Paradise Found!

Pacific Plaza Towers (where we live)

When we learned that on Thursday, July 16th the power in our bulding would be shut down for the day so they could repair the electrical system, LaDawn suggested I take a day off and we do something together.  So I did so and then later learned that Friday had been declared a holiday for Ramadan.  That meant we would have a 3 day weekend (we wanted to be back for Sunday).  So LaDawn started searching and found a nice little resort in Palawan near the Underground River which we had talked about wanting to see before ever leaving Houston.  Could this be the opportunty?  Well, the resort had a room available (since it is the rainy season, the resorts are not full at all). She then had to fnd a good airfare, which she did (she s the world's greatest travel agent and trip planner), we decided to take the plunge and go on an adventure.  What a great trip it has been!

Terminal 3

Day One
Our driver (Raffy) drove us to the airport Thursday mornng, leaving our home around 7:30 am.  We were at terminal 3 before 8:00 am.  Miraculous in Manila traffic! Our flight was scheduled to leave at 10:00 am.  We boarded around 9:45 and then sat on the tarmac until about 10:30. The flight was right at an hour, so by 11:30 we were in Puerto Princessa, Palawan Province.

Our Cebu Pacific Jet

Puerto Princessa Airport

We had hired a private van from the resort to take us from and to the hotel.  As it turns out, we could have booked a much less expensive option, (it was about $70 each way), but it was nice to have a van to ourselves as well as a trusted driver.  The drive from Puerto Princessa to Sabong was about 2 hours.  A winding mountainous road, but generally in good shape.  I think everyone drives too fast on it!  I was glad I still had some bonine in my system from the flight, otherwise, I would have gotten car sick.  When we arrived in Sabong, we stopped along the road and a guy came out and opened a upwardly swinging pole gate   The driver paid him 20 or 50 pesos and we proceeded down a very bumpy dirt road surrounded by rice fields.  At that point LaDawn and I were both thnking "oh-oh".  Turns out the road is the only entrance to the resort and it is owned by an individual that charges the resort to come in and out on their property.  When the van stopped and we got out and walked to the registration desk, we could tell then that everything was going to be just fine.

Cabana 401 (bottom)

View from our veranda

They gave us room 401.  A bottom room on a two story cabana facing the South China Sea.  The room was small but clean.   First thing we did was head to the restaurant (Pawikan Restaurant) and eat some lunch.  We hadn't eaten since leaving home, so by this time it was close to 2 pm.  We both selected pulled pork sandwiches.  Served on small mini buns, with some pulled pork and coleslaw right on the bun.  Delicious.  That was definitely a good sign that the food was going to be good.  As it turned out, the food was consistently excellent while we were there.  It is amazing that they have such a creative and talented chef working at this resort on the other side of the world from nearly everything!

Lunch at Pawikan Restaurant 

After lunch we took a ride on a boat through the Mangrove forest.  Mangroves grow in brackish water and are now a protrected tree because nearly 75% of the original mangrove acreage in the Philippines have been destroyed.  During our ride down the river we saw a couple of mangrove snakes and 2 pythons.  Both are highly venomous.  The mangrove snake is not aggressive, but the python is. The ones we saw were both sleeping (one had a full belly from a recent meal).  We also saw a monitor lizard, which it turns out is very passive, not venomous and on the protected species list.  There are a lot of them in Palawan. Two cheers for our guide (Jane) and oarsman (Romeo).  Jane was a wealth of knowledge and even sang for us as we ended the tour.

The venomous but lazy Mangrove Snake

Python, resting after a big lunch!

The Magnificient Mangrove Tree

The friendly Monitor Lizard

After our ride in the mangrove forest, I asked our guide (Leeford) if it would be okay for me to fly my quadcopter along the beach and take some shots.  He said sure (I don't really think he had a clue what I was talking about), so I went into the room, put the Go Pro on the gimball, inserted the battery and walked out to the beach.  What a beautiful day to fly.  

Daluyon Beach & Mountain Resort from the air

The Beach along Daluyon Beach & Mountain Resort and the South China Sea (looking West)

Although not much of a beach guy, I decided to give the South China Sea a try.  So I put my Phantom 2 back in the room, changed into swimming attire, and then went back to the beach.  LaDawn brought her Kindle, found a shady lounge chair and she read while I went for a swim.  The water was beautiful!  Sparkling clean, white sand beach and a gentle wave action.    As I walked back to where LaDawn was reading, I realized there were some really interesting patterns in the sand, so after lounging a bit myself, I fetched my Nikon and went back to the beach and spent some time taking pictures.  

Sand Warrior?

The Tree of Life?

Muscles of the Body?

The Last Leaf of Autumn...

