Pearl Farm Safari?

[Hanaleimom]

Yes, I'm here. I'll follow up with Jacques about everything. As for costs, a lot of that will depend on Jewelmer in The Philippines. I do think adding Hong Kong to the same ruckus could add a heavy cost onto it for some people. What I might try to do is figure out an approximate cost for one and for both.

I concur. I've been googling and found people's posts of their trip to Flower Island via GIA or something else. It seems the stay is about 3 days to accommodate visiting the pearl farm. Not adding HK to cut cost sounds practical, but traveling long haul to Asia with 3 days stay isn't as practical either. Hope to hear the details soon.

[jshepherd]

If Jewelmer *hosts* the ruckus, it might be relatively inexpensive for the Palawan side. Three days is enough to see the farm and get a good overview of what life on a South Sea pearl farm is like, and to see what Jewelmer is doing with and for the community. Hong Kong would be a separate set of tickets and hotels are $2-$400 per night (unless we were able to find a really great group rate at a good hotel). I will do some digging, but off the top of my head, HK could add a couple thousand dollars to the cost of the trip at least.

[Nora]

We're tracking this.

[Lagoon Island Pearls]

...if you have the opportunity to go you should not miss it. It isn't just another destination. It is truly unique and beautiful. The people are warm and genuine. If you love pearls and pearling life, and if you have the means you should not miss this...

On that advice, this is what I keep telling myself.

HK is not something I need to do immediately and will happily forgo that part, but a Flower Island P-G Ruckus is overwhelmingly alluring. I hope it's not beyond the budget and means of a fledgling pearl farmer.

I noticed on the website, there are four options for travelling there from Manila, I'm curious which ones are more or less desirable in time and cost.

[Nora]

We wouldn't plan on HK, but are thinking of continuing on our own to Australia and NZ.

[Cees]

I am still very interested and February is a great time of the year for the Philippines.
Got one new Peso 1000 note already, beautiful note with a Pinctada Maxima oyster with a pearl on it, BDO bank had only one, last week.
Need more of these notes to be able to join this trip hahahaha

[Nerida]

We wouldn't plan on HK, but are thinking of continuing on our own to Australia and NZ.

Come and visit, Nora and Eli - would be lovely to meet you!!

[Nora]

Nerida, as we say in the Middle East "Inshalla".

Isn't it amazing how the forum provides opportunities for friendships?

[dmj]

i would love to join on the trip also! i will probable be at the hk fair anyway so would be quite nice to also visit the Philippines after

[la_corsetiere]

Hmmmm....sounds like we're coming up with a nice little core group of prospective ruckus-ers! Any chance we can settle on a date? We'll need Jewelmer's input on this, of course... Sounds like the days following the HK show might work best, whether or not people intend to go to the show. I know it seems like a long way off at this point, but February will be here before we know it!!!

Sheri

[jacques.christophe]

Hey Jeremy,

When you have some more details, please send us an email, and we would be happy to assist you with finalising the trip. Its great to see so much interest on coming to visit our pearl farms. For those of you who feel that a trans-pacific voyage is a bit long for a 3 day visit, there would be no problem in extending your stay in flowerisland, and factoring in a little vacation time too.

Jacques Christophe

[lisa c]

So, I'm catching up on old posts - where do I go to find the outcome? Who can tell me which thread?

[Mikeyy]

More and more interesting. We at PG have been invited to China to visit a Chinese Akoya farm. It's only a couple of hours north of Hong Kong. I don't know but maybe this could be a mini tour. They are looking forward to hosting us so any thought?

[pearlescence]

Great plan there Mr Mikeyy.
Weird, I posted this before and it disappeared
How about a freshwater pearl farm and a factory - i can think of a couple of firms who might step up.....
and even a findings company?

[la_corsetiere]

Definitely sounds interesting! Now what are the next steps to actually getting something organized??? I'm assuming we're still looking at coordinating this with the timing of the HK show, so some people could start with that, perhaps take a short side trip to bungee jump in Macau (I'd love company!!!), then end up in at Flower Island...others could just meet at Flower Island....

I'm excited about all of this - hope we can make it happen!!!