For the last week Brenden had been very unwell with a flu. He had most of the week off work and spent the whole time laying around the apartment as he didn't have energy to do anything else. During the week we were invited by another Australian couple, Neil and Jill, to join them on a weekend trip to a resort not far from Manila and we took the opportunity hoping that Brenden would be feeling well enough by the weekend. Neil works with Brenden at GHD and Jill very kindly found Jodi a job at the British school of Manila where she also works.

The trip started at 6am in the morning. We live in the same building as Neil and Jill so we meet them and their driver in the foyer. Their driver drove us 2hrs south of Manila to Batangas Port. We arrived at the Port a little early so we were able to sit on the edge of the port and watch the fisherman in the Bancas doing some sort of fishing that we were unable to figure out. They were steering their Bancas back and forth with something dragging about 50m behind them. Our large Banca finally arrived and we started our one and a half hour trip to Puerto Galera. The weather was perfect and the water was flat so we had a relaxing trip over looking at the different landscapes and refineries alongs the banks.

When getting closer to the resort we noticed just how turquoise and clear the water is around here. It looks so inviting we felt like jumping in and swimming ashore. Once ashore the resort staff sung us a welcome song and handed out shell necklaces. We were handed our key and we climbing the hundred or so steps to our room. Brenden was exausted so we decided to rest up in the room for a while. The rooms were very cosy and made mostly out of bamboo. The door out onto the verandar was just a curtain but this made the rooms feel bigger and took advantage of the amazing location. The bathrooms are not much though. Very, very simple with just cold water that smelt like it came straight from the river. This didn't bother us though.

After this we ventured down to the beach where Brenden continued to rest getting some sun on a sun bed. The sun is very hot around here so you have to be careful not to spend too much time in the direct sun. Jodi mean while rented some snorkelling gear and headed out just off the shore of the resort. There were plenty of fish to see and a few sea stars but most of the coral was dead or demolished. The resort breeds turtles but still there were no turtles to be seen. After a while on the beach a few of the resort staff started making a bon fire just near where we were sitting on the beach. We were a bit unsure on what they were doing until they started putting rocks and banana leaves on top. We got to sit there and watch them making a hungie for our dinner tonight at a beach party that the resort has organised. After this we had a few cocktails in/by the pool and watched the sun go down.

Later that night we headed to the beach party. It started with cocktails on the beach and then some pass the coconut game to break the ice I guess. We all watched the hungie being dug up and then enjoyed a meal with entertainment from the local school children. We decided to call it an early one as Brenden still was feeling unwell and we back to our room to find it all set out for us with flowers on the bed and everything.

The next day we took it fairly easy and just had a swim in the pool before enjoying a quick lunch. It was then time to board the boat back home again so we loaded up and Brenden slept the whole trip.