For dinner that night LaDawn order a delicious clam chowder.  I ordered a Filipino Dish called Insala Chicken with some rice.  It was actually intended for two, so LaDawn was kind enough to eat some of it.  It was delicious.  We got back to the room around 8 pm and really struggled to stay awake after a long day, so we eventually just read scriptures, prayed and went to bed around 9 pm.  A really great start to a min-vacation.

Day 2

On Friday morning we woke up around 6 am and headed for breakfast.  Breakfast was included in the price of the hotel,  so we thought there would be a buffet, but with so few guests I guess they figured it didn't make sense.  So we were able to order ala carte.  We both chose an American breakfast of hash browns (really good), a couple of eggs (over easy of course), meat (I had ham, LaDawn had bacon).  I ordered some toast on the side.  It was VERY filling and very good as all our meals had been.

Boat ride over

The Sleeping Giant

Sabang Boat Terminal

We finished breakfast, went back to the cabana, got my back pack and water shoes and then met back in the lobby for a 7:30 departure to the Underground River.  Again, Leeford walked us down to the Sabang Boat Terminal (maybe a bit of an overstatement). He got us on the first boat leaving which turned out to be a great thing.    In fact, we went with 6 young people who work at the entrance (they have a little staging area with a place for photos, restrooms and registration).   On the way over to the underground river, we could see the mountain where the underground river flows from.  They call it the "Sleeping Giant".  Perhaps you can see him laying down sleeping with a pronounced "non-Filipino" nose.

On the tour itself, we were in a boat with a family of 7 Filipinos.  They had the front seats and we had the back seat.  Our boatman was Richie.

The smell upon entering the cave was pretty bad.  Turns out this is really just a bat cave with a river running through it (smile).  The underground cave is home to 40,000 bats, and they were flying all around us the entire time.  The video above gives you a 3 second idea of what it was like.  At first it was kind of creepy, but then it just seemed like normalcy.  The cave has quite a history, first discovered and documented in 1887, but in reality the native tribes were well aware of it long before then.  The bat poop (officially called guano) is a great source of fertilizer and in some cultures (get ready for this) coffee.  It is apparently quite expensive.  In this national park treasure though it is illegal to gather it. Which is why there was so much of it and why it didn't smell so great.  But like most things, we quickly acclimated to the smell and the flying bats.

We went 1.5 kilometers into the cave in the boat.  Richie was pretty funny, but at times, he turned a bit crude.  There are quite a few formations in the cavern of stalactites and stalagmites,and they have tended to be named over time.  When we reached the most spacious cavern, they called it a temple because there were so many formations that had religious parallels. Perhaps the most striking was a formation that indeed looked like the holy family, with Joseph, Mary and Jesus. 

The Holy Family in the Center of the picture with Joseph on the left and Mary on the right

The entire ride lasted only about an hour, but something I am really glad that we did.  It truly is one of the unique wonders of the world.

After finishing the river tour, we began the trek back to the resort by taking a 3.5 km jungle trek.  Our guide was a college aged young woman named Merly.  She did the entire trek in flip flops.  When we asked her about it, she said her shoes were broken and she couldn't afford to get them fixed.  We later gave her some money to buy new shoes.  Her gratitude was humbling.

You talkin' to me?

Mother & Child Reunion

At the beginning of the hike we ran into quite a few monkeys on the "stairs".  Merly had to pick up a stick and gently "shoo" them away.  She said they can be pretty aggressive.  I did get some great pictures though.  We didn't see much more wildlife, but we saw some amazing forest scenes.  At one point we came to some caves where early tribes lived.  Merly knew quite a bit about the jungle, but was not always the easiest to understand.  She had no English classes in high school, only a semester in college in Puerto Princessa.  She is studying to be a caregiver and had already spent 6 months caring for an old man in Manila.  She said it was hard to be away from her family for so long and hard to just sit in a room at the end of a narrow hallway all day with an old man.  My heart went out to this vibrant, intelligent Filipino who was trying to make a better life for herself.  It was an honor to be "guided" by her thru the jungle.

At one point she pointed out two white doves, but I struggled to see them to take a picture until they flew away.  On another occasion we heard the call of a peacock, but we never saw the majestic bird.

The super high tide meant the end of the walkway was underwater

When we came to the end of the jungle trek, we found that "super high tide" had moved in and we couldn't get to the end of the footbridge that crossed the mangrove river we had toured the day before.  So we took off our trekking shoes and put on our water shoes and waded into the water and onto the bridge.

After we returned to our cabana, we rested for about 30 minutes and then went and had our prearranged lunch that came as part of the tour.  We both had baby back ribs and potatoes.  However, the ribs were not traditional baby back, as we had some end joints, but the meat was absolutely outstanding.

