Legaspi, Donsol and Whale Sharks

This past weekend, we went to an area at the South of the island of Luzon, around a town called Legaspi. Our flight departed from the new terminal at Manila International Airport. It seems completely bizarre that all international flights are not directed through the new terminal. It seems that Cebu Pacific is basically running and using the new terminal, for domestic and international flights. I would think the Philippines would make a much better impression to foreign visitors, if all international flights began to be directed through this terminal. 

This is a picture of one of the ATM's at the airport. Check out the communication devices on top of the ATM, along with a toilet roll or two. Not sure how secure this ATM really is...lol.

This is a part of the new terminal, with a bunch of very tired travellers sleeping in the airport.

Manila Hotel and Manila Cathedral.

So I know this post is supposed to be about Manila hotel and Cathedral, but I just had to post this as a warning to tall people, that you need to watch out for low ceilings etc. in this part of the world :-) This was at one of the most upmarket shopping centres in Manila.

 Yesterday we went sight seeing with a colleague of Brad's (Teri). We went to Greenhills for a little shopping and then we went to Manila Hotel for lunch. The food was great and then of course, I got adventurous and asked if we could see some of the rooms. The only rooms available to look at were the executive rooms. The view from the 15th floor over the bay was just fantastic!!!

Sunset View

New Years Celebration

In the interest of keeping the blog updates, I thought I would post a quick one to let you know what we did on old year's eve.

The plans were made pretty late in the day, but a bunch of friends popped over for a little meal.  This was a meal with a difference, as all ingredients basically arrived at the house, hands got to work in the kitchen and a brilliant spread appeared on the counter, all in the time it took the guys to chill at the pool (I chilled at the pool, and not in it.  The pool water really is cold here).

Corrigador

We went to Corrigador yesterday - that's 29th December. It was a very hot day trip, but really worth the effort. For any WWII buffs, this is really a brilliant site to visit from a 'hands on history' point of view. You can see the canons used during the war to defend Manila. The sad part is that it's hard to see the guns and the ruins without thinking of the lives lost defending the island and attacking the island.

We went with a bunch of wonderful people we have met through our church. Thanks Jamie for organising the trip. This is us all in the back of our fake jeepney. A jeepney is the equivalent here of the South African mini bus taxi. This one was fake because it didn't look the same as typical jeepneys on the outside.

The fake jeepney.

Ayala Triangle Christmas Lights

We went to the Christmas Light Show at Ayala Triangle Garden the other evening. I felt like I was in a mini version of Disney Land in a way, because the music had the same kind of sound to it. Anyway, it was short, but enjoyable. And so colourful!

Mall of Asia at Christmas and Hooters

Obviously, the Philippines is severely hot. So it was pretty interesting to see this snow bubble at SM Mall of Asia. The snow falls out of the circular vent at the top. 

Then after seeing the snow bubble and reserving movie tickets for Ghost Protocol, Brad decided I needed an introduction to what by all accounts is a good family restaurant. So off we went to Hooters...lol. In fairness the food was really good, but perhaps the decor could be a little less euphemistic :-)

Starbucks and Data Capture

So we went to get our 'data captured' - yet another step in the visa process. We made allowance for the traffic, which can truly stand still here beyond anything I've seen before, and unfortunately ended up arriving an hour too early. So we found this funky little starbucks over the road. They're on just about every corner. 

Christmas Day

Christmas Day was bittersweet this year. It was our first Christmas away from family. However, God has given us some wonderful friends who spent Christmas day with us. After church in the morning, they came over for what turned out to be a very late lunch. We've decided that's Linner... cheesy but an apt name I think :-)

Anyway, below are some pics from the afternoon. This is us with a serious cook up. Deboned, stuffed chicken and a rolled roast, which ended up being unrolled and roasted as a fillet instead...lol. Dior and Lindsay were fantastic in the kitchen. Hats off to all the culinary efforts!!

Dive weekend Philippines no. 1

So this is a quick blog about our qualifying dive trip. Can't believe it's taken this long to blog about it!!!!

Anyway, it was great fun trying to get kit like fins and masks. Thanks to our dive instructor and the very helpful folk at Scuba World in Makati for all the help and advice!

Diving in the Philippines

We are so excited! We are now qualified PADI divers. Awesome!!!

Our instructor was wonderful and really taught us well. Karin Timmel. 

We've been to Batangas for a few dive trips already, all of them wonderful. I'll name the various dive sites below for those who are interested in diving. For those of you who aren't into diving, I hope you'll skip the writing and just enjoy the underwater pics.

This was our first open water dive. It was at the house reef of Bambu Villa and Resort. As a spot for completing your qualifying dives it was lovely, but I would definitely recommend Dive & Trek's house reef across the bay as another great dive site to do your first few dives. More to come on this dive site later.