9 April
After the wedding Terence and Debbie looked after us for a few days (all newlyweds should have to host their boss and his family!). We basically spent the time eating lots of tropical fruit and moving from swimming pool to swimming pool. The day after the wedding was Terence's birthday. We went to a nearby pool complex with big waterslides. Terence ordered a nice meal and the girls swam and swam for hours. Around 5 pm we went to the local mall. We were in an area of Mindanao that doesn't see many little Australian girls, it was a public holiday and the mall was crowded. We were objects of intense interest, but everyone was all smiles and friendly. It was interesting to see what was available in the supermarket (Weetbix!). It was also interesting to see armed guards at the pool and at the mall. We thought this was due to the trouble Mindanao sometimes has, but Terence said that all big public areas in the Philippines have armed guards.
10 April
Today we got in the back of Debbie's cousin's pick-up and went to Doloros Farm Resort. This seems to be a common name - as we were staying in "The Farm and Carpenter Hill." Farm just implies a bit of nature, although Doloros was running a fish farm next to their gigantic pool. They had two pools - both spring fed. One was deep, the other was child high, both bigger than Olympic pools. The restaurant was excellent, one of the best meals we had all trip. Aleisa cooked her face after 5 hours in the pool, then we enjoyed a tropical downpour. Debbie's cousin and family decided to stay the night, so we caught a local bus back to Marbel Mall and had pizza in the food court. At night we watched the 18th birthday party extravaganza of the daughter of The Farm's owner. It was a full-on ball! Alesia loved peeping at all the finery. They even had a giant spotlight pointing at the sky.
Overall images of the Philippines:
Election posters, pimped jeepneys, slogan t-shirts, churches, English signage, Jollibee (Old MacDonalds jellybean according to Keira), mango, pineapple, smiles, murals on school walls, still don't like durian, trikes of different design in each province, slums on the edges of the city, pawnshops, bakeries that sell sweet white bread, feeling tall, warm...
