WOW: Coming Home

Our Home, in storage at Sue and Tom's backyard in Sumner, Washington

“If you come home as happy as you leave, you have had a good vacation”, especially if that is the second coming home! When we left Seattle for Manila Feb 24, I was coming home a Balikbayan (returning resident). I had lived in the Philippines for 54 years before migrating to the United States 8 years ago (yes, that makes me 62!). Coming back to Seattle on May 26 was another coming home, especially since I entered the country as a US citizen for the first time.

Then Merry Jo asked me what my top 10 things are about the 3-month visit to the Philippines as a tourist with a hometown advantage! Here they are:

sprawling Divisoria Market

Shopping. The largest shopping mall in the world outside of China, the Mall of Asia (MOA), is not the only reason the country is a shopping mecca. A very large shopping district called Divisoria near Chinatown has a wide range of local and imported goods at a fourth of their prices in malls. In more accessible Greenhills, they are at a third. I was ecstatic (Bill was satisfied) after 11 hours in 3 Divisoria malls and another 6 in Greenhills.

Ecotourism. An archipelago of 7,107 islands, the Philippines offers some of the best dive spots (Tubbataha Reef, Coron, Donsol, etc.) and beaches (Boracay, Bohol, Pagudpud, etc.) in the world. And whether in the Old Seven Wonders or the New Seven Wonders lists, she is in both: The Ifugao Rice Terraces (Banaue, Hapao, Batad) and the longest Subterranean River in Palawan..      

 Historical Tourism. Magellan discovered the Philippines in 1521. Named after King Philip, the islands were ruled by Spain for 300 years. Intramuros (within walls) is the old Manila fortress city and Vigan in Ilocos Sur is where Spanish homes are preserved, largely untouched by war. It is interesting to note that the University of Sto. Tomas is older than Harvard University! After the Spain’s defeat in the Spanish-American War, she became an American colony for 50 years. Corregidor, Subic, and Clark are landmarks of the American rule and WWII. 

dental tourism

Health/Wellness Tourism.  But the Philippines excels in a new kind of tourism. I had two crowns made at Smile Asia in MOA where 3 pretty dentists take turns at amazed clients. Each crown cost me $150 ($800 in the US)! My doctor’s visits also cost me a mere $25 per appointment, even lower than my medical insurance co-pay (with a max of 4 visits).  I made about 10 visits to specialists for a small fraction of what I would have shelled out in the US. Sleek spas and varied wholesome wellness programs are also much more affordable.

Educational Tourism. There are also many universities, colleges, and special schools in the country. And since English is the medium of instruction, the schools draw a lot of Asians to their curricula. One such example is the Asian Institute of Management that ranks well among the top graduate schools in Asia. The University of the Philippines, established according to the American educational system, is also another popular school for Asians.

Emma, Didi and us at a cultural show

Entertainment Tourism. Nightlife in the country is exceptionally vibrant. With the country having become the call center capital of the world, many offices are open 24x7. Shops, restaurants, and pubs are thus open well into the early mornings. 20M people in Metro Manila and 95 M in the country make for a very large market so international concerts (Justin Bieber Live!) and events (International Fireworks competition) are frequently held in the country. Golf courses and casinos are also best value places to go to!

Access to Asia.  If these are not enough, the country’s proximity to great destinations in South East Asia also makes it a great base for budget tours. HK, Macau, Taiwan, Vietnam, Brunei, Singapore, Bangkok, Shanghai, Beijing, Seoul, and Tokyo are just around $50 in promo fares. So Bill and I plan to make our next stay 6 months to cover more of the country and the rest of Asia.

  Food.  Local food is a fusion of Spanish, Chinese and American cuisine. But there are so many expats in the country that almost all kinds of cuisine are easily available. Besides, seafood is abundant and cheap. Whether it is fine dining, international chains, holes in the wall, or special weekend markets, food is always good, plenty and cheap.

tricycles abound

jeepneys take you to remote places

 Transportation and Accommodation. The country is now bustling with domestic tourism because of cheap airfare from smaller carriers. There are several international airports aside from Manila. Roll-on-roll-off systems allow buses to cover the archipelago from north to south. Metro Manila is covered by mass transit systems and bus lines. Side streets are accessible via colorful jeepneys (legacy of the American jeep from WWII) and ubiquitous tricycles. An entire range of accommodations are also available from 5-star hotels to B & Bs, hostels, and homestays.

our condo in Makati

despedida with friends

People. But it is the warmth and hospitality of the Filipino people that is legendary. It is not only the fact that almost anyone can speak English that makes anyone’s stay comfortable, but also they seem to have an innate desire to please. It is party mood every day and almost any excuse is enough to meet and share a meal. 

In 90 days, we had 42 days of reunions, 26 days of tours, and 20 days of ‘work’. But you may say I am biased because the Philippines is my second home. Perhaps later Bill will also consider it his.

despedida with family

despedida with family and friends

despedida with family

Next Stop: Glacier National Park, Montana

Osaka Walking

I'm taking a leaf out of Lisa's Ichigoichielove and do a similar post about us walking but instead of Tokyo Walking, we went Osaka Walking. *^^* Will this be a series or just a one-off post this year? Who knows?  Annnnd... if you want to know more about Lisa, read this fine interview Kirin had with her.

There was one year when instead of arriving into Japan through Narita Airport, we decided to enter through Kansai Airport instead. Once upon a time, we can get an open-jaw ticket at bargain price with JAL. Haven't seen those for a couple of years now - bargain tickets at JAL, not open-jaw ticket.

So where do tourists like us would normally head to once in Osaka? The Minami area, I guess. No? Correct me if I'm wrong then. ^^

In Dotonburi, we found

 a giant crab! It's alive! The claws were moving! @.@ Woo woo

 and a dragon too! Darn, it did not breathe fire.

We decided to join one of a number of long queues forming on the street and chose this stall called Honke Nippon Ichi Otako, to buy

takoyaki! Not exactly cheap, but I've never looked at takoyaki sold at Jusco here in Malaysia the same again. A guy at the stall welcomed us with a "Selamat Datang" greetings. Turned out he visited Sabah (or was it Sarawak?) before. He even recognised us when we came for the second time the next day.

Had some time with Ebisu-Sama. A Golden one, no less! XD

Went into the Shinsaibashi Shopping Arcade and spent time at the Disney Store, of all places!

Raimie even had the chance to chat-up Peko-chan. LOL

OK, since I think I still want to post a few more photos of Osaka, I guess there'll be one or two more post on Osaka Walking!

Wow we made position # 1 on EntreCard/Travel 5/29/11

EntreCard is a way to promote a blog and eBay listings.  If you look on the right side of this page, you see a box with a photo and it says 'drop'.  For members of EntreCard you visit others sites, drop and hopefully they will drop back on you.  The more you drop the better.  We are averaging 220 -225 drops a day.


Gene has only wanted to play CLUB POGO on the computer and a little while ago he offered to help me drop,  So every night he does 100 or so and I finish the next day.  What a sweetheart he is to help me like that!!


There are over 1200 blogs in the travel category and I am so over exited we made it to #1 for however long. Just knowing it is possible is so rewarding.


The advantage of all the drops is that it tells Google we are a viable blog and that a lot  of people visit it and thereby moving it up in the rankings. 


We learned how do to EntreCard from Danna Crawford in a webinar for members at Virtual Online Learning.


If you join EntreCard (it is free) let me know and we will drop on you too!!

Beauty Under Your Feet

Don't jut look up or straight ahead - look down and there's plenty to see under your feet too.

Check out my earlier post on manhole covers in Japan at this link too, after reading this post. :)

Found on the pavements in Asakusa, decorative signs depicting all events that is held in Asakusa:

Somewhere In The Ishikawa Prefecture

Let's see, we've visited the Ishikawa Prefecture and stayed the night in Kanazawa in 2007 and 2008. Don't have much to show in terms of photos because although we had plenty of photos at Ultraman Stadium.The rain that greeted us both years we were there didn't help us covering much place to sightsee anyway.

We managed to walk around Kenrokuen; a garden classified as one of three most beautifully landscaped gardens in Japan. I am so looking forward to visiting another; the Korakuen some time soon!

