Erik's China journey

This summer Jen and I headed to the Philippines. We were there a little over two weeks.

We flew into Manila then headed south to Batangas city, where we stayed with our family friends from Michigan. They were very kind to us. They have a huge house with a giant swimming pool. They even brought in the town's best cook to make us traditional Philippino food. Next, we headed south for Mindoro, home to Sabang and Puerto Galera. There was great diving, cheap accommodation, and great outdoor activities - we rode an Oxcart through the jungle, and drove around dune buggys. We met some interesting people.

Next we headed to Cebu (on my birthday!!!). I had some nice luck at the Casino that night. The next day we headed to Moalboal, to do some diving and laying out on the beach. We also stopped at the Kawasan falls, which were picturesque. We returned to Cebu the next day. On our last day in Cebu, we went to see the cross of Magellan, as well as some other historical places, churches and things of that nature.

From Cebu, we headed to Boracay - the "Waikiki" of the Philippines. It was a bit over-rated, I must say. But there were great selections of restaurants and activities.

After Borocay, we spent a few days in Manila before the flight home. We stopped in the Manila zoo for a while, and got to play with some interesting animals.

Pictures up on Flickr

This evening, most closest friends and I all got together to celebrate our friend Tony's wedding. He's been a good friend since we studied together in 2005.

Like all Chinese weddings, its was lively and fun. I wish the best to my friend with his marriage.

IMG_0919

IMG_0917

IMG_0916

IMG_0915

IMG_0906

IMG_0890

IMG_0870

IMG_0869

IMG_0867

IMG_0859

IMG_0856

IMG_0853

Late Monday, I returned to the quaint mountain town of Wuyi. It was nice to see the scenic beauty of Wuyishan again. The 9 hour train ride was not particularly pleasant (although much more so than the mountain climbing). I got a chance to sample and buy some "snake baijiu," a bottle of chinese hard liquor with a snake in it. It was great talking with the locals and getting a better understanding of a much different part of China.

This week we had an extra day off from work because of the Dragon Boat festival. Yesterday, my buddy and I headed out on the bullet train for a daytrip to the port city of Ningbo. Compared to Shanghai, the city's 5.4 million population seemed quaint. We visited Moon Lake's beautiful lakes and temples, as well as the city zoo. Then we did some wandering around in the tourist markets. For dinner, we eat fresh seafood, which was amazing.

For those friends and family members who don't have Facebook, i've decided to start updating the travel blog again. This post is about the trip to Hawaii I just got back from a week ago.

The purpose of the trip was to attend my late Grandfather's funeral service, but I also took the time to do some travelling, shopping, skydiving, and scuba diving.

Here is a video and a few pictures:

IMG_3852

IMG_3786

IMG_3584

IMG_3454

IMG_3432

IMG_3366

IMG_3364

IMG_1842

IMG_1821

IMG_1809

IMG_1778

DSC_0177