Philippines...Part 1 the Island of Bantayan

Our excitement after our red-eye flight, arrival in Cebu, Philippines 4:30 AM!

We were fortunate to be able to visit the Philippines over our Chinese New Year holiday break (our school had 31 days off, incidentally that comes back to bite us in July when we will still be teaching).  We decided, sort of last minute, to head out for a relaxing vacation.  After some research, never realized the Philippines has 7,000 islands.  We decided to fly into Cebu and then venture to two smaller islands, Bantayan and Malapascua.  We thoroughly enjoyed our vacation and will cherish the memories and relaxing paradise that it had to offer.  

 Upon our arrival to Cebu we grabbed a taxi van for a 3 hour ride to our Ferry Port, Hagnayas, on the northwest coast of Cebu.  When we arrived the winds were so strong the Ferry was postponed.  We were not given any clear indication or direction of how the Ferry worked so we nestled in for the next 5 hours until they sold tickets for the ferry.  Not much English was spoken at this port and the wind and rain made for quite a wait, we were actually chilly.  When we boarded the ferry it would prove to be the ride of a lifetime.  Our kids decided upon arrival on the island that they would maybe just live on Bantayan, because they knew a boat was the only way to leave.  Let's just say Luke and I also exchanged glances that said, "It's been a good life" in case we didn't make it!   Obviously, we did, and then a wonderful local lady helped us to board this Tuk-tuk that took us to White Beach Bungalows.

Tuk-tuk that we all rode in

Within the first 20 minutes of our arrival we took a stroll along the beach and attracted this group of local kids who were cooking some supper in a pit of fire in the sand.  We also ate many delicious foods in the Philippines.  Our favorite was mango.  It was so fresh and scrumptious.  The kids also ate many banana and mango shakes.  We enjoyed a pig roast one evening and then enjoyed the leftovers fixed with rice the next day. 

These are a few shots of the fun we had in the sun and on the beach.  We found that you were welcome to hang out at any beach resort.  So we frequented this one called Marlins, the motto was Good Beach - Good Times - Good Memories.  We all enjoyed swimming, the water is so warm and a beautiful blue.  The kids enjoyed skimboarding and collecting sea creatures, like this starfish and few kinds of crabs.  We all got plenty of R&R. 

We rented two scooters for only $9 US dollars a day.  One day we decided to visit the Bantayan Market area.  Another day we took them around the entire perimeter of the island, which is only 10 miles long and 7 miles wide.  Below is a beautiful local church we passed.

 They still hold cock fights for sport/entertainment, this is a local cock fight arena.  We just drove by, did not attend, read that they fight to the death.

Many of the local homes and land looked like the ones below. 

 

The picture above on the right is of multiple boards of small fish drying. 

This was Lyn's Bakeshop where we had some delicious breads/pastries.

 Above is a photo of our bungalow, where we stayed for 5 nights.  It was a small resort with only 6 rooms, very quiet and near the local village of Marikaban.  Above on the right was one of the beautiful sunsets we enjoyed.

 We drove our scooters in the rain to this Nature Resort.  It is more popular with the locals and quite off the beat and path, but never fear we found it :)  (Luke was a little deterred by the large potholes of water pooling and the fact that we could hardly see in the rain, but I had no doubt we could find it!)  Anyway, the rain subsided, as it usually does, in a tropical climate and we enjoyed a swim in the cave.  The water was crystal clear and cool. 

 

We also enjoyed a dip in the resorts infinity pool.  Below is a shot of one of the many goats we passed throughout our scooter ride in the countryside.  They were usually roped up in a field, but very close the dirt roads on which we were riding. 

 

Later in the day we were invited by the kids that had befriended our children, to their local cave/swimming hole.  It was about a 15 minute walk through their village of Marikaban.  As you can see the kids instantly connected like they had be long lost friends and for the next few days made many fun memories for our children.

 Local kids playing basketball...a sport they seem to love.

Ryan and his little brother, whom he was taking care of everytime we saw him.  Also, this boy can climb a coconut tree in a few moments.  We witnessed it each morning.

 Above: A local kindergarten in Marikaban

The kids love having their photos taken and then looking at the pictures.  These girls were very friendly and talked our ears off. 

This is a panoramic of the swimming hole.  Unfortunately the local women were also doing their laundry there, so the water was very soapy and dirty.  No swimming for us, but many local kids were jumping in and enjoying the water.

Here are a few photos of the kids just hanging out with the local kids.  They had been dancing to Gangham Style for us.  They also played some cards, went swimming in the ocean, played basketball and just hung out and talked.

 

 This was a dance that was being held on Saturday night in Marikaban.  They brought in some huge speakers and a DJ to their neighborhood basketball court and threw a big party.  The local kids begged our kids to join.  It was a lot of fun.  Each time a popular song played you had to pay about 5 pesos, which is about 8 cents...for your group to dance.  Our kids were part of a group of about 30 kids!

