Kareoke Kapers, river cruise, makati meal and volcanic donkey derby!

JO arrived late Monday night and already have had an adventurous time! Tuesday we took he karaoke virgins to red box which was heaps of fun - Jo and I definitely think its the way to go. lock yourself in a padded room play the music of your choice as loud as u like. There's glitter balls pool tables and flashing lights in the rooms so u can have your very own private club night without worrying that the rest of he clubbers are young enough to be your grandchildren ...

Wednesday we went off to greenbelt for meal after a day sightseeing and Pasig ferry cruise whilst yesterday Jo Gaz an the kids went up the Taal Volcano - Jo and Jessica said was probably one of the best ever days out. They were very lucky as they had blue skys over lake Taal. They went up on horses - As u can see in the picture Gary's horse was so small his feet almost touched the floor - after the pic was take the guide jumped on the back and they galloped to the top. Gary said he'd never been in a donkey derby on a volcano before!

Baler Aurora - Surfing fun

Baler - the capital of Aurora province

After our trip to Lanuza and the bus ride from hell I decided we were primed for the 7 hour journey over the (Sierra Madre Mountains) to Baler which is were they filmed the surf scene in Apocalypse now.

We set off for the 5.30 am bus at Cubao and managed to get the last few seats squeezed between surf boards plastic chairs and a folding table. There was a mixed crowd on the bus some local and foreign tourists as well as people returning home to the provinces for the May bank holiday weekend. The bus station had recently moved (leading to much confusion prior to departure) but took a detour to its old location to pick up extra passengers. Given there were no seats left this seemed rather ambitious until we realised the plastic chairs were to be put in the aisle ( I did wonder at this point were the folding table was going to be placed but it stayed stored for some unknown future use). The initial part of the journey was uneventful with stops every few hours then we began the climb up in the mountains - the scenery was fantastic and the roads challenging - Not for the faint hearted- the bus got hotter and hotter - a novel experience here where most of the time the aircon is set to freezing and people are forced to wear woolly hats and coats just to survive long trips without experiencing hypothermia!

Then the bus broke down! In the middle of nowhere . I knew something was up when the driver started to walk away and then hid being a small roadside shack- the major obstacle was actually getting any information as to what might happen next - we soon realised that the smart people had just started hopping on any form of local transport to get off the mountain- so we followed. The latter part of the journey was completed on the local bus which was great fun - piled high with rice and other provisions - the open windows actually made it easier to see the view and the breeze was refreshing after the stinky hot äircon"bus -

We arrived in Baler late afternoon almost 12 hours since we left the house - and loved the place. Our friend Paul Watts, another volunteer has a house right on the beach. He and his wife were away the first night so we had the place to ourselves. Theres a handful of guest houses- Bays'Inn being about the best which is next to Paul's place - they had a great food somewhat of a novelty in small places like Baler. I discovered eggplant salad yum yum! (barbecued aubergine mixed with onions,tomatoes, chilli's and vinegar P75). They have aircon rooms for around P850 - Baler was about the cheapest place we have been to so far! Facilities seemed fairly basic but OK - For most people the attraction is the waves.

There are surf instructors and it cost P450 for an hours lesson - they were pretty good as most people seemed to get up on the boards fairly quickly.

The Beach at Baler has brown sand but is long and picturesque framed by the Sierra Madre with its white cloud topped peaks. The waves were great and its a real surf spot! The surfers are out all day but the beach is at its busiest first thing in the morning. Its the real thing with some pretty impressive moves happening on waves. The kids were out on the boogie board and Marc on Paul's surf board all day - There's even a night scene - with a couple of disco / karaoke bars and even an acoustic venue. The market was awash with wonderful vegetables - very different to Lanuza where we found it difficult to get enough for a simple meal.

Paul and his wife were back for the Saturday night when we all went to the acoustic bar to drink beer and watch surf videos. Its such a small place we kept running into the people who had been on our bus all weekend - By Saturday night we felt like locals and knew the other people in the bar.

On our last day we met the Governor of Aurora who bought us lunch. She was very hospitable and working to promote Baler as a tourist spot.

