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Published: April 11th 2006
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Lechon
A traditional food for parties in the Philippines After my last update in a Davao shopping mall last Friday I did some shopping and then went back to Joey's for a rest. That night GI and her husband Joel took Mummy and I out for dinner. We went to a restaurant that specialises in baby back ribs, they were really good but my favourite was the seafood kurri kurri (similar to satay). It had big pieces of crab, prawns, squid, fish etc. After dinner we went to a place called Jack's Ridge for coffee, it overlooks Davao and has restaurants, bars, the coffee place we went to and a hotel.
Saturday I was up early for white water rafting on the Davao river, Nino accompanied me. There were about 35 on the trip including a group of 17 Koreans and a group from the ibank in Davao. We left our meeting place at about 9.30am and drove for about an hour to the take off point. After about half an hour of setting up and orientation we hit the water. There were 6 in our raft, Nino and I, our guide Nicko and another group of 3 - Jerome, his wife and brother. Before hitting the main rapids we
had to practice our rescue drill, each of us had to be rescued after falling from the boat. The first part of the trip was pretty tame though Jerome's brother fell out at one point and panicked. This basically meant that he didn't follow the proper procedure and ended up hitting his bum on some rocks, he was a bit sore after that. After about an hour and twenty minutes we stopped for lunch, this consisted of a lunch box containing fried chicken, barbequed pork, noodles, rice and a drink. Setting out after lunch we still had the roughest rapids ahead of us, one supposedly was grade 3 though I think that would only be during the rainy season when the river was at it's peak. This particular rapid was quite challenging though and our raft managed to get through without mishap. It was high fives all round after this one, actually the high fives were a bit overdone, particularly by some of the other rafts. After getting through the most challenging part we were all feeling pretty confident so we negotiated the next rapid with a sense of gusto, I probably paddled a bit too hard, overbalanced and ended
The Family
Relaxing with Eleanor and the kids at Dicky's up in the river. No problem though, I simply floated down the rapid to a quieter part of the river and waited for the raft to rescue me. I was a bit more cautious after this but still found myself back in the river, our raft ended up on a rock and was about to fall on top of me, I abandoned the raft and again floated down the rapid, this time I was rescued by a smaller raft with two of the ibankers, my raft had got stuck for quite a while and then had to rescue Jerome who had fallen off. Eventually my raft caught up and I was able to transfer back. Nearing the end of the 13.5 klm trip (and over 4 hours on the river)I was in the water for a third time, this time voluntarily. We had the option of floating down the last rapid. It was a great day and well worth the 1,500 pesos (about $Au40), this included transfers to a from the river, the rafting, all equipment, lunch, a tee shirt and entry into the crocodile farm (our meeting place). I also purchased a CD with photos and some movie sequences,
unfortunately the computer here doesn't have a CD drive so I can't upoload some rafting pictures.
Saturday was my going away party at Tito Pal's, the food was great, especially the Lechon ( a whole roasted pig) washed down by a nice glass of Chardonnay from Australia.
Sunday Mummy and I flew back to Manila, the flight was on time and uneventful. Spent the rest of the day relaxing and reading a book.
Monday morning I had a haircut, the barber did a good job, it was only 50 pesos (about $Au1.30). Monday afternoon it was out to the airport to meet Eleanor and the kids, they arrived on time, after a month it was sure good to see them again. We went straight to Dicky's (my brother-in-law) house from the airport for an arrival party for Eleanor and the kids, Lechon again, very tasty stuffed squid, Culdaretta, mussels, veges, noodles and rice.
Today (Tuesday) Maribel, Marianne, Joseph and Theo came for lunch, amongst other dishes Mummy cooked Lapu Lapu brought from Davao, it's a very tasty fish and she cooked it with a sweet and sour sauce. Tonight we leave for Marinduque, we will drive to Lucena and catch
Our Host Dicky
Dicky is at the back with the blue shirt and glasses the 2am boat to Marinduque. That all for now.
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Ron
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Isa pa nga
On ya Mike! What a way to land in the Philippines and get your first taste of the world famous San Miguel Beer. Make sure to bring back in the Shire some San Migs. It is nice seeing the photos. Hope to see more of your sojourn Glen, specially in Marinduque. A photo of the Paras ancestral home (Kapitan Peruco Mansion) would be great. I have not seen it for mote than 15 years.