A full day of plane rides....

So we were up this morning ready to head home. We have had a great time on this trip but after 2 weeks, we are ready to sleep in our own bed and get back to our normal lives. Getting home is not such fun though. It's going to take 3 flights to get us there but luckily, it is a pretty direct route, no back tracking at least. Our first two flights were on Thai Airways. The first leg was a 2 hour flight to Bangkok and after a quick 40 minute layover, it was a 6 hour flight to Dubai. I can't say enough good things about Thai Airways. Their service was great, the food was delicious, and they had the best entertainment options of any airline. You have your own personal tv and could start and stop movies whenever but the best part for the movie selection. New releases, old classics, seriously like 50 movie choices!! They even gave me a little boutonnière of a trio of three orchids when we arrived in Dubai.

Once in Dubai, we had a 4 hour layover that turned into 7 hours because of a mechanical issue with the plane. This was especially stinky because the time we arrived was our bed time according to Manila time so we were especially tired. However, I consider ourselves lucky that out of our 10 flights on this trip we only had only real delay and no lost baggage. We also made the best of it by exploring parts of the airport and sleeping in their "rest area." The Dubai airport was really cool and makes me want to go back to Dubai for sure one day. Seeing the Arabic script everywhere was fun and it was interesting that the airport had a large number of mosques, even in a small area. I wanted to take pictures but upon landing in Dubai, the flight attendant told us that no pictures were allowed of the descent or of the airport. I thought about maybe being a rebel and trying to take a picture anyways but I figure I better leave well enough alone.

Now we are on the flight from Dubai on our way home. This flight also had pretty decent entertainment options although I have already seen all the movies available (surprise surprise right?). Although I don't usually mind long flights, this one has been awful. It's a 13 hour flight and I feel like I am watching sand move through an hour glass. I am wide awake and haven't been able to sleep a wink. There are also an abnormal amount of kids on this flight running up and down the aisles and screaming, with their schedule screwed up, no doubt due to the delay. Luckily we are landing in 45 minutes.

We have had a great time on this trip. We have seen tons of cool stuff, spent time with immediate and extended family, and had some amazing experiences. However, we are ready to go home. Will and I have discussed numerous times on this trip about how spoiled we are as
Americans. Not just because of materials goods, although that is true, but just the luxury we have of having a care-free existence and confidence that comes from having certain rights and privileges in our upbringing. We are excited to return home with amazing memories and a more grateful heart.  We look forward to picking up this blog again next summer wherever our travels take us next.  We think we're a little Asiaed out right now so maybe Europe?! 


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Back to Manila...

This morning we woke up to get an early breakfast, take one last walk on the beach, and head home. Unfortunately, the weather was it's absolute worst and it seriously felt like a typhoon could be coming with all the rain and strong winds. Getting to the airport consisted of the same coming in, beginning with a short trike ride to the jetty port although this time we went to a different jetty port because of the rain. Then we took the banca boat back to Malay, Aklan which is the bigger island where Caticlan airport is. My aunt and cousin were on a return flight to Manila earlier that morning but because of the rain, they were rescheduled to a different flight leaving from Kalibo airport. I was really hoping that this wouldn't happen to us because Kalibo airport is a slightly larger airport on Aklan island that is a two hour bus ride away!!! Luckily we didn't have to go to the other airport but our flight was just going to be about 30 minutes delayed. whew!!! The airport is funny because there is one gate with just a little waiting room the size of my classroom. The outside of the airport looks like it was just recently built though.




Upon arriving to Manila, we went back to Alabang to my grandmother's house. This time my brother and dad were with us so they got a chance to see everything. One cool thing is we got to see the American flag and plaque given to our family for my grandfather's service in World War II. The plaque was meant for his grave but my cousins said they kept it because it is made of pure copper and they were afraid someone would steal it.




It was especially fun for my brother who remembers the most about the Philippines out of all of us. Unfortunately, I don't remember anything. Seriously, my first memory is the flight leaving Philippines for America. This time I got to meet Miguel who is my only Filipino cousin who wasn't home the other day when we came in. He is really nice and like Angie, plan on moving to the U.S. soon. It'll be cool to have more cousins in Houston eventually. From here, we all went to Max's chicken for dinner. Max's Chicken is a Filipino chain that serves fried chicken as well as traditional Filipino food. My dad raved about it and since it was such a popular local food, we were excited to try it. It was pretty good, but the Filipino food was better than the chicken. The fried chicken tasted just like normal fried chicken. Maybe one interesting thing was that they had banana ketchup. Also, I got to have one of my favorite Filipino desserts that I hadn't had since I was a kid. It's a frozen coconut fruit salad and it's delicious! Definitely going to look up the recipe when I get home.





