More pictures from the trip...

At Ramin and Cathelijne's place in Urdaneta Village, Makati where we stayed for two nights before going to Villa Escudero

Group photo with some National Spiritual Assembly members at the National Bahá'í Centre in Manila

At Mr. and Mrs. Samaniego's place in Los Banos, Laguna, they have a beautiful garden which is well maintained.

Enna-Marie with Tito Maxwell

We were invited for dinner, Mom and Mr. and Mrs. Samaniego are long time friends.

Group photo before we leave. L-R: Maarten, Lola Ping, Mrs. Fe Samaniego, Mr. Vic Samaniego, and Menchie

We met with Menchie's good friend Maria with her family at SM Fairview. They both worked in Bankard for some years.

We also met Menchie's friends in college for dinner at Jack's Loft in SM North Edsa

From left to right: Cathy, Mona and Menchie. Far left is Albert, Lia's son.

From left to right: Maarten, Aurea and Lia. Far right is Lia's sister Marie.

Group picture before having coffee.

Maarten sharing the Faith to everyone.

Reunion from Balundo side of the family. We had some delicious Filipino food that Ate Imelda and her children prepared for us.

My dear friend Juvy treated us for dinner at DAD's 'eat all you can' restaurant in SM Megamall (I missed this mall where I always pass by after work before).

At DAD's they treat you with live band singing with any song request.

We tried their sushis...

...and delicious 'Halo-halo' dessert meaning mixture of different stuff like beans, corn, banana, kaong, gulaman, langka, leche flan and ube on top, it's Menchie's favorite...and now Maarten's too.


Maarten, Enna-Marie and Tita Juvy enjoying the food and music.

Saying goodbye is not an easy thing...this was our last moment with Lola Ping, Tita Cel, and Tito Maxwell when they brought us to the airport.

Villa Escudero

We spent the weekend in the beautiful resort Villa Escudero. We arrived Friday morning after a two hour bus journey from Manila. The resort is located near San Pablo in Laguna province. Upon arrival we were taken to our hut in a Karabau-and-cart, and afterwards had lunch at the bottom of a little waterfall, with our feet and the tables and chairs in the river. We basically just slept, ate and swam during our 24-hour stay in the villa, and we greatly enjoyed it! Here are some pictures to give an impression.

Beautiful palm trees surround the park. In the distance a mountain can be seen.
Upon arrival the Karabau-driven cart took us to our quarters.
Lunch at the foot of the waterfall with our feet wet!
Maxwell and Valerie enjoying a swim together...
Dinnertime in Villa Escudero.
Enjoying the beautiful riverside view.
Enna-Marie enjoying the children's pool with Lola...
...and clearly not so much enjoying the jacuzzi with dad...
Climbing stairs is THE thing to do these days!
On the way out of the park, enjoying live music in the Karabau-and-cart!

SM Mall of Asia

On Saturday we enjoyed a shopping trip to the (currently) fourth largest mall in the world, the SM Mall of Asia, which opened in May of last year in Manila. The mall is located close to Roxas boulevard, next to Manila bay, and features an IMAX theater, a skating rink and even a dolphinarium! Despite the fact that there are so many people in the mall, it somehow never felt too crowded. We enjoyed roaming around and having coffee in Starbucks afterwards.

The mall has 600 shops and 150 restaurants, and some 5,000 parking spaces. To give you an idea of how busy it actually is, it took us an hour to get from the sixth floor parking level to the front of the building at the end of the day (which was 22.00 hrs. in the evening). Menchie's good friend Mina brought us home to Novaliches afterwards, which was still another hour and a half drive away...

Menchie, Maarten & sleeping Enna-Marie underneath a giant Christmas tree
Menchie and mom
Skating rink in the mall
Menchie and her college friend Pinky (next to Menchie) and her daughter Denise
With a gameboy around her neck no doubt one of the worlds youngest gamers :)
Menchie's bestfriend Mina with Enna-Marie
Mina's two sons Carl (9) and Carmello (4)

New Year and Matabungkay

Its been quite a while since we last had a chance to update our blog. Mainly, this has been due to the Taiwan earthquake at the end of December, causing the Internet here, or at least some sites, to run extremely slow. We've been doing well, enjoying our holidays here and spending quality time with family and friends.

At the end of December, we had a wonderfully relaxing stay at our friends' Ramin and Cathelijne, who got married last year and are living here in the Philippines. Ramin works for Shell Solar and has been here already three years. We enjoyed a nice dinner with Ramin's colleagues from Shell Solar, and had a chance to briefly speak with them about the Faith as well.

After our stay with Ramin and Cathelijne, we went to Cavite for a family reunion. Next day, Menchie's father and sister-in-law Tatutz and her children (Tabriz and Lofty) left for home in Kidapawan. We went back to Novaliches for the new year's celebrations. There were fireworks everywhere, and, unlike Holland, where 0.00 midnight is the sign for most people to ignite whatever fireworks they've managed to get a hold off, here the fireworks start seriously at about 23.30, and they continue for about an hour until 0.30. The moment the clock strikes midnight does not seem to matter at all.

After spending a few more days in Novaliches, we went to a beach resort called Matabunkay on the 6th of January. Matabunkay is about a three-hour drive south from Novaliches (when there's no traffic), and so we left early in the morning to spend the day there. We rented a floating picnic for the day, and spent a wonderful time relaxing, eating and swimming. Maarten underestimated the power of the sun, and by the end of the day looked like a real tourist, with a painful red tan all over.

Right now we're back in Ramin and Cathelijne's place, and will stay here until Friday when we will go to Villa Escudero, another resort where we will pamper ourselves just for a day and a night.

Menchie's nieces doing a dance at the family reunion
Exchanging gifts is an essential part of the reunion
Group photo
Beautiful lake Taal in Tagaytay, with an active volcano in the middle...
Enjoying the cool air in Tagaytay where we stopped on the way to Matabungkay
The beautiful beach resort of Matabungkay
Enjoying lunch on the picnic float
Paddling in the water
How's my tan??
Playing with the ball on the picnic float

Latest updates (in Dutch)

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Manila Zoo

On Christmas day we visited Manila zoo. It was a lovely visit, with a variety of animals! Enna-Marie particularly enjoyed seeing the elephant and the zebra, which she remembered from her book 'On Safari'. Also Enna-Marie's cousins ate Tabriz and ate Lofti enjoyed their first visit to a zoo. Below are some impressions of the day.

The elephant has his home near the entrance to the zoo.
Enna-Marie in front of the section with tropical birds.
Tita Tatutz and the three cousins.
Enna-Marie enjoying a short break from the animals on the slide.
Daddy and Enna-Marie posing in front of Giraffe and Elephant.
Mr. Owl also was present in the zoo!
Lolo Max and Enna-Marie during lunchbreak.
Uncle Maxwell showing off his courage by embracing a large SSSSSSSSnake!!
Mommy and Enna in front of the zebra and the horses.

Kiddie Rides

I enjoyed my first horse ride in the SM Fairview mall. Ate Lofty was flying in an airplane, and both she and ate Tabriz also got to enjoy the ferry-wheel that took them almost as high as the next floor in the mall! Because I'm still too young I could not join them there, unfortunately.