Chinese New Year in Manila

The Embassy isn't too far from Manila's chinatown, an area of the city called Binando, making it possible to have an office lunch on Friday to celebrate Chinese New Year in the heart of the festivities. It was a bit of a mad dash to get there and back between meetings and involved a series of transportation options, walking, and dodging dragon dancers, but we managed to pull it off.

Site visits: Compostela Valley and Davao

This week I was again down in Mindanao, but this time on the eastern side in Compostela Valley and Davao visiting small scale infrastructure projects.  On day 1 we visited a recently inagurated market building, as well as a bridge that were part of recovery activities after Typhoon Pablo hit the region.

On Day 2 we were in a more rural area and hiked into a small community to see their water project, as well as a hike up to the headwaters to see the community's source of water.

Ilocos Norte and Sur

One of the perks of living in the Philippines is relatively cheap domestic flights and the ability to leave planning until the last minute.   Taking full advantage of that, we booked tickets on Tuesday for travel on Friday night up to Ilocos (Northern Luzon) for the MLK long weekend.  The Laoag airport has the most amazing luggage carousel and mustache treats.

After a quick stop for tacos, we drove 1.5 hours north to the beach area called Pagudpud and spent Saturday beach hopping and waterfall hiking.

On Sunday we started working out way south down the coast back towards Laoag and then south to the town of Vigan.  Along the way is the Philippines' only operating wind project, an old Spanish lighthouse, and sand dunes where you can take a quick 4x4 ride.

Vigan is one of the best preserved Spanish colonial towns in the Philippines and we arrived in time to see the nightly fountain/light show.

Airport staff at the Laoag airport.  Personal send off.