2/12/16
We began our trip by taking off from the Salt Lake Airport Thursday afternoon on a wide-open flight to San Francisco.
We began our trip by taking off from the Salt Lake Airport Thursday afternoon on a wide-open flight to San Francisco.
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| Salt Lake Airport - 1st Stop |
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| San Francisco Airport - 2nd Stop |
I am now writing from the comfort of the "Comfort Inn", where we spent the night.
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| Comfort Inn |
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| Comfort Inn |
2/13/16
Today was spent in an airplane....all day and then some! As we looked at flights last night it seemed like we better try to avoid flying out of Guam, so we bought us all a flight from Osaka to Manila for $240 apiece one way, which is the flight I am now sitting on. But first we flew standby from San Francisco to Osaka, Japan. We were quite happy that we scored seats all together in the business section, so we had plenty of room. And we could stand up and stretch whenever we wanted. That was the longest flight I have ever been on - nearly 12 hours! I watched 4 movies and read and reviewed my memorization of Jesus the Christ.
Once we made it to Japan it was quite a process to switch over to this Cebu Pacific flight. We had to fill out all the custom forms to enter Japan, and then we had to find an Internet cafe so Julie could print out our intended itinerary to re-enter the United States to get us our boarding passes and once again get through security. Julie couldn't take Katie or I back with her to use the Internet. And she found she didn't know how to print what she wanted to. But a nice Japanese guy helped her and even paid for it. A tender mercy as she was at a loss and also in a hurry. So finally we made it and we are now on our way to Manila. We are very tired as it is 4 in the morning our time, and we haven't had much sleep. But that's a good thing. Hopefully we can sleep on this flight as well as the hotel when we arrive. We'll be seeing Mom and Norm tomorrow!
P.S. On one of our flights we decided to send mom this picture letting her know that I was also coming. Up to the point of her getting the picture, she only thought Julie and Katie were coming. It was a fun surprise.
P.S. On one of our flights we decided to send mom this picture letting her know that I was also coming. Up to the point of her getting the picture, she only thought Julie and Katie were coming. It was a fun surprise.
2/14/16
Happy Valentines Day from the Philippines! Our flight got in about midnight to Manila. The nice gal at the information desk helped find a hotel for us that was close and cheap. It was called "Elegance Hotel". It was very clean and quite adequate. We got a couple hours of sleep - our internal clocks are a little messed up. Then a taxi took us the short distance to the airport. We had a healthy breakfast of ham and cheese croissant (which had a lot to be desired) and a cinnamon roll found there at the airport.
As it is Sunday, we are dressed in our Sunday clothes and boarding this short flight to Tagbilaran where we will meet up with our loved ones and hopefully catch some church.
Tender mercy - it was raining when the plane landed in Tagbilaran, so I reached into my backpack to get my little black rain jacket that has been with me all over the world, and it wasn't there. I was sad that I must have left it at the previous airport in the seat where we were doing some waiting. But as we prepared to leave the airplane, I felt all around my seat on the floor, and I felt something soft under my seat, and there it was! If it hadn't been raining, I think that trusty jacket would have been left on the plane because I wouldn't have been looking for it.
The plane parked a short walk from the terminal, and as it was raining, the employees handed each passenger an umbrella as they exited the plane. I thought that was a nice service.
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| Manila Airport waiting and wondering when we will board. |
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| Air Asia flight to Tagbilaran |
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| Getting off the flight - they gave us all umbrellas as it was raining |
The plane parked a short walk from the terminal, and as it was raining, the employees handed each passenger an umbrella as they exited the plane. I thought that was a nice service.
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| We made it! |
So fun to reunite with Mom and Norm as we got to Tagbilaran. I love those two! We got to church in time to attend half of sacrament meeting. Great talks. Then Norm took us on a tour of their stomping grounds. So pretty and green. Came home. Ate dinner and made a tentative plan for the week, and played a game of five crowns. Very fun. Now we are so tired, we're heading to bed at 8:30.
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| Welcome to Tagbilaran |
It's 4:30 a.m. now, and the roosters are a crowin'! I slept fairly decently last night. I woke up at midnight feeling quite rested, sure that it must be almost morning and have slept on and off since then. I'm looking forward to seeing the sunrise this morning. Then we're off to deliver some bikes to missionaries and to see the fireflies and bioluminescence later tonight. So fun!
I should also mention that we've been very blessed in our travels so far - blessed to be able to be in the right place at the right time and catch our planned flights. Blessed to able to sit by each other on all the flights, especially the long one from San Fran to Osaka so that we could stand up and move as often as we liked. Everything has worked out very nicely. And people have been very friendly and helpful when we've needed assistance... Like finding a hotel in Manila and a super nice guy helped Julie in the Internet cafe get some needed papers printed - even going so far as to pay for them since we didn't have any yen. So many tender mercies all along the way.
