Bonsai Manila!!!

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Only had a few hours in Manila, and we made the best of them! We hired a driver / guide to show us everything... Literally. The highlights include:
- largest park we have ever seen (Jess particularly enjoyed this when everyone requested a picture with her because they thought she was a US celebrity... Everyone!)
- The old city held lots of interesting treasures including a Jesuit-constructed fort from the 15th century and an Agustine church where a wedding was being held.
- We also found a few former forts that still had bullet holes from world war 2. Seriously intense stuff!
- Finally, our guide pointed us in the direction of a garden (part of the formerly Jesuit fort) where we concluded our Bonsai Manila adventure in a bonsai forest. Jason was just trying to help out in the picture below.

Until our next post...

The Trycke

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We enjoyed:
- a 10 hour bus ride (each way)
- relaxing and beautiful views
- excellent service at our hut-hotel
- hot springs
- interesting engineering of irrigation systems (ok, just Jason on that one)
- friendly people from Iowa
- shockingly good "garlic rice"
- etc...

But, the real joy was gained from the most ridiculous form of transportation we have ever experienced. How are tricycles a sustainable method of travel, you ask? Well, after the first ride, we can tell you that it is all downhill. Once you know what to expect - extremely slow, bumpy travel over dirt roads (with extra bumps), loud 80s American music from our friendly driver while he asks us to move forward in our seats to keep the vehicle from flipping backwards, a shower curtain (literally) keeping the rain off you (but not off your bags), and as the icing on the cake, 2 people in a seat made for 1 while enduring the bumps - you start to look forward to the hour and a half long rides. They are a promise of adventure. Who knows, you might just breakdown on this ride. Then you have that much more time to enjoy the multitudes of small stores on the roadside, the views from a different angle, or native village men in undersized depends asking if you want to take your picture with them (the women were far more conservatively dressed). What an adventure!

Until our next post...

Against all odds

Hello again on another wild adventure of ours. Against all odds, we lost a bag before even walking into the airport. Someone else in our shuttle took our bag AND their own. We have to believe she figured it out once she tried to walk.

Then, against all odds, we had a very relaxing and easy plane flight to Hong Kong. We ate way better than we expected to (or, looking back, wanted to) and the movie selection was broad and decent. Against all odds, after our great dinner and decent wine, we managed to fit an ice cream drumstick into our stomachs.

Now, we are enjoying some awesome pork buns in the Hong Kong airport. Here we go!

Jason & Jessica