Southeast Asia: the Philippines

After teaching in South Korea for about 17 months, I took 2 months off to do some traveling. I decided that I didn’t want to merely travel, but also to serve on a mission trip. After a lot of internet searching, I finally found one mission trip I could join in early January.

So, on January 1, 2008 I headed from Seoul to Manila to spend about 10 days in the Philippines with 2 lovely ladies from the States. Now, I could talk a lot about the amazing things I saw and experienced while serving God in the Philippines. However, as this is a “travel blog” I’m going to focus on the sites I saw while there.

We began and finished our trip in Manila, the capital city of the Philippines.

We didn’t do much tourist stuff during our time in the Philippines, but you naturally come across stuff while in a foreign country! One place we did take time to walk through was Rizal Park.

Within just a short time of being in the Philippines, I learned about, and experienced, the different modes of transportation used in the Phlippines, including jeepneys and trikes.

After a couple of initial days in Manila, our group headed to Zambales where we spent several days at a Children’s Home for the Aeta people.

Views of the Children's Home and surround area:

Cooking over their stoves:

In the morning they warmed-up and hung the flags before classes began (I was impressed with how they could just climb up the poles with just their own hands and feet).

Delicious food!!

On one of the days, we took the children to a nearby beach. It was a black sand beach, and the water was pretty rough. I got pretty scratched up by the rocks being thrown around by the waves, but the children had a great time!

We also visited one of the Aeta villages.

After spending some time at the village, the Pastor that was with us took us to see the area of Mount Pinatubo. In 1991 there was a massive eruption from this volcano that led to a lot of destruction. You can still see a large area that is covered by ash and dried lava from that eruption. The volcano is still active, and as a result only the very poor live near it (because they have no where else to live).

While there, we were able to go into the closest town a few times to help with grocery shopping and check out the Philipino markets. We also went to Subic Bay for part of a day to do some souvenir shopping.

Before heading home (or for me, to my next vacation destination!), we spent another day and a half in Manila. Something I didn’t know before going, but learned soon after I arrived, is that the Philippines, Manila in particular, is known for large shopping malls. We ate at the food courts of the various malls several times, and on our last day together in Manila we went to the SM Mall of Asia.

A final shot before parting ways the next day:

The Philippines was a great experience; I hope to return on a mission trip someday, and I also hope to go to one or two locations for a lovely beach vacation!