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Fond Memories

http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2010/05/french-tomato-tart-recipe/

Thanks for sending this Mom!  We arrived at Kate's two weeks after this article.  It really is that beautiful!

Hello, and Vancouver

I'm pretty sure that this New Year, 2011, will deliver a ferocious slap to 2010's face WIKI KA-POW! and new blood will splatter the wall, spelling out important answers to important questions.

Is China a robot? Do Wall St. executives know how to read and write? Are you going to eat that?

Yes, yes, all important. But the most significant: where, oh where in the world are Larissa & Andrew hiding? After eight months of consistent blog posts from around the world, why the sudden drop?

Sorry about that.

We last left you in the Philippines where scuba diving and family dinners were the amazing norm. We stayed there for about a month, and that's about eleven months too short (scuba diving, lechon, san miguel). See the posts below for more about the Philippines. As usual, if you have any questions feel free to leave a comment or send an email.

From there we went to China for a few hours where we raced throughout the Beijing Airport to shop and eat:

Larissa, on two hours of sleep. Her vegetables are sprinkled with shrimp, mine with bacon.

Shockingly, the airport blitz didn't satisfy our China fix, so we plan to return someday for a more complete version. Home and the holidays awaited.

But first, Vancouver! The air, the air, the air. After spending a few months in cities throughout Southeast Asia, we took a solid two minutes outside the Vancouver airport taking deep breathes. Seriously, it was nice.

We stayed a week to see our respective extended families of grandmas, aunts, uncles, and cousins. This recap post will not do our visit nor their hospitality justice. Larissa and I have visited Vancouver a bunch in the past, so this time around was just unwinding from the trip and spending time with family. A big thank you to all of them (In particular, Aunt Parveen, for giving us our first paid job of the trip. $10 never tasted so good!).

Walking around Granville Island. Vancouver, it's awesome.

Finally, we made our way home for the holidays. and now we're back in NY. We miss the road, and we're already planning our next adventure (bike trip from Vancouver to LA).

Stay tuned for closing remarks.

Hang on Tight

Knowing there isn't much diving back home, I pushed for one more tropical dive.  Destination: Puerto Galera. The city is only a "hop, skip, and ferry ride away from Manila," according to the Lonely Planet. The authors also noted the water crossing may be choppy.  That was our first warning.

Three and a half hours of "Transformers," "Final Destination," and other high-speed collision type movies on a speeding bus and we arrive in the port city of Batangas.  I noted the Anti-Hijacking Office to my left just before stepping off the bus.  After searching the options on both piers, I resigned to our only option: a small outrigger.  Our advice was to take a big fast craft, but none could be found.  I bought my ticket, then the mandatory environmental usage tax, and then the mandatory port fee.  I politely declined the optional life/severe injury insurance.  Warning number two.

Bamboo poles of the outrigger

Harvesting Sugar Cane . . . By hand . . .

is tough work . . .

Make sure to check out the rest of the photos on the right -->

Balut

Balut: a fertilized duck or chicken egg with a nearly-developed embryo inside that is boiled and eaten in the shell.

Following the instructions of my Tito Serge, you first add some salt, chili, and/or vinegar, sip the broth, peel back, and enjoy.

Like a fine wine

Filipino Thanksgiving

July 4th came and Halloween went with little more than a shoulder shrug. But Thanksgiving was different. That was the one special holiday -- family, food, good ole American overeating -- that we'd surely miss.

Fortunately, I have family in the Philippines. On November 25th my cousin Paulo picked Larissa and I up at the Manila Airport (we were returning from scuba diving Dumaguete), and he brought us to meet my aunt and uncle at Dad's, a restaurant serving up turkey, stuffing, cranberries, and all the other typical Thanksgiving foods. . . Plus lechon! The food hit the spot, and there were bites of pork, moments of fatty piglet bliss that took me away from homesickness and back to enjoying the present.

Starting a new tradition: pork over turkey

Diving in the Coral Triangle

The Coral Triangle -- comprised of the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, and Timor-Leste -- is nothing short of incredible.

And here's why:

• The triangle is the origin of coral reef species, from where these species dispersed and populated the oceans.
  
• The triangle has the highest coral diversity in the world (76% of the world's coral species).
  
• Home to over 3,000 species of fish.
  
• Home to 6 out of the world's 7 marine turtle species.

The most important rules to follow while scuba diving are to always breathe (shocker!) and to equalize the pressure in your air spaces (hold your nose, close your mouth, blow). With so much to look and awe at in these waters, the simple steps above prove surprisingly difficult.

Learning to scuba dive in the Philippines

Day 1 of scuba lessons:

Yea, we look a bit spastic, but by day three we were gliding over awe-inspiring reefs, and even 18 meters down a coral wall.   Scuba Ventures is an incredible dive shop to learn with.  Can't recommend them enough - thank you!

18 hours later

After several " we really, really need to update the blog"s between us, here's a quick recap.  Keep reading, there's more after this post.

Andrew and I left Bali on Nov. 5th, spent the night in Kuala Lumpur (in a hotel this time, an upgrade from a bench in the Bali airport), then arrived in Manila, Philippines on the 7th.  Finally in THE Philippines!  A desire to come here motivated this whole trip over a year ago.

In a few words, Manila was awesome.  Andrew's aunt and uncle - Tita Agnes and Tito Bengie - welcomed us to Manila, hosted us for a lovely family lunch, showed us the major sights, and introduced us to my newest desert obsession, halo halo.  It's a party in a bowl.  

On Nov. 15th we took a short flight to Kalibo, then a shorter ferry ride to paradise, also known as Boracay.  Look at the pictures, you'll agree.  More on Boracay soon.