Philippines- El Nido

Well, I got to add another country to the list I have visited. I went for a business trip to Manila. I had no idea what to expect when I arrived in Manila. I knew it is a country between the first and third world. It has a significant poor population, but also has some very wealthy--just like India. But somehow it was different from India. First off the infrastructure seems to be much better, at least in Manila. Secondly, it looks a lot like the US (not strange as it was a US colony for a while). The cars are 'huge' and the roads nicely paved. The other thing I noticed, at least in Makati, is all of the security forces carrying significant weaponry.

Cindy went on the trip with me, just to kind of scope the place out. We didn't actually see that much of Manila, or the surrounds. I did see our new office building there, and enjoyed the widely available decaf coffee (not just at the hundreds of Starbucks, but elsewhere as well).

After the business trip, Cindy and I went to El Nido for the weekend. Absolutely beautiful. The sky was blue, the ocean blue-green, and clear as a bell. We visited Snake Island where we climbed the long climb to the top, all of five minutes, and had this view. It is named snake island due to the undulating sandbar which is visible at low tide and looks like a long snake. No snakes on the island as far as we could tell.

We also saw a couple of caves, one of which we got to go inside. It was used as a hiding spot during the 2nd world war. Now it only houses some birds and bats. There's a tree whose roots grow right through the rock.

The snorkeling (and diving I presume) is superb. Here these Jack fish are being fed by the resort, as they are every morning for the benefit of the guests. I swam with them the next morning before the feeding as I had missed the sunrise cruise. They are about a meter long, and very fast. In the same area I saw probably two dozen different kinds of fish and sea creatures, including sea urchins, coral, sea stars, and lots of colorful fish. No pictures as my camera isn't waterproof.

We also went kayaking in a lagoon, snorkeling in the same lagoon, and went on a sunset cruise.

I'm ready to go back...