Cebu, The Philippines

We're back!
I'm going to be honest. I'm not looking forward to doing this blog. That vacation was EPIC and therefore will make this my longest blog and that is just time-consuming!!!
Let's be clear. I like to keep everyone in the loop on our adventures. I also have the idea of making my blog into a book when our adventure is done. So I have several reasons that I want to get all this down but I'm also tired and I know this is going to take a bit.
Ok, done whining. Here we go. :)

We packed up and hired a car to take us to Pudong's airport on Saturday morning. SO glad we did! It was basically the same cost as a cab and we got a minivan (yes, I said I was happy to have a minivan- don't read into it :). It's an hour drive minimum so some comfort is great! Everything was very smooth until we got to the gate and realized we had no plane. We only had a narrow window of a 90 min layover in Manila so any delay could mean missing the flight to Cebu.

We discovered Cooper's love for moving walkways and it helped pass the time as we waited for our 747 to arrive. 90 minutes late, we were taxiing off. Ben and I had basically accepted we'd be hanging out in Manila for the night. It was a 3 hr flight to Manila and the kids were amazing! Soph was totally fine with tv and snacks. Coop took a nap and watched some Dora and ate. We were amazed!

We took our time getting off the plane only to be greeted by a woman who declared she was there to hustle us through customs and immigration because they had held the flight for us! Holy Defcon-5, Batman! Off we flew. The 3 different people who brought us through all the mazes and chaos were fantastic. You will hear me say this often. The Filippino people are the nicest, most caring, kind, trustworthy people I've ever met. I really don't even remember all that happened but suddenly we were on the next flight! Woo hoo!!

That flight was good and bad. By this time it was around 10pm and the kids were DONE. For Coop it actually meant that he sat quietly in his seat with his pacey and stared off into space, barely staying awake. Soph just melted. She was so tired and therefore refused to drink anything or chew gum so her ears weren't popping and she cried and screamed. Super fun! Thankfully that flight was only an hour. A driver from the hotel was waiting for us and we were quickly (and kindly) brought to the hotel. Fresh mango juice awaited us as we checked in and off to bed we went. (The couch pullout was already pulled out and ready for Soph- SO great when it's late and you have tired kids!)

Day One of Paradise- Sunday. Yes, hello paradise!! Wow, what a beautiful country! It reminded Ben and I so much of Jamaica, only better. There we sat at our buffet breakfast of healthy, fresh food that tasted just like home (home, America, NOT home, China). The staff was so incredibly helpful (did I mention the entire country speaks English??? Double bonus!!) and we ate quickly so we could explore the resort and swim! The sun was bright and hot. It was humid but not stifling. No bugs, just perfect. We were late getting a spot by the pool but the (this is going to get old) super helpful staff found us a shady spot under some coconut trees and carried loungers and brought towels and set us up. *sigh* A girl could get used to this!

A few pics of the resort-
Walking to the pool area:

By the pool looking towards the ocean:

Coming back from the ocean to the pool area:

The grassy area where hammocks and coconut trees abounded:

The view from our room:

Our room: (Soph slept in the couch pullout and Coop had his tent) It also needs to be said that Ben made a goal to eat his weight in fresh mango on this trip. He's sitting here working on that goal...

Our first day there we had breakfast so late that we decided to get some refreshing drinks and split a few snacks for lunch. We got some chicken satay skewers that both the kids couldn't get enough of and some fruit. An interesting side with the chicken were these prawn-flavored crackers. They are basically fishy crackers and Ben and I think they are quite gross. Well, Soph wanted to try them and she LOVED them. So we thought Coop might like them and he did! Seriously. Eww!! They also really enjoyed their drinks:

The pool was really well designed for families. There was a deep part that was 7 ft deep, and then a more shallow part of 4 ft and then 2 parts of 3 feet deep. Soph could easily walk around in the 3 foot depth pool and enjoyed throwing things to the bottom and diving to get them. There was a great splash pad area with a few slides that both kids really enjoyed and a larger slide that Soph LOVED.

Coop LIVED on this slide!!

Soph chillin' out, making friends. That's Coop post-slide on the left.

View of part of the pool and part of the hotel- the drapes are areas that were being renovated.

Our friends, the Winklers, were supposed to join us on Sunday night but they ran into the same issues we had the day before, only worse. Their plane was delayed getting into Pudong and, even though they were supposed to take off at 4pm, they didn't even board until 730!! Then, a group of about 100 Chinese people refused to board bc they felt they should be compensated with 500 RMB (about $85) for having to wait so long. They argued with the gate agents for 2 hours!!! Finally at 930p they were able to take off for Manila and arrived there around 1 am. The earliest flight to Cebu was at 530am so they just hung out in the airport until then and arrive at the hotel at 730am. Ugh.

