This is Aunty Vicky's father, AKA Sean's grandfather. Do you see the resemblence?!?
"Please can we take one with us, pleeeease?!?!"
From left to right: Aunty Vicky, Sean, Kailani, Gloria, Uncle Esme and Kenneth (their driver)
Kailani eating cassava cake
06.01.08: Again I’m on an airplane, a Cathay Pacific 747-400 to Hong Kong to be exact. (Then, we transfer to a Bangkok-bound plane.) After pre-boarding at 11:40 am for a 1:30pm flight, we finally took off the ground about 1:15pm. We sat almost as long as it takes to get to there! I’m fairly impressed with the plane and service. It’s only roughly an hour and a half flight, and they ACTUALLY served us some sandwiches (with beer/wine!). Each seat has a TV screen, and the best part, each seat has an electrical plug outlet. Unfortunately, I found out later the outlet didn’t work, my battery halfway drained. Air New Zealand was also pretty nice. I used to like Lufthansa, but I notice the crew disappears quickly after take-off and doesn’t offer you anything anymore. Air Philippines is supposedly worse than Philippine Airlines. This was said as we saw Philippine Airline planes take off to Iloilo more than once as we sat there waiting for our Air Philippines plane, and the two are sister airlines. Asian Spirit had some really old planes. Kai’s seat cushion wouldn’t stay put. But, they did have a nice departure lounge in Caticlan. It had a beautiful lush garden and was like an oasis!
Anyway, we just got back from a couple days of visiting with Sean's Dad's sister, Aunty Vicky and her husband, Uncle Esmereldo Haro, who live in the town of Oton, 45 minutes from the provincial capital of Iloilo. Sean’s been kicking himself that he waited until our 2nd week in the Philippines to call her. We thought she lived further south in Mindinao, which has Muslim presence and can be a bit dangerous. Turns out she lives on the same island, Panay, that we landed on to get to Boracay. You land on the north part of the island to get to Boracay and Iloilo’s on the south side. So basically, we already flew there, went to Boracay, went back to Manila, then North to San Juan, and BACK down to Panay again. We’ve done a lot of backtracking here in the Philippines, to and from Manila, etc. I left the planning up to Sean, thought he had some big master plan, but I guess it didn’t happen that way.
Aunty Vicky and Uncle Esme moved here from WA state 3 years ago, and are STILL re-building their retirement house that’s Uncle’s family house. At least they are currently living in it though. Building a house in a 3rd world country is quite different than in the states. EVERYTHING has to be done by hand. There are no machines to do anything. But, I have to say that their house is coming along quite nice. They actually purchased the TREES for the rails for their stairways and then had the wood milled. There are some quite gorgeous touches to their house. We were definitely in Uncle’s home town. On Aunty and Uncle’s street is the Severino Haro bridge, named after one of Uncle’s relatives. On the next street is a small market named Haro. Uncle went to elementary school down the street from that. There’s a local town called Haro, the rich side of the family. There’s another town called Jaro, pronounced the same, the poor side of the family.
We were seriously treated like royalty and we only met Aunty and Uncle once for a few minutes, when they came down to see Sean's dad, after years of no communication with him. They fed us WAY too much, three very square meals, and there was much evidence on the scale in our Manila hotel room after our visit. Immediately upon our arrival, we were whisked away from the airport by their driver in their fairly new Nissan SUV to a seafood restaurant, complete with live entertainment. They also have two maids at the house that were more than willing to play with Kai and feed her when she wouldn’t eat for us. Having maids isn’t what you’d typically see in the states, but more common there. I suppose if I had 7 kids and retired, I wouldn’t mind having a couple maids to take care of a fairly large house either!
The next day, we took a drive a couple hours up the coast to the town of Conception. Before we left, I was reading our Rough Guide Philippines book about the area. It seems that either way you go up the coast, East or West, it said that there are very little or no services/accommodations for tourists. I believe it said about one area “be prepared to camp or sleep in the beach”. We drove through small towns, rice paddies and undeveloped landscaped. It was gorgeous, and we learned a lot about the way of life such as rice cultivation, etc. from Aunty. Outside of Conception, we had another big lunch. Kai again wouldn’t behave and eat, until I pointed out to her that we had cassava cake for dessert. The smile on her face in the picture that I took of her eating it is priceless! Then, we went into town. It was a very rural, remote town and there seems to be a lot of controversy over building coal burning electrical plants in the area. Sean and I were glad to see banners that pointed out the health hazards associated with them: asthma, lung cancer, etc. Aunty and Uncle planned for us to find somewhere to stay for the night. But, they had a hard time finding anywhere besides taking a ferry to a remote island resort. I was surprised that they even found a tourist office. I let them take the lead and Aunty Vicky came out with a place for us, but then asked Sean to go in and see about activities. It seemed like it took him long enough to plan an entire month of activities, so a warning light went off in my brain. By then, Kai was bouncing off the back seat walls, strung out from cassava cake. I went in there, and as I suspected, there was some elaborate plan for a full day of island hopping and snorkeling that they were trying to decide upon. Mind you, all we only planned for was a couple days of visiting with Aunty and Uncle, not some elaborate island holiday (which I was also afraid of who would pay for it). The clouds were also starting to loom over, so I bursted the “plan bubble” and we took off promptly back towards Aunty and Uncle’s house just before it started to rain.
