Tagaytay, Philippines

First let me say DC traffic is nothing compared to traffic in Manila! It’s crazy – if there are lines on the roads no one pays any attention to them and the bumper to bumper traffic is stop and go for miles and miles.
We left the guest house in Manila early and drove south to see the Volcano Taal with a stop to see the world’s only bamboo pipe organ. We also had a wonderful lunch at Sonya’s Bed and Breakfast, also in Tagaytay. The gardens were gorgeous and they grew the lettuce for the salad right there.
In the slideshow you’ll see the Stallsmith family enjoying a treat of Starbucks on Manila Bay, street scenes on the drive to the church with the bamboo organ, lunch at Sonya’s Bed and Breakfast, volcano Taal, a roadside nursery in Tagaytay, a pineapple field on the drive back and school kids boarding a Jeepney. Jeepneys and tricycles are very common forms of transportation and are everywhere, like cabs in NYC. The last slide is coming into Manila. The metal structure is a billboard – which are huge and everywhere – with the sign taken down for the typhoon season.