Baby Back Ribs with Potatoes (delicious!)

The rest of the afternoon we rested for a bit again and then went out to the ocean and played in the water for a while.  It was pretty shallow and by the time we got back out to it the tide had begun to drop.  However, there was a bit more power in the waves, so I would walk out and then try to jump right in front of the wave and have it push me into the shore.  It was quite a game.  Good way to burn calories!

After playing in the ocean for a while we walked down to the little village called Sabang and found me a t-shirt to buy.  I also bought a mango banana shake and we shared it.  I was hoping it would not make us sick, and I am happy to say we survived without any consequences.

For dinner that night LaDawn again had clam chowder and I had some delicious red snapper on mashed potatoes.  For dessert we shared a mango crepe like dessert that was a lot like a cobbler and then something that was similar to a cross between a snickers and an almond joy.  Both were delicious!  After dinner we went back to our room and watched the second X-Men movie.  The TV was small and no hi def, but it was still fun to watch.

The sun setting on our min-vacation to paradise

Day 3

We woke up at 6 am and went to breakfast around 6:45.  This time they had the buffet.  After checking out we got back in the van with a different driver and he took us back to Puerto Princessa.  This driver was a lot more aggressive on the road and there were several times I thought he would hit a pedestrian or a car next to him.  At one point we got behind two public transport buses. 

These buses were something you would see in the movies. On the back of the one we followed for quite a while was a crate and a basket of small pigs.  When someone inside the bus wanted to smoke, they would step out, climb the ladder to the top of the bus and light up.  This while the bus was traversing mountain roads at between 35-45 mph.  To see people sitting on top of these things as though it was a hayride, just blew my mind.  I was grateful for the comforts of our private van.

We made it to the airport in about 1 hour and 40 minutes.  Coming back we passed many many vans loaded with people headed to the underground river.  I mean lots of vans.  I am so glad we did that on Friday and that we were first through the cave.  It made the experience much more memorable. 

The flight back to Manila was on time and uneventful.  Just the way we like them.  We took an Uber from the airport home and was so happy to sleep in our own bed again!

We loved Palowan and wouldn't think twice about going back!

I've discovered Uber!

Now I realize for many of you this will come as a big surprise.  I mean, after all, isn't Uber the brainchild of Travis Kalanick and Garrett Camp?  Well, okay that MAY be true, but last week, I discovered Uber here in Manila - with a little help from my friends.  It all started on Tuesday when  LaDawn and I had to be at our condo for our final walk thru by 10 am.  I tried to schedule a car through a company Shell does business with (Shell offers 21 days of car service as part of the
relocation package) but they were fully booked.  So we went down to the lobby to catch a taxi and since I insisted on having one with seat belts, we were having trouble getting one.  Two came by, but we turned them away.  When the third one came (we had now been waiting about 10 minutes), we were relieved to see seat belt receivers in the back seat.  So we jumped in, knowing that we were going to be late if we didn't leave right then.  Once we got in the car, we were disappointed to learn that seat belt receivers do not mean seat belt BELTS!  Yup, no seat belts, but at that point it was too late to turn back and on we went to Global City.


After the appointment, we walked about a block to a place where we knew taxi's picked up people.  I mean, there were hundreds of them on the roads, surely it would be easy.  Well, it wasn't.  We waited about 20 minutes before a taxi stopped and again, being pressed because of a meeting at work, we jumped in a taxi with no seat belts and off we went.

Traffic in Manila is bad enough, but a car without seat belts?  Call me paranoid.

I had been intrigued enough by what I had heard about Uber from people in the US that I had already downloaded the app.  But I had not registered and I had never made the leap to actually try it.  A guy at work told me that Uber was pretty good in Manila and worth a try.  Since on Thursday my driver cannot take my car into Makati (there is a numbering system that disallows the driving of cars with plates ending in 7 or 8 driving into Makati on Thursdays.  1 and 2 cannot go on Monday, 3 and 4 on Tuesdays....you get it).  So I was determined not to be at the whim of a taxi driver and took the plunge and signed up with Uber and made my first booking for Thursday at 11 am.  IT WAS SUCH A GREAT EXPERIENCE!

For those of you who don't know, with Uber when you make a request, they send you the name, picture, rating (out of 5 stars), contact information and the license plate of the driver right to your phone.  This particular driver called me, told me he was on his way.  When he arrived I received a notification on my phone.  I walked out of the lobby of our condo building and into the car.  The driver was cordial, had some light reggae playing on the radio.  The temperature in the car was perfect and the car was about 3 years old (Toyota Altis) .  Best of all, he had SEAT BELTS THAT WORKED!

