01.31.10
Posted in Playing the Tourist, Uncategorized at 6:49 am by Administrator
After a good night’s sleep, we woke up early in the morning refreshed and with a more optimistic attitude. The toilets worked, there was hot water, no geckos were infesting the rooms, and not even one mosquito harassed us during the night. Ah. . . with that, we ventured outside for a peek at our surroundings and breakfast.
Oh, yeah! And around the grounds. . .
Here we are at breakfast.
While we ate breakfast we were given the list of possible tours and activities to join. Since it was too late to join the tour for the Underground river in Sabong, we decided to take the boat ride to Arena Island, which is a turtle reserve. We took a 30 minute ride from the hotel to get to the starting point. Then we had to get into a small boat to transfer onto the bigger boat that would take us the rest of the way to the island.
Here’s a pic of Aaron transferring boats.
We sat at the top of the boat. The weather and temperature was perfect for this outing.
And here’s Aaron with the two lady tour-guides-in-training.
The girls are both natives of Palawan and are currently working at the resort as part of their schooling in Hotel, Restaurant Management. They don’t get paid for their work there, but rather earn school credits. They were part of the staff who accompanied us to the island. They were very attentive to our needs while out. It was almost like having a personal alila.
This was another one of the staff who helped ferry us to and from the islands. He was in charge of all the play things like snorkles, kayaks, etc.
These are the kinds of boats we saw along the way.
And finally after about 45 minutes, we transferred once more to the little boat and approached Arena Island. It was really small and reminded me of Guilligan’s Island, ha ha! Thankfully, they were very clean and careful of the ecology there.
And that’s about all the pictures I can attach to one post so will continue the next post with the landing at Arena Island. As you can see, the gang is now much happier, and by this time it was pretty clear that I was forgiven! Mommy even “said,” I forgive you now, Marla. Ha! Whew. . .
Marlakins
P.S. Hidden Valley in Laguna turned out to be a nice place! Marissa, is that the place you visited last time you were here? Will have to share some of those pics after the Palawan pics. But oye, I’m gaining weight here! I was a bit shocked when I saw my pictures! LOL
While splashing about in the hot springs, Daddy couldn’t help but comment that he found a place that Mark would like! Tee hee!
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01.28.10
Posted in Playing the Tourist at 10:44 pm by Administrator
We’re back in Manila, but I’m gonna update with some of the Palawan happenings. . . This is a shot of our approach to Palawan, which is about a 45 minute flight from Manila.
And here’s a pic of the Puerta Princesa airport, which looks to me about three times larger than the Tagbilaran airport in Bohol. Uh, yes, this picture is pretty much the size of their airport for both arrivals and departures.
I turned around to get a shot of Aaron with our chariot (Cebu Pacific) behind him. Auntie Lits and Uncle Al are on the side. Small plane, but not as small as the one Brian and I took to the Isle of Man, which IIRC, had propellers, and a single aisle with two seats on each side. This plane had a single aisle with three seats on either side. 
And while all of the Pines seem to have tricycles, they are a tad different from island to island. Here’s what the tricycles look like in Palawan.
Okay, so far so good. . . We got to the airport on time, flight was nice and painless, our baggages were all intact and accounted for, and now we’re in the van to whisk us away to our vacation resort. . . Now, the fun begins. But wait! I need to back up with a few insider details. Our travel agent told us that the ride from the airport to the resort would be “one” hour and that the resort was located in the southern portion of Puerto Princesa (you know how mom and dad are adamant that they don’t want to be in the “southern” part of Palawan because of all those nasty Muslims trying to kidnap people and hold them for randsom). However, upon arrival the person who picked us up told us that our ride would be “two hours and that the roads are under construction.” Another tidbit of info is that we arrived at 5PM, that means that dinner would be after 7PM, and we’d be traveling in the dark going “s-o-u-t-h” past Puerto Princesa into Narra.