The journey back was slightly quicker - we took the adventurous route back - yes even more challenging than on way - the last bus to manila leaves early on Sunday morning so Paul and Marivic suggested we take a van to Cabanatuan later in the day and hook up with a Manila bus there - The road - winding madly up and down the mountains- was very beautiful. As we came down the other side the sun was setting on the valley below - very memorable. Certainly i hope we can return to Baler. They have now started weekly flights but if u had a decent car and driver u could make it in 7 hours making it possible for long weekends - A fun place to visit - especially for the surf competition in February!

Mindanao

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Birthday bash 2008

Another year older! Spent my birthday weekend at a house I found on the Internet. Owned by the lovely Erik and business partner Michel - it is a fantabulous place. They bought land in 1980s, dug the plot out of the side of a mountain and seem to have been building ever since. The style is sort of Gaudi meets Bali meets Amsterdam red light district....Erik is a real character and was until recently a chef in Iraq - French by way of nationality and divides his time between various Asia countries and France. There were 9 of us including the children and their nanny - Leona and Michael who live here in Manila although from London, Mark on holidays from the Bahamas, Fiona our friend, from UK and Marc and myself. We had a ball. The house worked out very cheap when shared between us especially when compared with resort prices - not exactly self catering as we had our own housekeeper who looked after us....On the Saturday night we had a great fish feast bought from the local market but the rest if the food we brought with us from Manila. Easy to do with porters loading and unloading the boats!

We played loud music ,took silly pictures and talked a lot of rubbish! The birthday girl was the first in bed - (fell asleep putting Angelica down!) It had been a long hard day of celebrations - Gianna partied on my behalf till midnight!

On Sunday we transferred over to Sabang/Laguna beach. The boys were keen to see some "action" with several "important footy matches that night. In hindsight we should have simply stayed at house and hired a jeepney over to Sabang(20 mins). Even though we stayed at cheap resort we ended up spending more there for one night than the previous two at the house. All the same we had a good night playing pool - a good meal and our visitors got to see the more (trashy) noisy side of Puerto Galera life.

We set off the next day for the 7am boat back home only to find it had left at 6.45! Very Filipino! When we finally fot to Batangas pier on Luzon we hired a van to take us back to Manila as the local buses were hanging around for another hour and the day was already slipping away - something that very esaily happens here - The only one free was the most "beat up "one there although the driver turned out to be great and got us back safely in less than 3 hours. At first I was a little suspicious as the driver and his wife were whispering to each other and sitting so close I did wonder what they were plotting - In hindsight this clearly was paranoia caused by very little sleep and too much partying! It turned out they were just sweethearts although a little older than your usual canoodling couples- probably his mistress as oppose to his wife...

I was rushing to get back as one of 4 programme managers at work was leaving - She won't be replaced and leaves a sense of the beginning of the end for the Programme Office even though still 2 years to go before VSO exits. The budget for this year has finally been agreed by London and my work has not been hugely affected by the cuts we have sustained. If anything I have an opportunity to work more broadly with the remaining programme managers as they struggle with the their workloads delivering both programme and exit objectives. I'm very much still enjoying all the new opportunities to acquire new skills - the latest being film making and producing short videos of all volunteers as they exit - My editing skills are getting better but it will be sometime before we see a major Hollywood production I'm afraid - At least I'll be able to do something with the pile of mini DV tapes when I get home!

Marc has been offered a trial (3 month) job with a friend who is researching into establishing a company dealing with waste. Marc is to research the competitors to test the business case. Its a huge opportunity and he is working hard to make an impression. It has been a challenge at first to get stuck in after 12 months not working but things seem to be moving now and he is becoming our own recycling/waste management guru.

Our guests have been doing their own thing - Fiona went off to Boracay and did a diving course. Mark is currently off seeing the Whale sharks and volcano near Legaspi and then will return briefly to Manila before heading to Boracay himself.

Last weekend we did the "Manila thing ". Thursday we were at the Penguin Bar in Malate watching reggae bands, Saturday clubbing at Embassy at the Fort and then Sunday the ex-pat sports club Nomads for the Manila 10s Rugby tournament. Great way to spend Sunday not least because the kids can play in the pool while the adults drink beer and watch sports! The trick ( it took us a year to work out) is to take our Ate (nanny) to look after the kids for guilt free enjoyment!

