The best laid plans...

First order of business--the answer to the latest edition of Food Fight. I got a few (hilarious!!) guesses from you all. Amanda correctly named the largest mystery item--it was eggplant! From everyone else's guesses, it sounds like a review trip to the veggie, errr, fruit section of the grocery store is necessary (This means you Deb :-)! As for the other 3 foods, they are ALL eggplant! See how sneaky I was?! The smallest ones are almost horribly bitter, but were in green curry everywhere we went. The rest all taste like, well, eggplant!

And now, back to the Philippines. Sometimes, in spite of all your best intentions and advance planning, you just can't win. Take, for example, our month in Australia: in 30 short days we lost (and found!) our passports, had all but one day of an entire week of diving cancelled, and had to scramble when an airline we'd booked was suddenly grounded indefinitely due to safety issues. We're learning very quickly that when it comes to planning a month long vacation something undoubtedly, inevitably, will go wrong. And sometimes that can turn out to be the best thing in the world.

Near death in the Philippines: Part 1

The next day we were off to Batad. At two hours down the "road" from Uhaj, we happily splurged on renting a jeepney for $75 for the day.  Plus, the last 45 minutes aren't even passable by trike! Jodi mentioned that the previous week it rained non-stop and we must have brought the good weather with us. I can't even begin to imagine these roads in the rain.

Just a pretty view along the way...

Unlike the gently sloping valley of Hapao, the closer we got to Batad, the more moutainous the surroundings became. As if real estate didn't already take a back seat to the terraces in Hapao, here it was even more pronounced, with homes literally hanging off cliffs.

FINALLY! (aka For Darcy)

Absolutely nothing I can say or show you will do the rice terraces of Ifugao province in the Philippines justice. Believe me, I've tried writing this post many, many times. It's a small part of why I've neglected the blog for so long. That, and the arrival of spring here in Jiangyin, but also the frustration that ebbs and flows with knowing this blog get 2,000+ views a month, but rarely a comment or email. So you, my mystery readers, have my sister Darcy's threat of disownment over my lack of posts to thank for this one.

I sometimes forget that Brian can't always read my mind, and that simply saying things out loud instantly improves the situation. Perhaps I've fallen in the same trap with you. "If I don't write on the blog, people will start to miss me and actually get in touch rather than just reading my posts incognito," was my not so well thought out train of thought. Because I wasn't reaching out to you as individuals either. So two months later I'm still in the same boat. I'm so grateful for this adventure Brian and I are on, but sometimes the distance is really hard. More often than not, it feels a bit "out of sight, out of mind" and I know I can easily fix that. But my tendency is to just clam up instead of opening my mouth (or a new email). So here's to turning a new leaf. I'm going to try to send more personal emails instead of just relying on the blog to keep you up to date. And can you help me by letting me know what you do and don't like about the blog? Posts you particularly like and want more of? It takes HOURS to upload the photos here in China, so it'll be helpful to know I'm writing posts that are actually of interest! And to those of you who do comment and email--THANK YOU! It absolutely brightens my day!

But back to the Philippines.

Bon Voyage!

Well, believe it or not, it's time for us to take off for another vacation! Living in China truly does have its benefits. This time we're off to the Philippines and Thailand. Here's the highlights of our coming month...

After arriving in Manila, we'll take a pleasant 10 hour bus ride to Banaue, where we'll spend 3 days hiking the rice terraces.

Then it is off to Puerto Princesa for a few days before leaving for a scuba liveaboard to Tubbataha.