So last fall, Kelly sent out an e-mail to the Plaid Ladies asking if anyone wanted to visit Janelle in the Philippines and somehow we all made it work and made this trip actually happen!
MANILA
Neha, Kelly and I were the first to arrive in Manila on Saturday evening. Since Janelle had already made plans long before to go to the Taylor Swift concert (who could blame her), her bodyguard Ray came to pick me up from the airport. I was really nervous that someone who kidnap him and then take the welcome sign, and then kidnap me...but when I saw the super girly sign, I knew it was legit--also, the Lululemon bag in the car made me feel better too :)
The first day, everyone was pretty jetlagged so we just relaxed around the Campos house, played in the pool, and got a lovely tour of all the animals around their house. They have so many animals she joked that they should start charging admission since all the animals could pretty much make up a zoo! They had free-ranging peacocks, swans (black and white), cranes, python snakes, land and sea turtles, exotic fish, exotic birds, otters, and countless dogs. It was pretty cool seeing peacocks just roaming around when we were either sunbathing or walking to the main house for breakfast.
We also joined a really great tour of historical Manila & Intramuros--this guy was so popular the tour was so crowded, but he was still entertaining and we learned a great deal about the sad history of Manila. Basically, it was occupied by the Spanish for a long time, they given to the U.S., then invaded by the Japanese in WWII (since it was a U.S. Territory), and then bombed by the U.S. since the Japanese were there. On a lighter note, this guy proposed to his girlfriend at the end of the tour! We all teared up a little while Carrie looked at all of us in disgust :)
Every meal we had at the Campos house was absolutely delightful! We had a range of traditional Filipino/Chinese dishes to more western dishes. And then a whole range of tropical fruits--mangoes, Asian pears, oranges, pomelo, pinapples, bananas, grapes, strawberries, and more--for dessert in addition to cakes and other goodies. My favorite dessert was Mango Float which was basically layers of fresh mango, whipped cream, and graham cracker...I think I must have eaten 5 servings of it in one meal! It was absolutely heavenly...(especially frozen!)
One night, we went out on the town in Manila to this bar that had "Rockeoke." Basically, it's kareoke but with a LIVE BAND backing you up, so you feel like an absolute rockstar! I LOVED this, and went up so many times that the MC's were like, "Who are you bringing up this time?" Janelle & I sang, "Turn Around"; Neha & I did some Spin Doctors; and then Carrie & I finished with "Like a Virgin." I think we were a bit hit (and when you were bad, the band would just play louder :)!
Since Janelle had to work during the day, we went exploring to the town of Tagaytay and the Taal volcano one day. It was so beautiful--I thought we were going to hike it but they had mules for us to ride all the way to the top! It was rather dusty but the view from the top was beautiful. Afterward, we went for a traditional Filipino lunch overlooking the lake.
Another afternoon, Janelle's aunt Bangge took us to the local market to shop for pearls! This was SO overwhelming, as we spent almost 4 hours looking at stalls with endless & VERY affordable pearls...I tried my hand at bargaining and think I did a pretty good job ;)
PALAWAN (HONDA BAY & SABONG)
We found really cheap tickets on Cebupacific to Palawan (they even play a trivia game on the plane where you can win Cebupacific prizes!) and landed in Puerto Princesa, the capital of the island. From there, we went on a island hopping tour in Honda Bay which was absolutely gorgeous. I forget the name of the first island, but we had a lovely lunch there of fresh prawns, fresh fish (scale on!), rice, bbq pork, and some bananas. Then we headed over to Snake Island which was absolutely gorgeous. We found a sandbar, where waves were coming at each other on both sides--it was so stunning! Not touristy at all and I felt like I was on my honeymoon!
Then we took a REALLY bumpy and windy 2-hour drive to Sabong, where our hotel the Daluyon Resort was located. On the way, we stopped by a beautiful sunset!
The Daluyon Resort was located beach-front and in my opinion, the best resort in Sabong (there were other random bungalows and then a 5-star resort where we had a mediocre lunch). Our rooms were upgraded bungalows with a gorgeous view of the ocean--it was so nice to wake up to such a beautiful sight every morning (the whole room was surrounded by windows so we could have a full panoramic scene)! I had pork tocino with a fried egg for every breakfast with some tea and juice. Pork tocino was probably one of my favorite Filipino dishes--basically small pieces of sweet bbq pork.
We did an Underground River Tour--a UNESCO World Heritage Site--our second day. It was pretty neat..8.3km of this river under a mountain, filled with interesting and rather eery rock formations and bats EVERYWHERE. They told us not to open our mouths since the bats would poop all the time! On the way back, we saw some Monitor Lizards, the unpoisonous cousin of the Kimodo Dragon. Even though they were harmless, they were still huge and rather scary!
Saturday morning, we did another tour (a little less exciting but still neat) of the mangrove trees. We saw a black and yellow snake sleeping in the trees, blue and red tiny crabs, and some woodpeckers. Then the tour guide went to look for the Woodworm, a local delicacy. Mary was the only one brave enough to eat it (it was also a lot longer than we had anticipated but they cut it up into little pieces)!
Life at the resort was relaxing--we spent the days reading on the beach, hanging out by the pool, boogie boarding (which is SO fun when you hit the sweet spot of the wave!), and playing games like Rummikub, Set, and Taboo (my favorite!). We were somehow able to relate so many of the words in Taboo to our trip--like "coconut"--pointing to the trees outside or "watchdog"--"the animal version of Ed, Janelle's bodyguard" (good one Carrie!)
Every night, we went to happy hour at the Daluyon beach bar, where a bucket of San Miguel Light was only $5 for 6 beers--that's less than dollar drinks! We had the same lovely bartender every night Ken who made a really delicious Mango Daquiri. We also met the most awesome older Swiss couple (I know, even though I don't like the Swiss) from the German-side (much better than the French side). They were 60+, probably retired, and traveling around the Philippines for 5 weeks. They were so chill and since they couldn't get a room at the Daluyon Resort for the first few nights, they roughed it in a $20/night bungalow down the street. We also met a German guy who told us of his awesome travels to Palau, a small island nation in the Pacific, where there is a lake of 8+ million jellyfish that you can swim with because they lost their stinging powers! He also was an avid diver and said he once 25 sharks all at the same time! Next time, once I get over the fear of being eaten by a shark, I think I'm going to try my hand at scuba diving.
Happy Hour!
Fresh Mango Juice!
The Daluyon Resort also was said to have the best food in all of Sabong, which I completely agreed with. Everything was super affordable too--maybe only about $4-6 for an entree. My favorite meal was this delicious rice noodle with veggies and meat and then the Banana Rum Royale for dessert (fried wonton pieces with sauteed banana, served with ice cream and coated with chocolate syrup). We had the same waiter for almost every meal, Martin, who was also our tour guide for the Underground River tour. He was so nice and memorized most of our orders by the end of our stay!
Marty & Ken, our two favorite hosts at the Daluyon Resort
Also, a shoutout to Tiger Balm for making our trip much more comfortable, as we suffered from many a mosquito bite :) Yay Tiger Balm--the cure-all ointment!