I'm anxiously watching the world recession - is it offical yet? Unfortunately my fixed rate runs out in 6 weeks time and have to remortgage to get better deal than base rate! Apparently Mr Bown says he will cut rates next week which will be good for me although house prices dropped which of course is bad! Will feel better once this is all settled!

Gianna got her end of year results and has done well - considering how difficult the start the year was for all of us....she has passed all her subjets with flying colours and will go into grade 5 in June. Both kids are now off school and driving me mad! They have about 10 weeks before school starts again and I HAVE to get some summer schools started . Ate's sister has started work with us to help out now Marc is working and she has moved in. Marc and the kids and I are off to north Mindanao at weekend - to a surfing spot called lanuza- I am going for work so Marc and kids coming too - was booked ages ago and Marks boss cool with the few days off.

Its now over a year since we arrived. We really do love Manila - We could not have predicted how well thing have gone how many good friends we have made, how much we would love the country and most of all how much we love the people. WE still of course miss all our friends at home but increasingly do not miss the UK itself. If the next 12 months are half as good as our first 12 months it will be very hard to leave the Philippines full stop!

Here comes the summer! (in Philippines that is)

Its been a busy month! Angelica's 4th birthday party was great fun. We had a magician who entertained children and adults alike. He was also useful for helping to explain the rules of the English party games to some of the local girls (pic) from the park Angelica plays with as they don't speak such good English. Mario did us proud as usual with a fantastic lasagna for the adults whilst Marc made bolognese for the kids - traditional; party food here is spaghetti and hot dogs! Angelica got more toys than she knew what t do with but the magician was the biggest hit. He made birds appear (very unPC) which she absolutely loved! She also "graduated" from pre nursery to nursery with all the pomp and ceremony of a high school graduation!

I have been to Calicoan island in Samar. Wonderful place - Pacific coast and very different from elsewhere in the Philippines. It was great to see waves again. Stayed at Surfcamp a lovely resort there. (Pic)Went for workshop so only 1 night - a little pricey at P6000 for a family trip. They hope to reopen an old US military airport down there which will make whole area more accessible. Samar has been experiencing terrible weather and there have been landslides and flooding. We were lucky and had a small window of dryer weather. There summer is July August so definitely a possible location for visitors who arrive in the Manila rains. Finished off a Leyte Park hotel on way back where I took my lovely San Miguel pic.

Meanwhile molly Mario and Marc had a few days in Hong Kong. Marc had to leave to renew his visa. Mario and Marc then went off to the rice terraces (pic) they did it over 3 nights and managed to also get to Bontoc.I must get there with a future guest as too far (and probably too boring) for the kids! Its overnight buses in each direction.

We all went off to Mayamaya beach resort overnight last weekend and recharged the batteries. (Pic)Summer seems to have arrived suddenly with the temperatures shooting up to 32 degrees. The kids have broken up from school for 2.5 months so the next challenge is to keep them occupied. I thought 6 weeks in the UK was bad enough.

Gianna has made here commercial debut with a TV ad for Jolibee.She managed to earn more in 6 hours than I do with 3 weeks! They have very strict child labour laws here (although u might not know it from kids on streets selling stuff) I had to go to the employment of labour to have all the rules explained including that she must get at least a third of the money and it has to be put in bank account with her name!

Work is busy - been learning how to edit and make films for my new KM tools! Frustrating at first but easy once you know how! Also introduced the new In country training programme which aims to integrate a learning approach from day one as volunteers arrive. Also new itinerary for our Manila tour which includes a boat trip down the Pasig river. Great way to see a different side of Manila away from the pollution. Theres the slums and kids fishing for rubbish as well as wealthy riverside dwellings. Masses of old industrial land - who knows one day if they clean up the river could be worth a fortune - look at Liverpool and Glasgow in UK! The ferries are clean and airconned and the waiting stations modern and new. At P45 for a 50 min trip from Guadalupe to Intramuros its another great day out!

As usual some great night out - after party of maroon five ( wasn't sure who they were but party was Ok)- BIG plans afoot for the main event next weekend - Will keep u posted

Gianna's triumphant Day and Gloria sinks deeper into trouble!!!

