Intermittent Service

So it turns out that the intermittent internet service at my uncle’s house isn’t a localized problem… The recent Taiwanese earthquake disrupted several communications cables- and it sounds like it will take 2-3 weeks to fix it. We’re off tomorrow with our friends Squirt and Kim to celebrate New Year’s Eve in Boracay. It turns out that a few of my cousins will be there as well so we should have folks to hang out with while Squirt and Kim battle their jetlag. After Boracay we’re off to Bangkok to make our way to Laos (is it alarming that not one but 2 travel agents here in Manila didn’t know that Laos was a country and not part of Thailand or Cambodia?). After about 2 weeks in Laos it’s back to Manila and up to the rice terraces (hopefully) for a rice planting project and then perhaps a trip to some more caves before we visit my cousin in Baguio.

Merry Christmas!

We attended Christmas mass at the barangay (local government) hall near Sarah’s uncle’s house.

Fortunately cousin Monique had the foresight to suggest we bring cardboard to sit on since the service was standing room only.

After mass we returned to Tito Joji’s house for a fabulous Noche Buena spread.

Shortly after midnight the madness ensued as the kids eagerly distributed and opened gifts!

We hope that you and yours had a wonderful Christmas!

Hangover or Food Poisoning or Stomach Flu?

We knew it was coming. We were doing too well with the Toth 10% Theorem (that states that 10% of every trip sucks). After a night out with my cousin Monique and her husband Mark, Damon woke up this morning and started throwing up. My initial thought was that he was hungover. But then I wasn’t feeling too great. And I only had a beer last night. Maybe it was something we ate? On further discussions, it turns out that my cousin Gretchen’s kids have a stomach bug. They were sick before they arrived on Thursday and 2 other cousins (who also saw them on Thursday) are down with a stomach flu. Coincidence? Here’s hoping we get over it before Noche Buena tomorrow night…

McCausland Photos, Part I

I suppose it’s a good sign that we’ve been having too good a time to post anything besides our Christmas Card. Here are some photos from our trip to Dumaguete with Wendy and Amy.

We stayed in a family room (two adjoining rooms each with their own bathroom) that had the most unique mini-bar we had ever seen. Do you see what we see? That’s right, in addition to the typical drinks (most of which were in the fridge), toiletries, and snacks there are hard liquor, cigarettes, and condoms available for purchase. Just in case.

Dumaguete/Dauin doesn’t have the beautiful sand beaches that make for nice photos- it has fabulous snorkeling and diving and unfortunately we didn’t have the organization to purchase an underwater camera (next time…). This is the view from the Atlantis restaurant looking out towards Apo Island- which was Sarah’s favorite dive ever (sea turtles!!)

In addition to snorkeling and diving we took a day trip to the nearby Twin Lakes. We walked partway around the first lake to view the second lake before taking a boat ride back. After lunch we did some kayaking before calling it a day.

 

Finally, to prove that we did in fact take Amy around Manila, here’s a photo from Fort Santiago (in Intramuros) with the Manila Cathedral in the background.

McCausland Sisters in the House!!

Wendy and Amy made it to Manila without a hitch last Wednesday.  We picked them up Thursday morning, checked out the Mall of Asia (the largest mall in the Philippines and the 3rd largest mall in the world- complete with an ice skating rink), and then headed to the airport to fly to Dumaguete.

We spent 4 nights at the Atlantis Beach Resort, snorkeling, diving (well Damon and I did) and checking out Twin Lakes.  The food was great (although they never did make the fish kilawin I requested) and the diving/snorkeling amazing.  Fortunately the typhoon that was coming through the Philippines (the one that caused them to cancel the ASEAN summit) passed north of us but south of the area that was hit by Supertyphoon Durian.

We came back for a day in Manila which was mostly spent trying to change money and shopping for Christmas gifts.  We did check out Fort Santiago before going to grab a drink at the Manila Hotel.  Amy took off for colder climes (and home) on Wednesday and we have spent the last 2 days in Manila relaxing and checking out some of the sites.  We’re getting ready to head out to the northwestern area of the country where my dad is from- we’ll post photos after we get back on Monday.