All is quiet. We push our way through the city traffic. Then off we go into the countryside, first on the smooth road, then comes the bumpy road. As if that wasn’t bad enough for Daddy’s myeloma back, there were two more hours of that to come as the “night” rapidly fell upon us and we continued to head s-0-u-t-h. No words needed to be spoken. I could feel the vibes eminating from the elders. . . “Marla, what in the world did you get us into?! This is that last time we let you book a trip for us! Do we have some words for you!” Luckily it was dark because if they could look at me, I’m sure I would have felt the daggers. And all the while I could feel my own temper rising as I had specifically told the travel agent that my parents needed their trip to be “e-a-s-y” as my dad is not well. I would tense up with every bump hoping that my dad’s back was okay. Mommy kept asking, “are we almost here, yet?” as we drove deeper and deeper south in the “dark,” which in the tropics is very dark since there are no street lights like in the big cities. Then came the mountain winding road, and I could hear the “clicking” sounds from the elders as they held on to their seats as if the van would roll over the cliff. Could it be worse?
Yes, it was worse. The driver was heavy on the breaks, and I was getting “nauseous.” My head was spinning when at last we arrived at the front of a resort by the ocean. Our driver hopped out and slid the van doors open. We stumbled out to find cute little filipina girls awaiting us with sampagitas (flower leas). They welcomed us with their sweet smiles and voices as they led us up the steps to a table with fresh buko (coconut) drinks. The night was dark, we could feel the mosquitos whizzing by. I looked up, and I saw the most butokay (geckos) I’d ever seen in one place all my life!!!! Emotionally I was a wreck as I was feeling the conflict of the terrible ride in, with the sweet warm welcome of the girls.
Luckily, Mom, Dad, Auntie Lits, and Uncle Al seemed relieved once they saw the resort. Here’s mom and dad as they sat to have their buko drinks.
Al and Lita had recovered quickly and were starting to let loose.
Aaron and I were still in shock. I was still nauseous, my head was still spinning from that driving and wondering how my dad’s back was doing, worried about all the mosquitoes for Aaron’s sake, and wow, I hope those geckos aren’t infesting our rooms! Do the toilets flush? Is there warm water in the showers? Is there actual “beach” access? Here’s a pic of Aaron and me looking pretty much how we felt–like crap.
With a little fresh buko juice, nice “stable” ground,a dinner about to be served, I began to see how well the staff at the resort were treating us. A small entourage led us to our rooms (it was so dark at night that they had little lights to help led our way while I could hear the ocean waves crashing). Our luggage had already be transported to our rooms while they were serving us cool drinks. The rooms were nice and clean and touched up with plumeria flowers. The toilet flushed after all, and there was warm water. The beds were clean and we had several movies to watch. Aaaahhhhh, maybe after a good nights’ rest, things will look brighter in the morning. . .
To be continued. . .
Marlakins
P.S. Tonight we head out to dinner with one of Marissa’s friends. Then tomorrow morning we head out to Hidden Valley. As far as I know, Hidden Valley is a hot springs resort in Laguna about 2 hours away. We’ll stay there for one night, then head back into Manila.
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01.24.10
Posted in Historical Trivia, food and restaurants at 2:24 am by Administrator
My cousin, Len, invited us to her house in Cavite for lunch. And man these are the times when I thank God for family and Filipino food! Heh. This is one shot of her neighborhood.
As usual, I took pics of the various dishes. So I’ll share those pics, but first, I wanted to share the pics of my nieces. Here they are with my son, Aaron.
Len and her sister bought a lot together and built a sort of a duplex for both their families. It’s a really cute setup where both front porch and balconies join. The kitchen also join in the back, and access to the roof top also have joint access. My mom got excited when she saw a small table in Mila’s house that used to be in her house many years ago. The special thing about this table is that when my dad and my mom were courting, they used to sit opposite each other over this little table. Here is what it looks like today.
Mom was so giddy when telling us this tidbit that I think it embarrassed my dad, and he told Mila to burn the table. LOLOL
And now for the food! We start with Merced’s speciality–sotanghong.
BBQ pork.
Pritong hito (fried milk fish).
Pork sinigang. This was “really” good, and luckily they packed some extra for us to take home for dinner! Yum!
