Corregidor

The Philippines and US have a rich shared World War II history.  No where is this more visible than Corregidor, site of a recent day trip.

A small island sitting at the mouth of Manila Bay, Corregidor has served as a defense to the city of Manila for centuries.  In December 1941 and early 1942, US and Philippine forces were pushed back to the nearby province of Bataan and Corregidor Island in their last stand against Japanese attack.  It was from Corregidor that MacArthur escaped to Australia making his famous statement, "I shall return".

There are well organized tours of Corregidor daily.  Leaving from Manila bay harbor, it takes about an hour to reach the island by boat.  Once there, you ride open trolley buses for a guided tour of the entire island.  Much of the history has been well preserved, and the guide was very knowledgable.  Many of the old gun emplacements remain, and there are dozens of old structures from the war.

Probably the most interesting for me was the Malinta tunnel.  A complex of tunnels built in the 1920's into a hill on the island for arms storage, they became the headquarters for MacArthur and the Philippine government for several months during the Japanese siege.  Philippine president Quezon was inaugurated here.    If you've ever watched the movie "MacArthur", the tunnels were featured prominently.

Corregidor has a fascinating past, especially related to WWII and the Philippine / US partnership.  It was an excellent visit and a great history lesson.


For more Corregidor photos, CLICK HERE

  

The Intramuros and Fort Santiago

The Intramuros (latin for "within the walls") is the heart and soul of historic Manila.  The old walled city of Manila was built starting in the 1500's by the Spanish to protect their colonial settlement from invaders.  Only the Spanish and a few of those very well connected with them lived inside these walls during more than 300 years of colonial rule.

The Philippines hasn't done a great job at preserving it's history (in my opinion), but the Intramuros is an exception.  In spite of the fact that much of the Manila, including the Intramuros, was leveled during WWII, most of the original wall and many buildings inside remain and have been restored and preserved.  You can see great examples of Spanish colonial architecture in a number of buildings.

 

  

Tony's grandmother lived in the heart of The Intramuros in the late 1800's and early 1900's.  Being Filipina, it's not clear how she was able to live in an area typically reserved for the Spanish elite.  There is wild family speculation that her father may have been the illegitimate child of a Spanish priest enabling them to live inside the walls, but no one really knows.

Two significant churches remain including the Manila Cathedral (where the pope will say mass in January) and the San Agustin church, oldest in the Philippines.  The San Agustin church is especially interesting and has a number of history displays.  I've walked through it several times and love it every time.

Fort Santiago is at one end of the Intramuros along the Pasig River and was built to help defend the settlement against invasion.  Again, although heavily damaged in the war, quite a bit remains and is now well preserved.  If you know anything about Philippine history, this is also where national hero Jose Rizal was imprisoned before being executed nearby, one of the catalysts for rebellion against the Spanish in the late 1800's.

The Intramuros and Fort Santiago are definite "must sees" on a visit to Manila.



CLICK HERE for more photos of The Intramuros and Fort Santiago

Bohol

This week finally took us to the island of Bohol for about 4 days.  Wow!  This is a place I've been wanting to visit.  Now I can't figure out what took us so long!

About 350 miles south of Manila, but an easy inexpensive one hour plane ride away, Bohol is set in the Visayas in the middle of the country.  Its not far from Dumaguete and Cebu, other places we've visited in the last year.

Bohol makes an excellent alternative to Boracay.  The beaches are just as great, but without the crowds.  If you're looking for a relaxing time on the beach, some diving or snorkeling or dolphin watching, this is a better place to go in my view.  If you're looking for bars, night clubs, more people, then Boracay is probably preferable.

Most of the resorts are on Panglao, a small island connected to the main island by a couple of causeway bridges.  We stayed at the Bohol Beach Club, one of the original resorts, but it's recently been renovated.  Everything about it was fantastic.  It's right on a white sand beach with crystal clear water, and everyone there was very friendly and helpful.

     

One of the popular things to do in Bohol is dolphin watching.  We hired a bangka (small boat) to pick us up early one morning.  Thanks to Tony's superior bargaining skills, instead of paying the P5,500 ($122) advertised rate, or the P3,500 ($78) hotel rate, we paid P1,500 ($34) for a three hour ride a couple miles out to an area where dolphins feed.  Since they mainly feed in the morning, we had to leave at 6 am, but it was well worth it.  We saw dozens of dolphins out there.