We were awoken to a call at 8 am and I said, oh, hey, what time is your flight? They said, oh no, we're here and heading down to the pool! I couldn't believe it!! They were all super troopers!!

Over the next few days we traded between days at the pool and days at the beach. Both were amazing in their own way and super fun and totally exhausted the kids (and grownups).

The beach was great because it was clean and the water was really warm and had very little seaweed or rocks. A ways out there was an amazing coral reef and we took turns snorkeling and getting to see bright blue starfish and flourescent pink and green and blue fish. So beautiful!

Our one morning of a few minutes of clouds. It rained twice, for about 15 minutes each, then was totally sunny again. The rain felt good on the sunburn... :) The white ball thing on the left- they would put a person and some water inside them and the people would basically run in it like hamsters in a hamster ball. Pretty funny to watch!

The white dots in the background- where the shark nets were. Eek....

On the right is the bar we visited on our date night-

Coop chillaxin the the shade. He was so amazing all week!

A picture from the ocean looking at the resort-

Luau night- Coop was a tired boy. Loved snuggling with momma...

A limestone island thing that they left here when they built the resort. You could feed the fish from the deck on the far right. Really fun!

My little swimmer. He just loved floating in the ocean, bobbing with the waves...

A few random pics of the week....
-Coop and mom taking a walk:

-Our happy boy eating beachside:

-The amazing fish that would swim right up to the beach:

We didn't just play, you know. There was a bit of relaxing as well... ;)

Well, now that I look at it, I guess Cooper relaxed a bit. I'm pretty sure Sophie played hard all day every day until crashing into bed at night. :)

A few family pics:

Going out!
We had an amazing oppurtunity that the resort had a babysitting service. Other hotels that I've stayed at before have offered them, but never before have I ever even considered taking advantage. It's hard to understand, I'm sure, unless you're in the situation. I wouldn't do this in the US or China, or anywhere else I've ever been, but here I was totally at ease with it. Again, you may disagree, but, we felt at peace with it and had a really nice night out with friends and a few drinks on the beach...

Here's the beach at night-

Relaxing at Cowrie's Cove with Patrick and Laura-

Oh, hindsight. This was Monday night we all went out. So relaxing! So fun!
Tuesday morning there was a knock at our door at 530am, waking us up. Patrick was at our door asking me to come check out their 8 yr old daughter, Aubrey. She spiked a fever during the night and had horrible abdominal pain.
See, poor Aubrey got scarlet fever the Friday before they came. Since she's allergic to penicillin and they couldn't get a z-pack fast enough, she was given pills of erythromycin and the clinic had instructed Laura to crush the pills and have her drink them with liquid. These pills irritated the heck our of her gut and made it so she never wanted to eat, which made it so her gut hurt even more. Bad cycle. She had been doing alright since Saturday, until now.
So, back to 530am on Tuesday. I quickly figured out it wasn't appendicitis but was confused why she would have a fever of 39.8c while on antibiotics. It was decided they should head to Cebu City to the hospital.
My friend, Doug from Seattle, will find this a tiny bit amusing because he had his bachelor party in Cebu a few years back and ended up in that very hospital with the Bends for a few days. We had joked that at least we knew the hospital was good.
So, poor Aubrey and Laura treked off to the city. The hotel provided a car and a nurse for the entire time. They spent until noon there getting tests and evaluations. Turned out she was dehydrated and the pills were hurting her gut. So, we had to make an all out effort to try and get her to eat and drink. It was tough but she slowly came around. Thankfully, they also gave her a children's suspension of the same med which was much nicer on her gut.
Tuesday was a rough day for the Winklers. We felt so bad because they already had such a rough start! :(
On Wednesday night we were invited to attend a beachside barbecue and luau. It was a bit odd having a polynesian-themed event in the Philippines, but, it worked and they put on an amazing show! There were fire dancers, hula dancers, grilled fish and meat, fresh fruit and more. We all had a really fun time!
The beach at sunset (that's the moon you see)-

Our beautiful girl

Sophia tried her first coconut! I think the anticipation was more enjoyable than the actual thing, but, she drank the milk from it and ate some of the meat inside. I give her a lot of credit for trying it! Coop tried it too but was not so impressed...

Hula dancers-

One pic of the dozens we took of the many fire dancers. They were amazing!

At the end the dancers invited some of the children to come up and dance with them. Sophie shot up there like a cannon with a look on her face that said, I was born to do this!! This dancer gave Soph her headdress and pom-pom thingys. Each pair took a turn dancing.

Here's some video of Sophie in action.




Then everyone was invited to do the limbo!