Pusit (squid). This is one of Aaron’s favorites. But really, I think today the sotanghong pancit was his favorite.
Talaba (oysters on a half shell). Filipinos cook their oysters, not raw like in the U.S. The filipino style of eating oysters is with a vinegars sauce with shredded ginger, unlike the U.S. way of eating oysters on a half shell with a tomato sauce or a lemon twist. Personally, I like both styles of oysters.
Then there was pinotucan (broiled talapia).
This is laing. Laing are taro leaves.
Okay, I think that’s all the room I have for pics in one post, so will have to stop here. There was even more food like BBQ chicken, lumpia, etc. I also got to taste the leaves of a malungay tree. I’ll post a pic of that later. It’s supposed to be a really healthful herb.
Not sure if I’ll be able to get online tomorrow as we head to Palawan tomorrow. I’ll see if they have a net cafe or anything like that available.
I hear that Los Angeles is dry now, but very very cold! Stay warm everyone!
Marlakins
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01.23.10
Posted in Playing the Tourist, food and restaurants at 1:40 am by Administrator
Since I’m starting to collect a lot of food pics, this post will be devoted to more food, particularly Filipino food. Cabalen’s is a restaurant chain devoted to Filipino food. It’s kind of like a Filipino version of Hometown Buffet, but Filipino all-you-can-eat. Although I am a full-fledged American and love the great variety of restaurants in Los Angeles, I much prefer Cabalen’s to Hometown buffet, which I think is icky cause Hometown’s food is like TV dinners, ick. Cabalen’s is more like home cooking. Here’s a pic of part of their buffet spread.
Here’s another shot of the buffet.
And another.
Here’s a closer shot of one of the dishes. This one is called “dinuguan” made of pork and pork blood.
Here’s closer shot of a clam dish in black bean sauce.
Another close up of one type of pancit. (noodle dish) There are many varieties of pancits in the Philippines. This is a very common Filipino dish that is served at practically every Filipino party, so anyone who’s tasted Filipino food would likely have tasted pancit at one time or another.
There were too many to take a picture of all the dishes available, so I’ll just add a final picture of one of Aaron’s favorites that he’s been chowing down on almost every day since we got here. . . mango.
Hmmm. I should devote a post to Filipino desserts. Filipinos love desserts, and one post won’t be enough room for them, so I might have to make a few.
Okay, so we’re heading off to Palawan where I won’t be able to upload any pictures. I hope I’ll have a lot of nice ones to share when we return to Manila on Thursday. Toodles for now!
Marlakins
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01.22.10
Posted in Playing the Tourist at 5:40 pm by Administrator
Last night we visited a bookstore at the Fort Bonafacio shopping strip called, Fully Booked. We picked up a book for Aaron, called I’d Like to Speak Filipino 1 by Victoria P. Carlos. Brian, I think you’ll like this book, too!
Aaron has an affinity toward languages, and he’s been bombarding me with questions about how you say certain words and phrases in Tagalog. That’s okay with me, but then he starts asking grammatical questions about it, and well, frankly, and sadly, I’m illiterate when it comes to proper Tagalog. . . I can understand it, and speak it to a small degree, but I can’t properly teach it. So off to the bookstore we went, and picked up this little gem. It has a section on proper grammar, not to mention proper spelling! Two things I am sorely in need of learning myself. It also has an audio CD, Brian, which I know you’ll like with your handy dandy mp3.
Since I’m on the all-things-Filipino subject, I thought I’d add a pic of Filipino currency.
The exchange rate has gone down a little since last year. At the bank yesterday I was given P45.47 to $1. But, when I paid the travel agent the other day in U.S. currency they gave me P46.10 to $1. So that kinda helped with our fee to pay for our trip to Palawan. Speaking of Palawan, we’re scheduled to leave on Monday and return on Thursday. We’re told that the flight should be about 45 minutes from Manila, and then a hour drive towards the southern end of Puerto Princesa where we are booked at the Katala Lodge. At that time my mobile broadband will not work. So I won’t be able to upload any pictures and maybe won’t have internet access if I can’t find an internet cafe while there. I’ll just update the pictures when I get back to Manila. Today we’re meeting with Auntie Lita and Uncle Al, and Boyet and Vey for lunch. Tomorrow we head off to Cavite as Len invited us to her house there.
