2004 in Review

December 19, 2004
Maligayang Pasko or Merry Christmas,
We are back in Minnesota for the holidays after almost a full year in the Philippines. We have all enjoyed the experience, but at the same time, it makes one appreciate the country and life that we have here in the USA!
The experiences the family have embraced and endured range from good food to strange food; good weather to bad weather: friendship to loneliness, security to fear; beauty to dilapidation.
We have experienced may new foods, and although the preparation and presentation may not be what we are used to, we have found some new favorites. At our company picnic this year the main course was lechon, which a spit barbecued whole pig. It is presented whole and then cut and chopped up as you eat it. The heads are saved for a later delicacy. We have become big fans of lumpia (local egg rolls). The seafood is very good and fresh there, although we are not big seafood eaters. The fish is served whole, (as opposed to filleted), so that takes some getting used to. The local wet markets are where you can go to get fresh meat and fish, all displayed in raw form. It is an olfactory and visual experience to go to these markets. We also are able to get a taste of the imported goodies from IA (Blue Bunny ice cream) and WI (Johnsonville brat at the local warehouse club.
We have lived through a couple of new natural experiences, in the form of earthquakes and typhoons (or hurricanes as we know them). We had 2 large (5+ on the Richter scale) that could be felt in our area, although we only felt one of them.
As you may have seen or read, the Philippines were hit with some serious typhoons in November and December. Four storms passed through within about 3 weeks, and the cumulative affects became disastrous due to the build up of moisture in the ground. Landslides on the hillsides swept away trees and mud wiping out entire villages. The most severe storms passed about 100 miles from the house, and we lost power for 8 hours one night, so we played games by candlelight.

In general though, the weather there is very nice and very consistent. Our range of temperatures have been lows in the mid-70’s to highs in the mid-90’s. The monsoon (rainy) season provided consistent patterns of daily rains, but not all day rains. It has been quite a shock back here with the below zero morning we had today. As opposed to the 2 seasons of winter and road construction we have here, they have the wet season and the dry season.
We have met a lot of great people, literally from all over the world. So many people are in the same situation, here for a short period of time and then gone. It is nice to have someone to share the local experiences and frustrations. Being so far from the friends and family at home is difficult for everyone. We miss the get-togethers, annual events, birthdays, graduations etc. That is when it is most difficult to be so far from home. Thank goodness for the Internet, email and instant messaging. We can still be connected to the US in so many ways. The time difference can make it tough to communicate directly, so email works nicely.

We have done some traveling locally, but prefer to have some of the locals with us when we go to new places. Even though we feel generally comfortable, we are always aware of the surrounds and levels of security that exists in the Philippines. It can be unnerving seeing a guard at the local convenience store greeting you at the door with his sawed off shotgun at his side. The village we live in has 24 hour security and access control. Shopping malls generally have guarded entrances with full bag checks and frisking as you enter.

The Philippines has much natural beauty to enjoy. About 20 miles from the house is the Tagaytay area. It is a volcanic crater that has a lake (Lake Taal) in the middle. Then there is a volcanic cone in the center of the lake that also has a smaller lake in the middle of it. It is considered an active volcano, although it has been centuries since it flowed. They have recently issued warning about hiking in the area as there has been some increase in seismic activity, as a hike up the inner cone is a popular day trip.

Being an island, there are many beautiful beaches. The closest to us is about 2-3 hours away by car. We flew on an 1 8 seat turboprop) to another island (Boracay) in October with LeAnn’s mother Lois, sister Sue and brother-in-law John. It has a 1 .5 mile long fine white sand beach. We took a banca (outrigger) boat ride around the island, tricycle (motor bike with side car) inner island tour, snorkeled, relaxed, and greatly enjoyed ourselves.

There are over 80 million people in the Philippines and a high unemployment rate. You see a lot of poverty as people eek out a living. There is a lot of areas that are very run down, and there is very little money to improve conditions. Despite the living conditions, Filipinos are generally a very happy and giving people. Seeing the conditions makes us appreciate the life we have in the US.

Our summer vacation brought us to Phuket island in Thailand. It is an island off the west coast of the main land mass. Our photo was taken on an elephant ride during an island tour that also included a visit to a rubber plantation and a river canoe ride. We spent a day at the beach playing in the high surf. We then went back to the US, with LeAnn and the kids home for about 6 weeks this summer.

As for the family, we are all fine. Mariah is now a teenager, enjoying 8th grade in middle school and testing her independence as often as she can. She is still involved with soccer, trumpet in the band, and has become very active in the local youth group at church there. She has made some good friends there, many of them local Filipinos, so she has picked up some of the language, but especially a local accent.

Kara (10) is in 5th grade. She has taken up the clarinet in band. She is also playing soccer and joined the computer club at school. At home she is still a voracious reader, and likes jumping on the trampoline and swimming.