The cost of the trip was billed directly to my credit card.  The price was actually the same or slightly less than taking a taxi and it was SO MUCH BETTER!  I WAS SOLD!

So on Friday night we let our driver return home because we were going to spend Saturday working on getting unpacked and settling in and didn't think we needed him.  On Saturday morning we decided we needed to go into Makati to go to The Landmark department store.  It is like a cross between a Wal-Mart and a Sears.  We needed some lamps and cords and plug converters as well as a small amount of food items available only there.  So what did we do?  We called Uber.  Again, we had a great experience.  When we finished shopping, we made another request and got a ride home with our shopping treasure.  Today when we went to Church, again we called Uber.  Such a great  experience!

Transportation is cheap in Manila.  Taking a taxi or Uber from our home into where I work costs about $2.  In the states, it would be $15 or $20.

So if you are ever in a strange city somewhere in the world (or even at home without a car), check to see if they have Uber and if they do, I encourage you to give it a try.  No means of hired transportation is perfect, but I find Uber to be very close.

Tom

Something Other than Groceries

Last Saturday Tom and I had a chance to join some other people from Shell on a scuba diving trip.  I know, we don't know how to scuba but we went along to try a discovery scuba dive.   Joe (our teacher) took us into a pool and started instructions.  It wasn't too bad in my book until we came to one part that you have to exhale through your nose.  For those of you that know me, know that I do not swim with my face in the water.  I now know why!  The only way I could exhale through my nose was to laugh and even that took some effort.  In all fairness, exhaling through your nose is not an everyday thing you have to do in scuba, but it could be needed.

Then the real excitement came.  He gave us wetsuits to put on and we were going to head to the ocean water to dive off the pier.  For anyone that has never put on a wetsuit, it is an adventure in and of itself.  I had such a hard time doing it.  I think it had to do with all my fat and wrinkles trying to stall the process.  Then Tom had the nerve after I got it on to ask me to stand and model it so he could take a picture of me.  NO WAY!!!!!!.  He did take a picture of me sitting down, but you are not going to see that picture on this blog.  However, he did pose for a picture--I guess he isn't as sensitive about his body as I am about mine.

Then to the water.  Let's just say I do not plan on getting certified.  We get all the equipment on and into the water we go.  HOWEVER,  I could not keep my legs from floating up and kind of pushing my head back into the water.  It didn't seem to mater what I did, they would float up.  Joe would come and push them down and I would think, Ok, I am good now and we can move on.  But up they would go.  I was getting really frustrated.  Finally I told Joe it was not working for me and I would just still on the pier and wait.  I think he was relieved when I said that and he escorted me to the pier then Tom and another guy went out for the dive.  Joe told us later that the reason my legs do that is because I was tensing up.  He said he wanted to massage my legs so I would relax but thought that probably wouldn't go over very well.  What can I say--I was nervous and no matter what I did my legs were going to float up.  So now I'll just support Tom in his excitement in learning dive.

Monday, we got to finally go see our condo.  I was so disappointed because the relocation/real estate team had told us that it was in really good shape and clean.  WRONG.  They had painted some of the walls in white flat paint (who does that?).  They had missed painting some rooms and closets and the kitchen was dirty and needs some cleaning--I'm not sure of the bathrooms needs because it was dark because there was no electricity.  BUT the views are amazing.  Every room even the half bath, except the kitchen and full bathrooms have a wall of windows.  We overlook the very expensive country club where we can see the polo field and the golf course from one side and from the other side we can see Global City and the American Military cemetery.  That is what being on the 40th floor can do for you.  They are both wonderful views.  The kitchen has a large window but not a wall.  We will return next Tuesday for a final walk through before we move in on Wednesday.  They are suppose to have everything done by then.  I'm sure that once we get our things there and pictures up we will be just fine.  I'm feeling much better about it all today.  Now just to get our shipment so that we can make it our place.

Goodbye for now from the Hidden Gem of the Pacific

Discovery Day

Today I decided to just go on discovery trip to the two grocery stores that we now shop at.  Since neither one has all items I made a list of things I use and might use in some recipes I am considering for the week.  I then went to both grocery stores to see what I could discover.  Here are my results:

green onions--neither carry green onions, but one did carry chives.
minced garlic--one carried dried minced garlic, but neither carried the jar ones like i usually buy.
real Miracle Whip--one store carries real miracle whip.  Our first shopping trip I picked up a jar of Miracle Whip, but when I tasted it, it was disgusting.  After talking to sisters in our ward they explained that you have to look for ones that are from the US.  I found some today.  YES!
Pickles--we had looked a couple of days ago at a smaller store and no luck.  Today I actually found some Vlasic pickles
PAM-  again one store had it.
H. N. Cherrios--one store had them and also Rice Krispies.
Bush Beans--One of my favorite beans and I found them.
Doritos, Ruffles, Pringles--they have them.
Tapioca--found it.  Kira would appreciate that.
Hersheys chocolate syrup and caramel syrup--You boys would appreciate that to go on the ice cream.  Philippines favorite brand of ice cream is called Magnolia  (ha, ha).


