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Published: January 27th 2009
Hello all. I am in the Philippines now and it is beautiful here as well. Although the weather hasn't been the greatest since we got here. Cloudy and a little bit cold. (I know 65 isn't cold to most of you in the states, but it seems kind of chilly to me now.) The countryside is still pretty amazing. I am in Luzon, which is the "main" island of the Philippines. Manila is there and I believe that it is second only to Mindinao in size.
We shacked up in Malate for a night and then walked around Manila a little bit. It really isn't that great to look at, a little dirty and cramped, but it has its highlights. The food in Manila is really Americanized, which is good for my homesick tummy. We were going to stay another night, but we met up with Patis Tesoro, one of Lily's mom's friends from years back and we were whisked away on a weekend adventure.
We first went to Patis's home near San Pablo which also houses a restaurant, about 10 dogs and about 400 tropical birds (not really that many, but it was too many for me to count). It is set right next to a stream and the "room" that we stayed in was open to the air. I slept better there than I have since I left for Thailand. It was cool, windy and the constant noise of the stream was very soothing.
While there, we visited a bunch of cool things with Patis. We saw her 100 year old house that she just bought. One of the old presidents went there quite a bit. We saw that mountain that she and several other families bought land on to develop eco-friendly. She is moving her new house there. We saw a private botanical garden that is being turned into a racetrack. We met Ado, an historian. We met Emil, a retired banker and antiques dealer. We met Freddie, a textile designer. We met Dado, another retired banker and his family. All of these people have been incredibly nice to us, giving us hints on what to do in the Philippines while we are here. Offering places to stay and even more people to meet. They have really made our first week here amazing.
We were going to head to Donsol to swim with huge whale sharks, but it isn't quite season for them yet. So we will have to do that later. Now, we are going to go up north to see the 8th wonder of the world, the rice terraces of Batad. I have seen pictures and it looks absolutely amazing. There is also some amazing hiking up there and caves to explore as well. So much to do in so little time. I hope we get to it all.
Because of that, we are probably extending our stay in the Philippines a little longer than the original 3 weeks, but thats ok, because I want to get everything in.
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Chris
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Visit Boracay
Hope you will find some time to vist Boracay. Sure you will have a great time on the beach. Try scuba or kitting - sail with the Red pirates and enjoy the wide selection of different restaurants from around the globe - and sunset's you will never forget.