One of the taxi drivers was from the island of Siquijor…the same island that my grandfather is from. And he is a cousin of our cousin…small world!

We love the Shangri-La. Very kid friendly and relaxing.

We enjoyed the ocean and beach.

We attended the cultural night show and buffet dinner. Although the power went out of a few minutes, it was still enjoyable.

We rented a jeepney for the day to tour Cebu. The kids liked climbing on the back when we were stopped.

Normally we looked like this inside the jeepney. 2 of Nate’s friends from his mission served as our tour guide for the day.

Matt has a bad back and bad knees. So he opted to stretch out by standing on the back of the jeepney for most of the evening.

We went to TOPS in Cebu. It is on top of a mountain and much cooler. The kids had fun running around and playing tag until it started to rain.

View of Cebu as seen from TOPS.

We had a tour of the ProFoods factory where they package all of the dried mangos and coconuts. These are some of the items that they produce.

We saw the LDS Cebu Temple and it is BEAUTIFUL!

Welcome Elder Farley Family and Friends! It was a big social gathering in honor of Nate returning to his mission.

As guest of Honor, we sat at our own table and had utensils, glass plates and our own separate food from everyone else.

The majority of the group that attended the dinner. We picked up about 20 of them in our rented jeepney so they didn’t have to pay to come.

And then it was time to leave Cebu and the next day the Farley family left Manila to return to the states.

Since we took 5 kids on 4 different airplanes we had to be creative on how to entertain them. One time we did brake down and just handed everyone an electronic devise while we waited for our plane to arrive.

Old Roman Catholic Church, Baclayon, Bohol. Its first structure was built in 1595, but the current building is from 1724.

1565 blood compact between Spanish explorer Miguel López de Legazpi and Datu Sikatuna, the chieftain of Bohol. A blood compact was intended to seal a friendship, pact, or treaty, or to validate an agreement.

Python Sanctuary…this snake is still alive but doesn’t move because of obesity.

We paid $2.50 to have this “ladyboy” do a comical rendition of Mariah Carey…Mason wasn’t impressed.

“Hanging Bridge” made of some steel wire, but mostly bamboo.

We paid this guy $2.50 to husk a coconut with his teeth…He did it under 10 seconds.

Trying to get tickets for lunch and the guys got rushed by strangers who wanted their photo taken with blonde hair, blue eye, good looking foreigners.

Lunch buffet while floating down the Loboc River. We had our own private musician for our boat.

Dancers we saw while on the Loboc River.

Chocolate Hills of Bohol…what the island is known for

You can see Tarsiers (smallest primate) at Bohol.

At the last stop of our tour we saw more tarsiers just before closing time and the worker put one on our hands.

Last stop on our tour was a super fun kids play area.

Walking around Nate’s old mission area trying to find food and to see if Nate recognizes anything from nearly 15 years ago.

We stayed at a pretty run down place, but it was near the ferry port. We all loaded up into 2 trikes and headed to the ferry terminal to go to Cebu.

While waiting to board the ferry boat there was a family of musicians to entertain us. The youngest daughter was a really good singer.

Ready to get inside a poorly air conditioned ferry boat for the next 30-60 minutes to go to Cebu.

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

Enjoying a picnic prepared by our cousins and spending time at the beach

Tia and Mason getting ready to jump off the water slide. Water doesn’t run down the slide unless you pay extra for it…and after Typhoon Pablo many areas of this water park got destroyed

The kids loved playing on the beach, exploring the area and finding sea shells

Village volleyball tournament held at least yearly. (Cousin Judith Grado #18)

While the village volleyball game was going on, our kids were introducing the local kids to an iPad. Not sure if more people were watching the volleyball game or the kids with the iPad.

Cambugahay Falls – We had a rope swing to use and swam in the water…we all loved being here.

Butterfly Sanctuary – Sadly Typhoon Pablo destroyed a good portion of this…and we discovered that there is a local fee “donation” and a foreign fee “donation”.

Capilay Springs – swimming and relaxing … parts of this area was also damaged by Typhoon Pablo.

Enchanted Tree – 400 year old Balete tree.

Cantabon Cave – Exploring where there really were not any rules (swimming and breaking off a stalactite for a souvenir) and our cousin carried Mason the whole time.

Matt and Robbie watched this cockfighting where our cousin had a rooster competing. That rooster lost and I’m sure ended up as dinner for someone.

Our cousin’s finance invited us to his village disco (a yearly celebration) where ages ranged from toddlers to elderly.

Christmas dinner at our cousin’s house warming party. Family was put into a separate room while neighbors ate in the living room area. There was also a “brown out” during dinner so we ate by candle light.

We spent time doing family history. Our cousin would point out a relative while driving who was sitting on the side of the road and we would pull over and Tia would interview them. This old lady is my grandfather’s niece.

Our cousins introduced us to Julie’s Bakeshop and we love it. When our ferry boat got cancelled to leave the island, we hung out here to figure out what to do since we had plane tickets to reschedule.

We were able to leave Siquijor the next morning at 5am and some cousins went back to Dumaguete with us and made sure we got to the airport.

Siquijor isn’t a tourist trap but more of a hidden treasure. We look forward to visiting again and spending more time with family and enjoying the beauty of the island.

Bamboo huts that were our rooms at Pura Vida

Sleeping under mosquito nets. Reminded me of mission in El Salvador!

If there is a beach, our kids want to be buried

Farley Totem Pole

Chicken fighting in the pool

Candle light dinner on the beach

Walking from our resort to the road to catch a “bus” to take into the city

First time for all of us to ride a Jeepney

Mason found a “Bat Mobile” at a “county fair” type place

Kalani (age 8) with her new found cousin Kennybie (age 13) on a “Ferris Wheel” at the fair

All of the family that happened to be at the mall in Dumaguete

We were all born within 4 months of each other…all cousins

Aftermath of Typhoon Pablo that came through about a month before…this boat isn’t going anywhere