Hope everyone is doing well! I keep hearing about the crazy weather in California! And boy, Andrew and Matthew!, you’ve given us quite the picture of what’s going on there! Hail????? Yikes! Well I’m glad that you’re all safe! But keep warm and dry, if possible! Oh, and Grandma and Grandpa loved your email! Tee hee! And yes, we are aware of Mommy and her jewelry weakness and are trying to head Marinel’s warning! We haven’t even gone to Bangkok, yet, and grandma has already threatened us that she’ll know that we don’t love her anymore “if” we don’t buy her some jewelry! LOL And it didn’t stop there, she was already scheming on how we could “split” with Daddy. . . LOLOL
Anyway, better log off for now as I still need to shower to get ready for our visitors. I’ll try to add another post before we head out to Palawan on Monday. Until then, stay well, everyone!
Marlakins
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01.20.10
Posted in Playing the Tourist, food and restaurants at 11:02 pm by Administrator
Besides a large variety of foods, the Philippines also has a large variety of scenery. In particular, I’m referring to the different buildings and different dwellings. While some parts are very similar to buildings in the U.S., many other places are very different. Before I upload pictures of the “different” areas, I’ll start with just adding a few pictures of the areas where we are staying. This is just below One Serendra as we look over part of the food court. This is early in the morning before the crowd arrives.
Last year when we were here the areas where all the poinsettia plants are were filled with water. I guess these must be left over from the Christmas and New Year’s festivities.
Here’s another shot from a different angle of the food court. I took this pic from the second floor as well. This is facing in the direction of Market Market.
And here’s yet another pic taken from the second floor facing in the opposite direction toward Fort Bonafacio.
From this view the ciy skyscrapers are visible. Many of them are still under construction. Aaron said it reminded him of Turkey because when we were there, many of their buildings were also under construction with many were cranes rising up from them. Before this area was built into a residential and commercial district, it used to be a military base called Fort Bonafacio. It’s obviously no longer a military base, but the name has remained the same.
This is one of the nicer parts of the city, but they’re not all this nice. I’ll try to post a variety of pics along the way to give a more balanced view of the Philippines. I also want to add a few pics from the One Serendra grounds later. I thought it was nice the past two years, but this year it seems especially nice as the foliage has really taken root and the garden is really looking fuller.
Marlakins
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01.18.10
Posted in Playing the Tourist at 5:48 pm by Administrator
My cousin took us out to Marikina, and one of our stops was at the SM mall. At the mall we ran into an art display, which turned out to be rather interesting. This is an example of the artwork we saw.
And this. . .
We found that the artist is autistic and was right there drawing on the spot.
It turns out that the people he drew, or draws, are actual people he’s seen. Many of his drawings were for sale in the form of bookmarkers. I thought they were so cute, so I bought a few. I couldn’t make up my mind which I liked best, so these are the ones I picked out.
As a nice little touch, the backs of these bookmarkers have different Bible verses. Aaron liked that little detail.
But then, that wasn’t it. We found that he was actually drawing people there at the mall. . . Errp! So we decided that it would be cute if he could draw us, too. Here we are with Vico (the artist) holding up the pics he drew of us. Aaron is on the left, I’m next to him. Vico is in the middle with the plaid shirt, and my cousin is next to him on the right of the picture.
Here’s a closer shot of his rendition of us.
Ha! I know these don’t really look like us, but it was fun anyway, and at least the clothing is kinda like what we were wearing. Besides, this makes a great souvenir for me. I plan to trim them like he does and mount them into a frame. Hope it turns out okay. Wish my other boys were with us so that we could have had a family picture, heheheh.
Anyway, thought that was fun to share. I see that my travelogue is getting out of order, but oh, well.
Until next time!
