China Town in Manila is the 2nd oldest in the world.

This part of Manila has horse pulled carriages.

Inside of an old church. It had some amazing murals on the ceiling.

First food item: LUMPIA. We tried eating it plain, then with peanut sauce, and then with vinegar. We started off with half and then order another half.

2nd stop was at Dong Bei Dumpling where we got 3-5 different items to try.

We went inside this Chinese store to learn more about the culture. We could purchase candles, god statues, paper money to burn, etc.

Can’t remember much about this 3rd food stop, except it is above a bakery and the owner helps support the firefighters…and the food was good.

Most Chinese are Buddhist. Most Filipinos are Catholics. This place or worship intertwines both religions.

4th food stop to try Sio Pao…it reminded me of a Hawaiian food called manapua.

Also on the 4th stop we tried BichoBicho. It is basically 2 churros stuck together.

There were many places to buy vegetables in China Town and they looked pretty good…this place also had some fish you could buy.

Last stop we were able to try Hapia. I was so full buy this point that I couldn’t finish mine.

And we could purchase any snacks at our last stop. So many new types of snacks that I didn’t know were out there.

The friends that went on this Walking/Food Tour with me…plus about 20 other Filipinos that somehow got in on our “private tour”!

Hong Kong has blue, green and red taxis to choose from at the airport. Each color determines which part of Hong Kong you want to be driven to.

Drivers and cars are on the “opposite” side. And all of the taxis had some kind of tablet for the passengers to use.

After we checked into our hotel we had some time to walk around. Hong Kong is very clean and orderly…at least in comparison to Manila.

We needed to eat after we checked in and walked the streets near the hotel. We saw this street food, and did NOT partake since I’m sure they were frying up some intestines.

The conference was held at this building. There are at least 2 chapels and cultural halls, a bunch of class rooms and maybe a mission office in this church building.

Tying fleece blankets for the Crossroads Foundation and making new friends.

Julie B. Beck (in the pink blazer) and other visitors from the United States that spoke/helped out during the conference.

Glutenous rice balls in a mango/coconut juice was like a meal within itself….sounds weird, but it is pretty good.

Both of my travel buddies had their birthday the weekend of the conference. So we celebrated by having “Baked Alaska.”

We had fun eating different types of food…this is a Vietnamese restaurant.

Walking along Avenue of Stars and trying to be like Bruce Lee.

Hong Kong harbor. The conference was held on “Hong Kong Island” so you either have to take a ferry, the underground, or a taxi over a bridge to cross the water to the other parts of Hong Kong.

Skyline of Hong Kong. Every night at 8pm there is a light show where many of these building participate.

The view of Hong Kong as seen from Victoria Peak

Now that we have been spiritually uplifted and had a fun girls weekend, we are ready to go back to our families!

Felicia had been flying for 36 hours, got to rest for about 10 hours and then she got back on an airplane to go to Thailand

Tiger on her lap in Thailand

She rode around on a tuk tuk with her big brother

Celebrating Tia’s birthday at PF Chang

We took her to Eagle’s Point and she was able to snorkel for the first time

We took her to the Mall of Asia (3rd largest mall in all of Asia) where there is an ice skating rink inside

Co-workers of Matt invited us out for dinner and then dancing

We took a day trip to Pagsanjan Falls

Felicia and Mason with an iPad attracted many kids at a basketball game

Grand Palace is remarkable…Strict dress code: must wear long pants & shirts with sleeves

Canal Tour…we bought some bread and fed some fish from the boat

While on our canal tour we spotted at least 5 monitor lizards sun bathing

Buddha statues at Wat Pho

Reclining Buddha Wat Pho is 15 m high and 43 m long

Temple of Dawn Wat Arun

Small replica of Wat Saket Golden Mount…the point from which all distance is measured in Thailand

A different God statue for each day of the week…and for some reason Wednesday has 2 statues

Siam Ocean World is a pretty amazing aquarium on the ground floor of a mall

Learning about silk at the Jim Thompson house…and Mason feel asleep on Tia’s back

Fish Spa in the backpackers area of Khao San

Tuk Tuk is one of the local transportation in Thailand

Train Umbrella Market…A train comes through here twice a day and the vendors move their items while it passes

Wat Bang Kung Wat Bang Kung…a small chapel that is completely enclosed within the roots of a banyan tree

Floating Market where you can buy a wide array of items

Wat Pha Luang Ta Bua or The Tiger Temple. Also pigs, deer, antelopes, water buffalo, peacocks and maybe a few other animals roam the grounds

River Kwai Bridge was constructed by World War 2 Allied Prisoners of War

We rode the elephants, brushed them down and played with them…the highlight of the vacation for us

Flower Market of Thailand had hundreds of flowers and arrangements for sale

Exploring China Town…very busy place and full of crafting supplies and other items

Kalani and Felicia on the paddle boat at Lumpini Park

Mason at Lumpini park where he made some new friends

After a date Matt and I went to the Magnum Cafe and had a custom Magnum bar…YUM

Sky Train of Bangkok…we took almost every form of transportation while exploring Bangkok (walking, van, taxi, tuk tuk, sky train…just missing the underground)

Cobra out at the Red Cross Snake Farm in Bangkok. There is a show at 11am & 2pm where they bring the snakes out

Kalani asked and answered questions at the snake farm and then willingly went up to have this python around her

Ayala Triangle where there was a music and light show for the month of December

We had a lot of fun taking photos at two different 3D art places

Attending Matt’s End of the Year work party at Hotel Manila

Day trip to People’s Palace…or Sponge Bob’s house since he lives in a pineapple

Day trip to Taal Volcano in Tagaytay

Entrance of the Chinese Garden at Rizal Park

Day visit to the American Cemetery in Manila

The Philippines love to celebrate Christmas…even at work with crazy head pieces

Robbie got to meet our cousins from the Philippines for the first time

We went to Cambodia together and Robbie carried Mason for most of the trip

Fish massage in Cambodia…it was nice after walking around all of the temples

We all got a foot massage and Robbie’s lady asked him to take off his pants so she could massage his calves…it was awkward, but gave us all a good life.

Enjoying the view of Siquijor from our resort (Firefly Cove)

Exploring a Tree House Lodge on Siquijor…it was the Ultimate Tree House

Last night with Robbie – Midget Boxing

Last dinner with Robbie was at the Hobbit House…since we did see the movie “The Hobbit”

Using Robbie’s iPod was Mason’s favorite pastime