Sad to say our stay in Bantayan had to come to an end.  This is the banka boat that we took on a four hour tour to Malpascua.  The waters were much calmer then when we arrived 5 days earlier, but our captain was also instructed by our resort manager to go slow due to the scary experience we had on our Ferry ride over.  It was an amazing journey and besides a bit of sunburn we arrived unscathed.

 

Ready for our next adventure...

January...our company has arrived!

 

January...wow how time flies.  We have been very busy in China, our 1st semester of school has ended, half a year over already.  Also, our long anticipated wait for our guests/family to arrive finally came.   We welcomed Luke's Uncle, Val, from New York in mid January.  A week before school was out, as a retired teacher himself, he got to enjoy some teaching at our school.  We did some local sightseeing with him and thoroughly enjoyed his company.  What a great reunion. 

Then Grandma and Grandpa Madsen arrived on January 17th.  Luke and the kids greeted them with open arms and many squeals of excitement, at the airport in Guangzhou.

The next week would prove to be a whirlwind of sightseeing and fun times.  We will forever cherish our memories of their visit.  I think they will be processing their quick trip for a long time :)

This months events...

Our friends/colleagues Katie and John at their traditional Chinese Wedding thrown by their coworkers.  It was quite an event.  To their left, are their "sister/brother", which we would call bridesmaid/groomsman, Erin and Nate.  John and Katie will also be married in the states in August with their U.S. family.

Here you can see Val at Country Garden with the high school English class.  Also, Pippa, our friend/colleague can be seen in white. Val also led a teacher discussion on ESL and his experiences.  It was well received and delight to join in the conversation.

Dinner in Shi Qiao, a 20 minute cab/bus ride from our neighborhood.  We ate at a local vegan restaurant with our friends Joe and Phil.  This was a wonderful globe in a small park area.

Below is a photo of the most Wisconsinites ever seen eating at one of our favorite local restaurants, Hunan.  We had delicious sweet and sour pork (won't be able to go back to the US version, theirs is so good!), tofu, dumplings, bok choy, eggplant and bread.

Here is the vendor where Val bought oranges at least 3 times during his stay.  They are plentiful and delicious here.

Laurel and Larry enjoying the local market.  Behind them you can see the meat portion of the market.  The woman shown below squeezes sugar cane through this machine to make a drink, the cup is below the machine.  It is very sweet and sticky.  People also just buy the sugar canes and she cuts the bark off and they eat it raw.

Here we are eating at one of our favorite places, which we call Muslim Noodle, because the owners are Muslim.

A quick photo taking at our local riverside while we were waiting for the bus.  The walkway behind us is where we often walk/run.  The waterway is used mostly for barge traffic and small local fishing boats.

On our way into Guangzhou via bus we ran into Hattie's Chinese teacher, Ellen.

Ellen, was with her friend and our colleague, Rachel.  Rachel works in the English department and was a big part of Val's experiences at our school. 

Ellen and Rachel snapped a photo of our whole group.

This artist was painting only with his hand and fingers.  We visited the Chen Clan Academy in Guangzhou.

 

This was our first stop in Hong Kong, Ada Snacks, where we had waffles filled with peanut butter, sweetened condensed milk and crushed peanuts.  We were happy to know our hotel was only a block away.

Grandpa and the kids on our Big Bus tours and pictured below is the bus we took.

Eating hot pot (rice and whatever you want...this one is pork) on Temple Street

Larry, Luke, Mason and Uncle Val feeling the wrath of our long day walking along Temple Street Market.

Our view from our double decker bus on the way to Stanley on the southern tip of Hong Kong Island.

We took a cable car/trolley up the side of the hill to the Peak, observation deck, at the top of Hong Kong.  Sun setting on the less developed side of the island.

 The whole crew as the lights come on in Hong Kong, thanks for the great memories :)

12 Days in Hong Kong thanks to a thief...

Happy New Year - 2013

Well the New Year has arrived and I can certainly say that we ended 2012 with much excitement.  We were able to go to Hong Kong for an extended holiday weekend and planned to explore the city and then go to Disneyland for two days, but an unfortunate incident changed our plans.  Our bag containing, most importantly, our passports and many electronic devices (Ipad, Ipod, phone, camera, etc.) was stolen.  We are not naive travelers, but we made a crucial mistake,  at the wrong time and a seasoned thief took advantage of us.  We immediately were working with the Hong Kong police, but finding our bag would prove to be like finding the needle, in the haystack.  Long story short (12 days worth) we spent a lot of time with the Hong Kong Police Department, US Embassy, Hong Kong Immigration Office, ABC Bank of China and the Chinese Embassy.   I am thinking most people don't put these places high on their list to visit while in Hong Kong, but we saw them each numerous times for countless hours. 

