Taking Orders...

Dear Friends,

These delicious snacks can easily be picked up at the airport when leaving China.  Let us know how many packages you would like.

Love,
H & B

Bradley Knight?

Dear Friends,

Brad just loves it when I book the travel tickets and things like this happen.

Love,
H

Sunday Dinner

Dear Friends,

Want to know the best part of Shanghai? You are looking at it!  Three great friends from our years in Bucharest. We get together nearly every Sunday for dinner. Great fun!

Love,
H & B

Play Time!

Dear Friends,

These boys were having a fantastic time with their boats made from old pieces of styrofoam and a piece of plastic. No doubt they found these items in the trash and made the boats themselves. They charmed all of us at the boat dock by having such a great time with something so simple.

Love,
H & B

Coco Grande Bus

Dear Friends,

We were quite the spectacle as we drove to the boat dock in this ride.  We are sure the locals have seen it hundreds of times.  But we still felt sort of silly.

Love,
H & B

Siquijor Taxi Stand

Dear Friends,

We were so overwhelmed with drivers when we arrived in Siquijor. We are sure every one of the drivers of these taxis was following us down the street offering us a ride for a "good price".

Love,
H & B

Fire Dancer

Dear Friends,

We had a few fascinating entertainers one night at the resort. The fire-dancers are always the BEST!.

Love,
H & B

Dinner

Dear Friends,

We LOVED this view we had at dinner nearly every night.  Dinner on the beach was fantastic!

Love,
H & B

Toad

Dear Friends,

Although its hard to tell, this toad was about the size of your hand. I missed stepping on him by centimeters on the walk to our room one night.  Thank goodness that didn't happen.

Love,
H

Swim Up

Dear Friends,

What is better than warm weather, a swim up bar and Pina Coladas made with fresh coconut cream?  Not much!

Love,
H & B

Frangipani Lodge

Dear Friends,

We ended up staying in two different rooms while we were at Coco Grove. We may be the only people we know that "downgrade" rooms. Saving the few dollars got us up close and personal with the wildlife...giant geckos, a scorpion and a few large spiders.  We'll think twice before we do that again!

Love,
H & B

Siquijor Sunset

Dear Friends,

We continued our routine of sundowners on the beach with a game of Cribbage on this vacation. This night, we actually found a couple of friends that could take our photo.

Love,
H & B

Coco Pins

Dear Friends,

We asked a few people how to play this game.  Not even the bartenders knew. Maybe it was just there for looks?  Or, maybe you know how to play?

Love,
H & B

Philippine Rum

Dear Friends,

Drinks at the resort for a ridiculous price or a $2.85 bottle of Philippine rum? Which would you choose?  We managed a little of both.

Love,
H & B

Coco Grove

Dear Friends,

While we are not normally "resort travelers", this place was one of the highlights of our vacation. We ended up staying an additional night here for a total of five. While there were a lot of great things about the place, the 15 USD full body massages for an hour was the best!

Love,

H & B

Gas Station Stop

Dear Friends,
Our driver Philip had to make a stop at the "gas station" on the way to our resort.  Very typical of South East Asia gas stations....a wooden kiosk with petrol in soda (pop) bottles.  If you look carefully, you can see this particular station offers two types of petrol...the red and the green. We did get an explanation regarding the difference.

Love,
H & B

Siquijor Tricycle

Dear Friends,

When we arrived in Siquijor, we were faced with dozens of tricycle taxis at the boat dock. We were not prepared after our hour and a half boat ride of misery.  Luckily we met Philip.  He found us a great hotel and came back to get us the next day to take us to our other resort. He must have had one of the newest tricycles on the island. We were riding in style.

Love,
H & B

Postcards

Dear Friends,

Here is Brad during one of his post card writing afternoons.  He takes those cards you receive VERY seriously. This spot had beer, music AND a great view.

Love,
H

Xin Nian Kuai Le!

Dear Friends,

Happy New Year!  Last night the Chinese rang in (or should we say banged in) the new year! We went up to the 18th floor of our apartment building for the spectacle. We have seen many fireworks displays over the years but NONE have been as loud. Be sure to turn up the volume on your computer.

Love,
H & B

Jackfruit

Dear Friends,

This jackfruit is all over Asia. Not something we had growing up in Michigan or New Brunswick.  We have mixed feelings about this one. Would prefer a mango over this any day!

Love,
H & B

Apo Island Sunset

Dear Friends,

Have thousands of these photos too!  It is so hard to decide which we like the best.

Love,
H & B

Apo Beach Resort

Dear Friends,

Our little corner of Apo Island was pretty and hot. If only there had been running water and electricity at this place, it would have been great!

Love,
H & B

Whale Shark

Dear Friends,

We spent our Christmas morning like everyone else...snorkeling with whale sharks off the coast of Cebu Island. Trust us when we say we have MANY more photos from this morning. We can bore you with those when we see you!

