Three weeks of school work seemed like enough...time for a trip of a lifetime! Nathan Melanie and Daniel stayed home, and Opa and Oma capably looked after them. Philip Matthew Jennifer Evelyn and I headed off along with Carol and Allegra. Destination Papua New Guinea...so Philip and Carol can take part in the on field conference. The rest of us are just along "for the ride". Matthew Jennifer have only been waiting for four years for their big adventure! Evelyn heard me complaining about the heat too often, so she was not looking forward to it...but she had no choice in the matter. Poor girl.
We left just before midnight on Oct 1, super duper tired...and just about to start a super long flight.
Evelyn doesn't remember her last airplane ride, which was when she was a baby. This first flight is quite the introduction to flying. Starting when she's already exhausted, off we go for 16 hours 50 minutes.
We are so so thankful that Carol booked us an AirBnB in Manila. We have a 19 hour layover and we are so zonked. The ride from the airport to the AirBnB was an interesting experience. Crazy traffic at 4am, loads of little mopeheads packed with people zipping around, squeezing past and through each other.
We had a really good nap. The kids fell asleep pretty quickly, and it was a hard job to wake them up again!
Eventually we were all awake and ready for a tour. Carol's driver took us wherever we asked...in an air conditioned vehicle! :) The first stop was breakfast at Jolibee. Which is, apparently an iconic Philippines restaurant. It was a lot like KFC, but they also gave some interesting packages with rice. Tasty...but seemed pretty American.
There were these trucks everywhere full of people, stopping everywhere to pick up and drop off passengers. The standard of living here is really low, though. And apparently Manila is the most densely populated city in the world! Even just being on Philippines Airlines with all the Filipinos returning home from their out-of-country jobs with boxes and packages of goods to help their families back home with was eye opening.
Along the sides of the roads were walls with pots in them. And plants growing. The city is humid and wet enough that they seem to manage without a lot of care. They look lovely!
We toured the oldest section of the town. An interesting piece of history. I was too hot and tired to absorb a lot of it, but enjoyed the experience, nevertheless.
We also checked out a park, which had a beautiful set up of fountains. When it got dark they were lit up in colours and the fountains were timed to spray water along with music.
There was a Chinese garden off to the side as well. This walkway really reminded me of a series of books I'd read to Jennifer and Evelyn (by Grace Lin).
We had another overnight flight...this time only 6 hours to Port Moresby. We were picked up and brought to the bible college for a quick rest...and then suddenly hustled off back to the airport to the SIL hanger because of some confusion on flight timings.
There is our final plane. We are almost there!
The small plane was definitely the funnest part of the trip. A bit bouncy...but so interesting!
The lighter people were supposed to sit near the back of the plane, and the heavier people in the front.
Finally, we made it to Ukurumpa!! We have to wait at the "airport" for the bus to pick us up...then we can settle in to our home away from home.
We are so glad to finally be finished with traveling!! It's been a really long trip, and very interesting. But very very tiring. Looking forward to a full night of sleep...but too thrilled about having to try to stay awake all day until bedtime.
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