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A quiet couple of days after the Manila bound troops had left, then I was into Christmas celebrations and then zooming off to Manila myself on 26th Dec.....
I had to be up earlyish (around 07:00AM) - and set 2 alarms - both of which did not work - but I was up anyway!! Off to Changi and 3 hours later into Manila. Janet had told me to wait under the letter "C" (for Curley) - where newly arriving passengers wait for car-pickup.... so I did.... and waited... and .... waited - you have to know that Manila traffic is impossible to predict - so I was ready for something like this, it was less chaotic than usual - and one enjoyable incident put me in a good mood... a lady "hovered" nearby, with a piece of paper in her hand... and eventually asked "are you Mr Webb?" - I replied "no" - and she said she'd "been waiting a long time to pick him up, but hadn't found him yet" - so I quietly suggested that she go look, 100 yards further up the "pick-up" area - because that was where the alphabet ended - and she'd find "W's" - up there! She went off quite happily!!
Hooray!! There they were - Marga driving - dumped the luggage in the boot and off we went..
Firstly to the Intercontinental Hotel in Makati, so I could get checked in - then straight round to Nena and Joe's house to meet up with the rest of the family - a big gathering - Mom (having recently celebrated her 90th birthday), Nena and Joe's kids (John John only) and grand-kids (Marty only), Elaine and Andy, Doris and Howard (at last we meet Howard!!) - lots of chitty-chat and eating (national pass-time!!). Then poor driver Marga had to speed us off for dinner with Anna and JL in their newish house (very swish) - sorry we were a bit late - but a lovely spread (thanks Anna) - and met old Janet/Anna school friends Danny Tiongco and Dr Angel. Driver Marga went off to have her own "evening" - but had to return to pick us up later on. Antonio (boyfriend) was deputised to drive me back to Makati (thanks Antonio!), whilst Janet & Marga zoomed off home in the opposite direction.
Next morning (27th Dec), I'd been told to wait outside the Hotel - a car would come by and pick me up... sure enough one did.... I jumped in the back - with Doris and Marty, in front of them were Howard, Elaine and Andy, and further in front were driver and Rod (Janet's elder brother) - who I'd not met - and when we got to the meeting point where we were supposed to team up with Janet & Marga - I introduced myself.
We then sped off (me now with Janet & Marga) towards Tagaytay and the Ta'al volcano - initially into a Golf/Country Club (very impressive) that Rod is a member of - for lunch - then round the rim of the BIG crater to.....
Canyon Woods - where we've bought a plot of land - the "Team" came and viewed our plot - and weren't impressed!! Too sloping, too small, too prone to getting washed away, too low to get the advantages of "cooler" Tagaytay etc.. etc... So Janet wanted to check things out with the developers - but "The Team" needed to get back to Manila - so they zoomed off. We were "placated" by what the architect lady told us, and then snooped around the large Clubhouse..
Marga and Janet
looking towards our plot - from the Clubhouse...... These photies don't show it
all that well - but at the skyline - that is where the lake starts... and in the
middle of the lake is a large island - on which is the volcano.
Part of the
"developed" part of Canyon Woods - with the gold course visible at centre-right.
Our plot is behind the fir-tree at left and way further down the valley.
Very pleasant feel
to the place.. holiday homes and very pleasant mountain surroundings - fir-trees
etc..
Bye-bye Canyon Woods - for a while!! Driver does a brilliant job
(Janet did a bit too) - but a long, night-time drive back - we all got hungry -
so stopped at ?Alabang? - into a Mall and had an Italian dinner (very nice) -
and bumped into Gina - an old friend from Hong Kong days!!
Next morning - I'm outside the hotel again (checked-out) - and "the Team" come by and we all go off to the Domestic Terminal/Airport. There to be "organised" by Monique (Rod's daughter) (well done Monique!!) - and met up with some of the "golfers" and their ladies.... Charles/ June, Nigel/Dreena and son, La-la and Clive, Chris and Trang. The "enlarged Team" was to sort of work out as follows.... Golfers (Rod, Charles, Nigel, Clive and ??) would go off each day in "pursuit of the little white ball", whilst their ladies and "the Family" - sported themselves on the beach.
A four-prop Dash 7 aircraft of Asia Spirit had us (and about 30 others) winging 1 hour down south to Taclan town/airport on Aclan island. What an impressive landing!! Shades of the old Kai Tak airport at Hong Kong... I'm certain the boundary fence was actually in the sea, and the wheels just grazed the top of it... all you could see was sea.... until 1 second later - the wheels touched down!!
A very "holiday" atmosphere (as you'd expect) - reminded me a bit of Koh Samui airstrip - into a couple of SUV's - drive 400 yards to the "ferries".... this is where you realise "those who know" - and "those who don't know". Walk down the beach, through about 10 feet of maybe 3 feet deep water - and onto a banca/ferry - some of the ladies got carried on-board!! Wimps!! The trick is - to wear "suitable" clothes/shoes for this stage of the trip (those who know - did)!
