Blogs from Batangas, Philippines, Asia - page 4

March 15 - 16 in Portulano Dive Resort in Bauan, Batangas. With JV and Kathy - thanks for all the 'pangungulit' - it was all worth it! 21 minutes underwater... 15 feet... I struggled with all those mask clearing but I survived like a pro! Hehehe... Nice corals... I will definitely go back!... read more

This last week or so in Batangas has been nice. One highlight was that we were teaching kids at a Chinese elementary school about identity, dreams, character and unity. I taught the identity portion and I think they really took it to heart. This place is nice and relaxing, but pretty suburban, which is not necessarily my style. I think I prefer metropolises and nature. I don't know, I think I probably like it all, I just don't really think the comforts of suburbia are really helpful to the problems of the world. I leave in a few hours for Vietnam. Our outreach group of 4 people has already split apart. Our leader left yesterday for Thailand, so she could bus to Vietnam and save a lot of money. My classmate, Orville, can't get his passport ... read more

Its was mid-afternoon already when we hiked to the crater of Taal Volcano in Tagaytay yesterday. The sun was up and it was so hot. We took a boat to bring us to the volcano, then hiked for about 4.5 kilometers by riding in a horse because walking is not a good idea, the road is not goor yet. While travelling, you can smell sulfur and can see some part of the mountain with smoke coming out from the ground. When we get to the top and have seen the crater of the volcano, its a very beautiful place, nice view and can really appreciate the beauty of the nature, though the volcano is one of the most active volcano in the Philippines, the beauty that it holds cannot be paid by any amount that anyone ... read more

Day 8 When we woke up this morning, it was very foggy. Before breakfast , Ronald & me went for a drive with Lita's Nephew Odie around Tagaytay. We stopped at a fruit stand, selling tiny bananas. We also stopped to view the Golf Course overlooking the Taal lake. The adults had breakfast at Chow King, the kids bought some food at Jollibee & joined us. We drove back to Makati (2 hours trip) & checked back in again to the Somerset Salcedo. I had a swim in the pool. Later in the afternoon, we went back to the Green Hills shopping centre for a snack. In the eveni... read more

Richard and I have taken to turning up to the ferry terminals and deciding where to go depending on what's leaving soonish... such a liberating feeling... So right now we're hanging around in Batangas, waiting for an overnight ferry to San Jose. San Jose? Home of indiginous tribes in jungle so thick no road actually goes through it, and the only way to get there is take a ferry around the island. Apparently they found a Japanese soldier wandering around there in the 80's still thinking the second world war was on... lol I like the idea that with each day we're slowly ticking off life's to do list. We spent the most part of a week getting our scuba licences, don't really know why, but it's just one of those things that seems like it'd ... read more