The next day we were back at a mall. It really seems to be a social staple in a Filipino’s life. But, I needed another phone card and Sean wanted a shirt, so it worked out. Shopping was followed by lunch at a Chinese restaurant, where Sean and I goofed because we ordered a little something form the menu after Aunty already ordered enough for us. Later that afternoon, we went to Aunty and Uncle’s local resort/beach (just for day visitors, no accommodations) for a sunset swim in the pool. Later, we went back to the house for another feast for dinner. The maids don’t cook, but Uncle’s niece comes in to do it for them. The next day, we went to the Iloilo Museo for some more history about the town and local area. Unfortunately, there were mosquitoes galore, and Sean and I left the place feeling like we were feasted upon. We weren’t prepared with our trusty spray because it was daytime. I wonder how I’m going to fare with two more months in mosquito-land, seeing as my allergic reaction to bites leaves me itching like crazy. Just as I thought we just agreed that we all ate enough the past couple days, Aunty and Uncle took us out for one last lunch before our flight, at another niece’s seafood restaurant on the beach. It was called “our going away party”, a little something to bribe us to come back for their 50th wedding anniversary in 2010. I loved the beachside setting, the décor, they really took care of the fish tanks and loved what their sign said, “Better than fresh, live!” Just as I thought I couldn’t stuff anymore in my belly, we feasted on some grilled catfish (each one simply prepared on one skewer), lobster, crab, diniguan (blood pudding/chocolate meat, pork in pig’s blood), a traditional vegetable dish, lechon and whole young coconuts split open with a straw to sip it down. I’m sure I probably forgot some other dishes.
Overall, we've had a great 3 weeks here! The beaches in the Philippines have been gorgeous! I've also LOVED the landscape, especially the tropical foliage and rice paddies. As far as the rural towns and the city of Manila, it wouldn't exactly be for everyone. Not an easily accessible or picture-perfect vacation spot. There are definitely some dirty dusty areas. But if you have enough patience and courage for adventure, you can find some stunning scenery. Overall, it's been a good way to get used to undeveloped Asia, since there's more coming up for us. It's definitely a third world country, but they also embrace the American lifestyle. So in a way, it's foreign but familiar. Everyone speaks English. So at least it's easy to communicate. But, I can’t wait to be revisiting Bangkok and Thailand next!
Anyway, we just got back from a couple days of visiting with Sean's Dad's sister, Aunty Vicky and her husband, Uncle Esmereldo Haro, who live in the town of Oton, 45 minutes from the provincial capital of Iloilo. Sean’s been kicking himself that he waited until our 2nd week in the Philippines to call her. We thought she lived further south in Mindinao, which has Muslim presence and can be a bit dangerous. Turns out she lives on the same island, Panay, that we landed on to get to Boracay. You land on the north part of the island to get to Boracay and Iloilo’s on the south side. So basically, we already flew there, went to Boracay, went back to Manila, then North to San Juan, and BACK down to Panay again. We’ve done a lot of backtracking here in the Philippines, to and from Manila, etc. I left the planning up to Sean, thought he had some big master plan, but I guess it didn’t happen that way.
Aunty Vicky and Uncle Esme moved here from WA state 3 years ago, and are STILL re-building their retirement house that’s Uncle’s family house. At least they are currently living in it though. Building a house in a 3rd world country is quite different than in the states. EVERYTHING has to be done by hand. There are no machines to do anything. But, I have to say that their house is coming along quite nice. They actually purchased the TREES for the rails for their stairways and then had the wood milled. There are some quite gorgeous touches to their house. We were definitely in Uncle’s home town. On Aunty and Uncle’s street is the Severino Haro bridge, named after one of Uncle’s relatives. On the next street is a small market named Haro. Uncle went to elementary school down the street from that. There’s a local town called Haro, the rich side of the family. There’s another town called Jaro, pronounced the same, the poor side of the family.
