Beware of Extra Fees

Update: They got us again. See below for details. (2013-02-26)

We recently returned to Manila from a quick trip to Palawan, a Philippine island. We had talked ourselves into making the trip and are super glad we did. It was not an easy trip to coordinate and we felt like we were exceeding our budget we were therefore conscious of every expense.

Thrilla In Manilla

Muhammed Ali said it first, "Killa and a Thrilla and a Chilla, when I get that gorilla in Manila" in reference to his boxing match with Joe Frazier in 1975. There wasn't any boxing or gorillas but it was thrilling to be there.

The family at the Manila Temple.

Island Hopping in the Philippines

There is a local joke that the number of islands in the Philippines depends on whether the tide is in or out. There are about 7107 islands and we got to visit 2 of them during a one-day island hopping adventure.

Sam on one of the islands.

Underground River

Early in the morning our driver and tour guide came to the hotel to pick us up. Two other people got in and then we started the device. It was only two hours, but it felt like five. We were on a windy road through the mountains, it was impossible to do anything, partially because of the road and partially because of the driver. He made sure we got there on time, but it was at a price. He sped the whole way there and I was sure we were going to die. Before we went to the river we went to a cave. I think it was call ulong or something. We hiked up it and whenever you knocked on the stalactites the made a noise like you just hit a xylophone. The cave wasn't very safe, but they don't really care about that here. There were overhanging rocks tons of vines that could trip you, and the ladders felt like they were older than the cave. At one point in the cave they tied a rope to us and then we walked up a steeper part of the cave. When we got to the top there was almost a half kilometer. Jenna, Sam and I were the only ones to do it. It was so much fun and at the end, to stop you they had padding attached to the zip line and a rope came out of the pads. The employees put all of their weight on the ropes and when a person came down they slammed into the pads. That stopped most people , but some people hit the net behind the pads. The we headed for lunch. It was average I thought, but the rest of my family liked it.

My Baptism [BY JENNA]

I got baptized in the Philippines let me tell you about it!
The day before my baptism I got my interview.  We were in the Temple annex when the  Mission President came and said it was time.  He asked me if I was ready, If I wanted to be baptized and a few other questions.  When I came out of his office I raced to my dad and hugged him saying I passed!  I passed!

Cambodia

After spending a week in Siem Reap we traveled by bus to Phnom Penh, the capital city. At the bus station we arranged for a tuk-tuk to take us to our hotel. We passed the Palace and noticed many people taking photos and flower arrangements every where. We thought it looked like some type of ceremony. Then our driver said something about roads closed due to the funeral. We finally made it to our hotel and after checking in we looked on the Internet to see about the funeral. We discovered it was the funeral for the King Father. He passed away in the fall, but the actual funeral was 100 days later. Not the best timing for us to be arriving in Phnom Penh. The funeral was a multi day event with the procession on Friday, two days after our arrival,  and the cremation on the following Monday. As a result, many things were closed and not available for us to see and many extra people were in Phnom Penh.  We made the most of the situation and saw a few things like the killing fields,the Thol Sleng prison and shopping in the Russian Market.  We were also able to visit the Cambodia Mission Office and meet the mission president and his wife.

 I have to admit that Cambodia was a bit of a disappointment to me since I was really looking forward to visiting the country.  I think our rough entry into the country was hard and then we just didn't have the best timing in Phnom Penh.    Maybe we were just looking forward to our next country, the Philippines and being able to see my parents.  Now I am not saying that we didn't like Cambodia, our experience there just wasn't what we had hoped for.  However, my interactions with the Cambodian people were mostly positive (aside from the scam artists) and I am glad that we went there.  Maybe another time I will return and have a different experience.

Joe getting measured for a shirt at the Russian Market.
 He had a shirt custom made and we returned to get it a few days later.  

Sunset from the balcony of our hotel in Phnom Penh.  

The streets reminded us of India (without the cows)

Digging trenches by hand.  It was a very hot day!  It gets hard seeing all the poverty .

Stone Heads

We visited Angkor Wat while we have been here in Cambodia. They have lots of big stone heads on some of the towers. We aren't quite sure what they mean, but they look pretty cool. Here's a picture of one: