Asian trip - 2017

Trekking Mount Pinatubo, Philippines

We planned another trip to the Philippines for January of 2017. We typically visit family for the first week then plan some other island adventure. This year we booked a trip to Viet Nam and Cambodia in the middle of the Philippine visit. Remy planned to make some arrangements for her final resting days at Our Lady of Guadalupe Cathedral.

We arrived late and took the shuttle to the Marriott near the airport as has become our custom. We are a gold member this year, so we got a free breakfast in the Executive Lounge. After that we took a taxi to Guadalupe to visit. Remy gave away a suitcase full of junk.

On Sunday we went back there to attend the mass at Our Lady of Guadalupe Cathedral. After mass she met with the caretakers of the crypt. Found out you had to be already dead to purchase a crypt, so we were a little early. Made arrangements for Glen's crypt and services.

On Monday 10 of us set out on a Trekking adventure to the crater formed from Mt. Pinatubo's eruption. After I got back from the Sedona trip, I started looking for a hike near Manila. I found an interesting trip to Mt. Pinatubo that I thought Gail might be interested in going on. It turned out everyone wanted to go. Fortunately the Philippine Travel had a special price for 10 persons that I booked. Getting the down payment posted was a little tricky.

It was a little hectic making the arrangements, but Kim Lagman kept up with the making of the arrangements with the time difference and there not being a way to purchase it directly from the web site. The group trip was quite economical, I spent a little over $50 per person for the 10 person trip. I was finally able to get the deposit put down when we landed in Tokyo, but I didn't have time to e-mail the success. For some reason the deposit link had gone to my trash folder. I was still scrambling on Sunday to verify they were actually coming for us. After all the confusion it went off without a hitch, except that I spent all the Pesos that I had converted on landing to the driver. I wasn't able to put the balance on a charge card.

We left Manila at 3:30 in the morning via SUV pickup. The SUV ride took about 2.5 hours. I had to give them a copy of my travel insurance and pass a blood pressure test before I could continue the trip. We transferred to two 4x4's for another 1.5 hour trip through ash filled Crow Valley and had to cross many streams. Some were a little tough for the vehicle. We saw some Aeta farmers moving their goods with ox cart. We had a photo stop or two and there were some of the Aeta Tribe kids there participating in the picture taking, etc. Then we hiked for about 7 km, 2.5 hours, to the Crater Lake.

The hike was amazing. Tristan kept calling it the "Most beautiful disaster". The Lahar field and the water crossings were something. On the way out the boys standing up on the 4x4, waving and shouting in excitement. The ride back they were all sleeping. I was a little concerned since they were up all night partying for Gabi's birthday. We got to spend a half hour or more at lake. Where we snacked and rested up for the return trip. They all made it.

It was AWESOME!!

Trekking Mt. Pinatubo, January 9th, 4x4 Ride :



Trekking Mt. Pinatubo, January 9th, 7 KM Hike :

On the return trip we stopped at the Capas National Shrine. The shrine is dedicated to those who survived the Bataan Death march and were imprisoned and died at Camp O'Donnell during WWII. We were able to find the marker for Martin Camacho.

We stopped for lunch of chicken adobo at Alvin's place in Sta Juliana, it was very good. I guess we were quite hungry by then. Some of us took a shower there, then we continued the return SUV ride which got us back home sometime after dark.

Capas National Shrine :

Over the next few days we visited and finalized the plans for Glen's crypt. Closed out the BPI account that Wells Fargo forgot how to transfer money to and went to the airport to straighten out the misspelling of Gail's name on the airplane ticket. The one letter errors are corrected at the check in, which we did.

On Friday we had noon flight to Siem Reap, with a stopover in Guangzhou, China, using an airline I never heard of before, China Southern. But when we got in the line for the flight, we found out we needed to go to Philippine Airlines, since they were the operators for the flight.

The foreign airlines are still in the business of providing good service. It seemed like every time you turned around you were being fed or given drinks. The wine is free.

So started our Ama Waterways Cruise Tour of Cambodia and Viet Nam. I will continue with those stories on their own link.

So now I will pick up with our return from Vietnam.

We left Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) 9:30 am on Tuesday the 24th of January. After I had booked the cruise Remy mentioned that the Divine Mercy Statue in Cagayan de Oro was on her bucket list. Speaking of Bucket List, I watched that movie on one of the flights.

Mindanao Trip to Divine Mercy Shrine

We got to the Marriott a little ahead of our check in time, but were able to catch up on the e-mails and internet which was pretty sketchy in Cambodia and Viet Nam. Our direct flight from Saigon took less time than each of the legs going there.

We are a gold member for now, so we got to stay in the newer west wing. That evening we ate at the newly opened Man Ho Restaurant. The food was super. We had ordered the crispy pork for an appetizer, but were told the meat wasn't good enough to serve, so we settled for the roast duck which was great.

I asked to talk to the chef to see how he makes it, but he had already left for a meeting of some sort, so his helper came and sort of described how they make it so crispy. I think he was not trying to be too descriptive.

