Our agenda (specific details were added after the fact)

Table of Contents:     (links will be created as posts are published)

• Days to 1 to 4: Manila
• Day 5: Taal Volcano
• Day 6: Pagsanjan Falls & Mall of Asia
• Day 7 and 8: Basketball, Shopping, and Church
• Days 9 to 11: Bohol & Panglao
• Day 12: An Unexpected Family Reunion in Siquijor
• Day 13 and 14: More fun in Manila
• Days 15 to 17: Coron Island
• Day 18: Wrap-up

After several business trips to the Philippines (June 2011, Sept 2011, Feb 2012), I was successful in convincing Tia that we should spend our summer vacation there (without kids!). As mentioned in the first post regarding this vacation (Day 12), it would give us an opportunity to see some amazing sites and attempt to explore more of Tia’s family history.

The rough agenda had us staying around Metro Manila for the first week, including a few days in the office, and then island hopping for the final two weeks (returning to Manila on the weekends). The islands we visited are Bohol, Panglao, Siquijor, and Coron.  Each offered a variety of great experiences and memories which we’ll attempt to capture in this family journal through an ongoing series of blog posts.

Highlights from the first few days include:

• Attending Church a short walk from the hotel
• Manila Bay Dinner Cruise
• Rain taking us to a professional basketball game (PBA)
• Tia’s first experiences shopping at the Manila super malls
• An evening with Toto & Ava Jill, who took us on a tour of
  • The Manila Philippines LDS Temple
  • Ateneo University (where we played basketball with an organized group)
  • Mushroom Burger (yummy!)

Over the course of three weeks we visited Manila, Bohol, Panglao, Siquijor, and Coron. To get to Bohol and Coron we flew Cebu Pacific Airlines, but for Siquijor we had to take a 3 hour ferry from Bohol. Panglao was connected to Bohol via 1/4 mile bridge.

The Manila Bay Cruise included dinner and a live band. The total cost of the ticket was only 550 pesos / person (roughly $13 each).

Mall of Asia, viewed from the dinner cruise boat

Toto and Ava took us to the Manila LDS Temple on our way to Ateneo University.

Ateneo de Manila is a well respected private university known for its successful basketball program (among many other things). Toto (pictured here, rebounding) and Ava Jill took us on a tour of the university and surrounding area, followed by some pickup games at the main arena.  (30+ players showed up!)

Rainier, a good friend, co-worker, and x-PBA player took us to this double-header PBA match. In this Filipino equivalent of the NBA, ten teams (all based in Manila) compete in three rotating tournaments (called conferences). In two of the three conferences, teams are allowed a single non-Filipino on the roster (in one of the two conferences, a height limit is imposed on the foreigners: 6’5″). In the third tournament, ringers are disallowed — Filipinos only. Anyone who can prove partial Filipino blood, is considered Filipino by the rules. This results in a lot of “Fil-Am” players, or Filipino-Americans who were born and raised in the U.S., but are not 100% Filipino. Basketball is the most popular sport in the Philippines and is played even in the most remote villages (usually in flip-flops!).

Stopped for a picture at this monument in Makati, walking from our hotel to Church on Sunday morning. Makati is a very nice, clean, and safe area of Metro Manila.

Balikbayan Handicrafts is an amazing place for souvenirs. The combination of price, workmanship, and selection is unbeatable.

Airport Anecdotes:

* We ran into not one, but two, good friends at the Houston airport! One was an old family friend from Sacramento, and the other was a co-worker from Australia who was passing through on his way home from Miami to Perth.  (the same co-worker I met up with in Manila several times on previous business trips)

* On the plane from SF to Tokyo, we were surrounded by a group of young men in their 20′s dressed in basketball warm-ups. Turns out they’re a traveling Christian Missionary Team, and their coach is from my old highschool in Sacramento!  (he wasn’t a coach when I played for the school, but said he recognized me)

* At the Sacramento airport (we had an overnight layover, dropping off our kids with their grandparents), someone who had the same brand of luggage as me took mine by mistake (and left).  Luckily, I managed to locate his luggage and worked with the airport staff to contact him. He came back to the airport to exchange bags with me. Close call!

* Leaving Sacramento, upon check-in, our reservations showed an unknown error and would not let us proceed. The lady at the counter had to call headquarters not once, but twice, to get the mysterious error cleared. It was a pretty tense 15 minutes or so standing there with our fingers crossed (and even then, Tia’s connecting boarding pass from Tokyo to Manila printed out fine, but mine would not!  I had to get mine printed at the gate in Tokyo).