Hailey (8) is in 3rd grade. She is a night owl and keeps us on our toes all the time. She has continued soccer and has played in some local tournaments as part of the boys team. She likes to keep busy with a couple of friends in the neighborhood playing games and having sleepovers.

The kids attend Brent, an international school with about 700 kids in Pre-K through 12. It is about 20 minutes away. They have bus service to and from school, with activity buses an hour and 2 hours after school. With only having a single vehicle, that has been a great advantage for all of us.

LeAnn does a lot of volunteer work at Brent School. Besides running the house, she is also taking water aerobics, and golfing. There is a large community of foreign wives who get together often for various activities, both social and service oriented.

Ray is kept busy with work both locally and with teleconferences back to MN in the evening. He still has found time to golf 2 times a month (all year long!)

Ray’s parents are doing well. It is a little quieter for John and Karren without 3 of their grandchildren close by, hut we are able to keep in touch. After celebrating her 100th birthday last January, Ray’s grandma broke her hip this summer and is recovering. Because of that, Nanny has moved out of her house and into a nursing home. LeAnn’s mom is once again making her annual trip to AZ to enjoy the nice winter weather. Lois got a late start this year after her trip to visit us. She is still golfing on the local course down there a few times a week. We hope that all of you have a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Boracay October 2004

LeAnn's mom, sister and brother-in-law came to visit us in October of 2004. While they were here, we decided it would be a good time to go the famous white sand beach on the island of Boracay. The white sandy beaches stretches about 2 miles. The sand is very fine, white and soft. It is a beautiful place to visit. Getting their was a great part of the adventure also. We boarded a small 19 seat turbo prop plane. Once the stewardess gave the safety briefing, she exited the plane and we were on our own.

Once we arrived in Caticlan, we were taken by van to the pier area where we boarded a banca. A banca is a local outrigger style boat with a long shaft propeller exiting the rear of the boat. They are very stable, but they are noisy. Our luggage was put on top and we sat inside an enclosed area. The banca brought us right up to the resort and we unloaded in about knee deep water.
We stayed at Willy's resort, which is located right beside Willy's Rock, the only outcropping along the whole beach. It makes for a good reference point when you are either out in the ocean or walking down the beach. A shrine has been built on the rock and it has steps up to the shrine. During high tide, the rock is totally surrounded by water, but at low tide it is easily accessed without getting wet. The high tide laps right up to the edge of the hotels, but at low tide there is a full 200 feet of beach. During low tide, people set up volleyball nets or play football (soccer).

We decided to take a tour of the island, and decided the best way to do it was by tricycle. The tricycles are small motorbikes with sidecars attached. They can hold 5 or 6 of the locals, but when we came out, they decided 3 per tricycle would be about right. The roadways are narrow and the houses and buildings go right up to the pavement. We went down to the southern tip of the island and then up to the top of Mt. Luho. We weren't sure if we would all make it up the hill as the motorcycles were struggling to get us up. As a matter of fact, we traded one of our tricycles for a larger one after the first leg of our trip. As we were approaching the Mt. Luho, the driver of one of the tricycles signaled a kid along the road and then he hopped onto the back of the tricycle. It ended up he jumped on in order to help push as we went up the mountain.

From the top of Mt. Luho, we had a great 360 degree view of the island including the beaches on both sides and the golf course in the middle. At the top, we had to climb about another 200 feet to get to the top. LeAnn's mom was a trooper and made it to the top. At the top, there was a small canteen with drinks and snacks. This is where we saw the pet monkey in the tree. I think I found a second career--I should get a tricycle and start a service back home in the states.

After touring the interior, we went on a banca boat tour around the island. The water was warm and we stopped and did some snorkeling. The snorkeling is an a national park area, and the rangers were out in small outrigger canoes collecting the 20peso snorkeling fee. Also while we docked, vendors came up selling coconut and jewelry. We all enjoyed our time in the water and the beautiful coral and fishes.

We saw some blue coral and blue starfish. Their wasn't a lot of brightly colored coral or fish in this particular area, but there was a lot to look at. There were many sea urchins, some crabs and clams, and many small fish. There was probably a lot of things we just never saw because of the natural camouflage of some many sea animals.


A couple of relaxing days and evenings on the beach made for a wonderful vacation. Massages and manicures/pedicures are a very popular afternoon or evening activity, especially after a full day of adventures and activities. Most of the restaurants put tables out on the beach area for beach front dining (as long as the tides are cooperating) Also, some of the locals build some very serious, large and beautiful sandcastles.

Our trip home was every uneventful as we took the banca, tricycle, van and turbo prop plane back to Manila. We were so glad that LeAnn's family was able to come over and visit and see some of the sights of destinations of the Philippines.

