When we found out that we were moving to the Philippines, many people told us to take advantage of living in that part of the world by traveling to “nearby” countries.  Every person that has been to Cambodia told us that out of all the Asian countries they visited, Cambodia was their favorite.  I must agree that it was pretty amazing.  However no one told us how HOT it would be, and we even traveled in December when it was cooler than other times of the year!

We booked a vacation package through HAS Travel and we were very happy with what we received.  They were there to pick us up at the airport in an air conditioned van.  All of our dinner and lunch reservations were made through them, they paid for any fees, and they were always on time and very friendly.  We only stayed in Cambodia for 3 days/2 nights, but we were able to see some amazing sites.  We visited at least 6 temples, bargain shopped at the local markets for souvenirs, ate a variety of food, stayed at a 5 star hotel, and didn’t kill each other.  Overall I would say it was a successful vacation!

Sokha Angkor Hotel pool

Cambodian roads were clean…at least the areas that they tourist see

Our fabulous tour guide giving us information about the temples…notice the long sleeve shirt, pants, scarf and hat to protect from the sun and getting darker skin

Cambodian schools are held in 2 sessions. A morning and afternoon session with each session lasting 4 hours. This school was taught by monks

Palm Sugar. They take the natural sugar from the palm tree fruit and boil it down and then pour them into these molds to sell.

Super steep stairs were pretty common in the temples

Amazing stone sculptures seen throughout the temples

Amazing detail. And this was just one small area of the Banteay Srei Temple

Stone warriors on a bridge leading into the 12th century city of Angkor Thom.

Inside of a functioning pagoda…It was pretty amazing with the art work all over

Angkor Wat (one of the Wonders of the World)

Banyon Temple is known as the “Face temple” with Buddha faces all over

Family photo at the Banyon Temple with locals

Ta Prohm Temple is referred to as “The Tomb Raider Temple” Angelina Jolie stood in this very spot (so they say)

Kalani and Robbie got to see the Banyon Temple from the back of an elephant.

Robbie bought these cool wooden puzzles that entertained Mason

We paid the $2 to have fish eat our dead skin cells for 30 minutes. It tickles a lot!

Kalani got her first massage in Cambodia and loved it.

This lady really ran through the night market after Mason. Glad so many ladies think our 3 year old is cute, but it is kind of creepy too.

The kids were troopers to see the temples, even in the middle of the day…but it sure was hot

More photos of our Cambodian vacation here.

My brother is visiting us and we want to make sure we keep him busy while he is here!  So, today I took him to Rizal Park with Mason.  This park was named after Jose Rizal, a Filipino martyr.

Monument of Jose Rizal with guards on duty.

Information about Jose Rizal posted at the park

Front of the Jose Rizal “garden” area…Mason just woke up

Robbie about to be executed like Jose Rizal

Tia just got shot!

Entrance of the Chinese Garden at Rizal Park

Mason inside the Chinese Garden

Statue of Confucius in the Chinese Garden…I tried to tell Mason it was Sensei Wu from Ninjago, but he didn’t believe me

More photos of Rizal Park here.

Matt has great co-workers that tell him about places to go and things to try.  He has a co-worker in California who married a Filipina, so they return to the Philippines often and recommended a resort owned by his brother in-law called Eagle Point.  With it being the “All Saints Day” holiday, we decided to take a day trip to that resort.  The drive was about 1.5 hours away, and being from Texas we are use to having to drive to get anywhere!

Because it was a holiday we wanted to treat our household help, so we took them along for a “vacation” type of day and to also help with the kids so Matt and I could enjoy ourselves as well.  (They had the actual holiday off on Thursday, but the day after they came to work…think of it as Thanksgiving day as the holiday, and then Black Friday was the day that we took our day trip)

Something we were not aware of was the tolls on the road.  It was a lot like traveling in Europe where we kept having to stop on the freeway to pay tolls.  We paid about $8 each way just in tolls.

Day trip to Eagle Point from Makati, Manila = 100 minutes drive with no traffic one way.