We were seriously treated like royalty and we only met Aunty and Uncle once for a few minutes, when they came down to see Sean's dad, after years of no communication with him. They fed us WAY too much, three very square meals, and there was much evidence on the scale in our Manila hotel room after our visit. Immediately upon our arrival, we were whisked away from the airport by their driver in their fairly new Nissan SUV to a seafood restaurant, complete with live entertainment. They also have two maids at the house that were more than willing to play with Kai and feed her when she wouldn’t eat for us. Having maids isn’t what you’d typically see in the states, but more common there. I suppose if I had 7 kids and retired, I wouldn’t mind having a couple maids to take care of a fairly large house either!
The next day, we took a drive a couple hours up the coast to the town of Conception. Before we left, I was reading our Rough Guide Philippines book about the area. It seems that either way you go up the coast, East or West, it said that there are very little or no services/accommodations for tourists. I believe it said about one area “be prepared to camp or sleep in the beach”. We drove through small towns, rice paddies and undeveloped landscaped. It was gorgeous, and we learned a lot about the way of life such as rice cultivation, etc. from Aunty. Outside of Conception, we had another big lunch. Kai again wouldn’t behave and eat, until I pointed out to her that we had cassava cake for dessert. The smile on her face in the picture that I took of her eating it is priceless! Then, we went into town. It was a very rural, remote town and there seems to be a lot of controversy over building coal burning electrical plants in the area. Sean and I were glad to see banners that pointed out the health hazards associated with them: asthma, lung cancer, etc. Aunty and Uncle planned for us to find somewhere to stay for the night. But, they had a hard time finding anywhere besides taking a ferry to a remote island resort. I was surprised that they even found a tourist office. I let them take the lead and Aunty Vicky came out with a place for us, but then asked Sean to go in and see about activities. It seemed like it took him long enough to plan an entire month of activities, so a warning light went off in my brain. By then, Kai was bouncing off the back seat walls, strung out from cassava cake. I went in there, and as I suspected, there was some elaborate plan for a full day of island hopping and snorkeling that they were trying to decide upon. Mind you, all we only planned for was a couple days of visiting with Aunty and Uncle, not some elaborate island holiday (which I was also afraid of who would pay for it). The clouds were also starting to loom over, so I bursted the “plan bubble” and we took off promptly back towards Aunty and Uncle’s house just before it started to rain.
The next day we were back at a mall. It really seems to be a social staple in a Filipino’s life. But, I needed another phone card and Sean wanted a shirt, so it worked out. Shopping was followed by lunch at a Chinese restaurant, where Sean and I goofed because we ordered a little something form the menu after Aunty already ordered enough for us. Later that afternoon, we went to Aunty and Uncle’s local resort/beach (just for day visitors, no accommodations) for a sunset swim in the pool. Later, we went back to the house for another feast for dinner. The maids don’t cook, but Uncle’s niece comes in to do it for them. The next day, we went to the Iloilo Museo for some more history about the town and local area. Unfortunately, there were mosquitoes galore, and Sean and I left the place feeling like we were feasted upon. We weren’t prepared with our trusty spray because it was daytime. I wonder how I’m going to fare with two more months in mosquito-land, seeing as my allergic reaction to bites leaves me itching like crazy. Just as I thought we just agreed that we all ate enough the past couple days, Aunty and Uncle took us out for one last lunch before our flight, at another niece’s seafood restaurant on the beach. It was called “our going away party”, a little something to bribe us to come back for their 50th wedding anniversary in 2010. I loved the beachside setting, the décor, they really took care of the fish tanks and loved what their sign said, “Better than fresh, live!” Just as I thought I couldn’t stuff anymore in my belly, we feasted on some grilled catfish (each one simply prepared on one skewer), lobster, crab, diniguan (blood pudding/chocolate meat, pork in pig’s blood), a traditional vegetable dish, lechon and whole young coconuts split open with a straw to sip it down. I’m sure I probably forgot some other dishes.
Overall, we've had a great 3 weeks here! The beaches in the Philippines have been gorgeous! I've also LOVED the landscape, especially the tropical foliage and rice paddies. As far as the rural towns and the city of Manila, it wouldn't exactly be for everyone. Not an easily accessible or picture-perfect vacation spot. There are definitely some dirty dusty areas. But if you have enough patience and courage for adventure, you can find some stunning scenery. Overall, it's been a good way to get used to undeveloped Asia, since there's more coming up for us. It's definitely a third world country, but they also embrace the American lifestyle. So in a way, it's foreign but familiar. Everyone speaks English. So at least it's easy to communicate. But, I can’t wait to be revisiting Bangkok and Thailand next!
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