Phuket Thailand June 2004

Our first trip outside of the Philippines was to the island of Phuket, Thailand. We went in June of 2004, just 6 months before the devastating Christmas tsunami hit the area. We were staying at the Merlin Beach Resort, the only hotel located on Tri-Trang beach, which was secluded from the main beach area of Patong. Nonetheless, it suffered a direct hit from the tsunami and was severely damaged requiring months of rebuilding and repair. The hotel was built on flat land on a bay that had hills rising on both sides. There was nothing to stop the water from overflowing the hotel. The same was true along the main beach where the land was flat for 100's of yards away from the beach. We felt terrible for all the people that were hurt or killed and the property lost or destroyed. We wonder what happened to the people who made their living giving massages or braiding hair along the beach. The photos show what it looked like directly out from the hotel and to the left side of the bay. The right side looked similar.

Our first day was spent mainly on Patong beach and wondering up and down the beach and stopping in the shops and stores at the beachfront. The waves were high had a lot of power. We weren't there more than a few minutes and Hailey had a sandal pulled from her foot by the waves and pulled into the surf, never to be seen again. It was our first exposure to big surf, so that was good lesson to learn about the power of the sea here. We rented some wake boards and took turns trying to catch a wave.

One of the activities that we watched in awe was the local version of parasailing. This was all done from the beachfront. The boat would idle out in the ocean while a person was hooked up to the harness. A couple of helpers then got the chute inflated and the boat took off. What was so different was that one of the guides pulled himself up on the back of the person in the harness. They would wrap their legs around the person in the harness and hold themselves up with the straps of the parachute. The guide would then steer the chute while the person was on the ride. The boat would bring them into shore and the guide would set the rider down with a feather touch. It was amazing to watch, but we didn't feel this would be a good way to do our first parasailing.

Our second day we took a guided tour around the island and visited many locations. We took the bus up to the top of Rang Hill and got to see all around the island. Much of the island had been a rubber plantation at one time, and you could still see a lot rubber plantations from this hill. At the top of the hill there was a temple and some food stores and souvenir shops.

Our next stop was the cultural village. As we entered, we got to feed some elephants who would later be part of the show. The show had some dancing numbers, along with singing and playing of local musical instruments. In addition, a series of Thai Boxing match was conducted between 2 teams. Thai boxing differs from traditional boxing in that knees and elbows are used extensively. The show ended with an extravagant wedding ceremony in which the entire cast was dressed up in beautiful hand made wedding attire.








Our next stop was Wat Chalong Temple, the largest Buddhist temple in Phuket. The intricate carvings and woodwork that adorned the exterior of the temples were wonderful to look at. No pictures were generally allowed inside the temples, but it was OK to take them outside. You could take pictures of one of the Buddhas in a special building, but you had to ask its permission first. Fortunately, the Buddha did not turn down our request. One of the temples we went in to had over 100 Buddhas in various poses. Some were sitting, some reclining and others standing. They were all gold colored or plated.

One of the most fun parts of our stay and tour was the visit to the rubber plantation. We took a 1 hour ride through the forest on an elephant. Although they are large, they are very sure footed. We went up and down some very steep inclines. Each elephant had a driver, known as a mahout, to guide the elephant using their feet, voice and a wooden cane. They generally ride on the neck just behind the ears. The mahouts have a very close relationship with their elephants. We sat on bench across their back, and had seat belts to keep us strapped in and in place. At the end of the ride, we got to feed the elephants and watch the elephants get cleaned up.

From there we took a hike into the plantation to an old rubber mill. We were shown how a rubber tree is tapped and the latex is collected in a small cup. Each day the tree is recut and a half a cup or so of latex drips into the cup. Many cups are then combined and some acid is mixed in to help it coagulate. Once it solidifies, it is essentially put through a wringer washer to flatten it out and then allowed to dry. It is a slow and laborous process and takes many trees to make a large amount of rubber.














Another stop was a wild life show featuring local animals and birds doing tricks and playing games. One of the monkeys was trained to sell small tins of Monkey Balm. The monkey would take your money, make change if required and then give you your tin of product. The kids got a kick out that. They then had their pictures taken with the monkey, who would shake your hand when he met you.

Our last stop was at a snake show and snake zoo. It was literally in the back of a house. There was a circular pit in the middle about 18" deep. This is were most of the action took place. They worked with cobras and pythons and constrictors. Nobody got bit when we were there, but the handlers did get bit occasionally. LeAnn and I had a constrictor wrapped around our legs so that we could feel the pressure they could exert, and it was a lot.

We then returned to the hotel, we went down on the beach and had massages and the kids had their hair braided. There was a small hut in a shady corner of the beach with mats you laid on for your massage. As it got dark, they lit candles making for a very relaxing environment. With the tide out, there was lots of wildlife in the tide pools that made for some fun exploring.

Phuket was a nice place to make our first Asian visit and whetted our appetite for more exploration in countries far and wide.