Before our plans were altered we had gone to the Peak on Saturday Dec. 22, which is up the side of a hill, in a trolley, to one of the highest public points for an amazing view of Hong Kong.  We also visited the Apple Store, where Hattie bought her own Ipod with all of her tutoring money.  In retrospect this turned out to be a life saver because we had to use her device throughout the next 10 days as a lifeline :)

We were also able to enjoy Hong Kong on a budget...although you can spend a lot of money in Hong Kong, there are also many things you can do more inexpensively.  Our 12 days consisted of more than just government offices, thankfully.  We spent 5 hours in the bank on Christmas Eve Day trying to get a statement to prove we'd purchased Disney tickets. After hitting many roadblocks and a long conversation with Santa Harvey at Disney they replaced our 5 stolen tickets (we bought 2 day and they gave us 1 days, but we were ecstatic) for Disney so we got to go on Christmas Day.  It really brought our spirits up.  You are never too old to enjoy such a fun and happy place. 

 

The Princess Castle, smaller than in the US, but still impressive.

This is a picture of Tyrone and me, the gentleman who was most helpful at the bank for 5 hours the previous day and then we randomly ran into him the next day as we were entering Disney...Karma?

In Toy Story Land

Hattie shopping for hairbands

Purses at the market

We were staying in a hostel near the Temple Street Market, which is a must-do in Hong Kong.  We didn't get to shop as much as we'd like to have, but looking forward to that next time.  Hattie did get some knock-off Chuckies and Toms (shoes) and the boys each got some knock-off Dre Beats (headphones for those who aren't as hip, ha ha) for a fraction of the real prices.  The bargaining with the street vendors proves to be quite a bit of fun also.  We ate at several delicious places on Temple Street also, including a place called, King Hee, that had delicious rice clay hot pots and a fried oyster omelet. 


We celebrated Hattie's 13th Birthday in Hong Kong.  One of her favorite things in life to do is go to movies, so we saw the Life of Pi, which is a fabulous movie if you get a chance.  It was in the IFC mall, which is the fanciest movie theater we had ever been to.  You got an assigned seat, ours were up front and center and it was a 3D movie.   We also went to the rooftop deck of the IFC mall to eat a picnic, it was one of Time Magazines Top 10 things to do in China (for free).  It was an amazing view.

Top of the IFC Garden Rooftop view of Victoria Harbor

One day we ventured to Lantau Island to see the Big Buddha and Po Lin Monastery.  The bus ride alone was an adventure with some of the most beautiful scenery and a random steer or two in the road.

 

This is the Big Buddha on Lantau Island (Hong Kong), Mason having fun with the Buddha, and the Po Lin Monastery and some random steer in the middle of a very windy drive up the mountain.  We saw several small herds of wild cattle.

                                       


Another day we headed to Stanley, which is located on the southern tip of Hong Kong Island to visit the Stanley Market and sight see.  It is beautiful and quite the contrast to the hustle and bustle of the big city.  

Stanley

This edition of, things we don't usually see...at this Temple in Stanley if you look closely you will see...yes, McDonald's on the alter, yummy!

 

 

We also got to see the fireworks on New Year's Eve, at Victoria Harbor, with about 100,000 other people, it proved to be quite impressive (from what we could see).  We also were fortunate enough to still be around for New Year's Day and they were having a traditional Chinese Dragon/Lion Parade.  It was supposed to be an attempt to break their previous Guinness World Book of Records attempt for largest number of Lions/Dragons in a parade.  The verdict is still out if they broke the record or not.  A few days, during our 12 day stint, it rained and was quite cold so we also went to a Science and Art Museum (which, if in Hong Kong, only costs $4 per person for a week-long pass or is free on Wednesdays).

Happy New Year 2013!

The crowd at Victoria Harbor for the New Year Countdown

A few of the lions we saw at the parade

 This day we splurged for a Mexican lunch at Coyote's (and the kids kept wishing we were abroad in a Hispanic culture), it was so delicious, our first mexican food since August!  The hats were free souevnirs and, of course, the kids took them.  Mason lasted the longest but decided to leave it in our hostel for the maid :)   A few other odds and ends, until next time...hoping it will be a little less uneventful! 

Gabe enjoying some street food, tasted like Krumkake

Live Balloon Art Sculpture in a Subway Mall, we got to go in and add to it

 

I am experimenting with how to put more photos on the blog...apparently I am already out of space!  Ugh, I am new to blogging and I take too many pictures and would love to share them with all of you so here goes my first attempt.  Looks like I will write about the pics a bit and then also share a slideshow? 

We recently went to Yuexiu park in Guangzhou.  It is know for it's statue of the 5 Rams...Here is the history according to a local tourist page...

The Five-Ram Sculpture is one of the most famous structures in Guangzhou. It has become the emblem of the city. Legend has it that more than 2,000 years ago, the city was a barren land with people who despite hard work were suffering from famine. One day five immortals in five-color garments came riding on five rams, playing their legendary music. The rams held sheaves of rice in their mouths. The immortals left the sheaves of rice for the local people, gave blessings to the city and left. The rams turned into stone and the city became a rich and populous place. Guangzhou got the name of the City of Rams and the City of Ears.

We spent the day walking around the beautiful park, riding some electric motorboats, and having some good street food.

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