* The flight from Sacramento to San Francisco was delayed due to weather. If it was delayed more than an hour or two, we would have missed our connection to Tokyo (luckily it wasn’t).

* Returning to the U.S., I was denied check-in at the counter in Manila due to a red coloration in my left eye.  I knew it was being caused by a cold sore on my eyelid, but they escorted me to the airport doctor for examination. Despite my plea that it was a harmless cold sore on the eyelid (that I’ve had reoccurring since my teenage years), he still wrote conjunctivitis on the diagnosis form (which is highly contagious, pinkeye). Luckily, he also checked the box that says I’m clear to fly.

Earlier this year I had the pleasure of visiting the Philippines for the first time and wrote a short blog post about it here.  Luckily, I was able to return for a second business trip the last two weeks of September.

This second trip was long enough to permit a weekend with my brother Drew, who is serving a two year LDS mission in the Cagayan Valley (a one hour flight from Manila).  It was great to spend some quality time with my brother after not having seen him for nearly two years.  It was also fun to see him as a missionary, participate in missionary activities, and hear him speak Tagalog fluently.  He finishes his mission in December 2011 and will then attend university at BYU Hawaii.

Similar to the last trip, I was taken yet again by the kindness and warmth of the Filipino culture.  I guess you could call it culture shock, but with a positive connotation.  This alluring contrast was even more pronounced in the small city of Tuguegarao where Drew lived.  Over the weekend he taught me a few phrases in Tagalog which served me well throughout the trip (‘How’s it going?’ ‘Thank you sir’ ‘Yes sir’ ..etc..)  Most of these attempts at Tagalog were received with a very surprised smile and a bit of laughter.

The photos below illustrate some of the highlights of the trip, and the rest can be found here.

This map shows where Drew is serving his mission (Tuguegarao), and where Tia's grandparents are from (near Cebu).

The Peninsula Hotel is almost too good. It's hard to leave and come back to reality.

Security "bomb dogs" sniff any baggage coming in and out of major buildings (hotels, offices, etc).

This monument at RCBC Plaza is to commemorate Phillipine independence (July 4, 1946)

Drew's apartment in Tuguegarao. Most of his neighbors are college students.

Tuguegarao City. The green building is the mall / market.

These taxi tricycles are the main method of transportation. They can pack in 5-8 Filipinos.

A traditional bamboo house and a traditional shoulder ride.

Maybe I'm bias because our kids are part Filipino, but the kids over there seem a lot cuter than the ones in the states.

A Saturday morning service project (weeding / clearing land). I'm holding a traditional local dish -- hot chocolate made straight from the bean. It was a sweaty 95' degrees and we are drinking hot chocolate and they are wearing jackets (apparently trying to avoid a tan, light skin is more attractive in their culture).

Dinner with a nice family from Church. The second boy from the left is named "Fourteenio" because he's the 14th kid in the family, and born on November 14th, 1994. (I was also born on Nov 14!)

It wasn’t quite the Thrilla in Manila, but I was fortunate enough to visit the Philippines on a week-long business trip. My younger brother Drew has been over there for 18 months as an LDS Missionary and has shared some great stories in his letters.  Also, my father in-law Jeff is Hawaiian Filipino, which means Kalani and Mason have a dash of Filipino in them.

Our hotel: The Peninsula

As a family we’ve visited Hawaii several times and do a decent job of exposing the kids to the Hawaiian culture, but we haven’t done so much on the Filipino side.  The trip turned out to be very rewarding, both culturally and from a business perspective.  Below are some of the thoughts and impressions I’ve brought home to share with the family:

A culture of kindness — the never ending smiles, customer service, genuine desire to please, thoughtful respect, happiness without regard for material possessions:

• Everywhere we went, we were greeted with a glowing smile accompanied by a “Hello Sir!”.   Everyone seemed eager to interact, help, answer questions, or assist in any way possible. Contrast this with our recent trip to Europe and it’s a night and day comparison.  Often times in Europe, you feel like you’re ruining someone’s day by asking them a question.  It was quite refreshing to have the opposite experience in Asia.
• One evening a hotel employee knocked on my door asking if I’d like him to prepare the room for sleeping (change the pillows, etc).  I wanted to decline, but I could not say no to the eager anticipation on his face.  His body language seemed to imply that it would have been a major let down if I had told him no.  After prepping the room he ended with a big smile and “Please sir, is there anything I can do to further assist you?!”
• I was often asked if I’m rooting for Miami or Dallas in the NBA Playoffs.  Not only did they want to make conversation, but they love basketball in the Philippines.  Everyone plays it, courts are ubiquitous.  One waitress gave me a laughing smile and high five when I told her she was getting no tip because she was rooting against my team (Miami).
• When the airplane was pulling off the runway, the entire ground crew assembled in formation to provide an animated farewell wave to the passengers on the plane.  (Could you ever see that happening in the states?)
• When shopping or dining, the staff was always quick to assist, but never too pushy or rude.
• Just to reiterate how pleasant these people are: A janitor at a cafe one evening had the biggest grin while cleaning the restrooms and simultaneously dancing to the music being played outside.

We sometimes hear of the positive effect laughter can have on health, stress, and mood.  I would venture to say that a similar phenomena exists when exchanging smiles.  When someone smiles at me I can almost feel a small boost of energy, enthusiasm, and stress relief. When everyone around me is smiling, like in the Philippines, I can tangibly feel it lifting my spirits.

Other Thoughts / Activities / Stories

Greenhills Mall - Pearl Shopping

• One evening while shuttling from the office back to our hotel, a convey of police and SUVs followed has up to the hotel doorstep.   Security guards kept us at bay while the President of the Philippines made his way into the hotel (for a meeting?).  About an hour later on our way out to dinner the President made his exit and walked by us at only an arm’s length or so (he still had an entourage with him).
• Security is much higher in the Philippines than it is back home.  I’m not sure if this is merely a scare tactic to keep crime in check, or if there is enough crime to warrant the extra security (or some combination of the two?).  Upon entry to the hotel or the office, we are stopped and inspected by bomb sniffing dogs and metal detectors.  Each floor in the office high-rise has its own security guard. Additionally, most retail stores have their own security guard.  Someone asked if I felt insecure while out and about due to all the security, but it actually had the opposite effect.  I felt quite secure thanks to all the guards.
• We spent a day touring our geothermal operations.  This renewable source of energy is fascinating to learn about, and even more interesting to see in person.
• A local co-worker invited me to come play basketball with some other employees one evening.  I anxiously took him up on his offer and had a great time.  The court was a high quality roofed / open-air court in Forbes Park, Makati (one of the nicest parts of town).  It’s kind of neat to think that I’ve now played basketball in four countries:  USA, France, Scotland, Philippines.
• Pearl shopping is a common tourist attraction thanks to the near-market low prices found in Manila.  A couple co-workers took us to a large bazaar of sorts and helped negotiate good prices on South Sea and Freshwater Pearls for our spouses.  It doesn’t sound too exciting writing it here, but it was actually one of the more entertaining cultural experiences we had.  (the sheer size of the shopping area was astounding)
• When watching Filipino TV, you’ll notice that the dialog switches mid-sentence between English and Tagalog.  There doesn’t appear to be a rhyme or reason as to when the switch between the two languages should occur.  This back and forth is apparently called “Taglish” and is a common form of communication.  When pulling money from an ATM, it prompted me to pick from two languages: English or Taglish.  It was also interesting to watch the NBA Finals on TV being called by local announcers switching between English and Tagalog.
• When I asked why Filipinos speak such good English and have great accents, I was told it’s due to all the American TV they watch (in addition to their adoration of American pop culture).
• Piracy is the norm without any social stigmas.  In our airline lounge on the way home, they were showing a bootleg copy of the movie Thor, which was still in theaters back home.
• There doesn’t seem to be any adherence to traffic lanes when the streets get congested.  Nor is there any concept of a fluid merger (most people are cut off with only inches to spare).  Luckily, there isn’t much road rage and we always have an assigned company chauffeur.
• The weather was similar to Houston, Texas, with a bit more humidity.
• It wasn’t too surprising that we were stared at wherever we went, but one of the more memorable occasions was when a local girl exclaimed “Maximooooo!!!!” as our 6’7″ Scottish co-worker passed by.  (We then named our 5′-something English co-worker “Minimo”)

Overall the trip was very educational, fun, and productive.  Due to the travel distance I was not able to go visit Drew up north in Cauayan, but there may be other opportunities to do so in the near future.  If nothing else, he will be able to share the Filipino culture with our family as the kids get older and want to learn more about their heritage.

Jeepneys are a very common form of transportation

Makati City is one of the nicer parts of Manila