Nothing like a little hula hooping with fire. That's Sophie and Colin sitting in front mesmerized...  :)

On Thursday, after lunch, we checked out of the Shangri-La Resort and headed into Cebu City for some sight-seeing. We used some Marriott points to get a hotel in the city for that night. In the end, we were really glad we did it because it got us out of the resort and away from the sun for a bit! Ben and I were DONE with sitting at the beach/pool (sad, huh?).
The streets of Cebu (SO much like Jamaica with the poverty, the houses made of old Coke signs and pieces of tin, shack after shack with dirt floors...)

Ben, Coop and Soph at the sight where Magellan was killed-

Next to this area was a tiny souvenir place. Yes, those are turtle purses. I couldn't get a picture of the frog ones.... No, I did not buy one of either...

More of the shacks-

On the bridge going from the island that held the resort to the island that held Cebu City.

A huge part of the history of the Philippines includes Magellan. He landed from Europe and tried to colonize the "natives". They fought and this man named Lapu-Lapu ended up killing Magellan in a battle. It's funny because modern Filippinos credit him with bringing Christianity to their country and are very grateful for it. :)

A gigantic painting of the battle-

A monument of Lapu Lapu-

There was this huge, beautiful church that was built in the 1700's by those who came with Magellan. Also, supposedly, Magellan brought a large cross with him and, supposedly, this cross is still in Cebu and considered to be very holy. We visited both...

The outside of the church-

Looking one way inside the sanctuary-

Looking the other way-

Another painting (one of MANY) of the battle between the natives and the Europeans.

This painting talks about the cross Magellan brought with him-

The last thing we saw that afternoon was a famous Taoist Temple built not all that long ago by the Chinese. It has many traditions and several alter rooms. We were not allowed to take pictures of the alter rooms but we got some really nice pics of the outside. This temple is located in the "posh" part of Cebu. You have to go through gates that have armed guards. We were told the wealthiest of Cebu's residents lived in this neighborhood. The name of the development? Beverly Hills. Not. Joking.

We changed Cooper's diaper off to the left over there...

A painting of what the temple looks like from the outside-

Gotta have dragons...

An outside pic of one of the alter rooms-

Soph lovin' on a stone baby lion thingy-

More dragons (gotta love dragons)-

Oh, I forgot to tell the oddest part of this day of sight-seeing. We had hired a driver through Shangri-La for the day. Seriously cost $25 for 4 hours and well worth to not have to deal with taxis! So, we were driving to the cross and church when he gets a call on his cell and apologizing, asks if he can take it. Sure, sure, we say. He speaks for a minute then hangs up. Then he says, that was my wife's mother. My wife just had our baby! He starts kind of nervously laughing. Ben and I were like, oh, wow, congrats! We ask the details and he says it's a girl, his 3rd girl. He tells us about his family and that they are all living a 10 hour boat ride away on another island. We ask if he'd like to go and he says, no, he'll probably ask his boss for time off and go tomorrow. Ok, we say. After seeing the cross and church we went to the temple. After the temple we get back in the car and the driver has his head in his hands. He says, my wife's mother called again. My daughter is in the NICU because she had her cord wrapped around her neck and needs help breathing. She has a tube in her throat. He seemed so distraught.

Now, we're pretty sure he was telling us the truth, but, after living in China for 3 months we're pretty jaded. Isn't that horrible? We start wondering if he's got this great story becuase it helps him get better tips. Who knows. If it was all a lie it worked because we did give him a big tip. And honestly, they need the money way more than we do so who cares anyway? It was just a bit weird.....

So, he drops us off at the Marriott where we proceed through the metal detector (uh-huh), past the bomb/drug-sniffing dog (are we sure it's safe here?) and get settled into our room for the evening. Really, it was totally safe there it was just funny they had so many layers of safety in place.

We ate dinner at the hotel and settled in for an early night. We ate outside because it was so gorgeous out and, true to form, our dear Sophia decided she didn't feel like eatting. I noticed some small lizards on the outside walls of the hotel and told Soph if she didn't eat, they'd come eat her food. Bad mistake. Then she was totally freaked out by the tiny 4-inch long lizards, shoved her food in her mouth and ran inside, refusing to leave the hotel again until we left. Oops... :) She's over it now. :)

The travels back were blissfully uneventful. We met the Winklers at the airport, made it through the 3 different metal detectors, boarded on time, and off we went. Coop slept 2 of the 3 hours, Soph loved her shows on the IPad, life was good. The connection in Manila was a bit stressful because there was very little communication on how to find our fight, but, we eventually found it.

By the time we got home we were happy to be there and ready for some dinner. A few homemade pizzas later it was bathtime and off to bed.

Amazing country, amazing trip. So glad we went!
Wonderful memories!!