The island was hard hit by a magnitude 7.2 earthquake just a year ago, with lots of damage and many deaths.  Most of the damage was in the north (we were in the south), but we still saw a number of old churches with major damage.  Many of the churches there date back to the 16th and 17th centuries and are really vulnerable to earthquakes.

Bohol is probably best known for it's "chocolate hills", a group of more than a thousand large round and cone shaped mounds.  Grass covered, the hills are brown during dry season which earned them the "chocolate hills" name, but they're quite impressive year round.   It's generally thought that upwelling of coral deposits is the cause of the mounds, but I don't know why they're not visible elsewhere.  They were far more impressive than I'd expected.

Another unique feature of Bohol is that it's home to an endangered species called the Tarsier.  Its one of the world's smallest primates with bulging eyes and a head that can turn 180 degrees.  The province is leading the way to protect the species which can be seen in several preserves around the island.  We stopped at one near the chocolate hills and were able to see several Tarsiers.

Bohol earned a bigs thumbs up from both of us!

   

     CLICK HERE for more photos of Bohol

Baguio

Baguio is one of the major cities in northern Luzon, and was the site of a visit by us for a couple days earlier this week.  About a 4 hour drive north of Manila in the Cordillera mountains, the city was established by the colonial Americans in the early 1900's as the "summer capital of the Philippines".

Sitting about 5,000 feet up, temperatures are about 10 - 15 degrees F cooler than Manila.  Though still tropical, its very mountainous with pine trees everywhere giving the city its other nickname, "city of pines".  You can easily see why it's such a popular destination for Filipinos trying to escape the summer weather.  I wore long pants the entire time I was there, and a jacket much of the time!  What a treat.

To get there, you drive north through the central plains of Luzon, the "rice bowl" of the country.  Though flat, the scenery is beautiful.  Then its an hour drive up the twisting, winding, zigzag road along river valleys into the mountains and finally to Baguio.

Thanks to Tony's connections, we had a corner suite at the Baguio Country Club, one of the city's choice places to stay.  Views overlooking the golf course and mountains were very peaceful and the place was great.

The city market is well known and a great resource for local goods and crafts.  Because of the higher elevation, vegetables and strawberries are plentiful and cheap.  Hand made wood crafts and colorful fabrics from the nearby mountain tribes are also popular.  We stopped at several local handicraft shops along the street, and took a taxi to the Easter Weaving Room where you can see local artisans weaving all sorts of colorful fabrics.

For any former Peace Corps volunteers out there, the Vallejo Hotel still stands.  It's been renovated and is now Casa Vallejo, but all the charm has been retained.  The Pines Hotel, though, is long gone after burning down in the 80's and has been replaced by a large shopping mall.

Camp John Hay was a major American R&R center up until the bases closed throughout the country in the 80's.  It's still a major tourist and recreation center today, and was a great place to walk around and see the panoramic views.  It also has one of the best golf courses around.

Baguio is also a jumping off spot for trips farther north to see indigenous peoples of the area and the amazing 2000 year old rice terraces.  We'll be back.  

CLICK HERE for more Baguio photos

Dumaguete

Dumaguete is a city in the Visayas, the mid section of the country, and site of our most recent adventures. Known as a university town on the water with lots of charm, its been on my list of places to go.  Having a good friend, Marina, living there and offering to plan out the holiday was also great motivation.  So off we went for several days.

Our good friend Mely from Davao also accompanied us, and since there are no direct flights from Davao where she lives, we met up with her in Cebu.  After a 4 hour bus ride south, and a half hour boat ride to Negros island, we made it to our destination.  The bus ride was quite beautiful with most of the route running along the water, and although we didn't have time to stop, it runs through Oslob, one of several places in the country where you can swim with whale sharks.  We'll keep that on the list of future trips.

Marina had the trip fully planned out the entire time we were there.  The first day included touring the city visiting the markets, Silliman University, the well-known waterfront and downtown areas.  One market tour included sitting down for suman (a glutinous rice cake) with hot chocolate, a traditional morning merienda in Dumaguete.