A few things I can't find:

diced green chilies
rotel tomatoes--I guess no queso for us
enchilada sauce or seasoning packets
ground turkey
sprinkles--Dad is stressed that I can't find sprinkles especially since I found the chocolate pudding.

It is pretty sad that most of my blogs deal with groceries.  That pretty much tells you what my days are like.  Pretty boring.  But I do get a lot of indexing done--another silver lining.


Goodbye for now from the Hidden Gem of the Pacific

I Have Procrastinated!!!

What can I say--I just haven't been in the mood to write so yes I have procrastinated.   I learned with sewing if I am not in the mood I better not sew because nothing goes right.  I don't know if that is true for writing so I am going to give it a try.  Tom has updated everyone on today and Friday so I will go back a few days and give you my point of view.

Wednesday I attended a Relief Society activity.  Sad to say there were only 7 of us.  Three members of the RS presidency, Sister Ardern (who was teaching--also the Area President's wife), Sister Bowan (whose husband is in the area presidency), myself and one other sister.  It was a great lesson and then we had a salad luncheon.  I learned so much during the luncheon also.  Where to shop, what to buy, someone to take me to TayTay (apparently you can buy "real" quilt fabric there for $1/yard) and a few other necessary things to know.  It filled up several hours of my day so that was wonderful also.
Tom said they had a practice fire drill at about 10:30 a.m. and he had to go down 12 floors of stairs.  He was grateful we were not on a higher floor and I was grateful that I was not there for it.

Friday, as Tom explained, we went to the temple.  Yes we did have to wait for a couple of hours but it wasn't so bad.  What amazed me was how compact everything in the temple was.  Each endowment room only holds 25 people.  They are very small rooms and not much room to move at all.  Fortunately the spirit was there and no one seemed to mind including Tom and me.  The people are just so dedicated to attend.  We asked a temple worker when the best time to come is and we went through everyday of the week and the only one he could really suggest is Wednesday morning because that is their slowest day.  Too bad the Houston temple doesn't have as much traffic.

Then we came back and decided to check out the grocery stores and another mall I had heard about.  My new favorite grocery store is a bit of a distance away and I could not go there by myself, but we were so excited to find that they carry our favorite organic bread there (Brian knows how wonderful the bread is and it is not much more than we were paying for it in Houston) also they had cook and serve chocolate pudding.  Another favorite of ours.  The store felt more like a Kroger than the other one we had been going to.  But beware, if you ever get to go there--they charge you for samples.  Tom took a sample of ice cream and started to walk off and she told him he owed her 5 pesos for the sample. I guess we have become spoiled in the states especially at Sams and Costco.  We also found out there is a smaller version of this store about 1 1/2 blocks away from us.  Not as nice and not as big, but for the most part it will work.  We were excited to have it close so we could buy a watermelon.  The sad thing is that none of the stores have all that we need or want.  That means that we'll have to probably hit them all up in a couple of different trips.  The store (Landmark) that we were originally going to is the only one that carries Raisin Bran Crunch and boneless, skinless chicken fillets and breasts--a must for me.  The new store Rustans (the bigger one, not the one close to us) is the only one that carries our bread and pudding.  Such as it is, I am just grateful that we can get these items at all.

We also had lunch at Chilis on Friday and then went again on Saturday for dinner.  Their food is good and reminds us of home.  Tom says the food here is actually better than Chilis in Tomball.  At church today a friend told us of a couple a places we should try while we are living this close to the Greenbelt Malls (MallS--like 5 buildings--it is so confusing--Building 5 I have down, but the rest--oh my.  I'm not sure if I have been through all 5 yet, probably because I don't have a clue which one is which) There are the 5 Greenbelt mall buildings, Glorietta Mall, which includes Rustans department store/grocery, and Landmark Department/grocery store.  They are all pretty much connected by walkways.  It is kind of a like a maze of buildings.

On Saturday we had signed up to clean the building.  Tom had heard about this street market that is only on Saturday (by the church) and Sunday (by our hotel).  So we left a bit early so we could go the the market.  Unfortunately the market was already pretty much closed down so then we ended up going to the church and waiting over an hour for someone to come and unlock the custodial closets so we could get things out to clean.  It was such a hot walk over there that I was so wet I actually got chilled in the building with the AC on.  Then today we walked back and forth to church again.  It is about 1.3 miles each way.  I couldn't help but wonder on our walk today why I bother showering and doing my hair because by the time I get there I have sweat running down my face, neck, and back--Yuck.  Tom's shirt was soaked too.  Fortunately we carry water with us and I had grabbed a few paper towels before we left so I could wipe off a bit.

