Day 36: Snorkel Time

Friday morning we grabbed our snorkels and headed down to the beach to meet our captain, a Filipino version of Jack Sparrow.  The lovely white banca boat took us an hour away to Balicasag, a small island that's all about snorkeling and diving.  We got of the big banca boat and got on a much smaller one, driven by our snorkeling guide, Allan.  This man has been voted the Munns' Family Favorite Filipino.  He spoke about ten English words which he repeated over and over.  "RELAX!"  "BALANCE!" "One by One!"  "Swimming?"  "Careful baby the mask,"he admonished me repeatedly as I swam in the water, holding Lucy's rejected mask and snorkel.  He knew his stuff, taking us right to a gold mine of fish and handing us bread to feed them.  We saw parrot fish, a lion fish, rainbow fish, sea turtles, clown fish.  All the kids got into it, even Lucy who caught on quickly.  White sand, blue water, sunny skies.  Dreamy!

Days 35: Bohol's Beautiful Beach

So many people had told us that the Philippines are beautiful, but after a month in the city I just wasn't feeling it.  On Thursday we decided very last-minute (as in a half-hour before we left!) to go to Bohol, an island in the central part of the Philippines.  Best decision we've ever made! Okay, behind getting married and having our kids :).  Jacob booked us a place at Amarela, a lovely resort right on the white, sandy beach.  Upon arriving we dropped our bags, pulled out our swimsuits, and headed straight for the beach.  Look at what we found!  I can now honestly say that the Philippines are beautiful!

Chocolate Chip Starfish!

They were everywhere!

Beach Buddies.

It got dark way too early (around 6:30)!

This woman was cutting open sea urchins with a huge machete and draining the juices into a bottle. We couldn't figure out the purpose but thought it was cool anyway.

Days 28-33: Week of Service

Lucy and Will hand out bubbles and balls to a line of children at the LDS church 

Three boys blowing their bubbles as we drove away.

Jason taps heads in Duck, Duck, Goose.

Will and his new buddy, Jason.

Orphan children playing Name that Animal.

Sam and Rico (proudly showing his finger puppets) at the Mabuhay House.

Jenissa (who is receiving jaw surgery) and Rico (club foot surgery patient).

Anna, Samuel, and Nico.

Jacob and I had three goals for our family on this trip: 1-Grow closer as a family through a simplified life and lots (oh, lots!) of together time. 2-Teach children gratitude for their abundance of blessings and 3-Give meaningful service.  I felt like the first two goals were happening just by being here but that we hadn't done much to accomplish the third.  Upon returning from Thailand we all kind of hit the wall.  Being in a naturally beautiful place made it hard to return to the big, dirty, park-less city.  School started for all the kids here while we were gone so we were now on our own.  We decided it would be a good week to do service, and the need couldn't be greater with all the flooding.  We kicked off the week on Saturday going to the grocery store and buying toiletries for flood victims.  We dropped them off at the home of a ward member who was collecting them then headed to a poor part of town called Taguig.  After driving through winding, garbage-strewn, narrow streets and finally hiring a taxi to show us the way, we pulled into a small LDS church where 21 families were staying as there homes were under water.  Our kids handed out bubbles, bouncy balls and small gospel pictures to 30 eager children who had nothing but the clothes on their backs.  It was hard to see and we did so little for people who need so much.  They thanked us with their smiles and we were back on the road.

On Tuesday we caught a cab to an orphanage about 45 minutes away in the hills of suburban Manila.  We received warm welcomes from friend and orphanage teacher, Beth Potter (from Soccer Academy) and ten orphan children ranging from eight to twelve.  They were so excited to have us there and were absolutely darling.  The kids all decorated cupcakes and then devoured them.  Anna showed them how to play Duck, Duck, Goose and Ring-Around-the-Rosy.  We taught them "Give Said the Little Stream" and then they sang "I Will Always Love You" (Whitney Houston is huge here) for us.  A boy named Abeth who had been brought in off the streets a week earlier belted out an impressive version of ABBA's "Dancing Queen."  My kids were really sad to leave as they'd all become fast friends.  I'm hoping we can get back there one more time before we come home.

Thursday Anna, Samuel and I walked to a nearby church member, Pauline's home and caught a ride to the Mabuhay House, a home where people go before and after receiving free surgeries for cataracts, cleft lip and palettes, club feet and burn contractions.  The organization began in 1986 by a former mission president and they now do over 15,000 surgeries every year in 20 countries.  Simply remarkable.  Pauline told me it only costs $35 to perform the cleft palette surgery here but many could never afford that.  We decorated cookies with the children and colored finger puppets.  I remarked to Pauline about what meticulous artists the children were and she told me that Filipino public schools don't have the money for paper, crayons or other school supplies so to color anything is a special treat that they take seriously.  The children, once again, touched us with their broad smiles and cheerful attitudes.  Nico, a handsome 16 year-old colored meticulously from a wheelchair.  Pauline told me when he arrived his clubbed feet were so mangled that his legs wrapped behind his body.  After several months and as many surgeries he only had bandages around his feet.  The doctors are confident that he will be able to walk soon.  The most heart-breaking part of Nico's story is that because of his physical condition he has never been allowed to attend school.  16 and not a day of schooling in his life.  We sang songs with the children and distributed more bouncy balls.  Samuel told me he noticed they didn't know what to do with them at first.  He bounced one on the table and as we walked out you could hear the sound of constantly bouncing balls.  Anna and Samuel listened quietly as Pauline told us stories of the children who have come and gone, having their lives forever changed by these simple surgeries.