2/15/16
Yesterday we did a LOT of driving and saw a LOT of pretty countryside. So green and beautiful! I wish I had more pictures to document it. FRX
After our sunrise walk we walked around the Catholic Church here. Very beautiful.
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| Beautiful Drive |
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| Causeway within easy walk of the house |
After our sunrise walk we walked around the Catholic Church here. Very beautiful.
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| Near Catholic church - easy walk from the house |
We stopped at a place to see the tarsiers, which are these rat-like monkeys. I think they're known for being the smallest monkey in the world. Unfortunately they were all sleeping, so we didn't get to see their cool-looking eyes.
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| A sleepy tarsier |
We stopped to see Bill and Emma, who have a lovely house. They fed us shredded jello in sweetened coconut milk. They are super nice.
We went to their mall and ate dinner at a Chinese food place called Chow King. The soup there was pretty tasty. We also bought some bread at a new bread store there. The mall seemed like a typical American mall to me.
Then we made it to Abatan to rent the kayaks and go paddling out to see the fireflies. There were lots of fireflies in four different trees that we stopped to gaze at after dark. I was hoping to see the plankton light up (bioluminescence) but there was too much moon ( a quarter moon is evidently still too much) and a storm the day before which made the water dirtier, so alas, no plankton! I was sad about that. One of the coolest things we saw was a meteor shoot across the sky for a few brief seconds. It was very bright and quite amazing!
I slept all the way through the night last night. I was pretty happy about that. We went for another early morning walk this morning. Fun to walk around the neighborhood. Now we're off to get some groceries and swim under a waterfall.
Later...
We got the groceries we needed, and came home and put them away. Then we went to this cute swinging Bridge that Leanna found earlier. We walked across it and then explored on the other side of the river. It was a beautiful walk along a dirt path with greenery everywhere. Very fun pictures.
Then we headed to the waterfall to swim. It was very refreshing, and we enjoyed it a lot!
We came home to change back into our clothes, and then we went to a cave which was kind of interesting. It wasn't nearly as cool as the caves we have in Utah like Timpanogus or Minnetonka.
After the cave and buying Hunter a T-shirt, we went to the beach. We walked along the beach and picked a restaurant that looked good. Then we had a delicious meal sitting at the table on the sand. It got dark and the Tiki lamps were lit, it was very pretty and so fun to hear waves in the background.
Then we headed to the waterfall to swim. It was very refreshing, and we enjoyed it a lot!
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| Below the waterfall |
After the cave and buying Hunter a T-shirt, we went to the beach. We walked along the beach and picked a restaurant that looked good. Then we had a delicious meal sitting at the table on the sand. It got dark and the Tiki lamps were lit, it was very pretty and so fun to hear waves in the background.
Very fun day!
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| Enjoying our fruit slushies |
2/17/16
We've packed the fun in today! We started off by going to the Chocolate Hills. Bohol is famous for the big mounds of earth known as the Chocolate Hills.
Our second stop was the zip line at Danao Adventure Park over a gigantic gorge, It was quite thrilling to soar like a bird over the canyon. It was called the Suislide. It's 200 meters high and 480 meters long. It takes about 35 seconds to make it across, and then you get to come back. Very, very fun!
Our second stop was the zip line at Danao Adventure Park over a gigantic gorge, It was quite thrilling to soar like a bird over the canyon. It was called the Suislide. It's 200 meters high and 480 meters long. It takes about 35 seconds to make it across, and then you get to come back. Very, very fun!
The last adventure of the day was snorkeling at Hayahay. The weather was far from ideal, with rain hitting us before we even started. But the coral and fish sightings were pretty amazing. We were glad we did it. We ate dinner there as well. Most of us ordered adobo. It was delicious.
2/18/16
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| Off we go to snorkel...in the rain... |
Today was a more relaxing day. It started off with our normal early-morning walk. Then the girls caught a tricycle which took us to the Bee farm, where we ordered breakfast. It was a lovely setting with the ocean in the background. And the food was delicious!
After that excursion, Julie spent considerable time figuring out our return trip agenda. We've decided to stay and go home Sunday, putting us home Monday.
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| Caught his tricycle to the Bee Farm |
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| Our breakfast at the Bee Farm - "Hungry Meh" |
After that excursion, Julie spent considerable time figuring out our return trip agenda. We've decided to stay and go home Sunday, putting us home Monday.
Then this afternoon we all paid for massages. Very, very nice and relaxing. It was only 250 pesos which equals about 5 or 6 dollars. Amazing. We did some shopping and delivering of things afterwards. Got an ice cream treat on the way home. Very good day.
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| Bananas |
2/19/16
Today on our early morning walk it was our goal to find the cute group of kids we had seen the day before and pass them out some candy. Mission accomplished! Some of them were very shy, but they all took the candy and loved that! Very fun.
