My dad told me the flight to Philippines would be about 10 hours. Try 13 hours! I don't think I've ever been on a plane that long! But we made it! I haven't been here in over 16 years and last time we had a stop over in Japan, so the flight wasn't as long.
We're staying at my Auntie Angie's place in Quezon City. I was worried that there would be no computer for me to use on this vacation. No worries there - there are 3 in our room!
Today my Uncle Chito and his son Scott took us to a huge mall to do some shopping. I'd just like to say a quick thank you to God for getting us there and back safely with no accidents: Driving is crazy here! Cars are driving as if there are no lane divisions, pedestrians are crossing streets wherever they want, peddlers are selling peanuts in between the lanes and my seat belt didn't work properly.
It's so busy here. We left in the late morning and returned in the late afternoon. During both drives the roads were crowded! I guess there's never a lull in the traffic. There are people everywhere - and it's so weird - did you know that everyone here is filipino! ;) In Canada you get a nice multicultural feel and usually hear Mandarin being spoken. Here it's tagalog! And the store clerks all assume I understand what they're saying. Then I have to give them a sheepish look and tell them I'm from Canada and don't understand tagalog. They give me a pathetic look, and say it in English. How embarassing! What kind of filipino am I?
And there are billboards everywhere. It's like I'm at Time Square in New York again. (Except all the models in the ads are filipino.) The shopping malls here are enormous! Thank goodness there is no bargaining at the malls - that's too much pressure. I ended up buying a nice pair of black pants and 3 exercise pants. The best thing is that I don't have to get any of them hemmed! I love Philippines with their nice short people!
I haven't mentioned the weather yet. I'm lucky that I was just in Cancun and Cayman. The weather is about the same, if not cooler. Probably less than 30 Celcius. Plus it's rainy season, so it's been raining off and on all day. Plus there's strong air conditioning everywhere. I brought a few pair of pants and lots of shorts. I think I'll only be wearing the pants while I'm here. That's why I bought more pants today. I thought I would be a weak Canadian who can't take the heat, but I'm more like a tough Caymanian who enjoys the heat now!.....if only I could get dad to stop turning the AC on so high!
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