Marlakins
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01.17.10
Posted in Playing the Tourist, Uncategorized, food and restaurants at 5:32 pm by Administrator
Here in the Philippines eating is a very social aspect of the society (as in many other countries). So any trip to the Philippines should include lots of food, especially local foods.
Abe is a Filipino restaurant here in the One Serendra area. The style of food is from the area of Pampanga. Abe means “friend” in the Kapangpangan. Here’s a pic of Aaron in front of Abe’s.
Actually, we had just finished eating there when this pic was taken. Here are some of the dishes that we chowed down on. This is lumpia ubod, which is palm shoots wrapped with lettuce with a sweet peanut sauce.
Another dish is called Kinilaw, which is like a ceviche (marinated raw fish ). This is another rendition of anotherFilipino raw fish dish we tried last year at Bohol called Sinuglau. Eh, we started digging in before I remembered to take its picture.
The main courses included Kare kare, which is oxtail in a peanut sauce. There are a couple pieces of tripe laid across the top. The veggies included are commonly string beans and eggplant.
This is eaten with a condiment called bagoong, which is made from lots of tiny shrimp. It’s very salty.
This is Abe’s gule magalang (veggie dish from the town of Magalang).
Pinakbet (mixed vegetable dish from northern Philippines, an Ilocano delicacy).
Chicken with coconut (this is a spicy dish).
Lechon paksew. This is a more manicured version of the dish. I’ll try to add a more homemade looking version later as it has more bones and shredded pork.
This is just a sampling of some Filipino dishes.
Marlakins
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01.15.10
Posted in Playing the Tourist at 2:33 am by Administrator
Wow, where to begin? Well, first off, thank God we arrived safe and sound. We were pooped, and still are a bit, but at least we are slowly finding our bearings and just today I got a neat little device that gives me a sort of pay-as-you-go broadband connection. How cool is that? What you do is first purchase their modem, which looks like a flash drive device. They insert a sim card, then you purchase your hours. Here’s what the device looks like.
Hmm. A little hard to see, but maybe this will be a better visual with the device plugged into my netbook.
And viola! I’m online writing this very post. . . Too bad we don’t have one of these at home. This device is only good in the Metro Manila area and locations with a strong enough signal. I guess that means that we’re getting zapped all day with radio waves just like back home.
So now that I’ve shared the nice stuff I’ve come across so far, I want to step back and rant a bit regarding airport travel. And yes, this is my same beef each time we travel–the price of water at the airports! This little gem cost $2.25 at LAX.
Since our family regularly buys bottled water at about $1 a “gallon,” this tiny $2.25 bottle makes me go grrrrrr. Can you say “GRRRRRR?” And if that wasn’t bad enough, when we got to Taiwan, I was out of water again, and you guessed it, I had to buy another bottle of water at the airport. And that gem? Yes, the bottle was smaller and it cost me $3. GRRRRRRRRR
Gee, what happened to the day when illegal drugs were the only thing suspect at the airport?
Then we finally got on the plane and all was forgotten when I got to watch four movies since the flight was so dang long. Here were some of my choices on page one.
I watched Inglorious Basterds (strange movie), Michael Jackson’s This is It, Love Happens (”eh”, movie, I generally don’t watch girl love story movies as it’s not my favorite genre), and Surrogates (that’s more like my kind of movie a little action adventure type thing). Maybe some other time I give my movie review, heheh.
And just because I really like that planes have GPS for us “are-we-there-yet” type-of-people, here’s a pic of part of the flight path we took.
Oh, and Andrew, remember how airport in Taiwan had that “relaxing center?” Well, they’ve changed the theme, and this is how it looked like when we got there.
See how relaxed Aaron looks?
And finally, here’s a pic of one of our chariots. Somehow pictures don’t give size justice. This looked so much bigger to me in real life.
Okay, that’s it for today!
Marlakins
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01.11.10
Posted in Playing the Tourist at 10:12 pm by Administrator
Petunia is ready to hit the road again. This time we’re taking along my netbook so, provided I can find WiFi access, the next blog post should be posted from the Philippines.
Next post will be for you, Matty!
Marlakins
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