Instead of taking a bus from Komatsu Station to get to Ultraman Stadium, we decided to stop at Terai station and walked to the Stadium while enjoying the scenery. I think we walked for almost an hour but it was a really nice walk. We passed by rice fields (no rice planted that time, though), fields, schools and homes and got a glimpse of rural Japan.

In between the homes, the agriculture fields, factories and a huge Pachinko place and that Ultraman Stadium we had so badly wanted to visit, there was a small amusement park with plenty of rides. When we were there, it was pretty deserted.

We just couldn't resist snapping a photo of this interesting postbox, found in Kanazawa Station. ^^ Is that Momotaro?

and this too, enjoyed while taking a break over at some place in Forus complete with  posh waiters hovering.

At The Station : Kanazawa

I seriously think that my family is not fated to explore much of Kanazawa. The two times we visited Kanazawa, it rained almost the whole day! OK, we managed to visit Kenrokuen and made a trip to Terai to visit Ultraman Stadium; but other than that, we were indoors and spent much of the time exploring the  JR Kanazawa Station and the nearby Forus.

Zaini spent much of one evening traveling from Kanazawa station to Wakura-Onsen alone. The reason? Raimie left his Ultraman Max jacket in the train and we; through the help of the tourist office staff at the station, contacted the train authorities and they manage to locate Raimie's precious jacket (the one he was wearing in the first photo below). They offered to send the jacket back to us, and for us to collect at Kanazawa station the next day but as we were leaving early morning the next day, Zaini decided to hop on some trains and head off to Wakura-Onsen where the jacket had been found and was kept. Thinking back, we should have just ask them send the jacket back to Shin-Osaka instead! Oh well... at least Zaini had fun traveling and checking out more local trains during that journey. I'll post the photos of the trains soon!

Anyway, back to Kanazawa Station. The station truly has an aggressive architectural, artistic statement combining traditional Japanese themes. The reconstruction of the surrounding area is making progress for the extension of the Hokuriku Shinkansen (a high-speed railway line) to Kanazawa in 2014.

There is a glass dome called "Motenashi (Welcome) Dome," which look like a huge umbrella, at the east entrance of Kanazawa Station. The dome has a wooden gate called "Tsuzumi-mon," which symbolizes a traditional Japanese instrument called tsuzumi (hand drums).

Tameo Kobori, 74, a professor emeritus of Kanazawa University who was in charge of designing the square said that he wanted to change the image of Kanazawa, which is dismal because of its wintry weather, into a bright one with the building of the square in front of the station.

A smaller scale version of the Tsuzumi-mon gate can be found in the station. Raimie wasn't too co-operative  with me because I took this photo at 6.00am! We just arrived from Ueno taking the Midnight Express Noto train.

and a scale version of the station. Is is still there now, though?

And while we are at it, let me show you Komatsu Station. Pretty big and modern looking, for what look like a rather quiet town for us.

and here's Terai Station.Very retro.

OLA: Reliving WWII in the Philippines

We are back in Seattle, Washington!

sunset at the Bataan peninsula from Battery Grubbs in Corregidor Island

At the end of the Spanish-American War in 1898, Spain ceded the Philippines to the US.  The US built three major military bases: Subic Naval Base in Zambales, Clark Air Force Base in Pampanga, and Fort Mills in Corregidor. The islands became a major battlefront in the Pacific during WWII. For a Filipino-American couple like us, this piece of history takes on significance of more than double proportions.

 

monkeys by the road in Subic

In Bill’s first visit to the Philippines in 2009, I took him to Subic and Clark. Subic Base, a major ship-repair, supply, and rest and recreation facility of the US Navy, was the largest overseas military installation of the United States Armed Forces after Clark Air Base.  Since the bases turnover to the Philippine government in 1991, it has become an industrial park, a tourist resort, and a residential haven.


People can find an online degree education at Guide to Online Schools. Many people who love reading about history stories such as this one are also interested in pursuing studies in the field of history.

Charo's home, former officer's at Subic

One of my friends, Charo Simons now lives in a great former officer’s home for a mere $50,000 long-term lease. She works for the Chairman of the Subic Bay Development Corporation which manages the area. The tourist duty free shops still offer many a bargain, the beaches still look very inviting, and the hills offer good jungle trips.  Regularly, planeloads of Asians are brought to its casino for a gambling weekend.

