Humanitarian Project - Philippines/China - Itinerary

Hello there! I'm new here and I hope you will greet me with warmth and wisdom.

I am running a humanitarian project in Carigara, Leyte. This is the first time I will be doing so I'd like feedback! I would like to be very cheap so cheap places to stay and go would be nice. Things to do in Manila would be fantastic. Something college students would enjoy, but no clubbing. We are not much into that. Also the place to go for New Years!

There are a total of four to six of us. We will be gone around 3 weeks.

First Week
Dec 18 - Leaving US from GSO (Greensboro, NC) (Sunday)
Dec 19 - Arrive around 9pm to MNL (Manila, Luzon), stay night in hotel
Dec 20 - Tacloban, meet rotary, go to Carigara, Leyte. Independently meet with principals.
Dec 21 - Morning: Feeding program, tend ducks, lunch, tour of Carigara, tutoring after school
Dec 22 - Morning: Feeding program, garden, tend ducks, lunch, tour of school, tutoring after school
Dec 23 - Morning: Feeding program, tend ducks, costal clean up, lunch, tour of hospital, tutoring after school
Dec 24 - Ducks, Garden, go to Tacloban. Big brother program in orphanage. Rafael Farm afterwards.

Second Week
Dec 25 - Sunday, Christmas! Deliver special meals to feeding program families. Deliver toys to orphanage. Spend evening resting and celebrating
Dec 26 - Feeding program, garden, tend ducks, lunch, cemetary, tutoring after school
Dec 27 - Feeding program, costal clean up, ducks, lunch
Dec 28 - Feeding program, garden, tend ducks, meet with native volunteers to ensure the project continues in our absence, lunch, visit nearby island
Dec 29 - Leave for Manila in the morning, settle in, lunch, sights
Dec 30 - Sights, shops,
Dec 31 - Beach? / sights, special New Years dinner, fireworks?
Jan 1 - Leave for China

We'll be going to China afterwards for a week.
Probably Shanghai. I would like to go further into the country, but I'm not sure if that is safe/affordable. I would also like things to do in that region cheaply. This will all be down time, all in the winter month.

[ Edit: Edited on 14-Jun-2011, at 20:01 by DaphneRose ]

I am from Carigara, Leyte. I left my town and stayed here in Manila in 1997. I just go back home once every three years. I don't remember any inn or place to stay in my town. But Tacloban City and Ormoc City are just an hour and a half away from Carigara. There are a lot of options there. But I think you will be accommodated by the municipal mayor of Carigara if you're there for humanitarian projects!

So anyone bored, I mean caring can form a group fly to a developing country, pick the most impoverished town, and do some, what's it called? Humanitarian Project.

"I would like to go further into the country, but I'm not sure if that is safe/affordable."

Are you guys in High School or uni students? Well good luck on your Humanitarian project.

Just curious: what is your project about? From your post, it sounds like you are just raising ducks. Is that it?

China is quite safe, and very affordable. Suggested short trips from Shanghai: Suzhou (an ancient city built on canals, like Venice), Hangzhou (famous for its 'West Lake', which is the setting of many Chinese poems and novels), and Nanjing (one-time capital of China, and site of the horrible "Nanjing Massacre" during WWII).

Have a good trip!