MrWake
Dave Poley Joined: November 15th 2006
Logged in: September 18th 2010
Logged in: September 18th 2010
Travel Blog Posts
Intermuros - 16th Century Balast from Mexico
This is my final entry for now as I arrived home safe/sound. But prior to going back to work.... I arrived in Manila Friday morning and after 1/2 day of touring the city was ready to go home. While the people are friendly, the city is not. All the traffic lights we hate, I wish Manila had - not that anyone driving really pays any attention to the traffic lights that are present. The general rules of the road are: the bigger vehicle goes first; you are considered a vehicle. Honking is a courtesy... Collectively pedestrians serve as a vehicle when crossing streets to stop traffic in whatever directions they choose. Friday nights are difficult nights to get a taxi; jeepneys are 10x cheaper but are open to the diesel fumes and smog. They are also ... read more
Tacloban, Leyte
Happy New Year!!! The drive to from southern to northern Leyte was very beautiful and then I got to Sogod, which is quite the bustling city. Rather than wait for another jeepney, I took a van, which meant being crammed into the back of one with about 15 other people for 2.5 hours. I am glad I did though, since the roads were not good - especially at the top of the mountains where the roads had been partially washed out by rain water and rock slides. The day I was in Tacloban, it rained off and on, and I walked the streets and fish/vegetable markets looking for Internet places with good connections since the earthquakes around Taipei effected communication lines all over Asia. I seemed to be the only foreigner and that was obvious by ... read more
Peter's Dive Resort
I hope you all had a great Christmas. Mine was spent diving at the southern tip of the island of Leyte after arriving at Pete's Dive Resort one day prior to Chrismas. I was not a stow-away on the ferry from Cebu City to Hilongos for long since the ferry tickets were collected shortly after departure. I simply paid the fare with all the other passengers who also had paid extra to get past security without a ticket. Jeepneys and vans were waiting when the ferry arrived in Hilongos at 4:30am, so it was just a matter of transferring rides until I got to Padre Burgos about 6:30am. Pete's Dive Resort is definitely not on the tourist route and is in a pretty remote area. The dive sites of Sogod Bay are still being discovered since ... read more
Boracay Beach
Hello Again - I left Puerto Galera after several great dives; took a 4-hour public commute to Roxas; spent the night. The next day, I traveled by boat to Borocay. The trip was not too exciting and was uneventfull, except for watching the local 10-13 year old boys from Roxas jumping 30 feet off the ferry boat to dive for your spare pasos. Boracay is quite the Philippino and international destination. The beautiful 4km white sand beach is palm tree lined and full of bars and international restaurants. People sail board on the east side of the island. The beach front and resorts have recovered from the last typhoon. Inland is still somewhat recovering, but unless the tourists rent mountain bikes and cruise around as I did, they are not likely to know, except for the ... read more
Sabang Beach
Hello Everyone I made it to Manila Friday evening as the sun was setting and after 28 hours of travel (26 hours of flying; two 1-hour transfers in Taipei and Singapore). I do not know how much I slept on the flights, but I was not overly tired. Manila is a pretty busy and smoggy city, especially at rush hour, but my taxi driver got me to my chosen hotel in the Ermita District. Getting from the airport to your hotel may seem a small feat, but it seems as though taxi drivers always have a better hotel in a better neighborhood, which of course, is much better for you... After checking into my chosen hotel, which was actually fully booked after all, I walked around the 'hip' part of the city and met some bicyclists. ... read more
Santa Monica Sunset
Hi Everyone - Just a note to let you know that I will be trading the So. California beaches for those in the Philippines over Christmas and New Years. It will be my first major vacation since joining CH2M HILL 1.5 years ago. Luckily, my supervisor travels for weeks on end overseas as well!!! Many of you said you enjoyed the narrative of my trip through Central America 2 years ago. With this site, I can add pictures and videos of my travels to Manila, Puerto Galera, Cebu, and Coron Bay. I am thinking of also going to Leyte, where General MacArthur returned to end of second World War. This will primarily be a SCUBA diving trip with some biking added in. If you want to be included in the events of this year's 3.5 week ... read more
