Things I Love About the Future, Part 3

The list of things I love about Manila gets longer all the time. But the best thing about the future really is the people here. I've had so much fun working, adventuring, singing, dancing, eating, and laughing with them. Here are a few of these lovely people.

Son doing dishes

Jason did not get the memo about fish faces. Kail & AC did.

Norman, Noreen, Grace, and some really yummy food.

AC and Paul dancing to something awesome.

Soc, Wina, Noreen & Grace making funny faces.

Kail acting sad because she's behind bars.

Sure, I'll miss having someone make my bed for me everyday, and not having to drive, and hanging out by the pool whenever I want to, but it's the people I will miss the most! Guess it just means I'll have to come back soon.

Corregidor Trip

Saturday morning we left for Corregidor bright and early—6am! We were all running on less than 5 hours of sleep so I’m impressed everyone got there in time. Wina did come running up at the last minute...but she still made it!

Corregidor Island is located at the entrance to Manila Bay, 48 kilometers southwest of Manila. We (Dan, Wina, Coco, Grace, Noreen, and me) headed over to Sun Cruises where we eventually boarded a shuttle to the ferry. The trip on the ferry took about an hour but we left 30 minutes late, so our poor tour guide spent the rest of the day trying to make up for lost time! The ride over was uneventful—most of us slept.

Wina, Grace and Noreen on the ferry

We arrived at Corregidor and had to choose between buses 6 and 7 for our tour. We picked bus #7, with Armando as our hilarious and very knowledgeable tour guide.

Armando, our tour guide

 The first stop was the Lorcha Dock where General MacArthur left Corregidor for Australia in 1942 (March 12--Corregidor surrendered on May 6). We stopped and posed next to the big statute, of course! The text says "I shall return", taken from MacArthur's famous quote upon his arrival in Australia, "I came out of Bataan and I shall return."

Soc, Noreen, General MacArthur, Grace & Wina

Lorcha Dock

Tour Guide Armando's clock moved a little faster than the rest of the world's. He'd give us 10 minutes to walk around someplace and 5 minutes later he'd be ringing the bell to get us back on the bus!

Next stop was the Japanese Memorial, but first--here's the only picture I got of one of the creepy Japanese caves--these are all over the island.

The Japanese Memorial is where the Japanese cemetery used to be. It was lost for years after the war and only found because someone found a picture of it at a garage sale in Portland, Oregon in the 80's! Since then all the bodies have been exhumed and cremated (as is custom for Japanese soldiers) and returned to Japan. There is a huge statue here--Armando told us that anyone who touches it will soon become pregnant. Needless to say, there was a lot of joking about that--but no one in our group actually touched the statue.

Our bus headed over to the entrance of the Malinta Tunnel and dropped off anyone who wanted to see the sound & light show. Our group had decided to skip that, so we then headed over to the Filipino War Heroes Memorial, where there are huge murals depicting major Filipino battles throughout the country's history.

Flag of the Philippines

We stopped at the Mindanao Garden of Peace, and then it was back to the Malinta Tunnel for our walkthrough. The tunnel is HUGE. And very dark. (There were some low lights on.) I can't imagine how dark it must have been during the war when thousands of people were living inside, never knowing if it was day or night.

Map of the tunnel system

Apologies for the blurry picture, but you can just barely see the light at the end of the tunnel here. That's how long it is.

One of the side tunnels (with flash).

Same side tunnel with no flash--dark! And scary!

The Malinta Tunnel is 835 feet long, 24 feet wide. During the war, thousands of people lived inside. The hospital was located here and General MacArthur's office, among other things. If you do the nighttime tour of Corregidor, you get to come back here and explore at night (which sounds totally creepy). Apparently the tour guide turns off his flashlight for a few seconds so everyone can experience the blackness of the inside of the tunnel--eek!

After the tunnel we took a break for lunch at the Corregidor Inn. Armando's joke was "yesterday for lunch they had chicken and pork, today you'll be having pork and chicken!" We were all hungry. Then it was back to the bus for the final 2/3 of the island.

Battery Way was the first stop and our first chance to see the really big guns. There were 4 of them--they really are huge. Apparently the shells weighed 1000 lbs.

Big gun.

Grace's head fits inside!

Noreen and Wina...through the barrel of a very large gun.

Then we went to Battery Hearn to see the biggest gun on the island. This gun. Was. HUGE.

I'm 5'7''. So you get the idea.

Grace looks the most excited but Soc was the first to jump up there when I suggested a picture!

Next, we stopped at the ruins of Topside Barracks. These were very impressive and really, really wrecked from the war. We walked around on the first level (some of the crazy people on our tour went upstairs even though they weren't supposed to).

Then we went to the lighthouse and climbed up to the top. It was worth it for the view and the breeze! It was pretty hazy so my pictures didn't really turn out up there, but it was amazing to see that view of the island.

