A couple weeks into school, we decided that we needed (ok, really wanted) a weekend getaway. We had miles that we need to use in the next year or so from Cathay, so I looked to see where we could get to easily, with just a few days notice. Manila it was! Even though I didn't relish in idea of going to Manila when it was a place that I dreaded when we lived in Baguio, I thought getting away for a weekend would be nice.
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For Chinese New Year this year, we decided to go back to Boracay, Philippines. We thought about going to Bali, but we were so busy with work that I didn’t have time to do much research, and I know that Bali will take some research as there are so many different places to see. That might be on the list for our next October break instead.
For Chinese New Year break, we decided to go on a (our first!) relaxing vacation. We've always been in the mindset that vacation is for doing stuff and seeing new things. Not sitting on a beach. But after we got back from India in October, we decided that we needed a vacation that would be more relaxing instead of sight-seeing. Christmas break was already booked, so we booked Philippines for CNY. I had been to Boracay with my mom in 2013, but Brandon had never been. It took a bit of convincing to get him to go there because he didn't want to "just sit on the beach for a whole week." We actually didn't end up sitting on the beach too much. We did lots of activities... Jet skiing, scuba diving, sailboat ride, and banana boat ride. And lots of massages and beer.
I made a quick trip to the Philippines for the weekend with Marissa and Laura. They had Friday off (we did too, in addition to this whole week!) so we decided to go to Donsol to try and swim with whale sharks. I flew from Hong Kong to Manila on Thursday night and met them at the Manila airpot around 3am. Our flight to Legazpi was at 5am.
We made it back! We've been here for a couple weeks, so there's a lot to write about, so I'll divide it into a few different posts.
The last week in Baguio was very hectic. We did tons of packing and organizing, and obviously getting all of our school stuff done. And I, of course, got in my last manicure/pedicure/massage before we left. Packing took a lot longer than we thought. We accumulated a lot over the course of two years there. But I think we whittled away at it pretty well. We ended up with 17 medium boxes that totaled 2.5 cubic meters (the only reason I know this is because that's how the shipping company charged us). Graduation went well and it was sad to say good-bye to all of our students. We are almost done. Classes finished on Friday, so now it's just finals and some end-of-the-year wrapping up. I can't believe it. On Thursday night, we had an end-of-the-year gathering for employees, which included a farewell to us (and another employee who's been here for 36 years! Wow!). Some of our kids made slideshows as a good-bye for us, so that was nice. I'll hopefully get copies of them, so I can post them on here. We also got traditional Filipino wear that people wear in the Mountain Province. Definitely not something we'll wear, but it was a very nice token. And they'll be great for decoration and something to remember the Philippines by.
This last weekend, Marissa, Laura and I climbed Mount Pulag. It’s the third highest mountain in the Philippines and it’s just north east of Baguio (only about 20 miles, but keep reading and you’ll see it took a lot more than 20 minutes to get there). I will just say this first… It was an incredible hike and so amazing to see, but a lot of the weekend was not fun because of how inefficiently the tour was run. Read on to see what I mean …
During Spring Break, Brandon went on a cruise with his friend, Brandon F. So when it was done, Brandon F came back to Baguio. We spent a few days in Baguio and saw some of the sites, although the time was limited, since Brandon and I were in school. The next weekend, we had a long weekend, so the three of us went to Manila (Brandon F's flight was Monday night). We took the night bus on Saturday night (unfortunately not deluxe, since it was sold out). We arrived in Manila around 6am and headed straight for Taal Volcano, which is about 30 miles south of Manila. It's a 'volcano within a lake within a volcano.' Even though it was so close, the drive still took 2 hours. But that was actually kinda nice, because we got to rest some more, since we had only gotten a couple hours of sleep on the bus. We arrived at Taal Lake around 9am and took a boat to the base of the inside crater. Then it was a 45 minute hike up. The beginning started very gradually, but by the end, it was quite steep. We decided to hike it, instead of hiring a horse (well a person with a horse) to take us up. Though I think we were the only foreigners who decided to walk. The hike was well worth it. At the top, we could see the inside lake.
Well, so much for me being better at updates. . .I guess this one is less than a month after my previous one, so there is a slight improvement :) So, as I said last time, my parents were just about to arrive in Baguio, so I'll give a run-down since then.
My whole goal of this blog was to be more updated and more spontaneous. Not just a recall of the last month's events. I have kinda been failing at that. Hopefully I will hold myself more accountable now. But, for one more post that's a recall of the last month's events, here it goes. . .
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