Note: better quality pics are located here:
Pics from my camera
Dad's camera
Eileen's pics After 2 weeks and a few days in the Philippines, I was looking forward to cold weather in Sacramento; but below freezing temperatures isn't what I expected. It's good to be back home. Don't get me wrong, I had a great time in the PI but towards the end of my stay, I got a little homesick. I packed a bit lighter this time around: shirts, shorts, undergarments, toiletries. Auntie May came to take my sister and I to the SF airport. Oh, but she did not come alone. And I did not expect her to come alone, after all who wants to drive back home alone for almost 2 hours? So 2 of her friends tag along (co-workers I believe), not a problem. They were of the mexican race and spoke mainly spanish, not a problem. I don't know anything about them except that they do love their mexican fiesta music. There lies the problem. Non-stop mariachi music ALL THE WAY TO THE AIRPORT. I was a sombrero and a set of maracas away from attending my first mariachi party. After my 2 hour trip in Mexico, Eileen and I were at the SFO International Airport. Check-in was a success. I had 2 hours and some minutes to kill before boarding the plane so I decided to hit the bar for a few drinks. I figured it would make the plane ride easier. My wallet thought otherwise, as I only had enough for 2 drinks (they were a bit pricey). But that's okay, because Philippine Airlines serves alcohol. The flight was roughly 14-15 hours with a stop in Guam for refueling. Jesus, is there anything worse than flying for that long? With sleeping aids (courtesy of Clint and Chandra), I didn't get the amount of sleep I wanted to (15 hours worth). Instead, I spent my waking hours reading magazines, listening to music, and watching one of the in-flight movie. I found myself watching Step Up, you know that dancing flick where the caucasian teenager from the ghetto teams up with a white chick from a fancy art school to perform at a show that could change both of their lives for the better? Yeah, I watched that shit. All the way through. What a bad movie that was. I mean, they are talented (dancing that is, acting is meh) and I respect that, but when has a good movie from that genre been released in recent memory? Before I knew it, we were at Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Manila, early morning on December 29th. My parents had someone to meet us there to get us through customs, which was nice I guess, but it didn't matter since when spent an eternity waiting for our luggage at the baggage claim. Now it was time to find my parents. A wave of humid air and pollution filled my lungs as I walked outside for the first time. What a welcome gift. I'm home. We arrived to my parents house in Kawit, Cavite (not too far from Manila). They purchased the place during our visit last year. It was my first time seeing it. Nice place. However, they made it sound like it was super huge or something. So I expected something extraordinary. It's a nice big house though. It's still a work in progress. Here's a couple of outside shots:  Rear of the house: 
More pics are on my server... We were only going to be in Cavite for the day and head to Ilocos Sur the following morning. We spent most of the day at the Mall of Asia, the 4th largest mall in the world. What a mall. I didn't look through the whole thing, I didn't have time to. I went back towards the end of my stay. The following morning we were on the road to Ilocus Sur. City of Santiago, Barangay (district, village) Lang-Ayan to be exact. 9 hour drive. Driving around the Philippines is rarely a smooth trip. There's usually heavy traffic and slow drivers you gotta deal with. Of course there's a lack of multiple lane highways (except for the big cities) that makes it difficult to get around, but what do you expect from a third world country? We arrived to Lang-Ayan, we were greeted by family and friends. My stay in Ilocos was pretty much laid back, as I didn't do anything to spectacular. Days were spent hanging out with relatives and going to Candon, the neighboring city for some shopping. There were days where I had nothing to do so I would watch TV. I experienced my first viewing of the filipino game show Wowowee. I've heard of it, but I don't have the The Filipino Channel; so I can't watch it. Wow what a terrible, terrible show. I guess it wouldn't be that bad if they didn't spend the first hour recruiting contestants from the audience by having sing their obnoxious theme song. The good thing about the show is the women on the show. Yowza, plenty of eye candy. One of the co-hosts, Mariel Rodriguez, is quite a pretty lady. My auntie and uncle, who were also visiting from the U.S., got to attend a viewing of Wowowee. They got to meet and take photos with the hosts O_O. I did turn 24 years old, sigh. I'm getting old too fast. The evenings were often spent around the house or at the beach nearby, chatting with the uncles and drinking San Miguel Beer. Well, there wasn't much chatting on my part due my lack of speaking the Ilocano dialect. There's some words I can understand, but I had to refer to Eileen for translation since she knows much more than I do. Alot of the time, I'd reply with "diac maawatan" ("I don't understand") or "diakammo" (I don't know). I make fun of their english, and they make fun of my ilocano, so it's all good. The language barrier didn't stop me from enjoying myself. Alot of the nights we spent in front of the a videoke machine (at the beach), a common activity. I can't count how many times I sang Madonna's 80s classic, La Isla Bonita. 
In the city, I noticed more gay dudes compared to last year. Maybe it's because the uncles would point them out to me everytime they were in the area. They would point out the ones that were checking me out.  At least none of them told me they liked me like last year (awkward moment). I didn't see many crossdressers this time around, but I did see "Rita" (real name Ronald), who looks even more lady like compared to last year. One day we headed up Batac in Ilocos Norte. There we visted the mansion of former President Ferdinand Marcos (now a museum). This place houses the remains of Marcos. The mausoleum is air conditioned, quite cold. Look to my left, I see his body in a glass case. On top of that, there's music playing that makes the experience eerie. I stared at his remains for good few minutes Some say the body is fake. Real or fake, it's pretty damn creepy. Of course, I couldn't take photos of the body. 
Next was a visit to Malacanang of the North, one of President Marcos' houses. 
After a week and some days in Santiago we headed back to Cavite to spend the rest of days before our flight home. We went to the Mall of Asia twice, but I don't I think I covered the entire mall. I didn't do much shopping this time, bought a couple of shirts and tons of boxers  . Oh, and some philippine Maxim and FHM magazines  . I like walking into stores having the sales clerk talk to me in tagalog then having to reply with, "I'm sorry, I don't speak tagalog". It's only happened, oh I don't know, everytime I walked into a store. At night we tried to find bars to hang out at. One bar we went to had a band, with a cute or hot singer (I haven't decided yet). She was taking requests and I wanted her to sing La Isla Bonita, but I was too shy to ask . I think most of my money was spent at bars. The trip wasn't spectacular, but it was good. I really wanted to get a massage, but never got around to it. Maybe next time. I felt fat and gross while I was there, eating unhealthy food everyday, drinking almost every night and not doing any form of exercise at all. So I guess my new year's resolution is to drop the holiday weight. | 
