our chicken/fish and rice and I had a lovely long island iced tea, we went back to the hotel, and changed into our bathing suits, applied a large quantity of sunscreen (the tropical sun is like no other – BRUTAL HOT!), and headed for the beach. J had a nap, so it was just the kids and i.

this is when I started going trigger happy. ☺ between the most amazing beach I have EVER seen, and the kids having the most amazing time playing, it was an easy 100 shots… ☺

finally jonathan woke up an hour later, the kids starting to turn color, and mom and emma made their way down to the beach with dad too. it was a lovely thing really. ☺
jonathan flung caleb thru the air in the water, I walked a bit down the beach strip, strewn with stalls full of souvenirs, people getting massages on the beach. as I walked back, I found a few little boys catching fish..super cute.

the kids decided it was pool time, after several hours in the tropical ocean. Emma and papa and nini accompanied them. I went to the little mini mart and stocked up on some electrolytes and oreo cookies and sky flakes – a hearty snack, really. ☺

i noticed a few groups of guys on the beach starting to make sand castles. oober cool. and then I decided to get a henna tattoo..tribal of course. ☺ this is the first step in me getting my actual one – seeing the art on my body! super cool!!

after we got ourselves back up to the room and cleaned up, we went onto the beach, watched the sandcastles be completed, watch caleb make his sand art, then went over where the hotel sets up tables and a “restaurant buffet” on the beach in front of the hotel and had a lovely dinner by the beach, as the sun was setting.

as yes.. a lovely day it was. we are a little lobster like – I guess the kids needed more than my ”hawaiian tropical dark tanning lotion”.. ☺ tomoro they’ll emma’s SPF 296. ☺..oh sorry SPF 45. ☺

we met a man (bobby, I think) a couple times as we came and went and struck up a deal with him – all of us on his boat for 3-4 hours to do some touring around the island, stopping to snorkel, and another stop on a little island and another stop for fish for lunch on the beach, then another stop at a beach FULL of shells. for only P2000….or $45. ☺ pretty good fun for $45, no? ☺

enjoy today’s pics.. these are but a FRACTION of what I took today.. ☺ and you may notice some little black spots – some dust..i’ve taken care of that now.. ☺

have the slideshow 3/4 uploaded, but the wi-fi here is sporatic..so will try later! :)

ah, yes..sunday.. :)

sunday has come and almost gone..

we went to the 10 am service at church of god makati, this morning. jonathan spoke..saw some more faces..saw andrea, jonathan's old secretary, and her 3 sweet kids..tripped UP the stairs to go to dad's office, with my camera in hand..sigh. it braced my fall - poop - the only thing i can see the matter, is some warwounds, aka scratches, and my focus button is a little weird..time will tell. ah the joys..

we came home, ordered in some lovely indian food - side note: you can order in ANYTHING...indian, mcdonalds, pizza..it's amazing really! - then hunkered down for a nap and 3 hours later! :)

the gents went back to the church where j was speakin at the 5pm service, so the kids and nini and i went to an ATM to get money for our trip to boracay tomoro (!!!!) and then took a walk thru salcedo village (saw the tree papa tripped on and broke him arm!) and stopped for the kids to eat some burger mcdo and chicken and fries, topped with some ice cream!

so here i am, post walk back at dusk and thinking about packing, altho i may wait for j to come home.. our flight leaves tomoro at 9 am, have to be there at 7am, have to catch a taxi at 630 am.. early morning..

hope to catch you in boracay!! :) if not, i'll back blog when i'm back! :)