We also had an opportunity to take a large group to visit one of the Philippine’s main tourist attractions, a trip to Pagsanjan Falls. The trip by the USS Mark to Manila was routine. Then we rode a rickety bus to where the river boats were loaded. Two riders got into “bancas” (canoes carved from tree trunks) and the boatmen struggled up stream, through a lovely rain forest, for about two hours to get to the falls. After a swim by the falls and a trip for the more daring, under the falls, we started back downstream, covering the same distance in about 20 minutes!!! BIG difference!