One of our last stops was the Pacific War Memorial. It was beautiful and peaceful here. The memorial is a large dome, and it's set up so that the sun only shines directly on the altar one day a year--May 6, the anniversary of the surrender of Corregidor.

Altar with Eternal Flame of Freedom in the background

"To live in freedom's light is the right of mankind"

This was an excellent day trip. Part of me wants to go back someday and do the overnight tour and explore around the island. Armando showed us some of the souvenirs he has found over the years. He has also found many dog tags and sent them all back to the U.S. Recently he got word that one he found made its way to the grandson of the soldier. It's hard to believe how much history there is in such a tiny island, and how much is still there waiting to be found.

Greenhills, Trip #1

Today we went to Greenhills Shopping Center--famed for its great bargain shopping and the pearls, pearls, pearls! My US coworkers have all come back with beautiful pearls so I knew where I was headed right away. :)

So many pearls.

There are so many shops.

I bought a few...

Abby and Kail

The BPI ATM gave me this along with my receipt.

Now I'm sad because I spent all my money...

We had fun hunting down bargains. I bought pearl necklaces for some folks back home (I'm not saying who you are!) and enjoyed walking around looking at the spectacle of it all. I can't believe how much stuff there is at Greenhills. It's pretty easy to get lost in all of the stalls, and there are so many people there, too! I can see how it's a shopper's paradise.

Tagaytay Trip

Saturday morning we left bright & early for Tagaytay City, about an hour's drive from Manila (when there's no traffic). We started out at Sonya's Garden, where we had a lovely quiet breakfast and spent some time walking around the garden.

Inside the Panaderia -- the girls were excited to buy hopia!

Posing.

Pretty!

Pretty flowers. Not sure what they are!

Lloyd and me enforcing the quiet zone

The best mangoes really are in the Philippines.

LAM telling my fortune. Apparently I am to meet a Filipino boy and move here.

Gina, Kail, Dan & I are enjoying our breakfast!

After Sonya's, we headed to Caleruega Church, which is a little bit outside of Tagaytay, and down a bumpy road that reminded me of the road to Bass Lake! It was paved, but not well-maintained, so the driver had to swerve all over the place to miss the potholes. It was worth it once we got there, though.

Walking down the big hill to the fountains.

Fountain.

 After walking through the fountains, we went over a rope bridge (a sturdy one, though Coco kept bouncing it and making it hard for the rest of us to walk...) and then up this big hill. It was HOT here.

We climbed a big hill. Lloyd and Kail were a little behind...

And then they tried a jump shot...

Still catching up! Isn't the scenery beautiful, though?

Jump shot at the outdoor chapel (notice the obsession with jump shots)

Me and Kail

Carabao! Hard at work.

Outside of the church

Stained glass windows inside the church

One of the doors on the church

Stained glass window back in the main building

Then we got back in the van and headed back to Tagaytay for ziplining at Picnic Grove. Most of my other coworkers who have visited from the US have tried ziplining, so I knew I couldn't be the only one to skip it. Plus, it was supposed to provide great views of the Taal volcano. Dan, Coco, Kail and I all went ziplining.

Getting ready to go...not sure what I'm getting myself into!

This is how you stop at the end. You just run into the tire--definitely a jolt!

Holding a volcano in the palm of my hand...

I've never seen cotton candy this pink before.

After Picnic Park, we headed up, up, and farther up to People's Park in the Sky. This was formerly called the Palace in the Sky, built for former President Ferdinand Marcos in anticipation of Ronald Reagan's visit in the 80's. The visit was cancelled due to political unrest in the country at that time. Now it is a public park with great views. We drove up to the parking lot, and then hopped in a jeepney to get the rest of the way to the top.

Jeepney

 Once we got up to the top, this was our breathtaking view!

Yep, we were actually inside a cloud.

We did a sun dance and the cloud started moving out...

The views were really breathtaking--and the clouds were awesome!

Like the Hollywood sign.

 We went to lunch at a place that overlooked the volcano. It was nice and cool so we ate outside where we had the best view! Great food and great company.

Tomato & basil risotto - yum!

The view

Again, so pretty!

Last stop in Tagaytay was Rowena's for ube tarts. Yum!

We had stopped last weekend after team building, and I was caught off-guard by a couple of guys selling giant knives. I completely forgot to warn Dan about it and the look on his face when we got out of the van was priceless!

Then we headed home. Traffic was ridiculous--one of those days where you sit for 20 minutes, crawl forward a few feet, and then sit another 20 minutes. I have no idea how long it actually took us to get home but luckily we're all pretty easygoing. You definitely have to be a patient person to go places here! We got back to the hotel around 6pm--all in all, it was a great day!