Weekend adventures

Had a weekend full of fun adventures thanks to a visit to the big smoke by my friend and fellow volunteer, Cynthia.

On Saturday we indulged in some serious retail therapy venturing to Greenhills, the Mecca of Manila shopping. Shopping at Greenhills is quite a physical challenge - you have to be alert and ready for some serious bargaining! As soon as you enter you are hit with calls of "Mam, DVD, you want DVD mam", "Mam, t-shirts, mam you buy", "Mam cheap necklace for you".
It can be quite overwhelming but if you wade through the stalls there are some serious bargains to be had; everything from shoes, clothes, fake designer bags, watches, sunglasses, jewellery, paintings and souvenirs. The most amazing area is "pearl alley", hundred of pearls from farms in Mindanao at ridiculously cheap prices. Cynthia and I shopped up a storm and emerged exhausted after about three hours.. a nice dinner, some red wine and a movie helped restore the batteries for our next adventure.

We woke up bright and early on Sunday, picked up another friend and went to Tagaytay, a two hour trip south. After catching a van to the town we then struck a deal with some locals to arrange a trip across to Taal volcano . The trip involved a tricycle ride to Taal Lake, boat across the lake and then an hours walk up to the volcano’s crater.




Most of the other tourists chose to ride horses up to the summit but we climbed and it was worth it. The views across the lake were fantastic!



Up at the top we could see the crater lake and small geysers emitting smoke and sulphur. Feel like I am becoming quite the expert after seeing two different volcanoes in one week!