We caught a 2:20 Philippines Airlines flight to Cagayan De Oro that was supposed to get us there around 4:00, but we left late due to the plane waiting for some government official. I'm not sure he ever showed up or not, because I nodded off and didn't wake up until the pilot announced we had attained our final flight elevation.

I booked this tour through Asia Travel and the flight separately. Since I didn't have the flights when we booked the trip we, ended up buying the transfer to the hotel, Nature's Pensionne House, from the airport. The flight delay ended up getting us involved in the rush hour. So the going was slow due to the heavy traffic and getting to the place and was a lot further from the airport than I had imagined. It's not the highest class hotel in town, but Remy picked it because it was close to Xavier University. The driver said the fee was a standard 200 PHP per person for the transfer, so it cost us 800 PHP or about $16. I think with the food on the plane we skipped dinner.

Got up early and had breakfast prior to the tour. I had two eggs sunny side up made there and combined it with the fried rice. Also had some cooked sardines to top it off. It was pretty good.

Our tour guide was there promptly at 07:30 looking for us. We had a guide and a driver for the next 8 hours of touring. Our first stop was at a memorial site set up for the victims of Tropical Storm Sendong (Washi). On December 16–17, 2011, Tropical Storm Sendong (International name is Washi) caused widespread flash flooding in Northern Mindanao. In Cagayan de Oro, hundreds living near the banks of the Cagayan de Oro River were killed, with hundreds others still missing. One side of the memorial lists the names of those known killed whereas the other side lists those still missing.

Across the street from the memorial is the Cathedral of St. Augustine. It has maybe the only rendition of St. Augustine as a black man. Apparently the artist knew of his African association and believed him therefore to be a black person.

The church was built and burned out several times. The stained glass windows are special in that most such windows have one color in each piece whereas these ones have several colors on the same piece. They moved the windows up high to protect them from damage. Mylo also pointed out where several of the past bishops have been interned in the church.

St. Augustine Cathedral, January 26 :

Next he took us to the Divine Mercy Shrine in El Salvador, Misamis Oriental. Remy wanted to see the 50 foot tall statue, so this was the reason for this side trip. Our tour guide told the story of how it came to be located at this hill overlooking the ocean.

We entered from the top rather than climbing the 200 steps. Instead I went down them after completing the visit on top. There were also steps going up one of the rays to the heart, where you were instructed to say a special prayer for your requests. No pictures were allowed on the statue itself, but you could take pictures anywhere else on the grounds.

In addition to the statue, the church has a unique design in that it was constructed to immulate the crown of thorns that Jesus wore to his cross.

Divine Mercy, January 26 :

Next we were taken into a nature preserve. I think it may have been part of the Lasang natural forest located within the Initao–Libertad Protected Landscape and Seascape. I understand the park preserve contains the last remaining stand of old-growth forests in the province of Misamis Oriental. It is home to century-old trees consisting of talisay gubat, one of which we stopped and took a picture. Our guide pointed out and several species of trees. A few of them were labelled. I hadn't seen a live teak before.

A paved road allowed our SUV to travel through the park most of the way. We had some views of the sea and some of the jungle type growth of trees. At one area we saw a lot of snails climbing up the trunk of the trees. Mylo said they were not eatable, but they looked good. At one point we saw a felled tree, that he speculated was caused by the typhoon that passed near here a week or two ago.

Nature Preserve, January 26 :

Before dropping us off at the Nature's Pensionne House, our guide had the driver circle the nearby streets where he pointed out places we might consider eating dinner. For some reason Remy picked the Redtail Shrimps & More Restaurant just around the corner from our hotel. They have a pick your catch selection that doesn't make any sense to me: You can buy by the pound shrimp, crabs or mussels for around PHP 350 a pound each, or you can buy the Fisherman's catch which is a combination of the three for PHP 425 per pound.

Redtail Shrimp and More Restaurant, January 26 :

I couldn't convince the others that the fisherman's catch wasn't a good deal, but fortunately they had no crabs, so we bought an order of shrimps and for them and order of mussels for me. The food was good, but you were expected to eat without utensils. Instead they gave you a bib and plastic gloves to use.

The next morning we had a good breakfast at the hotel again, then took a taxi to the airport. I had initially asked the tour driver if he could take us, but it turned out their fee was PHP 1500 versus the PHP 800 we paid coming here. Instead we took a metered taxi that wound up at near PHP 600.

That evening we met with Vengie and Luz for dinner. Luz brought her husbands helper, Flora, so that she wouldn't be in a taxi by herself. We had some wine while we waited for the Man Ho restaurant to open. I ordered the Duck again and it was just as good as the previous time. Remy ordered a whole fish, Lapu Lapu. Apparently this is a type of grouper.

Jill deboned it for us. We also has asparagus that was super tender and was loaded with chopped garlic. It was to Die for. Also had some noodles and fried eggplant.

Executive Chef Wui Wing Law came out to see how we liked our meal. He talked us into ordering an almond flavored cream desert. I don't remember what he called it, but he added some egg custard tarts as an enticement. I questioned him about his method for making the duck, but he was less descriptiveof the process than his helper was earlier in the week. He insisted the secret was in getting the best supplies. He imports most of what he cooks from China. He's not safisfied with the quality of the food in the Philippines.