Diving Trip to Davao, Philippines

During the Chinese New Year for 2007, we decided to go on a diving trip to the Philippines with friends that we met during last Christmas. Paul, Alon, and Doug joined us from Taiwan, and then we went diving in Davao, around the islands of Talikud and Samal.

Our dive guide, July, is also in the picture with us, and he took good care of us there.

Diving is relatively cheap in the Philippines, and we had this whole boat to ourselves for 4 days. We did a total of 9 dives, including one night dive in which we saw lots of hermit crabs, nudibranches, and sea fans. (I hope to get some pictures from Paul and Alon to put on this blog as well).

Davao is well-known for the pearl farms and the stinky fruit durian. I tried to eat it once, and I nearly threw up! Pearls can be bought almost anywhere in the Davao area. Brook bought several pairs of pearl earrings for about $2 USD each. The quality is pretty good too.

The islands around Davao had crystal clear water with excellent visibility. The only problem was that there weren't many big fish to see in the water. However, we did see lots of soft and hard shell corals, nudibranches, and lionfish.

The accomodation was very cheap there as well, but it took some time getting used to. We stayed at Talikud island for 3 days. The room was pretty rustic, and did not have a working shower. It just had cold water and a bucket. The electricity only turned on from 6 pm to 6 am, but no worries about the alarm clock. The roosters woke us up at dawn.

Also, there are no restaurants on Talikud Island, so we had to buy our own fish, chicken, rice, from the local market and then cook it ourselves. Alon and Brook volunteered to make the food. Mmm good!

We owe our thanks to Paul, Alon, and Doug for arranging the diving and accomodation, sweetening up the staff, and getting some free T-Shirts!

See the pictures below:
http://219.84.83.31/Pictures%20of%20Brook%20and%20Todd/2007/2-2007/Philippines/web/Davao_Trip_CNY_2007/

ShenZhen Business Trip

This is my first trip to China, and I was actually surprised that Shen Zhen is so clean and modern. I'll be honest, though, there isn't much to do here but eat, get a massage, and go shopping. But be careful!

Not everything here is as it seems. I was shopping for a memory card for my mobile phone at the cheap markets, but the sticker on the label was fake. The card said 4 GB, but after I put it inside my phone, it was only 120 MB! I didn't buy it, but just checked it out to make sure.

They also sell a lot of fake purses, wallets, etc, but I wouldn't buy them either. They look pretty fake if you ask me.

Enjoy the pictures. Notice how haizy the sky is everyday. That's from the air pollution from the factories.

http://219.84.83.31/Pictures%20of%20Brook%20and%20Todd/2007/1-2007/Shen%20Zhen/Shen%20Zhen,%20China/