After dinner, Will and I said goodbye to my family and cousins. Will and I were going to a hotel near the airport as we are leaving tomorrow morning. The rest of my family is leaving a day later so they left after dinner for my Tita Beth's vacation home. My mom was so worried about me and Will going in a taxi to our hotel that she had my cousin Miguel accompany us and it was nice of him to do so. I like my Filipino cousins a lot and look forward to them moving to the States.

Now we are at our hotel, ready to get a good night's rest before going home.


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Skim boarding with some locals

This morning it was raining again. It basically rains every night but then stops during the day. After eating breakfast, we weren't sure what to do. We had planned to go to Ariel's Point to do cliff-diving but we had heard that it wasn't a good place to go when the weather was bad because it was way too choppy. So unfortunately, we nixed that plan. Instead, Will, my brother David, Angie, and I decided to hang out the beach. We wanted to try kite boarding which is really popular here and apparently is the location for the International Kiteboarding Championship but it look way too hard and apparently you spend the whole first day just trying to control the kite without the board. The waves here were pretty big and strong but we couldn't find boogie boards so instead we rented some skim boards. They tried to sell us a lesson but we figured we could just try it out and figure it out on our own. It is way harder than it looks though! Luckily, three local boys who owned the boards we were renting taught us the basics. They were really nice and really good at skimboarding! We weren't quite so good but I think we did okay for our first time. We moved a few feet which illicited some positive reinforcement from our teachers.

After skim boarding, Angie went to hang out with her mom and then Will, David, and I went to eat lunch at some Filipino buffet. I love Filipino food and the food was really good and so cheap!! In the afternoon, my brother went exploring on his own and Will and I hung out on the beach some more. We laid out, played in the water, and basically did nothing. I finally found this Filipino dessert I had been searching for called turon. It's basically a banana egg roll that is crispy and covered in this sugary glaze. It is delicious and one of the foods I had been hoping to run into in the Philippines. I found some on the boardwalk type thing and got some from a lady selling it on the actual beach.



After spending the day on the beach, the whole family (minus Winnie & Andrew who were at the spa) went to have dinner at a different buffet on the beach. Again, sooooooo delicious and such a good deal. It included all my Filipino favorites like adobo, sinigang, pancit, and BBQ grilled seafood. Even though we have been here for a while, I still have not ODed on Filipino food. I have always loved Filipino but I seriously never get a chance to eat it since my mom never cooks it and there are so few Filipino restaurants around. After dinner, Will, my brother and I went to find Jonas fruit stand because I had read online that they have the best fruit shakes on the island. At this point Will has had like 2 mango shakes every day so we love fruit shakes! He also had an avocado shake (sounds gross but is actually really good; my mom made them for us as kids) and some of the best watermelon juice ever!! Anyhow, we found them as they were a little off the beaten path and Will got a mango shake while I got a mango-pineapple shake. They were both really good but not the best we have had on the island. Our favorites were at D'Talipapa. We walked along the shops and stands along the beach some more before heading back to the hotel to get packed up for the next morning.

Jonas' fruit stand to go bottles.  awesome!

Random highlights about Boracay:
1. The island was really beautiful, way nicer than I had actually expected and at this point is probably the nicest beach I have been to and I thought Thailand was going to be hard to beat. Definitely would want to return during the peak season though. I have loved the laid back vibe and how you can walk barefoot all over the place if you want because all of the restaurants on the stations (white beach is divided into three stations) are built on the sand and you can eat dinner with sand between your toes.
2. We really like Filipino food, even Will did! We loved the fresh seafood and all the fresh fruit available. I am now inspired to start cooking more Filipino food at home.
3. Filipino people are really really nice. It was cool being around so many of them, and not just Filipinos, but just being around so many Asians in general. There were tons of Chinese and Korean tourists and very few white people. And of those white people, I don't think any of them were American but random Europeans. It just feels very different than typical tourist destinations.
4.  I really like riding around in these little trikes they have as the main transportation of the island.  It's like being in a little sidecar.