Clark International Airport

When we went to HongKong, we departed from the Clark International Airport. Unlike Subic, it looks like Clark is dying. It should be an ideal place for a major airport (bus trip from Manila, 1 ½ hours) because of all the facilities and land (14.3 sq mi with a military reservation extending north at another 230 sq mi). The base was a stronghold of the combined Filipino and American forces and was a backbone of logistical support during the Vietnam War. Bill was able to fly a plane at a Clark flying school in 2009.

an Aeta hut at The Villages

Goddess of Peace facing Japan
a similar one is in Corregidor

We had a few hours before boarding our plane, so we hired a van to take us around. We discovered a lonely Goddess of Peace memorial from Japan, the controversial white elephant project of former President Fidel Ramos, and empty hotels and duty-free shops. But the Villages, home of the native Aetas in the surrounding hills, is the great discovery. We even witnessed a cow being butchered in the fields.

a cow being butchered in in the fields

empty Centennial Expo

Coming back from HongKong, we stayed in Clark for the night and BFFs Ann and Jingjing picked us up in Dittas’s car (she is in Colombo, Sri Lanka, heading an IT company). We first had the famous pizzaninis at C! and then took the SCTEX, the new interchange connecting Subic and Clark, and proceeded to Montemar Beach in Mariveles, Bataan, where Jingjing is a member.

KM 00 of the Death March in Mariveles

On Dec. 7, 1941 the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. Four months after, Bataan fell to the Japanese.  75,000 Fil-Am soldiers were forcibly transferred to the POW camp in Capas, Tarlac. The 60 mi Death March resulted in very high fatalities inflicted upon prisoners and civilians alike, and was later judged by an Allied military commission to be a Japanese war crime.

Las Casas Filipinas in Acuzar

It started in Mariveles near Montemar and markers are regularly placed on the road retracing the infamous route. On the way there, we paid tribute to Filipino heroes at Mt. Samat, the huge cross on top of the mountain, a memorial to those who suffered in the March.  In Acuzar, a town before Mariveles, is Las Casas Filipinas (Philippine Houses) by the sea, a neat cluster of restored ancestral Filipino homes brought there piece by piece.  Montemar is a very nice exclusive beach resort (we watched the Pacquiao-Mosley fight there).

water bikes in Montemar

hydrofoil and tramvias in Corregidor

The strategic location of Corregidor Island at the mouth of Manila Bay prompted the Americans to make it an ‘impregnable fortress’.  During World War II, Corregidor played an important role during the invasion and liberation of the Philippines from Japanese forces. The hydrofoil trip to the island was just 1 ½ hours from the Folk Arts Theatre area in the reclaimed land on Manila Bay.  Colorful tramvias, replicas of the trollies they used then took us around the island.

ghost of Mile-Long Barraqcks

MacArthur's I Shall Return

The skeletons of heavily bombed Mile-long Barracks (the longest single military barracks in the world housing 8,000 soldiers) and the remains of the cross-shaped Hospital which the Japanese destroyed  despite war treaties were spectacles of the gruesome battle that lasted five months. And the fitting tributes to the brave soldiers are many…the Pacific War Memorial (with its altar and Eternal Flame), the Filipino Heroes Memorial with 14 murals of Philippine history, and statue of Gen. Macarthur who  escaped to Australia where he declared, ‘I shall return’. Corregidor was retaken 3 years after.

Malinta Tunnel from our room at Corregidor Inn

The Malinta Tunnel Night Tour is the most descriptive of the life of soldiers on the fortress. It is a 2.5 mile network of laterals on Malinta (full of leeches) Hill.  At times bending low to pass through narrower sub-laterals, we experienced utter darkness, felt whiffs of cooler air from the air passages, visited the 1,000 bed hospital that replaced the destroyed hospital outside, and retraced the escape route of Gen. MacArthur, the quarters of President Quezon, the petroleum storage facilities, the quarters, and even the femur bone of a Japanese soldier. 

     

air passages for a lateral

Reliving WWII in the Philippines reminded us again of the closeness of Filipino-American relations. It also gave me memories of my father who fought with Americans and my mother, a teacher who learned Japanese and interpreted for Filipinos. Taking this trip with Bill, my American husband, made it even more significant!

the largest battery in the island