Change in Plans

We received word that Chris (Sarah’s advisor) and his wife were okay but they sustained a lot of damage at their house from the typhoon. Power was down in the area and the city of Legazpi (where the nearest airport is) was flooded chest deep during the storm. Numerous landslides blocked the road from Chris and Glen’s place to town and it sounds like only search and rescue planes were flying in the area. We’ve changed our plans and are now headed to Dumaguete/Apo Island with our friend Wendy and her sister Amy. They arrive tomorrow night!!

We’ve had a relaxing few days of catching up with family. We got to go to Tito Bobby’s farm in Pagsanjan and go up the river where they shot the final scenes of Apocalypse Now (unfortunately we didn’t think to bring the camera so no pics of that).

Tonight we were able to attend my uncle’s “surprise” belated 65th birthday/retirement party. Of course we were the ones who were surprised when instead of being at the office he came home because he needed to sign the papers for a new car which was arriving. Needless to say getting 4 of us out of the house at the same time without raising suspicion was nearly impossible.

Tomorrow we’re headed to Intramuros to do a walking tour with Carlos Celdran. We’re looking forward to doing some sightseeing and learning enough to be able to take Amy and Wendy around next week.

Pagbabalik Photos!

We’ve spent the last 10 days traveling with friends we met through the Tagalog on Site (TOS) Program. The program started 10 years ago and has had over 165 participants. Gayia, one of the people who helps organize the exposure trip portion of TOS, put together a pagbabalik (a going back). In all there were 9 of us who traveled to Coron, Palawan and Sagada, Mountain Province from the states. Susan, the program director, Gayia joined us for the whole trip. Gayia’s college friend May joined us for the Coron leg.

While in Palwan we stayed at Dive Link which is on an island near Coron. This is a photo of the pier with the pool in the foreground. Dive Link has a number of cottages and arranged activities from sea kayaking to scuba diving to attending a sabong (cockfight). To get to Dive Link from Manila it’s an hour long flight to Busuanga, a 30 minute jeepney ride to Coron, and a 15 minute banca (outrigger boat) ride to the resort.

 

 

Before the cockfight the owners carry around their birds while spectators bet. A series of hand signals are used for the betting.

 

As we mentioned before, our transit day through Manila between Coron and Sagada was perfectly timed for us to attend Sarah’s cousin’s wedding. Here are some of the cousins who were there.

Standing: Let-Let, Monique, Mark, Sarah, Damon, Susannah, Melissa, Nela, Techie

Seated: Bel, Jobie, Carla, and Vince

Sagada is famous for its hanging coffins. To prevent animals getting into the coffins and because space is at a premium in the mountains around Sagada, bodies were placed in coffins and hung from the limestone cliffs. Older members of the community can be placed in hanging coffins upon their death if they wish. The most recent coffins were placed in October 2005.

After some Tanduay Rum and Coke, Damon decided that the chicken at Log Cabin was so good he had to take some home for a midnight snack. We had some Tanduay and Coke for cocktails while we played Pusoy Dos before dinner. Oddly, after dinner we had some more cocktails and played more Pusoy. Unfortunately no one has footage of Baron’s celebratory dance after he won.

A definite highlight of the trip to Sagada was the scenery- the rice terraces were pretty breathtaking. We were able to take a short stop to walk around some rice terraces near Bontoc. The suspension bridge to get there was a little sketchy but it was super fun to be able to walk along the terraces.

 

 

As The Typhoon Rages, We Rest

Super Typhoon Durian veered away from Manila sparing us from high winds, heavy rainfall, water and power outages. Bicol, where Sarah’s grad school advisor lives with his wife, was heavily hit with reported flooding and mudslides on Mayon Volcano. We had originally planned for today to be rest and relaxation- we played with Puri, Sarah’s cousin’s daughter, took care of e-mail, finances, and did some reading.