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Scubaing in Angol's Point

Today we woke up and it was raining. It is typhoon season here so it rains a lot. Because of this, it is the low-season so it is not that crowded (a plus), and things are consequently cheaper. First we had the buffet breakfast included with our hotel. It was surprisingly good with a mix of Filipino choices (corn beef, beef steak, pancit) and American choices like pancakes, French toast, and bacon. They also had pan de sal which is one of my favorites and super fresh mango!

It was raining but we went ahead and went with our plan to go scuba diving today. None of us are scuba certified so we did one of the PADI Discover Scuba dives which limits dives to 40 feet and must be escorted by dive masters. So our group included me, Will, my dad, my brother, Winnie, Andrew, and my cousin Angie, as well as 3 instructors. First we started by taking a short class where we learned about the equipment. Luckily, it stopped raining during our class! Then we went over to Bulabog beach where we practiced using the equipment in very shallow water. We practiced breathing through the regulator, as well as other emergency skills we might need. The water was only up to our waists in this area but underwater there were already a bunch of little fish and HUGE starfish. The starfish were about the size of a paper plate and looked so spiky but were hard and smooth to the touch. It was really neat!!

After practicing some skills, we went out to deeper water. We saw tons of cool coral and colorful fish. We saw some weird spiky thing with tons of antennae but I'm not sure what it was, maybe a relative of a lobster. We also saw some weird thing, I think it was a plant, that when you moved by it, it shrunk into itself. It was really cool. We even got to feed the fish. The only scary part was when my air regulator got snatched away from me. When you scuba, you're supposed to swim with your arms close to your body so you don't accidentally snag someone's equipment. However, Will was having such a great time he was moving his arms all crazy and somehow knocked my air regulator out of my mouth. This was scary to me because I stink at holding my breath. Luckily, I found it and replaced it quickly without a problem, and there was a guide nearby in case of emergency.  We paid an extra whopping 200 pesos (about $5) to have someone take our pictures for us so that's where all of these pictures came from.

After scubaing, we ate lunch at a barbecue place. Not like BBQ sauce barbecue, but basically that means anything grilled. Will had surf and turf and I had a seafood feast of grilled fish, shrimp, and squid. Yummy!




Afterwards, we just hung out at the beach. We laid out, we played in the water and relaxed. The water is warm, but since it's cloudy, it's not HOT HOT which actually works out well for us since Will and I aren't big lay-outers because we get too hot. For dinner, we had pizza with my brother and the whole group split up. Pizza sounds weird I'm sure but Will had ODed on Filipino food and my stomach was having issues and I was craving something dry. We also ate way too much at lunch and so I was feeling nauseas and just wanted dry bread. After dinner we went to an outdoor lounge area where the was a band playing and had drinks. Filipinos listen to American music so it was fun listening to all the top 40 songs. We also saw a bunch of lady boys doing some kind of fire dancing. I felt like we were at a rave. Then we called it a night and went to bed!

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Boracay bound...

This morning we woke up to head to Boracay, which is an island south of Manila. We rode Cebu Pacific again but this time it was a super short flight, less than hour. The plane to Boracay is small so they are strict about how much luggage you can take and you even have to get weighed so they can assign seats by weight to ensure an even distribution for the plane.

Here's a picture of Will getting weighed and me getting on the plane.









There's Boracay from the plane!!





Now when we landed, we were told the bad news that our luggage hadn't arrived. It wasn't just our luggage but our entire flight's!! We were so pissed because apparently Cebu Pacific does this quite often because the plane can't handle all of the weight. However, our flight wasn't full so basically any flight half full gets the shaft so they still make their money but you have to wait for your stuff. My brother and dad came on a flight later in the afternoon and their flight was pretty empty and therefore got their luggage. Anyways, I thought this was totally lame-o but they promised to bring our stuff that evening. Lesson learned: don't fly with
Cebu Pacific anymore.

Now there is no airport on Boracay itself, so we landed at the Caticlan airport. From there, we took a short van ride to the jetty port. Here you board a banca boat for about 15 mins to actually get you to the island.




Once on the island, we took a mini jeepney (common Filipino transport) to our actual resort, the Boracay Regency.









