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While I was on my trip, I jumped into a swimming pool and accidentally left my watch on. Even though I took it off right away, some water had gotten inside. I kept thinking that maybe if I left it out in the sun, the water would dry, but there was never any time to leave it in the sun.

Now that I’m back, I suppose I could just leave it on my lanai, but so many people talk about the drying power of rice, I’ve decided to give it a try.

Also, this rice has weevils. It’s been in my pantry for a while. Do you suppose the weevils will affect the drying power of the rice?

Yesterday was rather adventure-free. We overslept in the morning because of jet lag, then went to the airport.

My flight was pretty good. It was a new plane. I watched the new Hellboy, then put on Beetlejuice while I dozed a little.

The landing was as bumpy as usual. I looked out the window the whole time, because seeing the land hold still while the plane lurches and jumps helps me. I was looking past an older Indian couple who started wondering why I was looking at them. I had to explain.

Gus was happy to see me.

The sunset in the Safeway parking lot was beautiful.

We traveled all day yesterday. It’s confusing to talk about times because of the time (and date) difference, but it was a two hour flight, followed by a four hour layover, followed by a twelve hour flight.

As we waited for our plane to leave the Cebu airport, we saw a mural with a goodbye message. Aww…

The layover at the Taiwan airport gave us lots of time to explore. Mostly we were looking for water. There are water dispensing machines, but the “cold” button gives you warm water. An internet search told me that Chinese people don’t like cold water.

The Taiwan airport is beautiful. There were lots of things I could take pictures of, but I’ll only share a couple. First, I’ll share their orchid display. It was so colorful and peaceful.

The other thing I’ll shsre is the worship room area. It was decorated with architectural models. But the reason I had to take a picture was the sign over the Hindu worship room. I’ve heard that there is a Hindu symbol that resembles a backwards swastika, but I’ve never seen one in the wild, until now.

Before we flew, we got some lunch. The guy at the ramen restaurant could speak English very well. I was glad, because I can’t speak Chinese at all. Plus, we finally found some cold water!

After a long, but comfortable flight, we arrived in LA. As we waited for an Uber car, I took a picture. I’m back in the USA.

Yesterday we went on a trip to the mountains. This time our driver was Jack, a friend of Denis’ niece.

Our first stop was a restaurant and zip line destination. The zip line was closed, but we had a breakfast treat and enjoyed amazing mountain views.

The whole place was just gorgeous, even down to the bathroom:

Our second stop was a garden. For a small admission fee, you can walk the gardens and admire the beauty. It was lovely. They grew a lot of dahlias.

On our way to the next stop, we were passing a lot of roadside stands that were selling cooked sweet corn. I was curious, so we stopped.

The corn was fresh and delicious, but Nebraska corn still beats it 🙂

Our next stop was another couple of gardens. These also had lots of flowers, but also a lot of hardscaping.

From watching the other people there, it became apparent that these gardens were all about taking selfies and staged pictures, so here are a few of me:

Here’s me peeking between two birds:

Here’s me in a giant Dutch wooden shoe:

Here’s me sitting on a big golden hand in the sky:

Here is why I look nervous in that picture – the big hand was at the top of some tall steps and I was worried I would fall:

But my favorite picture of the day, and perhaps of my whole trip, is the picture of me driving a tractor with Jesus standing in the background.

After that, it was time for lunch. We headed to a restaurant with a view. It was really cool. One whole wall was open to the outside, and looked out over Cebu City.

Actually, Cebu City proper was just out of view behind a mountain, be we could see Mandaue, which is part of the metropolitan area.

Our last stop for the day was called The Temple of Leah. When Leah died, her husband (who had a lot of money) built a monument in her honor. It really is quite spectacular.

Inside, there is a huge statue of Leah:

Also inside the building, he put all the stuff she collected over the years. It seemed a little strange that the windows were open to wind and water and dust, but it did make everything look old.

My posts are catching up with me today. I’m already in the air over the Pacific. I’m scheduled to land in LA at 4:20pm LA time.

Yesterday we went on an excursion to the southern part of Cebu island. We spent a LOT of time in a car, being driven by Elmer, who drove for the tour company we went through. He was an awesome driver.

After about three hours, our first stop was for breakfast, which was included in the price of the tour. It was sticky rice and a sweet mango. So delicious!

We met our tour guide, Carmel, there. He took us to our first stop: Tumalog Falls. After a terrifying motorcycle trip down the steep road to the falls, we walked a short path to our destination. It’s been a dry summer, so the falls were mostly drips and trickles, but it was still beautiful.

There was a benefit to the low water though: it really concentrated the little fish who live there. These happen to be the fish that like to nibble at dead skin. You may have heard of them being used in salons. We could just put our feet in the water, and they went crazy. It felt weird.

We left Tumalog Falls and headed for Oslob to see whale sharks. I remember learning about these as a kid and being fascinated by them, and we were going to see them! Not only that, we were going to swim with them!

Carmel helped us navigate the crowd. There were a LOT of people there. We got outfitted with life preservers and snorkels, got into a boat, and went into a calm bay. Whale sharks are filter feeders and only eat plankton and such, but they are BIG fish. Specially trained whale feeders were paddling by and dropping food in the water while we just floated and watched the whales swim by, and in some cases, get really close to us. It was AMAZING! A truly singular experience. It is the most astounding thing I’ve done on this trip, and that’s saying something, because I’ve crossed the International Date Line, and I’ve eaten pig intestines.

Here are some pictures. I had to do screen captures from the videos we took with Denis’ GoPro.

Pictures really don’t do the experience justice though. The videos really are better.

After that we returned to the place where we started and had lunch. Carmel wouldn’t be coming to our next destination because it was a long ways away, so he said goodbye. He suggested we take a picture together.

Next, we headed to Kawasan Falls. It was another hour and a half down the road.

These falls were not dried out. They were full of rushing water and were amazing. We met another guide there called Danwep who led us on the short hike to the falls. He asked if we wanted to jump from the top. I declined. Instead, we swam. There were multiple falls and pools. We swam in a couple.

Another three hours of time in the car, and we were home. Whew! We ate and went to bed.