Delayed Post: Our Trip to Puerto Princesa!

Sorry for the delayed post! I’ve been busy working on my health systems paper for Georgetown for the past two weeks and haven’t really had much time to blog. But I am back! We spent a lovely weekend in Puerto Princesa, Palawan two weekends ago and I thought I would start off by writing about that.

Day 1:

We arrived in Puerto Princesa around 10 am on Saturday morning and headed straight to our hotel to drop off our stuff. After we changed and applied plenty of bug spray (Palawan is a malaria area), we were off to Honda Bay. A hotel van took us to Honda Bay and we were on our own from there. Once we got there, we spent a while negotiating the price for our boat ride. Basically, you pay someone to boat you around the islands for a set price and you get to choose which islands to stop at. We chose a three-stop boat trip and decided to stop at a coral reef sanctuary, Starfish island, and Pandan island. My favorite by far was Starfish island- it was small and deserted and there were sand dollars and shells lining the water. We were able to go snorkeling in the shallow water and see the fish as well as a few lone starfish. Unfortunately I didn’t take my camera to this island so I don’t have any pictures to do it justice but it was absolutely beautiful. After Starfish island we went to Pandan island which was nice as well but there were a lot more people on that island so it wasn’t quite as enjoyable. After our island-hopping adventure, we headed back to the hotel for some R&R.

Off to the islands!

Arriving at the coral reef sanctuary

My sand dollars- one for me, one for Meredith, and one for Gordon :)

Pandan Island- our last stop in Honda Bay

Day 2:

On the second day, we woke up early so we could go to the underground river (one of the new seven wonders of nature). Our tour guide came to pick us up and then we stopped at two different hotels to pick up six more people. The first step of the trip was to get our permits so that we could enter the river. (in order to conserve the underground river in its natural state, they only allow 900 people to visit it a day). Once we had out permits, the adventure began. The trip there took a little over an hour and the road was UNBELIEVABLY bumpy! Not only was it a gravel road but we were making sharp left and right turns all the way there. We finally arrived at the site that takes us by boat to the island that the underground river is on. The boat ride was took about 15 minutes and when we got to the island, all we had left was a short 5-minute walk through the rainforest. Unfortunately, we had to wait a while for our turn as the permits were set for a specific entry time. When out entry time came, we geared up in our life jackets and helmets and got on the 8-person boat that would lead us into the underground river.

Alex and I sat in the front of the boat, which meant we were in charge of shining the hand-held light once we were inside the cave. To be honest, I was a little disappointed in the underground river for the fact that so much hype was built up about it. Besides the fact that we were in a boat instead of on foot, the underground river was like any other cave I have been to. In addition, there were these giant mosquito-like creatures that were flying around everywhere, especially up by the front of the boat where the light was, and cave water kept dripping on us throughout the boat ride. Nonetheless, it was quite a memorable experience. After that, we stopped at this restaurant by the water to get a buffet lunch and then we headed straight to the airport for out return flight to Manila. All and all, it was a great weekend. J

Pretty view from the boating station

The water on our way to the underground river was so blue!

Lookin' good in our gear ;)

More posts to come once we come back from our next trip!

The First Week of my Internship

Hello again!

            It's hard to believe but Alex, Emily, Amy and I have been in Manila for almost a week now and we've settled in quite nicely. The first day of our internship at the WHO's Regional Office of the Western Pacific (WPRO) was this past Monday, August 27^th. Our first meeting was with Dr. Nakagawa who welcomed us to Manila and got us all settled into our respective units. I have been placed in the Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) Unit under the supervision of Dr. Kimberly Fox. Dr. Fox is currently in Fiji for business so I have been given background readings to do for the time being. The background readings have been on new vaccine surveillance specifically focusing on rotavirus, Japanese encephalitis, and pneumococcal conjugate vaccines. The readings have been quite interesting so far and I look forward to meeting Dr. Fox next Monday when she returns from Fiji.

            The WHO facility itself is absolutely beautiful and very well maintained. There is a cafeteria on the main floor of building one with a good selection of food that changes every day. Each meal is pretty cheap costing around 120-160 pesos ($3-4 dollars). There is also a nice outdoor patio with tables and chairs where you can eat your meal if the weather is nice. Another great thing about WPRO is that there are a lot of interns here from a variety of places and in a variety of divisions (there are at least 15 of us from places such as Canada, Korea, Japan, and other parts of the USA). All the other interns we've met so far have been really nice and have given us some great advice of things to do in Manila and other parts of the Philippines. We are even planning a group trip to Puerto Princesa in the upcoming weeks which should be a lot of fun. Also, even though we have only been here a week, I've noticed that the WHO staff members do a great job of hosting events/meetings that WHO interns can attend. This past Wednesday, Alex, Amy, Emily and I attended the division meeting for the Communicable Disease Division which is the division we are all a part of. On Thursday, we attended an "intern's hour" presentation on global health challenges in today's society. Today, we had an opportunity to go on a field trip to the WHO country office where we learned what the WHO has been doing at the country level and we were able to hear a great presentation on child immunization efforts here in the Philippines. Needless to say, there is always something going on here at WPRO.