On the second day, we drove north to a large bay with a white sand bar in the middle.  The sand bar is exposed only at low tide, and we were there at high tide.  But it made for some great swimming far out into the bay.  Mely doesn't particularly like boats and doesn't swim, but she was a great sport tagging along with us in a small bangka (small fishing boat) and sitting there while we swam.  In the afternoon, we drove up to twin lakes, a couple of crater lakes quite a distance up into the mountains.  The scenery was stunningly beautiful.  We also discovered a very contemporary restaurant overlooking the mountains and ocean on the way back, Azalea.

Day three took us south to Balanan lake up in the mountains.  Again, incredibly beautiful scenery.  Very lush, unspoiled, little development.  On the way back, we stopped at a seaside resort off the beaten path for a late lunch.  It was beautifully done.

Thanks to Marina for organizing such a great visit to Dumaguete.  I can see another trip back.

For more photos of Dumaguete, CLICK HERE.

Lucban Pahiyas

Lucban, Quezon is a small town sitting on the slopes of a dormant volcano, Mt Banahaw.  Every year on May 15th, the town comes alive with a colorful celebration known as the Lucban San Isidro Pahiyas Festival attracting thousands of visitors.  Although I'd been to the town many years ago, I'd never been for the Pahiyas festival.  This year I was determined to go.  Tony and I managed to crawl out of bed in time to catch a tour bus leaving at 4:00 am for the three hour drive south.  

Most communities throughout the Philippines hold an annual town fiesta, but Lucban's Pahiyas is one of the most colorful and festive.  Households throughout the main streets compete to outdo each other decorating their homes with brightly colored kiping, a large thin wafer made from rice, together with rice stalks, bamboo, local fruit, vegetables, handicrafts, flowers and even longganisa, a famed native sausage.  I thought there might be two or three blocks of these decorated houses, but there were dozens and dozens of decorated houses throughout many of the town's streets.  It is an incredible explosion of color.

  

Dating back hundred of years, the festival is a thanksgiving for a bountiful harvest and is in honor of the patron saint of farmers, San Isidro.  In the beginning, harvests were displayed at the doorsteps of town homes where the parish priest would bless them.  The term Pahiyas loosely means jewel or precious offering and soon became the name of the festival.  This grew into the competition seen today.

    In the afternoon, a parade is held starting at the church passing through the town streets.  Its just as colorful and festive as the decorated houses.  It includes a "project runway Lucban" of sorts where local designers come up with traditional Philippine dresses and attire made from native materials.  The outfits were awesome.  Food carts are also decorated with prizes to the winners.  School bands and other groups provide the music and add to the festive atmosphere.

This was a town fiesta like none I'd ever seen, and well worth visiting!

CLICK HERE to see more Pahiyas PHOTOS

Legazpi Market

There are a couple of popular weekend markets in Makati that are well worth visiting, and we do regularly.  They're about the closest thing I've seen in metro Manila to the farmers markets I had become accustomed to in the US.

On Saturdays, its the Salcedo Market, and I included a post about it back in October.  We recently stopped by the Sunday Legazpi market, though, and I thought I'd include some photos of it.

The markets are pretty similar, set up with tents in parking lots in different sections of Makati.  They're not particularly big, but both are packed with vendor stalls and lots of visitors.

While the Salcedo market on Saturdays is much more focused on food, the Sunday Legazpi market includes not only lots of fresh food but also a wide variety of well made handicrafts.  I like going to both markets a lot, but I particularly enjoy browsing the handicraft stalls on Sundays.  The Legazpi market also seems to be a little less crowded and hectic, probably because its on Sunday.  On our most recent visit, there was also some impromptu drumming and music that added to the festive atmosphere.


CLICK HERE for more photos of Legazpi Market

Taal

Taal Lake is a fresh water lake about 40 miles south of metro Manila.  Most people only see it from the north side on visits to Tagaytay, but on Stephen's recent visit (his 2nd!), we spent a day driving around the entire lake.

