Taal Volcano and the Palace in the Sky

This weekend, Jim's office manager Edwin took us to see Taal Volacano. Its one of the smallest and deadliest volcanos in the world. Its in the middle of a lake and has another small lake in its crater. Very pretty, but we didn't get too close.

Then we went to a palace that had started being built for Ronald Reagan's visit years ago, but that visit was cancelled after an assasination here in the Philippines. Instead of finishing the building, they just let it fall into ruins and strangely enough, its now a tourist destination. Here's a picture at the palace of Jim and Laura with Edwin and Melvin from his office:

We got to ride in a Jeepney for the first time. These are converted Jeeps that work like buses. They're open to the air and not too comfortable, but very cheap. Probably woudn't take one without a local with us since its hard to tell where they're headed.

Next, we went to a beautiful restaurant on the grounds of a bed and breakfast and spa. Most of the food they serve is from their garden. Excellent food and delicious. Beautiful setting.

Last, we stopped by the Mall of Asia, their answer to the Mall of America. Pretty much just another huge mall. We did see this, though. Can you read where they baby back ribs are from???:
(Oklahoma)

The trip home was pretty tough. 3 hours in the car with Laura who hadn't taken a nap or eaten much. And her stomach was pretty upset, apparently. But we made it. Today (Sunday) we're just taking it easy around here. Headed to a new grocery store because we heard they might have turkey!