Embracing the Adventure

As I mentioned in Part 1 , Donsol is famous for its whale shark eco-tourism, and we went with the hopes of being able to swim with whale sharks. Unfortunately, the whale sharks weren't cooperating that weekend, and we didn't see any! However, we did enjoy two beautiful 3-hour boat rides, and we were able to enjoy some snorkeling as well. Elias in his sun protection gear, ready to go out for our first day of whale spotting! These are the cool boats we did our whale spotting in. Excited to get started! Each boat had a crew of 4 locals, and each boat could carry 4-6 passengers. The guide's shirt says "BIO," which stands for "Butanding Interaction Officer." "Butanding" is the Filipino word for whale shark. The fourth crew member was the spotter, who stood up on the top of this pole for the entire 3-hour tour! Unfortunately, without the whale sharks' cooperation, there's not much for the spotter to do! We were grateful...

We took a trip to Donsol, which is on the same Philippine island that we live on, but it is on the south end, so quite far. It would be a 12+ hour car ride, so we flew instead! We were traveling with a tour group of 5 other American families. We flew into the city of Legazpi, which has been in the international news recently because there is an active volcano there, called Mayon Volcano! It was amazing to fly in right over the volcano, which is spewing smoke and occasionally spurting fire but not actually erupting lava. The airport is RIGHT next to the volcano. This is our plane landed with the volcano right behind it! A panoramic view of the city of Legazpi. Mayon Volcano on the left, Albay Gulf of the Pacific Ocean on the right. It was about a 1.5-hour drive by van from the airport to the area of Donsol. The roads in the rural areas of the Philippines are very curvy and hilly... We were thankful none of us get carsick! Donsol is famous for its eco-tourism of swimming with...

Chinese New Year is a huge deal in the Philippines - Elias got two days off school for it! We were delighted to discover that our building was holding a dragon parade, and we were not disappointed! The dragons were throwing candy, which was a huge hit with the crowd! We're grateful we had been warned by some neighbors that it was going to be LOUD. Especially when they went inside, we were glad for our ear protection. It was a truly neat experience, though, and I'm grateful we were able to see it! We're looking forward to the Year of the Dog in Asia!

As you've probably seen me mention before, Manila is filled with malls - there's a huge one on every block! Some of them are upscale, some of them are cheaper, but there's something for everyone everywhere! One of the largest malls in all of the Philippines is SM Mall of Asia - reports say it has over 400,000 square meters and 600 retailers! It's about a 30 minute drive from our apartment. (It's only 4 miles, but Manila traffic is ridiculous!) When Elias had some time off school to celebrate the Chinese New Year (post about that celebration is coming up next!), we decided to go check out the huge mall! Not only is the mall huge, but the complex also contains a Convention Center (where I went to this bazaar ), an Arena (where we saw Disney on Ice ), and an amusement park! We didn't take many pictures of the interior because a mall is a mall (unless it's a replica of Venice, Italy ). However, there was this cool area that they had planted to look li...

I have some fun photos that don't each need their own blog post, so I'm just going to do a compilation of things I'd like to share. Justin and I went to get our Philippine driver's licenses, and we were entertained to discover that there is a church right in the middle of the Transportation Bureau. The Philippines has a very Catholic culture, and it makes sense there would be churches even in government buildings. The Philippines is also full of street cats! They seem to tightly control dogs - I rarely see stray dogs here - but they let cats wander freely. This one was sleeping in the waiting area of the Transportation Bureau! We received our large shipment of belongings from the United States in mid-January, and although we were delighted to get all our stuff, Elias was delighted to have so many big boxes to play in! There is a restaurant near our building that is called Elias! Unfortunately, it is traditional Filipino food, and Elias will not eat ...

We live very near the Manila Polo Club - we can actually watch matches out our living room window. However, the US Embassy also allows us to go to matches for free. None of us had ever been to a polo match before, so we were excited to give it a try. It was fun, and quite a luxurious experience! Stomping the divots between matches! (Just like in Pretty Woman! Who knows what I'm talking about! :) ) Elias lost interest after a while, so he and I explored the rest of the Polo Club while Justin continued to hang out with his work friends. We discovered a cute little children's garden. There was also some exercise equipment that was good for climbing, and it was right on the edge of the polo field, so we had a great view of the match! It was quite peaceful down there, and we enjoyed watching the rest of the match from there. We are grateful for the opportunity, and we hope to go back again before polo season ends in March!