So - off we go - about 20 minutes - across from Aclan - to Boracay island... all along the beach - lots of boats/activity, and then pull up onto the beach at The Regency Hotel - similar routine... off the banca, through the water - up the beach and into the hotel. Well done Monique again - we all got rooms - except for Lance (Rod's son) who was already on Boracay - and had somehow failed to get a bed/room. The Hotel was being extended so things sort of worked/didn't - but in all honesty - they mostly worked fine (maybe 3 or 4 power outages each evening - but if you were drinking - who cares?? - I can usually find my mouth!!)
Green and red
umbrellas identify The Regency Hotel bit of beach - looking north...
Janet getting organised - looking south
still not organised.....
my bit of beach!!
Aclan island is just visible beneath the red umbrella.
J
Janet, Howard and
Doris on the beach with the Hotel at back (with the boys erecting New Year's Eve
stage and "al-fresco" dining areas) - am unsure what all the hands are doing on
Howard's lap!!
One day - we all
took a banca for a "round the island" trip - we paid for 3 hours - this is Janet
(with boat-boy) and Howard and Doris making their way onto the banca.
and again.....
and again...
and again... quite
an ordeal...
So!! We're all on... La-la at left, Janet, then behind at left -
Monique, obscured by pole - Bambi, and at right Ya-Ya, then Howard and Doris
right at the back.
Captain Curley - in
the sun - Aclan behind..
First we stopped for a snorkel - not everybody went in - and
apparently it wasn't much of a site - although the water was very clear....
Janet
Captain reckons we should be going "that way"!!
Howard... pearl
diving... or something...??
Then we came to an island which we were encouraged to tour/visit..
Aclan behind.. Doris and Howard making progress on the corally sand.
Our crew await our
return...
Janet & Doris - the
rest of the Team further ahead..
One of those is
ours...
again...
The island was a bit weird.... volcanic rock - dark grey/black and
very rough. whoever owned/lived/worked here had spent an enormous amount of time
constructing things which were a bit "tacky" This is just a diving platform into
the quite rough sea - photied - didn't swim!
And here are some
structures or other, basically reinforced concrete with smooth beach pebbles
embedded into the cement.
A bridge made from the concrete/pebbles - volcanic rock beyond.
Because we spent too
much time snorkeling and on the funny island - the boat boys said or 3 hours
would only allow us to go back the way we'd come - it would take much longer to
continue round the island - we could have bought a couple more hours - but we
said "back to the beach" - and here we come..
Following another banca....
Janet looking at ME - the rest are less interested...!!
Green and red
umbrellas identify "our beach"!!
But if we'd gone
into "our beach" we wouldn't have got our full 3 hours. So they told the boat
boys to just meander further up the beach and return when our time ran out....
this is towards the end of the beach...
And again - for some
reason it reminded me of some of the suburbs/homes you see from the tourist
boats in Sydney Harbour.
and again...
That was us done
with "round the islanding" - back to beach-life!!
Then, all of a
sudden, it was December 31st, 2004 - New Year's Eve!! Rod had booked an enormous
table, for all of us (Golfers included), at a hotel/restaurant at the north end
of the beach. It was a very lavish affair, with hundreds of seats clustered
around tables set out on the beach, and around a central stage - where the
entertainment was. It was a BYOB (bring your own booze affair) and from there on
- buffet style dining. Janet reckoned a lot of Manila's finest were there, but
it'll take me a while to remember who is/was - who. This is before the party got
going....
Howard and Doris -
sympatico dressing!! That's Rod's tipple at right - Johnny Walker Black label!!
Rod is out of shot to the left, Doris and Howard then Marga and
Lance (always checking his SMS and emails/calls!! Thereafter it is Danny and May
with theirs kids and into the gloom - the Golfers...
May at left, her two
daughters and son, La-la, Clive - who were about to get engaged at midnight -
wooooeeeeehhh!!, Chris and Trang, Dreena and Nigel, Charles and June just out of
shot at the left.
Rod - at head of table, a friend of his to his left, Janet, then
June
Monique - just going
to sleep - Doris too by the looks of things..??
Doris in foreground,
Ya-Ya and Bambi at left, then me - red wine at the ready!!
Ya-Ya and Bambi &
me.
Next day was quiet.. on the beach again.. then on 2nd Jan we were all off in the banca back to the airport and onto Manila. I booked back into the Intercontinental, had a quiet day on my own Monday 3rd (Janet was now in the Shangri-La with Marga - and also back at work) - and alas felt unwell (reckon it was either breakfast, or some canned orange juice - a big family farewell dinner that evening - alas I couldn't eat much - but great to see everyone... then on 4th Jan - up very early - took more than 30 minutes just to get into the terminal building (at 05:30AM!!) then X-Raying queues, and check-in queues and more X-Raying - alas never saw Doris and Howard - who were both flying out that morning - I did see their plane however, taxiing behind ours just before take-off. I was back home in Singapore by lunch-time
Great trip - and many thanks to Rod for his generosity.