Dagupan City - February 2010

Dad on Burgos Street where my great grandfather Generoso Siapno was born. And where my great grandfather Polikarpio Siapno died in 1952.
Mayor Felipe Siapno (a picture from 1987). There was also another mayor of Dagupan City who was a Siapno who served for several years back in the 1950s. We also discovered there was a mayor of Baguio City who was a Siapno, and a street is named after him.
Dad, me, Ninoy Siapno in his restaurant and bakery Pinkie's, Pastor Carlos, four of his Victory pastors from Dagupan area
Ninoy Siapno, former barangay chief, and Felipe Siapno, former mayor.
Fringes of Dagupan City. The Lingayen Gulf in the distance. This is where MacArthur landed to take back Luzon Island from the Japanese in 1945.

Voyage of Discovery

An average street in Dagupan City with the omnipresent Jeepneys and tricycles.
Fishing village on the river in Dagupan.
Fishing village on stilts in Dagupan City.
The most famous restaurant in the area (my Filipino ancestors last name: Siapno).
Faithie and Mommie on the bus.

Pictures from Trip to Dagupan

Dad in the bus for our day long trip to Dagupan City.
Bangus (milk fish, the specialty of Dagupan)
A wonderful lunch with 5 Pangasinan pastors and Pastor Manny Carlos.

Jen and Jed's wedding with several attorney friends from Manila.

Random China Pictures

Guangzhou - February 2010

Guangzhou

Chen Clan Academy architecture.
We had a driver and two tour guides for the day. See the little Chinese Communist flags in the window of our vehicle.
The front of the Chen Clan Academy.
Six Banyan Trees Temple...yes, that's a monk on a cell phone. What is wrong with the world?
Faithie climbing over statutes.

Six Banyan Temple pagoda in Guangzhou (or Canton) in Guangdong province.
In front of the Sun Yat-Sen Memorial. Built in 1928.
Faith and I in a ferry up the Pearl River.
St. Paul's cathedral ruins.
The Grand Lisboa casino (in the shape of a Lotus) towering over the Macau skyline from the top of the Portuguese fortress built in the 1600s. This was a Portuguese colony from 1557 to 1999.

Macau

Picture of the ruins of St. Paul's cathedral from the fortress and looking into old Macau and over the river into mainland China.
Chinese New Year decorations in the old town square.
In front of the Ama temple where Faith became a minor celebrity in which she dozens of people had their picture taken with her or just wanted to take a picture of her. It kind of became a swarm after this.
Our mode of travel.

Hong Kong

Chinese characters on a door I found. I thought they were beautiful.
Faith watching an old man in Tai O village make these amazing cake waffle things.
The Fisherman's Temple in Tai O.
An old smuggling village where Chinese mainlanders used to be smuggled to freedom in Hong Kong and where tvs and radios went back into the mainland before China opened up.
Another picture of the Po Lin monastery.

Hong Kong - February 2010

Po Lin Monastery.
The Po Lin Monastery giant buddha. The movie Family Stone discusses a visit to this monastery and giant buddha.

This thing was massive. It was almost a hundred feet high. It is the largest seated outdoor buddha in the world. And if faces Beijing instead of India, as buddha's generally do, because the Chinese government apparently funded it's building in 1989.
Looking down on some of the high rises on Lantau island near the International Airport as we go up on the cable car.