            In regards to the city of Manila, I am slowly getting more used to the noise and the congestion of the streets and realizing that you have to watch your back here much more so than you do back home. We are planning some day trips for this weekend which will provide us with a nice escape from the metropolitan area. That's all I have for now but I have really enjoyed my first week here and look forward to the adventures to come.

Our first week at the World Health Organization

WHO Regional Office of the Western Pacific

My desk!

Our First Weekend in Manila!

Good news! Alex, Amy, Emily and I all arrived safe and sound in Manila Friday night. A driver from WHO picked us up and brought as to our apartment in Ermita. Our landlord, Mrs. Perez, met us there to give us the keys and made sure everything in the apartment was properly set up. Mr. and Mrs. Perez are the nicest landlords we could have possibly asked for. They are so sweet and accommodating and even invited us to dinner in their home on Sunday night. Once Mrs. Perez left, we all crashed almost immediately. Even though we had all slept a bit on the 16 hour plane ride over here and it was technically early morning back home, we wanted to get used to Manila time as soon as possible and to be honest, there was really nothing to do since it was 11pm at night their time. The next morning we woke up early (around 6am) and we continued to unpack. Around eight o’clock, we ventured out of the apartment and headed straight for the Robinsons Mall. Being unadventurous, we ate our first meal at a little French café right outside the mall. The food was good (we got crepes!) and after we ate, we waited with the masses for the mall to open at 10am. As it turns out, the mall is the place to be on the weekends (it’s air conditioned and has Wi-Fi- although unfortunately none of us were able to pick up a signal). The great thing about Robinsons Mall is that pretty much has anything you could possible imagine and to be quite honest, even after multiple trips to the mall this past weekend, I still can’t figure out my way around it. Once we got food and phones, we headed home to continue to set up the apartment.

On Sunday, we ended up going back to the mall to get more food. Amy and I were a bit overwhelmed by the supermarket the first day so we hadn’t gotten much on our first trip. Also, we were told to always have a good amount of food at home just in case as it is typhoon season here in the Philippines. After resting at home for a bit, we decided to go to Intramuros which is the old historic part of Manila only a twenty-minute walk from our apartment. We got there and it was like stepping back in time. It was much quieter and peaceful and a nice escape from the craziness of Manila. We ended up taking a tour of San Augustin Church which was well worth it! The church itself was beautiful but my favorite part was the garden behind the church. 

San Augustin Church Gardens- Intramuros, Manila

View from inside the church

My fellow interns- Amy, Alex, and Emily :)

We wanted to explore more of Intramuros but we didn’t really have time since we were all sweating like crazy and really need to shower before out dinner with the Perez's. The Perez's sent a driver to come pick us up around 5:45pm and take us to their home in Makati. Their home was absolutely beautiful and had an amazing outdoor patio with antique Filipino furniture. We got to meet a majority of the extended family, as Sunday is their weekly family dinner. Everyone was so nice and gave us some great advice on places we should go on the weekends. When it was finally time to eat, we were in for quite a surprise as they went all out and provided us with our first real Filipino meal. The most unusual food they served was pig skin and cow tongue which was in some sort of stew. Amy was the only one brave enough to try the cow tongue (she actually didn’t even know what it was and just ate it) but I did try the pig skin and it wasn’t half bad! It was crunchier than I thought it would be. For dessert, we had coconut ice shavings and a variety of fruit. A tried a rambutan (picture below) and although it looks kinda scary it was quite good! You have to cut the outside layer to get to the white part in the middle which is the edible part. The flavor is hard to describe but it’s a little sweet and sour all at the same time. After dessert we said goodbye to the Perez's and thanked them for their hospitality and headed home.

Rambutan fruit= delicious!

So far I do like Manila but it is going to take some getting used to. The most difficult parts so far have been the traffic, the noise, and the stares. The traffic here is absolutely crazy!! There don’t really seem to be concrete lanes which is way there is always so much honking. My ride from the airport to the apartment Friday night was quite the experience. I was riding by myself since the other girls were already at the apartment so it was just the me and the driver. I literally felt like I was riding in the bus that Harry Potter was in at the beginning of the third Harry Potter movie. Cars were swerving left and right and trying to squeeze into places that didn’t seem humanly possible. And the honking is never ending— no matter what hour of the day, even at 4am, there is always noise coming from the streets 16 floors below us. In regards to people staring at us, we are quite the diverse group so I’m not sure people are even able to place where we are from. Either way, because we stand out, people are always trying to sell us things or get us to go somewhere in their vehicle. Pickpocketing is also very common in the area in which we are living so I’ve become a bit paranoid about my belongings and always keep my hand on my bag just to be safe. Even with the negatives of living in Manila, everyone we’ve met so far has been so nice and friendly. In addition, the apartment is great!—in each room there is a balcony overlooking the city which seems to be never ending in every direction. We even have a rooftop pool which we have already taken advantage of. After work today, we are going to plan our first weekend excursion. I’ll keep you posted on where we end up going. Anyways, that’s all for now! Post to come soon on my first few days interning at the World Health Organization. :)