Then we went on the Loboc River cruise which gave you an all-you-can-eat buffet (very delicious). They also provided entertainment on the boat and at one stop along the shore, and the scenery was gorgeous! Then Norm, Katie, and I had to do the zip line that was there. After all, where can you do an awesome zip line like that for only $7? Totally worth it!
Then we did some shopping and bought our ferry tickets and enjoyed a halo halo at the ICM. Yum!
Then we tried to catch the sunset for some photos, but we were a bit late.
2/20/16
Today was up and out early to pick up a truck load of people to attend the river baptism in Carmen.
I wasn't feeling the best today, but I made it to the baptism, where an older sister and a little girl were baptized. It was a very sweet experience. We were in charge of the treats. We picked up some pop and some sweet bread. It was all very good.
After returning home we were kind of sick of the truck so we voted to stay home while mom and Norm helped some Elders. It's been good just to hang out here and get feeling better.
I wasn't feeling the best today, but I made it to the baptism, where an older sister and a little girl were baptized. It was a very sweet experience. We were in charge of the treats. We picked up some pop and some sweet bread. It was all very good.
After returning home we were kind of sick of the truck so we voted to stay home while mom and Norm helped some Elders. It's been good just to hang out here and get feeling better.
2/21/16
Took a last morning walk to watch the sunrise, and it was spectacular! Such beauty here!
We had a sweet experience attending church today with mom and Norm. It was a little branch in PanLao. They had a good number there. They asked Mom and Norm to bear their testimonies, and they did a wonderful job! The Tanners also attended with us and ate dinner with us afterwards. They are such very, very nice people. Julie got to be the Young Women teacher. I got to play the piano for Relief Society. Such good talks and lessons were given. It always amazes me that around the world the Church really is the same!
After a delicious dinner, we caught the ferry in Tagbilaran and came to Cebu where we are now going to spend the night at Days Hotel. In the morning we will catch a plane to Ogasaka.
2/22/16
Today did NOT go as planned. We got to the Cebu airport bright and early for our flight to San Fran, and we waited and waited. Our plane ended up needing a mechanical part which they couldn't seem to get in a hurry. We weren't worried at first since we had a 4-hr layover in Japan, but soon it became apparent that we weren't going to make that flight. Sure enough, we were landing as our scheduled flight was taking off. So sad! But the good news is that the airline put us up for the night at a very nice hotel here in Osaka. We count it a tender mercy that an airline rep stopped to have us take a survey in the Cebu airport, and towards the end Julie mentioned that we were going to miss our flight, and that we hadn't been able to talk with a Customer Service rep to see what to do about missing our connection. He said he would see what he could do. We boarded the plane a half hour later, and soon we heard over the intercom that they wanted Julianne Sorensen to make herself known. They said they'd put us up in a hotel for free if we stayed in Cebu, but couldn't guarantee accommodations in Osaka. We didn't want to say though, and Julie made them promise to TRY to put us up in Osaka. When we got off the plane a sweet Japanese lady was waiting for us with our names on a sign, and so we were then taken care of. We're not sure that would have happened if we hadn't filled out the survey. We were given a free shuttle ride here, so all is well, except for the day of work I'm going to miss tomorrow. 😬
2/23/16
We found a wonderful little excursion for the day. We took a train part way, and then took a bus the rest of the way to Mt. Inunaku. It took us a bit of asking and figuring out of money and so forth, but we made it, and it was SO worth it. It was a lovely walk along a river with plenty of waterfalls along the way.
So charming and beautiful. The fun part was also the girls we met as we were catching the bus. Their names were Ayaka and Momoka. They spoke very little English, but were so friendly, and we found out they were going to the same place, so they became our tour guides. They used "google translate" when we couldn't communicate. We thought it was really a tender mercy that we connected with them. Now I am back at the hotel waiting for our shuttle which will take us to the airport and hopefully back to the U.S.A. Julie and Katie took a detour to check out the huge Farris wheel that was by the train station. I do hope they make it back in time.
We made it home. The trip home seemed much shorter than the one coming. Very glad I went. Such fun memories. Mostly happy to be with Mom and Norm and experience some of their mission life.
So charming and beautiful. The fun part was also the girls we met as we were catching the bus. Their names were Ayaka and Momoka. They spoke very little English, but were so friendly, and we found out they were going to the same place, so they became our tour guides. They used "google translate" when we couldn't communicate. We thought it was really a tender mercy that we connected with them. Now I am back at the hotel waiting for our shuttle which will take us to the airport and hopefully back to the U.S.A. Julie and Katie took a detour to check out the huge Farris wheel that was by the train station. I do hope they make it back in time.
We made it home. The trip home seemed much shorter than the one coming. Very glad I went. Such fun memories. Mostly happy to be with Mom and Norm and experience some of their mission life.
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