Our main objective was to visit the town of Taal, a national heritage site.  With Asia's largest basilica and a number of ancestral homes dating back to the Spanish colonial era, the town has a unique historic character I'd heard was worth seeing.  First stop was the basilica.  Surprisingly big for such a small town, the current building dates back to the 1700's, earlier structures having been destroyed by a volcano!  We then walked the town streets, toured one historic home and wandered the town market.

  

The lake actually sits within a volcanic caldera formed thousands of years ago.  Views of the lake, and the small active volcano within the lake, are usually from the 1500 foot high ridge ringing the caldera, but a side trip to the town of San Nicolas brought us to a beautiful spot lakeside.  It was a unique perspective I hadn't seen before.

We continued our way around the lake coming into Tagaytay from the west.  We promised Stephen a stop at a Starbucks like he'd never seen before.  Sitting in a newly built, multi level very modern building on the Tagaytay ridge, this Starbucks has an incredible view overlooking the lake and the volcano.  I don't think he was disappointed.  

 

CLICK HERE for more photos of Taal and our day trip.

Cambodia

Angkor Wat and the other ancient temples near Siem Reap, Cambodia have long been on our bucket list of must-see places.  Its only a 2 1/2 hour flight from Manila.  So, together with friends Wayne, Julius and Dee, we headed there in late January for about 4 days of sight seeing.

Wayne, Julius and Dee were picked up at the airport by Da Mao in his new tuktuk, the most common way of getting around.  Wayne and Julius had been in Cambodia last year and befriended Da, their tour guide.   In an incredible fit of generosity, they donated the money necessary for Da to buy his own tuktuk, and here it was!  Not bad for someone known for being such a cheapskate!  Since luggage for all five of wouldn't fit in one tuktuk, our hotel arranged for Tony and I to be picked up.

Da was our tour guide, tuktuk driver and friend throughout our stay.  Without the luggage, all five of us could now squeeze in.  His knowledge of the area and his enthusiasm for the temples and their history were amazing.  He was such a big part of the trip's success and the group's fun.

On day one, Da took us straight to Angkor Wat.  Although probably the best known, it's just one of dozens of ancient temple ruins in the area that are part of the UNESCO world heritage site.  The architecture, carvings, history, beauty and sheer scale gave me goose bumps.  I'm still trying to fathom how many people it must have taken to dig the moat alone.  Later in the day, we went to Ta Prohm.  This temple has had more minimal restoration, with massive trees and roots covering many of the structures.  It starts to give you a real sense of the work that has gone into restoring Angkor Wat and some of the other temples over the years.

Day two took us to two more temples, Angkor Thom and Preah Khan.  Each has its own character and history.  All of them are equally awe-inspiring.  I had no idea of the extent of Khmer civilization and construction during that era (about 12th - 14th centuries plus or minus).

  

Day three took us on a ride through the countryside to a fishing village, Kompong Phluk.  (Dee opted for a spa day instead - smart lady!)  The village is quite a ways out, and the last few kilometers are on a dusty bumpy dirt road.  Then on to a small boat that takes you down the river.  All structures along the river are built on some of the tallest bamboo stilts I've seen.  Flooding here can be severe.  But the scenery and images were awesome.


Siem Reap is the local city nearby the temples.  Tourism has exploded in the area, but the city still maintains some decent charm.  Virtually all the hotels are here, and its also the place to shop with markets everywhere.  If you're in to bars and night life, Pub Street is the place to go.  Wayne's hotel is owned and run by a friend from San Francisco, and it was fun visiting with him.  There are some great restaurants in town, too, and we had several really good dinners.  I'm afraid I wasn't brave enough to try the fried snakes, frogs and insects being sold on the street.

The Siem Reap economy is all based on US dollars.  Prices are quoted and paid in dollars.  ATMs spit out dollars.  Its a little bizarre.  When shopping, bargaining is definitely expected.  Wayne's $17 book quickly became $6.  Dee's $18 dollar shirt quickly became $3!

Our final day was spent at in Siem Reap.  Wayne, Julius and Dee enjoyed the silk farm and the National Museum.  Tony and I enjoyed a foot massage and the Artisans d'Angkor.

This was a spectacular trip!

CLICK HERE for more photos of Cambodia