Love,
H & B

Apo Adventurer

Dear Friends,

We loved this wet ride over to Apo Island.

Love,
H & B

Market

Dear Friends,

After a local bus dropped us off at the pier, we had a lovely walk through this deserted market.  I didn't get the group of children that followed us for quite a while in the photo.

Love,
H

Stools

Dear Friends,

As we walked by this cafeteria counter, we couldn't help noticing these cooking pots stools.  They may be effective but certainly not made for comfort.

Love,
H & B

Merry Christmas!

Dear Friends,

Nothing's better than Ning Ning shots to celebrate the holiday!  We stayed at The Blue Orchid during our visit to Moalboal, Cebu. We met some fun friends to share the holiday. We we're thankful to Judith and Mark (on the ends) that helped make our stay so great!

Love,
H & B

Philippine Carolers

Dear Friends,

These kids has some VERY interesting versions of Christmas carols. So did the other 7 groups that came by.

Love,
H & B

Tricycle Ride

Dear Friends,

No Christmas day is complete without a tricycle ride into town for dinner.

Love,
H & B

Dinner in the Antique Store

Dear Friends,

Our Lonely Planet guide book recommend this place for dinner. It was literally like eating in an antique store. There was stuff everywhere. It was so bizarre. The spicy calamari was fantastic so it was worth the trip!

Love,
H & B

Magellan's Cross

Dear Friends,

One of the only points of interest in Cebu City was Magellan's Cross. So, of course we had to stop and have a look.

Love,
H & B

No Spitting!

Dear Friends,

It is really unfortunate that this restaurant had to put up a "No Spitting" sign.  Can only imagine what was going on before the sign went up.

Love,
H & B

Snake

Dear Friends,

We have no idea what this man was doing with his snakes on a busy road in downtown Cebu.  He did draw quite a crowd.

Love,
H & B

Jeepeny

Dear Friends,

We kept talking about getting a ride in one of these works of art on wheels but it never happened.  Most of the time, the traffic in Cebu was so bad, it was easier just to walk.

Love,
H & B

Philippines

Dear Friends,

This year for the holidays, we traveled to the Philippines. We thought some nice beaches, fresh air and sun would do us some good. It was the most relaxing vacation EVER!

Love,
H & B

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

Life was a little busy before the holidays and getting to the blog was difficult.  We are going to try to get back on track.  SCIS threw a great holiday party before we all left for the break. I think it is safe to say we all had a great time.

Wishing you all a happy and healthy new year!

Love,
H & B

Holiday Decoration?

Dear Friends,

A few of us tried to figure out the meaning of this particular holiday decoration. We have NO idea.

Love,
H & B

Our Tree

Dear Friends,

It is a little Charlie Brownish but we like it anyway.

Love,
H & B

Christmas Trees

Dear Friends,

Which would you prefer?  The lime sherbet tree or the purple/pink combo tree?

Love,
H & B

Drummers

Dear Friends,

These drummers were encouraging runners near the marathon finish line. I can still hear the beat in my head.

Love,
H

Shanghai Marathon

Dear Friends,

I went out to cheer on friends for the run. Thought this was one of the more interesting runners I saw.

Love,
H

P. S. Next year, I will be running NOT watching! (I hope!)

Blue Roses

Dear Friends,

We are not sure what occasion would call for these glitter tipped blue roses. Any ideas?

Love,
H & B

Fall

Dear Friends,

It has been nice to see the change of seasons again.

Love,
H & B

Chips

Dear Friends,

Many of you ask if we can find familiar food here.  As you can see we are not in need of tortilla chips.  Of course, we haven't actually purchased any of these as they are $10 a bag.  Think we can wait until summer to enjoy these treats!

Love,
H & B

Thanksgiving

 Dear Kent and Hanrich,

Thank you for the fantastic Thanksgiving gathering. The food was amazing but the company was even better!

Love,
H & B

Bikes with Carts

Dear Friends,

Guess the carts and bikes with carts are not allowed in the bike lane. They must slow down the bikers and scooters.

Love,
H & B

Transportation

Dear Friends,

My bike is finally in action. I LOVE it! We have great bike lanes here.  Just a quick 20 minutes and I am at work. I am hoping the double locks will keep it safe.

Love,
H

Chicken

Dear Friends,

You can buy this yummy chicken leg at 7-11 any time of day or night.

Love,
H & B

Improvements

Dear Friends,

My classroom is finally starting to feel like a kindergarten classroom should. A big improvement from the beginning of the year.

Love,

H

Moving Day!

Dear Friends,

It's HERE!!!! Finally, the paperwork is complete and our things made it to our apartment.  We have a LOT of work to do!

Love,
H & B