Once we got to the hotel, our options were a little limited since we didn't have our swimsuits or anything (grRrrRr!!). We took a small trike ride (photo to follow later b/c these are cool) to D'Mall where there are lots of restaurants and shops. For lunch, Will had some delicious grilled chicken and I had the most delicious grilled pork on a stick of some sort. Yummy! It was only $6 for both of our meals!




We walked up and down the beach and their equivalent to a boardwalk type area checking out all of the options for activities and such. The water is so warm, beautiful and clear and the sand is soft and white, hence the name of the beach, White Beach. It was so beautiful!!




Afterwards, we decided to get a massage on the beach. It was an hour long and was great and only $8!!!!! Ahhh, I could get used to this.

Later, we went to dinner. We went to this area like d'Talipapa. It's a market area with a wet market which means it sells all types of seafood and raw meat. This place was awesome!! There were HUGE lobsters that were the size of a big cat with a bunch of skinny claws that looked like antennas. They didn't have the big claws at all. Anyways, you can buy whatever seafood, meat, and veggies that you want and you can take it to any of the restaurants next door and you pay them to cook it for you. You just choose the style of cooking (grilled, steamed, etc.) and the flavor. We had tons of food: shrimp, the freshest mussels I have ever tasted, fish, oysters, chicken, squid, and some other seafood, I can't even remember what it was called. It was all sooooooo good and all of that food plus a whole bunch of beers and mango shakes only came to like $10 a person!! Seriously awesome!!










It's only the first day and I love Boracay already. I haven't even put my swimsuit on yet but thank goodness our luggage arrived while we were at dinner. Tomorrow: scuba diving!!!

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Made in the P.I.

After a short two hour flight from Hong Kong, we arrived in Manila. We flew Cebu Pacific and it was an interesting experience. I am pretty sure it is a budget airline because some of the practices were very interesting. Contrary to our China Eastern Air flight that served full meals with ice cream as dessert for even a 2 hour flight, you had to pay for anything on Cebu Pacific, even if you wanted some water. They also were hawking random goods with their paraphernalia on it like you would want a Cebu Pacific t-shirt. The random fun things though were they played Black Eyed Peas while waiting to depart and they had a game where the first person to lift up certain items (such as three things with the Cebu logo on it) won a prize. We didn't win. We were too slow. When we arrived it was pouring rain. My mom's childhood friend, my tita Beth, and her husband picked us up. They took us to their condo to drop off some of our luggage since the flight to Boracay is a small plane and you can't take much weight on board. We then went to a Thai restaurant for lunch. It's interesting here though because although everyone speaks Tagalog, EVERYONE can speak English and everything is written in English. I have hardly seen any Tagalog writing.

My mom then took us to see my grandma's old house and the house I grew up in. The Philippines is interesting in much of it is straight up slums and then parts of it will be totally nice. And when I say slums, it is really bad... Poverty unlike I've ever seen before and I've seen poverty. Obviously that's true about every country but the extremes in the Philippines are well, really extreme and the nice sections and the slums are very mixed together. I also noticed that the nice areas of the Philippines seem to really want to separate themselves as being higher class which is why there are like no Filipino restaurants in the nice areas.

The area where my mom grew up and my family lives is called Alabang Hills. It was much nicer than I expected, maybe because my mom guilt tripped me as a kid telling me she only got one dress a year and played with rocks... I imagined she lived in a slum when really her house looked like it could be in the U.S. A lot of the houses around are also renovated so many of them don't just look okay, they look really modern and nice.

This is my grandmother's house. My aunt and her four children live here. They were very nice and friendly. My aunt, Tita Fey and one of her children, Angie, is coming with us to the Boracay tomorrow.





This is the house my parents lived in and where I lived before immigrating to the U.S. It is literally down the street from my grandma's house.
It has since been renovated and looks fancy now. My parents always referred to it as the "triangle house," hence my pose.




After going to see these two houses, we went to check in at our hotel in Makati. We then went to an area called The Fort and Market Market to get dinner, do some light shopping, and look around. Will tried polvoron and I knew he would like it. We also ate dinner at an American/Italian restaurant. It was fine, probably what you'd expect from that cuisine in the Philippines.





Now we are back at the hotel to get some sleep before leaving for Boracay in the morning. Boracay is an island south of Manila where we'll be spending a few days at the beach. Let's just hope that the weather cooperates.