Yesterday I had to buy a bigger purse.  One of the many things that the sisters told me on Wednesday was what I need to carry with me at all times.  Water, umbrella, hand sanitizer, grocery bags if you are going to buy groceries and the most important thing is toilet paper. Tom learned that on Friday.  He was grateful that I had some Kleenex with me because the bathrooms don't have toilet paper.  I don't know if I mentioned before that you can actually buy these little rolls of toilet paper that are perfect for carrying in your purse (you can see the little roll in the picture on the left).  I have always hated large purses, but I seem to have no option if I have to carry all that stuff with me.  Especially grateful to be able to carry water with all the walking that we have to do.  It does keep us in shape though--that's my silver lining!



Goodbye for now from the Hidden Gem of the Pacific

Let Me Be the One!

Elder Brent H. Nielson

LaDawn said she wasn't in the mood to post to the blog, so she is doing some indexing and I decided I (Tom) would take a shot at an entry.  Today is Sunday, June 14th.  I think that is flag day in the US, but we are far far away from that right now.  It doesn't take long to be outside of the US to realize just how blessed we as Americans really are.  And yet, there is something about the pure humility and faith of the Filipino people that makes me wish that as Americans we could be more like them.  Hardworking, kind, faithful, spiritual and without guile.

Today we attended a Regional Broadcast from SLC.  Elder Brent H. Nielson who used to be the area president gave a masterful talk about a Filipino phrase that he came to know well while here for three years.  He first learned of it when some Filipino's were helping his wife Marcia get settled in their home.  They were changing some light bulbs for her and as she began to put the ladder back in the closet, one of the men said, "Sister Nielson, Let Me be the One!"  Meaning let me be the one to put that ladder away.  Elder Nielson went on to talk about the many experiences he had in the aftermath of the devastating typhoon Yolanda which ended up killing some 6,300 people.  This idea of Let Me be the One is a concept that Elder Nielson encouraged the Filipino people to continue to emulate.  Let me the one to take my family to the temple to be sealed.  Let me be the one to begin paying my tithing.  Let me be the one to prepare for and serve a mission.  I think this concept of Let me be the One is so powerful and something we can all incorporate more fully into our lives.

Elder Niel L. Andersen

Also speaking were Sister Rosemary Wixom (spoke on keeping of covenants and having strength beyond our own if we do so) and Elder Craig C. Christensen (Encouraged us to better prepare to partake of the sacrament.  He quoted Alma 7:14 which talks about faith coming after Repentance, Baptism and the Holy Ghost.  He point was that our faith can and needs to continue to grow and develop continually and that the sacrament can be an important part of that growth).  Elder Neil L. Anderson was the concluding speaker and much of what he said followed along a similar theme to that of Elder Nielson and Elder Christensen.  He also quoted Elder Oaks when he spoke in a conference in November.  His message was that the Filipino people need to strengthen the roots of their gospel tree.  Overall a wonderful broadcast!

We walked back home and had lunch and then as an afternoon treat made some delicious Root Beer Floats.  How appropriate that the Ice Cream brand here is "Magnolia".

Root Beer Floats!

Goodbye for now from the Pearl of the Orient!

Independence Day

Friday was Independence Day in the Philippines.  The June 12 observance of Philippine’s Independence Day started when then President Diosdado Macapagal signed the Republic Act No. 4166 on August 4, 1964.  This Act legalized the holiday, which is based on the Declaration of Independence by General Emilio Aguinaldo and Filipino revolutionary forces from the Spanish colonization on June 12, 1898 .  The Philippines’ flag was raised and its national anthem was played for the first time in 1898.  However, liberty was short-lived because Spain and the United States did not recognize the declaration.  The 1898 Treaty of Paris ended the war between Spain and the United States. Spain surrendered the entire archipelago comprising the Philippines to the United States.  The Philippines started a revolt against the United States in 1899 and on  July 4, 1946 was granted sovereignity by the US through the Treaty of Manila.  Independence Day was officially observed on July 4 until the Republic Act No. 4166, which moved the holiday to June 12th. 

Tom & LaDawn at the Manila Temple

Because it was a holiday, I had the day off work.  We decided it would be a great day to go to the temple, so we hired a car and a driver and left our apartment at 6:00 am and traveled the 12 kilometers to the Temple in Quezon City.  We arrived about 6:20 only to see many people already on the temple grounds.  When we went into the recommend desk we were told that the next available session was at 8:30 am.  So we received "reservation cards" and waited.  What a wonderful place to wait!  We enjoyed our time just basking in the spirit of the temple and the people who were there.  It was a wonderful day!

