BREAK TIME

     Lately, Tom has been working hard after everything seems normal again after his operation. Since he promised me for us to go anywhere...and I fell in love with the colors of Nebo Scenic Byway after our side trip there last year. So, this afternoon we drove to Nebo in Payson . I've been wanting to see Payson lake with the colorful foliage around it, but the road was closed already to the public. Maybe this is something that I will look forward to next year. ( but Tom is not happy about it..hehehe)

                   My first time to see a herd of deer. Tom counted them and there were 40.

                            I can't really help to giggle with these photos of  me and Tom.
  So, I decided to post in my blog right away while my adoration in these photos is still alive. ;-)

 

It's been a long while since my last blog. After I presented my oral presentation at school today which is about Philippines..as I was about to delete the photos, I remember that maybe I should have to post this in my blog also. Who knows! Someday maybe some of you  could come with us in Philippines. And I hope you all are not tired yet reading my blog about Philippines. ( By the way, I got  perfect 20 points in my oral presentation today. Yehey!)

Here is my presentation with a little changes in the wordings though.

Philippines lies in SouthEast Asia. It is an archipelago of 7,107 islands.  It is divided into 3 groups of islands, namely: Luzon, Visayas, Mindanao. Manila is the capital city. There are 171 living languages, in which Tagalog is the national language. English and Tagalog are the official languages used in government, education, print, broadcast media and business.

There are many interesting places throughout the Philippines. Each place and island are simply unique in its own way. I have here photos of places that some I've never been to yet, hope someday we will go together to explore these wonderful places in Philippines.

This is the Mayon Volcano in Albay, which is known for its perfect cone though it erupted many times already.

This is the entrance of Underground River Cave in Puerto Princesa , Palawan.

                                     Palawan is located in the west side of Philippines.

The inside of the Underground River. This river is more than 15 miles long.

                  This Underground River is one of the 7 Wonders in Nature in the World today.

The Boracay Island. This island is regarded by many as the best beach in the world because of its powder fine white sand beach and crystal clear water.

The Chocolate Hills

Siargao Island. The surfing capital of  Philippines.

          The picture on the left is called SUMAN, and the picture on the right is called BODBOD.
These two are made of sticky glutinous rice cooked in coconut milk. The difference is, suman is a little salty and bodbod is sweet, and either is eaten as a snack or desert.

                                                               The "Hanging Rice"

For Filipinos, fish either fresh or dried is considered an ordinary food, while meat and poultry is a luxury. But when I got here in Utah I found out that to have fish is a luxury.

Don't be afraid of these fishes here. Cause when you go to Philippines there are lots of KFC's and McDonald's..hehehe I just read in the web that Burger King just opened recently there in Philippines.

            This is the popular BALUT. This boiled egg is sold according to number, the larger the number the more develop the chick inside the egg.

The Durian Fruit, which is known by its tag " It's Smell like Hell, but Taste like Heaven".

                                       
                           These are the different forms of public transportation in Philippines.

This is called jeepney, which can accomodate about 19 passengers including driver.

This is multicab which can accommodate about 16 passengers including driver.

This is called Tricycle, this type can accommodate about 6 people including driver.

This is called Trisikad. This is used in smaller communities. People will have to ride on trisikad to go to main road for them to catch the jeepneys or tricycles.

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                                                                    The motorcycle.
By some Filipino ingenuity...motorcycle is modified to seat more than 2 passengers to the maximum of 13-15 persons. This modified motorcycle is called HABAL HABAL. This Habal Habal is widely used in provinces especially in mountain areas where jeepneys and tricycle can not stand the rough, steep terrain and narrow dirt roads. Here are the different styles of Habal Habal:

                             In country side it is common to see the following:

A loaded tricycle.

And an Overloaded Jeepney.

                            Look at those smiles!Filipinos are just happy people! hehehe

Walking through the Coral Reef

          When I visited my other sister on my mom side, we went to a nearby beach. What makes this beach different from other beaches is, when it's low tide everyone can walk through the coral reef. Many will walk to catch fish or look for sea shells., or anything that is edible hiding in the reefs. After my snorkeling experience...I was just so amazed with all these colorful sea living things that I could see this close.

               The water is about knee deep as we start walking towards that big rock.

Under this umbrella is water, rice and vinegar dip to use.In our local dialect we have a term called "kilaw" meaning to eat raw fish or shells. So the people who owned this maybe came here just to find something and to eat it raw.

                                      As we walked further the water was already low.
                    So it keep me busy taking pictures of all that I thought was interesting to share.

                             By the time we arrived at this big rock the water already receded.

                         It was noon time and was very very hot. My brother , his name is  Fredo
                                          found a hole just enough to cool him off.

                                  I had sunblock on my face but with my short hair I forgot
                       to put plenty on my nape..so I ended up having a bad sunburn skin on
                                                           the  nape of my neck.

                                                  This is my sister Linda She's the eldest.
                                     She and Fredo are my mom's children in her first marriage.
                                   Since the day I met her she always wore long skirts or pants,
                                    never wore sleeveless or short sleeve, once outside she always
                                  wore a hat too. But what surprises me was when she swim
                                        in this outfit. hehehe She's really a very conservative Filipina.

Mostly in the province when we go swimming at the beach, most are still shy to wear short shorts.
       And because of too much sun..we prefer to wear shirts to keep us from  being burned.

                                                         The creative little crab

                        Look at this piece of art that these little crabs were able to make!

What happened in Malaybalay is shared in blog

       When we came to Malaybalay they just had a festival celebration so the street was still quite busy with all the shops of food, plants, arts and crafts, souvenirs that are all over in the capitol ground. The following week all of these shops will be torn down for clean up. As every Filipinos are always  fascinated with the presence of friendly foreigners..so I have here some photos of some friendly faces that we met during our stay.

                                         The high school girls so pretty in pink uniform.

            These 6th grader girls were not shy at all to ask if they could have a picture with Tom in their celfons

The husband is the branch president in Raquel's area. They invited us to come over to have dinner in their place.

                                                        The Mangosteen

                                                     The stinky but yummy Durian.

                        hahaha I didn't know that Tom covered his nose when I asked him to have                                           our picture taken by the Durian.

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                                       Is this a kind of fern?

                                                 I am sure this is a giant/tall fern.

     And we are so thankful to Raquel, the tiny and cutie return missionary  who invited Tom to come to see her place. A very persistent sister missionary. Through her I've come to know that during her mission in Manila she was assigned where my relative lives. This relative of mine named Nora has a niece named Grace,,.Her older sister stayed with us in Madrid when she was pregnant with Grace and they moved when Grace was in high school, Grace went to Manila to work and to go to college,and  she stayed with Nora  an active LDS member. For 3 years missionaries gave lessons to her but not any of them was able to fully convert her heart and mind towards the restored Gospel. For 1 year no more missionaries talk to her about the church., although she attended church regularly. Until Raquel was assigned to this area..after a month Grace was baptized. Raquel told me that not a soft approach but the bold and hard one was able to soften Grace heart and mind.

       Raquel is so proud of her heritage.Her mom belongs to one of these tribes which are listed here.