***As a side note, Will and I are even more sure that pugs are the coolest dogs. We have seen one in Moscow, Hong Kong, and in Manila!!! Check out this cutie walking near my parents old house...so cute!!! They were the dogs of Chinese emperors back in the day so I guess it makes sense.




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All day on a Chinese tour bus not knowing Chinese...

So today was the day for the big Hong Kong tour. My dad had asked me and my siblings well in advance if we'd be willing to go on one of those bus tours as a family to see all the major Hong Kong attractions. Now usually, that's not the way Will and I like to travel. We don't need to Have a tour guide or ride in an air conditioned van just to walk around landmarks in a large group. We can take care of things on their own. However, in order to appease my parents and because Hong Kong is so brutally hot and humid and many of the stops on the tour are a pain to get to via public transit, we agreed to go. I specifically told my dad though that the tour needed to be in English. Now you would think I wouldn't need to tell my dad this since he knows I don't speak Chinese and especially since 6 of the 7 of us don't speak Chinese. However, I made this clear because my dad once exposed me to days of a tour guide in Thailand, all in Chinese. Well, low and behold, we start the tour, and it is in Chinese!!!!! I was really annoyed because this doesn't make any sense to me but my dad did translate for me. For example, the tour guide rambled on and on and on at one point and when I asked my dad what she said, he told me, "There's traffic". We also passed a beautiful old school traditional building and when I asked him what it was, he replied, "an old house". So while I don't know any fun tidbits or facts about today's stops but there are many fun pictures.

First we stopped at the Expo Center on Hong Kong island. We saw beautiful views of Kowloon and saw this sculpture China gave to Hong
Kong when it became a S.A.R.









Next, we jumped back on the bus and rode it up the mountain to the Peak. The peak is a tower of shops, restaurants, and an observation deck that is 428 meters above sea level. We were able to get some of the most amazing views. It was neat driving up because you were able to get a really good sense of the mountain geography of Hong Kong. It makes for a very impressive back drop.




On the way down the mountain, we stopped in Aberdeen for lunch. It was tasty Chinese food tat was included with the tour. Next, we went to Repulse Bay. This is the local beach area in Hong Kong and apparently was used as a base for pirates back in the day before the British were able to "repulse" them away.




In this picture I'm eating a melon flavored drumstick. It was awesome!



Near this beach area, there were also tons of Buddhist sculptures and fun architecture. Apparently each time you cross over this bridge, you add three years to you life. I found Will running back and forth a million times.




Afterwards we went to Stanley Market. It is another beach area but is more famous for the market place that sells fun souvenirs and trinkets.





Then we went back to Kowloon where we walked along the Avenue of the Stars. It is a basically like the Hollywood Walk of Fame with the stars and handprints but it is for famous Chinese actors. It is also right along the water separating Kowloon and Hong Kong island so you get an amazing view.








In this video, you can see Hong Kong's awesome skyline!

After the tour ended, we hung around Mongkok for a bit before going to dinner. We saw a big crowd of people around a video/cd store and we went to see what the commotion is all about!! The rapper Jin was there!!! Jin is an Asian-American rapper that Will and I are both fans of and even went to see once in NYC. He happens to be Chinese though and was in town for what we think is the promotion of his Chinese album. What a coincidence!





We also went back to the Avenue of the Stars right before dinner because at 8pm every night, the buildings on the Hong Kong end create a light show. The light show isn't anything spectacular but the buildings all take turns lighting up or pointing spot lights into the sky. It's also neat to see the skyline at night.




Then, we headed to the Intercontinental hotel that was right on the water on the Avenue of the Stars as well. My aunts, uncle, and cousin Cassie who live in Hong Kong took us to dinner for the evening. We went to this awesome buffet!!!! It was really fancy and it had all this delicious seafood. I think I ate 2 whole lobsters all by myself as well as other delicious yummies. It also had the fanciest assortment of deserts including all different types of cakes, macaroons, two chocolate fountains, and gelato! It was a nice and relaxing way to enjoy the long day we had!

Now we are packing up to leave for Manila in the morning. We have loved Hong Kong but are ready to head to to the beach and relax!! We are having a great time on our trip and it is only a little more than half-way over!
See you next time Hong Kong!! It's been swell.

