Blogs from La Union, Philippines, Asia

It was going to be a long haul to San Juan. It's only about 300 kilometres, but due to the nature of travelling on the highways, we actually couldn't do it one day. Our first day took 10 hours and included 4 different buses. First from San Felipe to Iba, then Iba to Santa Cruz, then Santa Cruz to Dagupan, and finally Dagupan to Baguio. Some buses were air conditioned, and some were not. Some had the standard 4 seats across, and one actually had 5. It wasn't as cramped as you might expect, but still... wow! Along the way we saw a lot of rice being dried on the side of the road. You use what you've got, I guess. Arriving in Baguio, which is built over top of ridges high up in the mountains, ... read more

Nothing really too new at school the last couple weeks. Brandon and I are involved in the Christmas program, singing in the choir. So we've been practicing for that a lot in the past few weeks. It’s alright. We’re just both used to singing in really good choirs, so it’s a little different going to this community one. And Brandon is one of the four tenors. The program is in a couple weeks, so hopefully it will all get pulled together by then ☺ Last weekend, Marissa and I decided to go to the beach. Brandon didn’t really want to go sit in the sun for the weekend, so he stayed home. It actually turned out very well and everything worked according to plan. We decided just go down there on Saturday morning instead of leaving ... read more

With the coaching of the local female surf champ, we successfully rode our first waves in the South China Sea. Apparently, "we were good", as she coaxed us onto the big waves of Mona Liza point, there, we quickly gained an immense amount of respect for the boys and gals that make it look easy. Long story short, we survived and caught about a half dozen waves, between gasping for air when the set allowed us (sorry mom!). Despite board rash and a few bruises we love surfing! ... read more

Before we talk about our Valentine’s Day outing, we have to report on its aftermath. We got home around 5:45 p.m. After lugging our purchases into the house, we changed our clothes. Some people started unpacking the remaining bits of food while Rosario and I cornered Uncle Junior with our questions from the trip. Francesca complained of a pain in her abdomen and went to lie down. We had a delicious meal of leftovers from the last few days and teased Manong Junior about his lack of cooking ability (he tried to cook rice while we were gone but according to Coreen, apparently it didn’t turn out very satisfactorily). Which led me to comment that the instructions of Great-grandfather Santiago to his sons had obviously not made it through to the current generations (Santiago told his ... read more

WARNING: THIS POSTING CONTAINS EXPLICIT MATERIAL WHICH SOME VIEWERS/READERS MAY FIND DISTURBING OR OFFENSIVE. Cockfighting is legal in the Philippines and a very popular sport. It's called sabong and most barrios or barangays have a communal cockpit where matches are held. Of course, gambling is a big part of the attraction and Uncle Junior says that "all Filipinos are honest in the cockpit," meaning that everyone will honor a bet and no one tries to weasel out. The betting is done using hand signals -- holding the fingers up means that one is betting in tens, so two fingers would be 20 pesos. Holding the hand sideways with the fingers pointing to the side means hundreds, while pointing the fingers down is thousands. Newcomers are warned not to wave their hands around or gesture while talking! ... read more