Loading up in the “shuttle” to take us from the parking lot to the resort

Kalani helping her dad out with sunscreen so he won’t get burn.

Matt trying to get Kalani to snorkel in the pool with the black tip sharks…she didn’t want to do that.

Matt did get Kalani to snorkel with him out in the ocean.

Mason also tried snorkeling in the ocean with his mom.

The resort is called “Eagle Point” and they had about 6 “Filipino Eagles” there and a few other birds as well in their aviary.

The kids (and adults) really enjoyed this slide

Since we spent the day at the resort, we ate at their lunch buffet.  It was pretty good food with a decent selection and reasonably priced.  We spent around $65 for 5 adults and 2 children to swim, snorkel and eat lunch.  We will most likely return to this resort again and probably stay the night so we don’t have to be in the car for 3-5 hours in one day.

When Matt and I came on a house hunting trip to the Philippines in September, we were told about The Mind Museum.  I love taking the kids to museums and letting them learn while having fun.  So, we spent a couple of hours there and had Kalani bring along a friend she met at church.

Learning about static electricity

Crazy mom hair!

Kalani inside a large bubble

Mason making a bubble “just like his sister”

The museum wasn’t super cheap, but it was a needed activity for our family.  You can only do the same things a number of times at the temporary housing before you get stir crazy.  It was also a bit upsetting that we paid $11-$15 person and could only be there during a certain 3 hour time frame.  But, the museum was pretty cool and there were things that we didn’t get around to seeing or doing.  I’m sure that we will attend again before we leave the country.

We have now been in the Philippines as a family for a week!  With traveling there are the pros and cons, so here is my attempt capture our first week of the good and bad.

CONS:

-Living in temporary housing.  This isn’t that bad since they are serviced apartments with a yummy breakfast buffet, nice fitness center, 2 pools and hot tub.  But, it does mean that we have to move again in a few weeks once our furniture arrives.

-Not having our things.  We traveled with 6 suitcases and 3 carry-ons…I guess we could have brought 2 more suitcases, but really we didn’t have room in the cars for more suitcases and I didn’t want to try to maneuver more suitcases either.

-Arriving on a Holiday Week.  The International school was out for the whole week, so Kalani wasn’t able to start school and make friends right away.  Many people were  gone from church traveling and stores were closed for “All Saint’s Day” as well.

 -Jet-lag.  I was told that it takes about one day for every hour difference from your “host” country to over come jet-lag.  And that seems to be the case since everyone tells us that it took them about 2 weeks to overcome their jet-lag. (The Philippines is 13 hours ahead of Texas during day-light savings)

PROS:

-Having our driver on-call 24/7. We got picked up from the airport  by our driver in a new Toyota Fortuner.   It is a company policy for us NOT to drive in the country.  And really we don’t want to drive here since we would most likely be in an accident or cause accidents daily if we did drive.

-Having “Help”.  We hired the help from the family we replaced and they are FABULOUS!  We have a maid/cook and nanny. I came to the realization yesterday that they are another Tia, and I am getting use to it quickly.

-Church Members.  I think that if you want to travel and/or live overseas you should be Mormon since there are members all over the world and you automatically become included into the local network of Mormons at the new location.  Our branch here has nearly 200 members with 98% active!  We have also been invited over for dinner 3 (edit: make that 4!) times during our first week.  A thoughtful co-worker also invited us to lunch and a movie on Saturday.

-New Adventures.  We love to get out and try new things.

-Friendliness of locals.  Super nice and friendly people everywhere we go.

-Spending time together as a family.

Highlights of the week:

Halloween party for the kids at our temporary serviced  apartments

Mason found a dinosaur at the Mind Museum

Kids rode on these animals in the mall…kind of like bumper cars

We dropped the kids off at a play place for an hour where there were toys, slides, computers, etc

Snorkeling with black tip sharks

We are looking forward to more adventures during the next 2-3 years while we live here.  And REALLY looking forward to having our furniture and belongings with us so it will feel more like home.  And REALLY REALLY looking forward to friends and family visiting us!