Tuesday, February 3^rd
We arrived in Manila pretty late in the evening. We took a taxi to the Mariott nearby. They had a loud group playing in the hallway where we checked in so I couldn't make out what the girl sold me, but somehow I got to pay about three times the going rate for the breakfast the next morning.

Took a taxi to the Astoria Plaza Hotel where we were met by Bert and Tess. Later June and Alice joined us.

The next morning we ate the buffet at Astoria Plaza then headed for for Casa Mara in Tagaytay with Vangie and her driver, Jojo. The MIT graduates were bonding over the next couple days. That included: Marilou, Luz Villaroman, Casi Villaverde, Freddie and Sally Marcelo, Totoi.

Apparently "bonding" is another word for eating. We ate lunch at Josephines and at Jerry’s Grill which overlooked the volcano of Taal. When they ate at Josephine's we saw an announcement for the MIT class of 65 reunion there, so we went back and met them. They had 75 people attending their 50th anniversary, but this was their first reunion gathering. We spent a couple hours at a casino one evening.

On one of the days we stopped at "Our Lady of Manoag at Tierra de Maria", which has a replica of the statue at the shrine in Pangasinan, Our Lady of Manaog Shrine. In addition when you enter Tierra de Maria, there is a huge statue of Mary with her hands extended in welcome. At the right side there is a garden wall-vine of murals showing the Mysteries of the Holy Rosary, the Stations of the Cross and the Life and Sufferings of Jesus. This replica of Our Lady of Manaoag at Tierra de Maria in Tagaytay City, the Haven of Meditation and Enrichment (HOME). In front of image of Mother Mary is a deep wishing well, and there is a large crucifix available for your personal prayers.

We also visited a high overlook area called the "Highlands" that had some good views of the Taal Volcano and other mountains views. You park at a market area where a lot of vendors are selling various foods. When we left everyone compared their bartering skills for the sticky rice in the banana wraps after we left the area. There was quite a range of prices paid.

We then headed back to the Astoria Plaza Hotel. On Sunday we were able to take the hotel shuttle to the Mass at St Francis of Assisi a few blocks away.

Day Trip to Villa Escudero. Arranged with "Shore2Shore" travel a day trip to Villa Escudero. The tour boasts a complete Philippine countrylife experience. We were picked up at the hotel and taken to the residence by van We were transported on the site by a carabao-drawn cart accompanied by musicians and singers serenading with Filipino folk songs on the way to the resort proper, Remy sang along with them. There were many world war II vintage planes and guns etc. along the way.

We toured the AERA Museum, where you could see many of the first lady dresses, floats for Holy Week, etc. We ate lunch at Labasin Waterfalls where no utensils were permitted, fingers only. There were bamboo rafts available to go out on the calm river, but we just watched others do that part.

We again used "Shore2Shore travel agency" for a day trip to Corregidor. We paid extra to have them pick us up at the hotel instead of meeting at the pier. Trip included the guided tour of Corregidor Island and a lunch. We paid additional P200 for Malinta Tunnel light show tour.

Corregidor is an island fortress standing as a memorial for the courage, valor, and heroism of its Filipino and American defenders who bravely held their ground against the overwhelming number of invading Japanese forces during World War II. The fortress was originally built in the early 1900's to protect Manila from ship invasions. It wasn't really designed to fend against airplanes that hadn't been developed at the time. The batteries were designed to penetrate relatively lightly armored ship decks. See the postings at the two batteries we toured: Battery Way and Battery Hearn . Our return trip from the pier was a little interesting. We saw many areas of Manila not normally on the route. Not sure if the kid got lost or thought he knew a long short cut, but it took over 3 hours for the trip.

Back at Guadalupe we spent a few days recovering from our colds and visiting with family members. Remy went to Chuck's favorite barber, Marsha, for a hair cut and color, manacure and pedicure.

There were some interesting views of the city from our window especially in the early morning. There appears to be a shop that was busy making pre-cast concrete walls. It was interesting to see the various steps taking place each day as they cleaned the forms,set the irons, poured the concrete, raised the walls and stored them for curing, then loaded on trucks.

One evening we had dinner with Lerma and Rudy Naku and Mila Tagle who weren't able to make the Casa Mara experience. I also have included a couple pictures of the golf course behind the Mariott.

