A Road Less Traveled

In July of 2019 we traveled to Asia. Our first stop was Tokyo, Japan. It was a strange new world for us as we had never been to Japan. Beatrice and I admire Japanese culture and it was a dream to be in Japan. We stayed in an AirBnB in Shimokitazawa which is a small area where young college students would roam the store lined streets with cafes and restaurants, bars and shops. We spent four days in Japan before flying to Hanoi.

We were familiar with Hanoi as we adopted Beatrice there in 2009. It was nice to be back. It was very hot and humid. We took a trip out of town to Bach Ninh which had flowing rivers around large limestone vertical mountains. We sat in little skiff boats being rowed through the river by boatman. We also stopped in Tom Cat and rowed through the rivers and caves there. We spent a night at a beautiful hotel resort called the Emeraldo Hotel.

Back in Hanoi, we went to Ha Long Bay and cruised the bay and stopped by an island filled with tourists to swim. We had been in Ha Long Bay back in 2009 but now it was very touristy. In Hanoi again, we visited the Metropole Hotel where my grandfather worked as a musician and my dad and mom, who were with us, felt a deep connection to my grandparent’s life.

We left Hanoi after eleven days and traveled to Manila, Philippines. We met my sister’s family on the second day at the airport and took a small jump jet to the island of Palawan in the south. We stayed at the Nest Resort in El Nido in the north for a few days. We went to Nacpan beach which was a remote beach about 2 hours away. The bridge was out so our van couldn’t go further so we took trikes driven by drivers to the beach. We spent the rest of the day at a beach bar and swam a tropical beach that was so beautiful.

The next day, we took a boat ride off El Nido and went to several remote islands. We went snorkeling and was given grilled food off the boat and ate lunch on an island. We moved to another island near Cadlaw island and spent the rest of the afternoon alone on the beach.

After El Nido we left Palawan to go to the north and Tugegerau where my cousin lived. We met my other cousin Jorge and three drivers and the next day drove 8 hours up high into the mountains to the Banaue Rice Terraces which is a UNESCO heritage site. We spent the night in thatched roof huts gamping in the moonlight of the cool mountain breezes.

The next day we headed down the mountain into town and shopped at an indigenous tribal store of the Ifugao tribe to buy their wares. Then we traveled 15 hours to Ballesteros which is my mother’s hometown. We stayed five days with my relatives. We spent the days going to the beach with my cousins and their kids and walked around town and went to the market where my cousin sold his goods. It was bitter sweet to leave and go back to Manila for our last few days.

In Manila, we met my cousin Rose and her family and went to huge malls and markets and ate great food. One day, we went to the church in a Chinese Filipino section of Manila where Michelle’s older cousin Georgetiene built a modern looking church. We met a nun and two parishioners who knew him. One of the wealthy women that we had contacted before our trip had brought a driver for us to go around. We had lunch with the two Chinese Filipino women and the nun at a Chinese restaurant. They took us to a mall where we met my sister’s family and my cousin Rose.

Our last evening, we had a family party and a buffet and met two of my eldest cousins and their large family. It was so nice to meet everyone and know that we have a large family that loves us.

The next day, we left for home and our travels took us back to Japan where we took a plane back to the US. It was a 15 hour trip back home but with the layover it was more like 25 hours. When we arrived back to NYC, a driver took us back to Hartford. We were exhausted but it was the trip of a lifetime.

Thinking back now, with the COVID pandemic, we were lucky to have gone when we had the chance. We took a ton of pictures that are in our galleries to enjoy forever.