We had to wake up really early to leave Naujan to begin our trek back towards Manila since we wanted to catch the Supercat at 8 am. Mostly we wanted to do this so we could get an early start and make it all the way to Los Banos today so that we can go to Tagaytay tomorrow and see the Taal Volcano. We made it to the Supercat in time and had a somewhat bumpy ride because the water was pretty choppy. There was a very good captain, though, and he rode the waves just right to minimize the turbulence.

After arriving in Batangas, we took a bus to Tanauan, where Auntie Dorrie's family lives. We had lunch with them and then headed out (at exactly 1 pm as planned!) for Los Banos. This required a (short) tricycle ride, and a (long) jeepney ride. We arrived in Los Banos around 2:30 and took a look around the campus, which is beautiful. My parents met at a New Years Eve picnic on campus, and I got to see the spot (which is now a gravel driveway) where they met.

My mom met with an old friend of hers and we went to Chowking for a snack of lumpia (Filipino spring rolls). She was really good and only talked for an hour before we headed back to Tanauan. On the way back, she was "praying" a lot on the jeepney. I had to hold onto her because I was afraid she'd slide right out the back.

That night was a full moon and we looked at the stars for a bit, particularly Orion. It was partially cloudy though so we had fun finding shapes, not only in the constellations, but also in the clouds that passed overhead. After dinner, we went to an internet cafe because my cell phone didn't have service so I couldn't text my dad back in the States. As we left the building, we saw a vendor on the road selling balut. Since Keren had been saying I would have to try it sometime before I left, we figured this was as good a time as any. So she bought 10 balut (about $2) so that we could all have one.

For those of you unfamiliar with it, balut is a chick that has been allowed to grow for approximately 15 days, at which time it is hard boiled and eaten. Balut was used as a challenge on an episode of Fear Factor. I thought, "Definitely, yes, I'm going to eat this." Because theoretically I eat eggs and I eat chicken, so this is just something in between. But as soon as I cracked open the egg, I had second thoughts. You can see the feathers and the partially formed body. I sucked out the juice, but then just sat there for about 8-10 minutes (while it was getting cold, which isn't as good apparently) thinking about whether or not I could actually eat it. Finally, I said, yup, I'm gonna eat it, and just popped it in my mouth and started chewing. It's really good, actually. Tastes (as you can imagine) like something between a chicken and an egg (there is still some yolk there which you eat), and it wasn't crunchy at all, like I thought it would be. I thought that the beak, etc. would be kinda crunchy, but they weren't. Anyway, it was delicious. I've included a picture here of one which we dissected (and didn't eat), and one without the yolk which I challenged Keren to eat (and she did).