Flew to Legaspi and did the city tour. Mayon Volcano top partly hidden in clouds. I somehow overwrote the pictures of Legaspi with the Casa Mara pictures. We stopped at the Daraga church. There was a wedding going on inside. We toured the Cagsawa Ruins Park. A couple young girls there asked me to pose for picture with them. The clouds got thicker as the day went on, and it rained off and on. I do have a few pictures from the return trip taken from the plane. I also included some images of the other sites from the internet. See the last 3 images in the slide show.

After lunch in Legaspi, we continued on the ride to Donsol for our planned Whale Shark adventure. After checking in at Giddy's place, we asked how to find a church. Took a tricycle a few blocks to St. Joseph's church. It was dark there when we made our way back. The priest recommended the evening service for Ash Wednesday since it would be in English.

Monday we made our first attempt at Whale Shark adventure. We spent about 4 hours on a boat cruising for the shadow of the sharks. It was cloudy out and not any luck this day. We tried again on Wednesday and had several sightings. They were all a bit deep and I had trouble diving with my congested lungs. In addition I hadn't thought about how bad my eyes are without the glasses. My sightings were more like a distant shadow in the water, rather than the excited descriptions of the others from our boat. I'm going to have to try this again with prescription goggles and no cold. My attempt at underwater video was even more despicable, so you'll see no photos from that effort in the slide show. Meanwhile Remy bought some fish and had someone cook it for us. In addition some huge shrimps. She also arranged a tour of a native village/farm in combination with the firefly adventure we had planned on doing. You'll see a few images of the town from my little walk through the neighborhood. We bought pastries and pan de sal from a street bakery on the way back from the morning Ash Wednesday service.

The main reason for staying at Giddy's Place is that they are a PADI dive site. My plan was to get Gail certified and I would refresh my diving skills so that we could go diving in the area with the abundance of sting rays. With my cold I was struggling and wasn't up to diving and I wasn't too sure Gail was up to diving underwater. So, instead we arranged for her to take an introductory lesson in the pool at Giddy's Place. She did very good, so maybe next trip we'll follow up with open water training.

Our firefly adventure began with a tricycle ride to the bridge over the river. Most firefly trips are on little boats like pictured here, but we boarded a houseboat type barge set up with accomodations for dinner, etc. Our ride took us up river, along the mangroves and intermittent huts. At one spot in the river you were able to see the Mayon volcano in the distance. It was still shrouded in clouds!

We landed at a village and were taken to see the coconuts they grow there and got to taste some young coconut juice, "buko", using a bamboo straw. They took us to where they cook the "copra" using the shells as fuel and make the dried coconut for sale.

We continued on a hike through the village where we saw the cacao bean and another smaller bean which I think was the Mili nut that they grow there for market. Later they demonstrated how the products were processed for market.

Eventually we reached the school area where a caribao dragged us on a sleigh of sorts through the village. We were each then offered the opportunity to do a bareback ride on the caribao. Gail hesitated, but then did the bareback ride.

After the rides, we were brought to the school where we were joined by the children who came to watch the demonstrations. Two couples then demonstrated the "wedding dance" and a couple other folk dnaces. We were then invited to try it with them. Remy just looked on, but Gail and I weren't afraid to follow their lead on the dance floor.

After the dancing, we went inside for a final treat from the products they market there. I'm not sure, but I think the first demonstration was the Pili Nut that is grown in the area. I remember more on the detail show of the Cacao Bean. After showing how it looks inside the shell and how they process it, we got to taste hot chocolate that they made right there from the fresh bean. He also demonstrated the steps to bake the beans and make chocolate. We tasted and purchased some chocolate balls made from the fresh beans.

We then reboarded the barge for the firefly adventure. The barge headed back towards the bridge we embarked, but stopped at several narra trees along the way where the fireflies congregate. My photos weren't able to capture the beauty of individual trees light up from fireflies, but the views were amazing.

So ended our trip to Bicol. Back in Manila we stayed at the Marriott near the airport. Remy arranged to visit her friend Ogie's grave. She passed away shortly after our last trip to the Philippines. We passed through Remy's namesake town on the way back.

We also attended Mass at her hometown's church: "Our Lady of Guadalupe", which is now a National Shrine. They have seriously upgraded the statues and altar since our last visit.

Finally Remy had to visit the Casino and Mall next to the Marriott. They were ready for Valentines Day with the decorations. I think Remy won a little in the Casino. I just watched. Most of the games are too different and the Black Jack table was full.