Later that evening we went to a restaurant near the hotel titled "One Way".  It has become a favorite place to get a good meal.

Goodbye for now from the Pearl of the Orient!

It Takes Courage

So tonight I will be catching up on the past 3 days.  Sunday we went to church. Christina Thayne from our ward in Magnolia was there since she has been here for a couple of weeks on a work assignment. Made my day!  The ward is friendly, but I realized as I sat in RS that the only ones close to my age are the missionary couples serving there, the Area Presidency wives, and I'm told the Bishop and his wife (who I have not met)  and another sister who is gone for the summer.  There are a lots of babies and young children.  That's fine, but I was hoping to find a friend I could do things with.  Possibly not going to happen.  Sadly the former RS president that we had met here in March and her family are moving next week.  She cried when I talked to her and said she just wished we could be here at the same time.  I agree--we really seemed to click.  Even though she is younger I would say she is probably at least forty and no babies.  We could have been good friends.

Launderette

Yesterday I did our laundry since being here.  Fortunately the hotel has a launderette and you have to go down to check in and buy tokens.  I needed to do 3 loads so I figure that $10 should easily cover them however, when I got down there I found that it is $5.00 per load.  $15 bucks a week to do 3 loads of laundry.  Yuck.  I guess I shouldn't complain because at least I don't have to do sheets and towels too.  The laundry room has 3 washers and 3 dryers.  It was so hot in there.  There is a large fan but I could not get it to turn on so I sat outside the room at a table they have.  I just kept trying to turn on the fan (I was determined it was going to work because I was so hot I was dripping sweat--GROSS).  Finally after I got all the loads in the dryer I tried again and YES it worked!  I was then able to sit on the couch in the laundry room and read in a breeze.

Today I pulled up my big girl panties and went to the mall and grocery shopping my myself.  That's right I managed to do it all by myself!  I am amazing--I know.  Tom and I had discussed the easiest (and coolest) way to get there.  However, there was one problem--the mall that I needed to walk through didn't open until 11:00.  I could get in one end of the mall by the food areas but I could not get out to do the crossover walkway.  Fortunately I only had to wait about 10 minutes or so.  I made it there, no problem, but returning was more difficult because I couldn't get back the same way I went.  Fortunately Tom and I have traveled several different ways coming back that I knew what I had to do.  I just wanted the quickest way back because those grocery sacks were heavy.  I didn't even care about the heat just get me back quickly.  It took some courage on my part because I don't like to go out by myself in new places.  I had to remind myself that I did London by myself so I could do this! Now do you understand why I think I am amazing?  Hold on a minute, I need to pat myself on the back.

Goodbye for now from the Hidden Gem of the Pacific

Shopping, walking and eating

Friday night Tom and I decided to walk over to the mall for dinner.  Of course, it was busy (it usually is except for in the mornings).  We were walking through crowds of people and as we tried to cross through many people who were crossing in front of us to turn the corner (sounds confusing--it does to me.  Think of a "t"--we are the long part but the small part crossed in front of us to turn on the long side--clear as mud?--you'd be right).  Doesn't really matter, so back to the story.  Tom jotted just a little in front of me to get pass these two women, but as they continued making the curve they were just to a point I didn't have to jot so I kept walking.  Wrong decision.  What I couldn't see is that one was pulling a little rolling suitcase and down I went.  Face Plant!  Ouch.  Scrapped up my knee and elbow pretty good on the right, and hurt my hand.  Had soreness and a little swelling on my hand and foot on the left side.  EMBARRASSING!  I jumped up and got out of there!

We ended up going to dinner at California Pizza Kitchen.  I know, I know, just couldn't resist an American restaurant.  Chilis had too long of wait or we would have gone there.

Then we came home and went to bed.  Still haven't got completely over jet lag but gradually it is getting better.

Saturday we went grocery shopping. I wanted so much to find some Dove Dark Chocolates but no such luck.  So Tom bought a bag of small Snicker bars.  The grocery store was crazy.  I need to try going on a weekday morning by myself so I have time to ponder.  We found some chocolate chips which was exciting, but no sliced almonds.  I'll  share in a minute some of the prices again.  Last time we went we filled two bags with groceries, but this time we ended up with four.  We have a bit of a jaunt to get home with the groceries so I'm thinking I may have to shopping every couple of days by myself so the load isn't quite so bad.

