China trip

We had a tremendously invigorating time in China from January 31st to February 4th, when we flew back to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.
What a difference in temperature from Cebu, Philippines.  Our flight took us from Cebu to Manila, then Manila to Beijing.  We arrived on January 31st and were picked up at the airport by private car and driven to our hotel.  We stayed at the Howard Johnson Paragon Hotel near the main train station in Beijing.  It was a beautiful 4 star hotel that I would recommend to anyone who wished to stay in Beijing.  We had earlier booked a tour that included hotel, 4 days of tours, transportation by car or small van to shows, (acrobats and Kung Fu) a visit to the Pandas at the Zoo, sightseeing trip to the Great Wall of China at Badaling (about 50 miles from Beijing) and visits to The Forbidden City, the Llama Temple, The Ming Tombs, a silk factory making silk duvets and pillows and clothing, a jade factory, a porcelain factory, a rickshaw ride in a hutong-with a cooked lunch in a typical Chinese home, etc.
It was go, go, go for five days and we still could have seen more.  Here are some photos, no particular order is indicated

Mave freezing on the Great Wall

Mike just as cold on the Great Wall

Mave standing in front of spectacular jade junk and dragons

Very clean Subway system

Forbidden City

Tienemann Square where Mao is on display.  Can you see the people lined up at 8am?

Tourists climbing the Wall-very steep and was very cold this day

Mave and Mike in front of the Temple of Heaven.  My head is wrapped in a terry towel from our hotel
bathroom.

You have to see this place!!

There are lots more photos but I have to sort them out and resize them so that they download and open easily if readers wish to click on them and make them bigger.

Hasta luego mis amigos

The Holoidays on holiday

I promised another post so here goes...

Hi everyone,

It's late but I had a busy day so I'll try to add some more pictures of the Philippines and China.

I started the last blog talking about Sinulog so now I will try to add some photos from a very hot, awesome, tiring day watching from the security of a grandstand seat as drill team after drill team did their stuff on stage for the photographers and families of the participants-and there were thousands of participants in the parade.

praying to Pit Senyor outside with their candles

The Friday mass spilled out of the Basillica because there was no room inside

School girls taking rest in the Basillica courtyard

Sinulog queen candidate

Puppets with their puppetmasters

One of many drill teams representing towns and municipalities from Cebu
and neigbouring Islands

What fun these young fellows were having!

He behaved very well all day!

Another colourful drill team

Magellan's Cross

These are but a few of the many shots Mike took while immersed in the Sinulog celebrations.  A person really needs to go there to get a feel for the dedication these folks have for Pit Senyor.

Back on the road again soon.

Hola mis amigos,


Well, this blog is long overdue. 

Our last blog was posted before we went on our journey to the Philippines and China. What can I say? It was exciting, tiring, hot and humid, cold and windy; those are a few terms to describe our trip. But I wouldn't take it back for anything.

The main reason we went on this trip was to revisit the homeland of our sister-in-law. The second reason was to experience a one of a kind celebration-SINULOG-and experience it we did. I cannot describe the crowds, the noise, the colour, the devotion, the friendliness of this experience.

Home to the world's smallest monkeys

As you can see they are very small, but so cuddly looking

Those paws really help them cling to almost anything

Our mode of transportation on the Loboc river lunch cruise.

The Chocolate Hills, a natural phenomenon on Bohol

These are some photos of our trip to Letitica Resort and to the island of Bohol (in no apparent order, lol). 

main mode of transportation for 17 family members when we went on our first visit to Leticia RV resort

ok so it's spelled wrong

little jeepney taking family to the waterfalls from Leticia Resort

A very well behaved, quiet class from the school across the street from the resort

Mike and Mike went to the high school and found these girls practising a folk dance

The port on the island of Bohol

Our resort on Bohol, very nice, great sandy beach; little fishes there that will clean your feet, yummy.

Mike's order of a hamburger and fries; fries? yes philippino sized, lol.

These fellows are making machetes by hand.  Lots of labour involved



I hope you have enjoyed these little bits of the Philippines.  I have more but I'm still trying to resize them so that they are easy for you to click on and see them in a larger view.  I''ll get more out tomorrow, I promise.

I started this blog before we left Lo de Marcos and today is March 26 and we are in Ehrenberg, AZ, enjoying a few days here before moving on to Pahrump for a few more days. 

Happy New Year everyone

Greetings to all our friends and relatives who follow our blog.  It's December 31, 2011.  Just another few hours from now it will be 2012 and we're starting the new year with a bang.  Not literally, of course.  In nine days we will be on our way to the Philippines to visit relatives for three weeks. 
I thought you might like to see some photos of our last visit in March 2008.

