Traveling a new place is always a joy for me, but there’s something even more special when I can share it with someone else – especially when that person has traveled across the Pacific! Since arriving in Asia in August, I’d been anticipating my friend coming to visit me from the US. After months and months of anticipation, the time finally came in late March, when we visited Hong Kong and Thailand over the course of seven days.
Friends reunited!
The Philippine archipelago consists of 7,107 islands. I wish I started keeping count of the number I’ve visited while in the Philippines – of course, I’d get nowhere close to even 1% of them, but it would still make for a fun fact.
One of my most island-dense weekends was spent in Alaminos, Pangasinan, at 100 Islands National Park. 100 Islands technically has 123.5 (I’m giving a 0.5 of an island to the one which is only exposed at low tide) tiny islands, now protected as a park and one of the big tourist attractions in Pangasinan.
Not a bad sight at all.
Living in Pampanga means it’s pretty much impossible to not have heard about the 1991 eruption of nearby Mt. Pinatubo – the second largest volcanic eruption of the 20th century. Around 800 people died, over 50,000 were evacuated. Ash spread to as far as Thailand, the average temperature of the globe dropped a few degrees around the time of the eruption. The majority of the damage was caused by the combination of massive quantities of ash and torrential downpours. The water and ash combined led to massive ash flow – what is referred to as lahar – and there are still areas of plains around Pampanga where you can see the remaining trail. Now, years later, the crater is a serene lake and a popular tourist attraction.
The Crater of Mt. Pinatubo
Trekking Pinatubo had been on my Philippines “bucket list” since before arriving in the islands. So along with some other American expats, we drove up to Capas, Tarlac, to the jumping off point in Brgy. Sta. Juliana. Continue reading
I won’t bore you with excuses for my hiatus – the truth is that I’ve just been too busy between working and traveling to blog. But I will get caught up in the next two weeks – I really have no choice – because I am not slowing down in the near future! Let’s just say I’m hoping to hit a lot of Philippines spots before the rainy season kicks in – I won’t have a dull weekend for a while.
Since it was such a great trip, I cannot neglect taking the time to sum up my South Korea experience. Continue reading
Caro the Expat 