12 oz. Nestle Chocolate Chips   -- $4.68
2.2 lbs. of ground sirloin -- $7.73
4 boneless skinless chicken fillets -- $4.77 (they don't charge by weight for these, but per package)
1 lb. Jasmine rice (my favorite)-- $.86
16 oz. Wishbone dressing -- $4.45

Almost all the meat (except the few packages of chicken) is packaged by the butchers when you ask for it.  All the produce except coconuts, watermelon and a few other large fruits are wrapped.  Most things are not in bulk.  We were able to find a package with more than 1 tomato in it and some of the fruit is packaged with 6, but I couldn't just buy 1 lime or 1 lemon, 1 garlic or 1 ginger.  I had to buy those things in packages.  We found a package of Driscoll 1 lb. strawberries, they were just over $8.00.  They didn't end up in our cart.   Most of the laundry detergent comes in bags including the liquids.  But no boxes.  We were able to find some fabric softener in bottles.  Since I have to take my laundry to a launderette I find bottles much more effective so that is what we were looking for.
In the afternoon, we went to the movies.  It cost $10.70 for the 2 of us to see Tomorrowland.  Not too bad.  May be willing to go more often for that price.

Then last night we had dinner at "One Way".  This is the same restaurant we had gone to on Thursday  that is very close to our hotel.  The first night I had carbonara that was really good, but last night I had Cobble Sole Fillet with risotto that was awesome.  In fact, I'll be ready to go back and have it again this coming week.  Of course, we ordered a molten chocolate cake to share.  YUM!

We'll be heading to church here soon.  Dad figures it is about a 20 minutes walk.  He said your hair looks good now, but won't by the time we get there--oh well.  The only other choice we have is not to go.  That isn't really much of an option for us.  Have a great Sabbath.

Goodbye for now from the Hidden Gem of the Pacific.

Our New Life Adventure

Today is the 2nd day of our new life adventure.  We arrived here in the Philippines late Tuesday night.  We spent yesterday trying to get a checking/ATM account.  We filled out all of the paper work and are waiting for approval to have an account--you heard me right--you have to be approved for a checking account.  Generally it takes 6-8 weeks to get approved, but because Shell Offices do all their banking with this bank they said we should know within the week.  I hope they hurry, we are schedule to have a deposit put in on the 6th so that we have some money while we are here.

We also did some shopping yesterday, picking up some food and a few needed items.  It was a good thing we had some food because Tom didn't get back from work until 8:00 so we ate cereal (which will probably happen often) since he still had a couple of phone meetings to do.  I thought I might share a little bit of the pricing of items here in the Philippines.

24.8oz Kelloggs Raisin Bran Crunch -- $9.62
48 oz. Skippy Peanut Butter -- $8.69
24 oz honey -- $9.24
15 oz. loaf whole wheat multi-grain bread--$1.24
1 qt. fresh milk--$2.79
6 navel oranges -- $2.07
1.5 gallon jug water -- $1.03
1/2 lb butter--$2.27

Everyone thinks that since this is a poor country that things are cheap here.  Not so for items that are imported from the states.  Rice on the other hand is probably cheap, but we haven't bought any yet.

The most expensive thing I had to buy was a curling iron.  Mine will not work here.  I bought the only only that would work and it still isn't what I wanted, but a woman does what a woman has to do.  I still feel bad spending $51.19 for something that isn't what I really needed though.  I know you would think for that price it would be a Chi but it is just a very simple Phillips except it has a multi voltage plug.

We are living in downtown Makati in a service apartment probably for the next 30 days unless our condo is available before then (and our shipment is through customs).  It is 688 sq. ft.  It is pretty old and could use a bit a TLC.  The gym is small, but will do, but it is extremely hot in there.  The apartment overall is ok, but the kitchen is tiny and will be used only for breakfast, a simple lunch and meals on Sunday.  The rest of the time we will be eating out (when Tom is home so we can do so).

Living Room in Somerset

Bedroom

Funny thing--I was watching TV last night and when I went to turn it off, it refused to be turned off.  Tom tried unplugging it, but as soon as he would plug it in, it would turn on again.  Finally after many tries with the remote it turned off.  Then we constantly heard this running going on in the apartment above us.  At first I thought it might be a child running back and forth but it was 10:15 p.m.  Apartment Haunted?--possibly!

Another interesting thing I have discovered is that everywhere you go the employees wear uniforms.  At the bank, at the department store, at restaurants--everywhere.  Most of them are in suits, but the department store, grocery store and some restaurants they are able to wear short sleeve dresses (I can hear my boys now--the guys wear dresses?  NO).    The other interesting thing here is that you don't see cleavage--well I haven't.  They wear short dresses (not as short as the US) but not low neck lines.  The US needs to adopt that.

Goodbye for now from the Hidden Gem of the Pacific.