Leilanie & Chris' trip to the Philippines 2008-2009

Philippine Vacation; December 19, 2008 to January 7, 2009. Be sure to click on the map and see the green lines showing our travels.

We visited the Philippines for Christmas and New Year with Leilanie's family, and also visited friends in Manila, Los Baños, Davao, and a trip to Tagaytay.

After we arrived in General Santos City, we attended Cyril's birthday bash at Jam's. There was a choir group (and Karaoke later of course).	Saturday we traveled to Davao where we attended the wedding of the son of one of Leilani's co-workers from long ago.	After Christmas I attended a family reunion of Erwin's at a small resort. This is a Mango orchard at the resort.	Leilanie loves crab, so we ate at the Grab-A-Crab restaurant. Sadly, guess what they were out of?	Later Weng² took photos of just about everyone. Here we have Cyril and Nana (Leilanie's mother).
Lala	Marco	Romel with his two sons Angelo and Ranj Ar.	Tan²	Weng²
Pia	Nana and Tata	Mariel.	Nerio with daughter Apple and grandson Angelo.	May² and son MJ.
Alma	Paolo & Micky smooching behind Sol's back.	Cyril and her daughter Angel.	Apple and Angel	Apple and Alma
Alma	Yours truly and wife Leilanie.	Three sisters	Apple	Alma
Relaxing in the bahay kubo.	Sisters in front of the family home in Lagao.	We took a brief trip to the capitol of Sarangani Province.	The capitol building.	Back to GenSan, a city of 500,000 people. This photo shows50% of the traffic control lights in the city.
Some entertaining later on, and more photos. Here we have a Dorf-like dance number.	This is cute, but probably only for a minute. It's too hot!	A very buntis Cyndel and hubby Bing Bong.	Mickey, Paolo, Bing Bong, and Poy².	Erwin.
Poy².	January 3 we returned to Manila. We met Irene (my former co-worker), her husband Julius, his mother Lita, and this man, Pat. It turns out that Pat was with the crew responsible for accidentally sinking a submarine. (They trimmed the ballast fore and aft too many times!) It so happens that I live near a crewmember of that sunken boat. Small world isn't it?	Julius, Irene, and Lita at a restaurant in Tagaytay, overlooking Taal volcano.	Me and Leilanie at the same restaurant.	Lita and Alma.
On Sunday Irene and Julius took us to Corregidor Island for a detailed tour.	Here the guns are still in place, nearly as they were after the war.	Alma at the business end of one of the guns.	Then...	...and now.
The Cinema was showing Gone With the Wind just before the invasion.	This was the hospital.	This map is from a 6-volume set of History of the Second World War You'll find the location of each photo on this map.	Unfortunately the map doesn't identify the name of each battery.	Here I am in the 2nd story of the Hospital. This thing has been through a lot, and for a long time. Its floors are full of holes, and you can rub the concrete away with your fingers. Yet they let us climb all over it. It's a good thing it's a hospital!
Alma with her head in another gun.	Not much left to some of these buildings.	Since you can just rub away at these things with your fingers, I'm surprised it's still here after all us visitors.	Another Battery (Grubbs I think).	This battery was home to a group of bats.
On top you'll find a good deal of battle damage.	The Topside or "Mile Long" Barracks.	They're actually 1/3^rd of a mile long, but multiple stories. Good enough for me!	The view down a corridor of the 2nd level.	Watch your step folks.
Malinta tunnel (East entrance).	Diagram of the tunnel complex.	AA guns at the Japanese cemetery. The cemetery's location was unknown for many years. It was sought because Japan wanted the bodies returned to Japan.	The story goes that a photo of the cemetery was found at a garage sale in Portland OR. In the background of the photo was this view of Caballo island which led to its rediscovery.	The memorial to the battles of the Philippines, dating back to Mactan.
Detail of the plaque beneath the statue.	We visited Los Baños and the arts center built by Imelda Marcos. This is one of several Grottos on the grounds.	Looking out over Laguna De Bay from the Art Center.	The Art Center. The weather was very cool and pleasant!	Oops, slightly out of place is this statue of Mariang Makiling at the University of the Philippines at Los Baños.
Art Center with Mariang Makiling mountain in the background.	A dedication plaque.	Art center with people for scale.	Yet another dedication plaque.	Not very busy today. The parking lot didn't have a single car aside from ours.
A chapel on the grounds.	Closer view.	A temple at UPLB.	The oblation at UPLB.	(L-R) Leilanie chatting with Marie, Irene, and Julius. Both Marie and Irene are former Intel employees.

Odds & Ends & Other Stuff:

This is where Irene works now.
The Filipinos enjoy puns.
A popular brand of cigarettes. I should send these to Obama with a note that I "hope" he'll quit.
A singing what?
Never a dull moment.

This snack bar logo just struck me as rude.
A wide angle view of Laguna de Bay (yes, it means Lake Bay.)
Boxer Manny Pacquiao's house in General Santos City.
The view of Taal from the restaurant in Tagaytay.
I saw a woman wearing this on a T-shirt in Manila.

We also saw some interesting business names and signs on our trips. Including;

Lord of the Wings [a chicken restaurant]
iPot [A take-off of an Apple iPod t-shirt. In Tagalog, "ipot" is excrement.]
Kini Rogers [A take-off of the Kenny Rogers chicken roaster restaurants. In Tagalog, "kini" means "this is".]
Guapo Inside [with the familiar Intel Inside logo.]
"Sorry! We are close." [Sign on a store.]
KFC [for "Kini Fried Chicken"]

This is where Irene works now.	The Filipinos enjoy puns.	A popular brand of cigarettes. I should send these to Obama with a note that I "hope" he'll quit.	A singing what?	Never a dull moment.
This snack bar logo just struck me as rude.	A wide angle view of Laguna de Bay (yes, it means Lake Bay.)	Boxer Manny Pacquiao's house in General Santos City.	The view of Taal from the restaurant in Tagaytay.	I saw a woman wearing this on a T-shirt in Manila.