Since Christmas Gianna has been practicing at weekends and after school for the cheerdance display at school. She was then voted by her classmates to represent them in the Mr and Mrs Contest. I have to say that at times I nearly pulled her out as she was so exhausted dancing everyday and attending school on Saturday resulting in much grumpiness at home, however yesterday her hard hard work all paid off.

The Mr and Mrs contest was really a beauty pagent. They had to wear different outfits and talk about quailities of a "good Augustinian". When we arrived and saw the lavish outfits the other kids were wearing I didn't expect Gianna to stand a chance. I mean, these kids had make-up artists, hairdressers and choreographers to help them. It was all taken extremely seriously. Back stage was rammed with people of indeterminate gender tottering around on high heels camping it up whilst pumping and preeming the small divas. There were squeals and screams as candidates names were called out......all very entertaining.

I had given in and bought gianna a new dress which I though was a bit posh - when we got back stage I realised the other kids were in bloody ball gowns....

I was shocked but pleased when she got into the final 10 . They then had to answer questions on how they would save the world - just like Miss world!! "I'd like to help small children, save extinct animals " . Gianna of course had her confident smile throughout, beamed straight at the judges and never faltered when given the chance of speaking into the microphone. All the same given the competition we were amazed she won Ms Photogenic grade 4 and came second in the title of Mrs Grade 4. Just because she had the simplest dress and the least makeup. There was a crown and two lots of flowers and 2 sashes....and tears....... not Gianna who was busy lapping up the cameras of course but the guy who won Mr Grade 4....very filipino

Then we went onto the Cheerdance performance which I have to say was just incredible. There are around 600 kids in each year and grade 4,5,6,7 took part in the performance - yes thats right all 2500 kids

Each year/grade had a cheerdance team of about 40 kids and then the rest of the year took part in cordinated line dancing and hand movements. They all had fantastic costumes and props. The theme was the 4 elements and Gianna's year were fire...complete with fire eaters, olypmpic flame ( they seem quite fond of this as came out at the sports fest too) and a chinese dragon. There were human pyramids and gymnastics and great music . All the kids sat in neat rows until their time came and then for grand finale all performed the school song. Icould see the similarity to the You tube videos of the inmates dancing in neat rows at the prison in Cebu.... I have put videos on You tube its hard to work out which is Gianna (shes one of the smallest and on far right )but anyways you get the idea of what they did...In the background u can see the 500+ other kids from her year doing the backing movements. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RJQ4kU4dX4 There are about 6 videos so look under camperbelle

Now Gloria on the other hand (the president) had a bad day yesterday- death threats and a demonstration against her . Whilst the Brits get on the streets at a drop of a hat it is not common for Filipinos to demonstrate . Finally however there does seem to be some momentum building against the amount of corruption in government.

Recently we've been treated to daily senate hearings questioning the latest whistle blower on alledged millions of peso commissons to be paid to politicians in a national broadband project. The claim is that projects are routinely overpriced by as much as 20% to pay politicans for securing deals. This poor guy was first sent out the country by the government so he couldn't testify then when he came back under his own steam he was "kidnapped" at the airport and driven around for hours whilst being made to sign various statements. Upon release he was so scared he took refuge in a convent and only energed to attend the senate hearings and tell his story, literally ringed by hand holding nuns. Very dramatic if a little OTT. This does seem a more coherant attack on the palace (government) not least as the bishops are calling for the corruption to be stopped. Once the catholic church wades in then things may begin to happen, they have such influence here. Its hard to see that the palace could ever mount a credible investigation although Gloria has called for one, or take appropriate action , as the her husband is constantly linked with the whole affair.

Meanwhile life goes on - work is good although budgets still uncertain. The weather is dryer and cooler especially at night. I've lots of travel in next month or so trialing some KM tools I have developed. Recently visited some lovely conference places with work including one on Lake Laguna which faced a fabulous sunset over the lake everynight. Hopefully Marc and the kids can tag along with my up coming trips as kids break up at Easter for 2.5 months. Anyway must sign off kids swimming party to attend and I have to get to gym as still working on the Xmas pounds :)