Asia Trip 2008

HONG KONG

Ethan & I flew into Hong Kong where we met up with my parents (It was their anniversary). Here is a view from our hotel window. We had a great view of the Victoria Harbour & the Hong Kong skyline.

We took a ferry like this one across the harbour to Hong Kong. My parents said that they rode this exact kind of ferry years ago on their honeymoon.

Once we got across the harbour to Hong Kong, we rode a cable car to the top of this mountain. It was a STEEP climb! When we got to the top, the view was breathtaking!
Here is the view we had from the top! It was amazing!
After our cable car ride, we went in search of yummy authentic Chinese food. In dad & mom's Hong Kong guidebook, there was this resaurant it raved about called "Tsim Chai Kee." We all ordered noodles and they were so delicous. It was definitely a fun experience.

At sunset, we walked along the waterfront.

In honor of dad & mom's anniversary, we ate dinner at a fancy buffet. The food was awesome and the view was great too.

At 8:00, there was a light show. It's a light show that takes place every night. In our hotel rooms, we tuned our radios so that we could hear the music that went along with the light show. It was very cool!

MANILA

Our first stop in Manila: Starbucks (does that surprise you?!)

Typical jeepneys that you see everywhere in the Philippines...

ILOILO

This was our view from the airplane as we were landing in Iloilo. Iloilo is where my parents live now.

This was the scenery we saw as we were driving home from the Iloilo airport.

During our second day in Iloilo, the four of us joined up with some of the church people and played badminton. We worked up a good sweat!

I think "911" is a lot easier to remember in an emergency!

MANILA - Faith Academy

During our second visit to Manila, we visited Faith Academy (the school I went to). It still looks the same but there are some new additions like a performing arts auditorium and a swimming pool. I'm including some pictures below.

BAGUIO

We drove up to Baguio. On the way up, we saw some rices fields and drove through many towns like the one below. The man in the picture is riding a carabao. :)

Growing up, our family oftened vacationed in Baguio. When we did, we always stayed at Doane Rest. Doane Rest is this compound that is owned by ABWE. On the compound, there are several "cabins" like this one. We enjoyed the cooler weather in Baguio (70's) while we were there. I have so many fond memories of Doane Rest from when I was a kid like playing capture the flag at night, building forts in the bamboo trees, going shopping at Mine's View, going on hikes in Camp John Hay (and getting lost on the trails!), playing mini golf in Camp John Hay, etc.

For breakfast one morning, we ate at a hotel in John Hay where they had an amazing buffet. The hotel is in the background.

My siblings will remember this golf course in John Hay. It has gotten quite run down though... We used to enjoy going miniature golfing as a family. I remember one time even golfing in the rain with umbrellas!

One night we roasted hot dogs and then had smores for dessert. Yum!

During our last day in Baguio, we went shopping at Mine's View. This is a lookout on the edge of Mine's View Market. It was beautiful.

Are we convicing?!

As we drove down the mountain away from Baguio, we saw many beautiful waterfalls like this one.

The next few pictures are some "Philippine Cuisine" we enjoyed while there.

McDonald's value meals - McSpaghetti (with hotdogs) and fried chicken (with rice). Only in the Philippines...

At the market, Ethan and I enjoyed "coke in a bag" (or "coke in plastic" as they called it).

At a Filipino restaurant, we enjoyed fish, rice, pork & chicken on a stick, etc. For dessert we had the famous Filipino ice cream - Ube. We also had leche flan.

At "Mine's View" we enjoyed "fried bananas" on a stick. Very tummy!
Also at Mine's View Market, Ethan got corn on a stick.

Before we went to the Philippines, we had decided we would eat balut while we were there. But, when it actually came down to it, we weren't quite so sure we wanted to eat it! But, we had a bottle of coke to wash it down between each bite...

Yup, we ate balut!!!

MANILA

Our last night was spent in Manila. The four of us went to this mall where we saw "Eagle Eye" in this fancy movie theater with lazy boy chairs and bottomless popcorn & soda, all for 350 pesos (only about $7.50!).

When we saw that there was "The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf" at the mall, we had to stop and get a "vanilla iced blended" in honor of our friend, Michael Crawford.