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It has been quite a while since Prachee and I have been to a country neither had traveled to before – I think the last time was Morocco in 2005. It reminds me of my first trip to India, looking at things with a fresh perspective and amusing the locals with “strange” observations.

If at all possible, I like to travel to a place and live like the “locals” – there are always the “must do” sites in every country, but the more tourist traps I can avoid, the better the trip will be. So when Craig suggested doing this trip we jumped at the opportunity to see the Philippines with locals (Grace was born in the Philippines and lived there many years; Craig amuses the locals with his fluent Tagalog).

Grace’s family were wonderful hosts, putting us up in their house while in Manila, making us feel welcome at several family dinners and events and of course feeding us until ready to burst – that’s just the Filipino way! The first night we checked out some of the Manila Nightlife hanging out with some of Craig & Grace’s friends and seeing a local band (Aura). We didn’t go too crazy though as we had an early 7 am flight the next morning to the Island of Palawan and the El Nido Resort of Lagen.

The pictures don’t do justice to the natural beauty of Palawan and the Bacuit Archipelago specifically, which is where the resort is located. The limestone cliffs rise dramatically out of water that ranges in color from light green to deep blue. We did some hiking through the jungle, kayaking, island hopping and a lot of eating! We’d highly recommend either of the El Nido Resorts (Lagen or Miniloc) for anyone looking for a getaway to a spectacular place that has not achieved the renown of similar types of resorts in Thailand or even the Maldives. Be forewarned that the price of this unspoilt paradise is one hairy propeller plane ride ending in a dirt airfield that seems carved out of the jungle. Just check out the pictures, there is no point in me trying to describe the place.

We tried to extend our stay by one more night at El Nido, but everything was booked solid by an offsite of a Belgian Insurance company (in hindsight we might have gotten out just in time!). Back in Manila we dedicated ourselves to shopping and some more eating. On Tuesday evening, Lola (Grace’s grandmother), invited us to go Ballroom dancing. Yeah, I know, it’s not in the Lonely Planet, but remember what I said about living like locals… so off we went. The room was massive with a live band in the middle and full of gyrating 80+ year old women with their 20 something old “DI’s” – that’s Dance Instructor in Pilipino. Even before we’d had our first beer, Craig, Grace, Prachee and I were coaxed onto the dance floor and proceeded to be out Rumba’d, out Waltz’d and generally embarrassed ourselves. Having “danced” my plan was to attract as little attention as possible while ordering round after round of San Miguel Pales (local beer), but Lola had other ideas. Soon enough Craig and I as well as the girls were assigned our “Shared DI’s” (one man and one woman) and alternated between dancing and drinking. I must admit, dancing with someone who knows what their doing (even if she was doing all the leading…) was a lot of fun.  After about 3 hours of dancing we called it a night knowing that was a once in a lifetime experience.

Between all the shopping and eating we also managed to do a bit more sightseeing and even some exercising (sort of). We headed south of Manila through the heavy traffic to see Taal, the world’s “smallest” volcano and to play a round of golf at the Tagaytai Highlands Country Club. To get to the Volcano you have to take a boat ride on the lake that surrounds it and if you want to go to the rim it requires a one hour horse ride. We opted just to take some pictures and head to the Country Club for lunch. The Highlands golf course is striking as it winds down the hillside and offers breathtaking views from just about every tee. It also doesn’t allow much room for error as the narrow fairways are lined both sides by thick jungle and brush – good thing we bought a bunch of used balls at the caddy stand! Being a total golf hack it was fun to play with a caddy as they know the course and give you pointers that really do make a difference. I was even lucky enough to win a sleeve of balls for hitting the “flower planter” on hole #4 which has a dramatic 500 ft drop from tee box to fairway.

As usually happens with vacation, the time went by too fast and we were rushing through some last minute shopping on our way to the airport! We had a fantastic time, thanks to Craig & Grace for hosting us – hopefully next trip for the four of us will be Uruguay in ‘09.

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