Day 25: More Fun in the Philippines?

"It's More Fun in the Philippines" is the country's new tourism logo.  As we looked out our plane's window to this view we had our doubts.

We woke up at 5 to get on the road back to Bangkok to catch our plane.  We had arranged and confirmed to have the cab driver who brought us from Bangkok come back and get us but there was no sign of him in the morning.  Luckily the front desk found us a van and we were driving by 6:30 and didn't get stuck in traffic.  When we landed in the Philippines it was pouring.  Flooding actually.  A monsoon had struck the day before and didn't move out for 48 hours.  You may have heard about it in the news.  At one point one half of Manila was under water.  Today, five days later, parts of the city are still under water.  The devastation is unbelievable.  We went through customs and went to find a taxi to take us back to Manila, 1 1/2 hours away.  The cab drivers just laughed and told us the road to Manila was flooded and would be for at least another day or two.  We had no choice but to find a hotel room and hunker down.  By noon the next day the roads were thankfully open and we headed back.  The traffic in Manila was more insane than ever, taking us a half hour to go one kilometer because all the underpasses were flooded.  We finally made it back three hours later.

JustFamily.com links (posts)

Our brother-in-law has created a new website that is kind of like a Facebook for families.  The site is www.justfamily.com.  I (Jacob) have made a number of posts to that site using the beta iPhone app.  We're not sure when we will have the ability to duplicate those posts to other sites like FB or blogs.  So, I've just included links to the posts with titles.  You can click on the link and it will load!

Preferred mode of transport
http://www.justfamily.com/story/single/xqKvVGGgolVmEloeoatG

What century is this?
http://www.justfamily.com/story/single/4EBvlRUHQWSx6nBMLI9J

Buying local food
http://www.justfamily.com/story/single/xJTnx0FxPIfBG6UiiE6S

Toothicus update
http://www.justfamily.com/story/single/P9P7TXt5MWByF4XHI2Ls

Filipino cabs rock!
http://www.justfamily.com/story/single/FLYBpKLzfpHD5CbGhgGU

Welcome to Thailand
http://www.justfamily.com/story/single/T3qdzdNx8TwTAbQ71XkZ

Khao Takiab and Cicada Market

While at church I met a girl from Florida whose husband works at the embassy.  She said she loved Hua Hin and had some recommendations:  Khao Takiab and the Cicada Market.  We hit both and were so glad we did.  Khao Takiab is a hill topped by a Buddhist temple.  It is also home to hundreds of Howler Monkeys that roam free.  We got there at dusk just as a woman threw them bananas for dinner.  The feeding frenzy was amazing and slightly scary as the monkeys ran around at our feet.  Next we scaled about ten million stairs to the Buddhist temple with a great view of the beach and the ocean.  Our cab driver was late picking us up and we were getting chewed up by mosquitoes so we started walking down the road.  We walked through a little neighborhood where Will met a friend (see picture) and then met our cab driver who took us to Cicada Market.

Let me pause here and explain our hierarchy of cool on this trip.  There is third world-cool and then there is really and truly, unconditionally cool.   Most markets are third-world cool.  Cicada Market falls into the latter category of something I would love in the U.S.  First of all, all of the vendors were selling actual handmade things, not just knock-off purses and made-in-China trinkets.  An old woman sat knitting the hats she was selling.  Another woman hand-stitched peoples' names onto t-shirts she had appliqued.  Local art hung on the walls of an open building.  The next thing I loved were the performers, speaking in Thai and doing traditional and modern dances.  The best part for us, of course, was the food.  For 100 baht ($3) you bought a coupon book that served as credit for the different food vendors.  Fresh seafood, kabobs, and handmade coconut ice cream served in coconut shells were some of our favorite things.  It was a beautiful night with live musicians performing throughout the market.  We took a tuk-tuk, the kids' preferred mode of transportation, back to our hotel.

Howler Monkeys were everywhere!

• 

Buddha

The view from the Buddhist temple.

Will had been sporting his slingshot all day and when this street fish vendor saw it he pulled out his too.

Feeling the beat at Cicada Market

Amazing seafood at the market

Loving the coconut ice cream served in a coconut shell.

Lest we forget we are still in a developing country...

Thais are obsessed with their queen and there are shrines to her everywhere.  I loved this painting of her.

On our way home in a tuk-tuk.

Day 24: Can't go to Thailand without...

...riding an elephant.  It's totally touristy but had to be done!  Our elephant guide's name was a 19 year-old named Ap who expertly perched himself on the elephant's neck.  When we were halfway through the ride an older woman came out of a bamboo hut, offering him a straw hat.  He, embarrassed, shooed her away.  I asked, "Your mom?"  He nodded his head.  Some things are the same no matter where you are in the world!  During the ride Ap asked if we wanted him to take some pictures.  I handed him our camera and he started clicking away, taking about 50 pictures of us.  At one point he smiled mischieviously and said, "Okay, goodbye!"  The girls were relieved when he decided to come back after all because we were sitting about 15 feet in the air!  The boys were on another elephant in front of us and had a great time, although by the end we were all melting in the intense, humid heat.  We all agreed that will stick with tuk-tuks to get around.  We've learned that liability is something that doesn't exist in these countries.  The kids loved holding this darling monkey and luckily didn't get bit!