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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