Kota Beach on Bantayan Island.  This was our bungalow

Caught by surprise my first morning in Cebu waiting for breakfast in an outdoor restaurant at Tambouli Bay resort.

Plantation Bay Resort on Mactan Island

Our hosts in 2008 and in 2012;  thanks guys!!

Kota Beach in 2008, alas the little palapa is no longer there.

The most comfortable chair in the resort and no mechanical parts.

The wonderful view of the ocean, and the restaurant at Kota Beach; outdoors of course.

Getting the idea now?  Very like Mexico but warmer and more humidity because we are closer to the equator.  I would post a lot more pictures but these are not shrunk enough to add a great deal more photos. 
Happy New Year from Holoidaysonholiday

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Hola y Feliz Navidad mis amigos.

It's December 23rd and Mike is busy making hor'deurves (sp) for a cocktail party over at Cruz Marie rv park with friends Linda and Frank and some other special guests.
The sun is shining although it was very chilly this morning (according to Mavis) so I got up, went to the bathroom and headed right back to bed for another hour, mostly just to keep warm.
The inside the rig temp. right now is 75 degrees F.  That isn't too warm today; (Mike says it is...) I'm wearing my hoodie.  It is very nice outside though, with a lovely moderating breeze blowing around us.

Last Tuesday we went golfing at a private golf course in San Pancho.  San Pancho is only 12 km from here and we travelled down with Jack and Daphne from Oyama.

At the 9th green

Mike scored a 39 and I (surprisingly) got a 52 on my first round ever at Las Huertas.  Yes, that is a good score for me.  It was a perfect golfing morning.  More photos of this lovely course in another blog yet to come.

Today, our neighbour beckoned me to come with my camera to the tree beside their rig.  Here's what we found.

Same fella, just a close up of him sitting very quietly so as not to be noticed

Here's wishing all our family and friends and other readers of our blog a very Merry Christmas and a happy, healthy New Year

The Holoidaysonholiday

First Post....from Mike

The First Post

A new author on the beach in Lo De Marcos.

Hola and hello from the beach and RV park in Lo De Marcos.  The better half is out shopping for vegges for supper and left me in charge of the blog.  You will have to excuse the grammer but thank goodness for these things called spell checkers.  As you can see from the picture above (and below) the beach and the weather is quite nice for this time of year although the ocean water has cooled down quite a bit from when we were first here. 

The former author but still smiling.

There probably won't be a great amount of text in this write up but I will include quite a few pictures because if you're like me, I like to look at pictures.

Looking over the 4th hole.

To the left is a picture of the golf course at the Field of Dreams which is seven km to the north of Lo De Marcos.  We have bought memberships for 4 months and golf 3-4 times a week.  A Can-Am (The cactus cup) was held last week on Dec 13 and the better team (us not them) came up on top.  You can see our picture on the Jaltembasol website.

We also have neighbours who visit us on a regular basis although they normally stay outside the gate.  Apparently, one of the neighbours came in two weeks ago and was enjoying the grass before he (a horse) was asked to leave by Walter.

Some of the neighbours.

Mavis, Bev and Ruby spent the better part of a day sewing pillow for the Cancer de Mama clinic held at La Penita RV park in February for Mexican women who have have breast cancer.  The pillows are used under the arms to relieve some of the pressure and hopefully, make movement a lot easier.

Heart pillows, 3 of 13.

Ruby and Bev, hard at work.

On December 13, the author hit a milestone-60 years young.  The Canucks won the Cactus Cup at the Field of Dreams. and we celebrated with a dinner at Salvadors at the beach in Rincon de Guayabitos.  The company was great, the food was great, the cerveza was great, and thanks to all for the celebration.  There were two birthdays, mine and Carol's (who is way younger than me).  The staff at the resturant made a special dinner.  You have to see the pictures to believe what they did, and yes, I did eat my vegetables.  They were carrots.

Salvador's of the beach.

Great presentation....made from carrots.

Self explanitory.

Just a few more pictures of some of the wildlife around here.  Time to go to the beach.  The one with the camera out the window is taking pictures of hummers.  They had one in their rig 3 weeks ago and took a video of the bird.  Its on their blog-http://southbound canucks.blogspot.com

. 

One of many.

The hummingbird picture hunter.

And last but not least, the Christmas wreath we have on Dos along with Hobo.  We hope to have another blog before Christmas, but if not, Merry Christmas to all and have a restful and wonderful break. 

Merry Christmas from Hobo.

Thanks to my proof reader......