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Hi from Hong Kong!!

We didn't get a chance to blog yesterday so we have to write about two days today....

Coming into Hong Kong was a neat site. You could see all the boats in the water as we approached land. Apparently the incline that pilots have to fly coming to and from the airport is one of the steepest because of the water surrounding Hong Kong island and the mountains all around it. It was neat seeing all of the boats in the water as we flew in. It looked like Battleship!! We arrived at the Hong Kong airport yesterday at 2:30pm and took the airport express train to our hotel, The Butterfly on Pratt, in Kowloon. When we got here, we met up with my mom, sister, and brother in law who we'll be with for the rest of our trip. We ventured out to explore parts of the city.

First we went to Mongkok and went shopping around the Ladies Market and "sneaker street". Will was thrilled when he saw these shoes he had been eyeing for a while but had not been able to get because they were only released in Europe and Asia so far, and are awaiting release in the US. And they were on sale!!! We hung around this area for a bit of shopping.












Next, we went to the Temple Street Night Market to check out their night market and have dinner. We walked by this restaurant that was a total hole in the wall but was packed with people. It was busy and had fresh seafood swimming in bins near the door so we decided to eat there. To say that this place was a dive is an understatement but the food was delicious! We had fresh clams, crab, shrimp, and delicious ribs. It was probably some of the best Chinese food I have ever had which was really exciting especially because DC has terrible Chinese food. Also, while the food in Moscow and Beijing was fine, it was exciting to eat a really delicious meal!! Then, we headed back to the hotel to get some sleep.

Will trying on a wig at the night market. It makes me so glad that he shaves his head.






Our awesome dinner at the hole in the wall restaurant.








Today, we woke up early and went to a noodle shop for breakfast. Will and I weren't too hungry for noodles for breakfast but ate some small dim sum things while the rest of my family ate. We then headed to Central Hong Kong island to check out some different neighborhoods and shopping areas.






We went to NoHo where we had lunch at a noodle shop called Kau Kee that supposedly has the best beef brisket noodle soup in town. Sure enough there was a line over a block long when we got there and they weren't even open yet. The food lived up to it's hype and it was delicious. Also, for those who don't know about Chinese culture, a random note is that tables are often shared here when places are busy. For example, our table had 6 seats, and since there are 5 in our group, a random guy joined us at our table.







Next, we went to Causeway Bay-Fashion Walk area and went shopping and ate some fun food snacks. We had delicious bubble tea, these yummy snacks called egg cupcakes, some AWESOME fresh beef jerky type thing and later tried a sweet potato pie at McDonalds. We also found some fun edible souvenirs for our friends back home *hint hint. Afterwards, we went back to the Temple Street Night Market area where we got some fun knick knacks and I got a quipao for International Night at school.



















Later this evening, my brother and dad got into town and we headed out for dinner. My dad is the one from Hong Kong so he was excited to take us out for his cuisine in his city. We went to the restaurant Chuen Cheung Kui that his mom took him to on special occasions since he was a kid and it was delicious!







My dad's lifelong friend Simon and his sister Mei (who are practically like siblings to my dad) met us for dinner. They are both really cool and fun to be around. Afterwards, we went to a bar in Tsim Sha Tsui that had amazing views of Hong Kong's amazing skyline overlooking Victoria Bay. Now we are back at the hotel resting for our big sight-seeing tour tomorrow! It is 2am and we a planning on getting up at 7am. Eck!

So far Will and I are loving Hong Kong. I have been here before although that was when almost 10 years ago. However, I knew Will would love it. He describes it as a mix of Tokyo and New York. It's like New York but amplified. There are restaurants and stores everywhere!!!! The city is well organized, the MTR (subway) is easy to use and most everything is written in Cantonese and English. While the dominant language is of course Cantonese, most people we have encountered speak English. If I was going to recommend an Asian city for someone to visit for the first time, I'd definitely recommend Hong Kong. It's lively, busy until the wee hours of the morning and is very cosmopolitan. You can tell that they have had the luxury of rights and freedoms unlike the mainland Chinese. Overall, food is really affordable and so so good. The shopping is excellent but since these folks love high end fashion and name brands, shopping can be pretty expensive. There are also all types of cuisine, not just Chinese, and not just cheesey American stuff. It's making for a great time.


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