I was in the Boychoir too...

OMG. I was leaving the Greenwood Safeway, and there were these two cute little boys selling raffle tickets. I have to say, I'm bad and don't normally stop, but I did a double take and saw they were selling tickets to raise money for the Northwest Boychoir!!! I said "I'll buy a ticket, I was in the boychoir too!" and they asked if I knew their choir master. I paused and realized I was in the boyschoir in 1981...30 YEARS AGO! I said there's a good chance your choirmaster wasn't born yet. I then told them we sold record albums to raise money and the asked "what's that?" Their Dad then asked if I still sing, and I paused again with sadness... Noel chimed in, "he sings in the shower and car". That made me sad to think after college I stopped being in a group of vocalist. Some of the best times I have ever had were that rich fullfilling feeling of being in the middle of a choir. From the Boychoir to my High School's Jazz Choir to my University's Chamber choir, along with a Barbershop Quartet I was in, it was all so fun. Once in a while I have a fleeting moment of thinking I'm going to try out for the Seattle Mens Chorus or Seattle Symphony Chorale, but then I let it go into the "some days"...

Enjoying a little Carrie...while looking for 'Take My Heart'

Ok, can't find our wedding song #3 of 3 Carrie Akre's 'Take My Heart but since I was enjoying 'Breathe', 'Stupid Is' and others thought I'd share! XOXO Carrie (and I was there way back in 2007)

A song from our wedding...

Some day I'll get around to posting all our pics and stories from a year of planning our wedding to the days leading up to it...but until then here is the first song of the three from our wedding that David sang so eloquently 'Geriatraphilia (Old Men)'. The other two songs being a duet with David Clement and Carrie Akre, Jason Mraz's 'Lucky', and Carrie singing her 'Take my Heart' which is the description on my ring too: Yes, lots of tears!!!

The International Dateline is mind boggling

Yes, we have been back from the Philippines for over over 48 hours. The jetlag is definitely better today than yesterday. Damn that 16 hour difference can really mess with you (I write at 11pm Wednesday, meanwhile it's 3pm tomorrow afternoon in Manila). Unfortunately both Noel and I have headcolds too I think from all the A/C in P.I. and 16 hours on the plane. Though things are looking up, and we both got back in our routines with working full days and even the gym tonight.

So let me look back on our last day and a half in Manila.

I woke up at 9am Sunday the 6th. Noel had left earlier and gone down the block from our condo to the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf and brought back some sweets and a large coffee. What a good husband! The sun was out (much of the trip was warm but overcast)...so I went to the pool and laid out along with dipping in the pool. So nice! Magic then came over for lunch down from Quezon City. We both cleaned up and she took us across town from Bonafacio Global City to Pasig City and the super yummy PANCITERIA SAN JACINTO: http://www.panciteriasanjacinto.com/. Yes, if you know spanish this means the House of Pancit! She knew what I like, tons of different types of pancit, and adoba, and dim sum.

Then we went down the street to the big Market, and seeked out a huge wooden spoon and fork. We were on a mission for the Spletzers (and secretly us too!) It was a huge market and lots of cool stuff. There was also a dog show going on. They were all so cute but all so hot. It was funny to see all these big fans blowing on big Chows and little poodles.

We then went back to our hood and went shopping at the fancy stores (like the Gap, Nike, Aldo, Von Dutch, etc.), and waited for Noel's Mom, Dad, and brothers to show up. We were going to have our final dinner at this funky modern Filipino restaurant where I was excited to have Corned Beef Sinigang (usually chicken, fish or tofu). No one was hungry at the time of our reservation so Noel suggested we go back to other mall 'Market! Market!' and look for some fast food or a coffee shoppe and just chat.

DEAR GOD! Never go to the mall in a Catholic country after church on a Sunday. It was crazy packed. I've never seen such a thing in my life. Millions of Filipinos and me crammed onto 5 stories of escalators.

Long story short the family and I ended up at an American deli called Chelsea, and I had a Ruben sandwich after 2 weeks of Filipino food and such. Hilarious. Noel's family is so nice. I think his Mom finally warmed up to me by the end, and was real sweet. At the end it sounds like his parents may be coming to Seattle in the Spring of 2012 and us returning to Manila in the Spring of 2013. When we do go back we have a long list of places we want to go like Bihol and the island of Palawan. We all know that Noel still wants to swim with the whale sharks too...

MONDAY, MARCH 8th -

We got up at 7am and the landlords of the condo came to check us out and give us our deposit back at 8am. It was a cool condo with a loft, and such a great location.

We taxi'd to the airport by 9am because that is what Asiana Air recommended, 4 hours before (yikes). When we got there the ticket counter didn't even open till 10am, so there we waited...the start of 4 hours. Then there was a 3 hour flight to Seoul, Korea. Some where in there Noel lost his iPhone and my ear plugged up so much I got a migrane and thought I was going to die. (My ears are still partially plugged right now). Then we had only minutes to transfer to the next plane from Seoul to Seattle. The 10 hour flight was all in Korean with beautiful Korean flight attendants. The only bad/funny part is that a couple were total plane nazis. Everything was demanded but in a quiet, sweet geisha like way, all with a smile. Kinda hilarious.

So now we are back in Seattle. What an amazing trip.

Next up...a little recap of our amazingly beautiful perfect wedding...

Fam Roadtrip to south Luzon for Volcanos and Churches

What a day we had with the family. We got up early and Noel's Mom, Dad, sis Magic and bro Jun came and picked us up at 7:15am to leave Manila, to drive south for a couple hours to the crater lake volcano at Tagaytay and some of the colonial Spanish architectual history in Taal down in Batanga.

So weird that between our condo and all the way through the country or atleast the island of Luzon in the Philippines, there is not only a Jolibee on every stop/town along with a predictable McDonalds and/or KFC...but there is also a STARBUCKS on every stop/town. Seriously, Filipinos are hooked on Seattle's Starbucks. Very weird. They are all busy and all look the same.

On the way to Taal we stopped in Tagaytay, a resort-y kind of town. We hung at their beautiful 2 story Starbucks (I know, can't help it) and looked over the foggy/cloudy morning over the valley into the huge crater lake and the second crater that is an island in the middle. So gorgeous.

Many of the homes and government buildings were beautiful with the plantation Spanish colonial architectual like this one from the 1700's in this pics. After us checking out the Cathedral at Taal and crashing a wedding going on there, we found one of the mansions of the town's influential. Noel asked if we could tour it, and the housekeeper let us in. As we walked through we found out that this was where Jose Rizal and friends used to meet and talk about and plan the Revolution against the Spanish in the late 1800's. We even found a trap door in the grand dining room where they could escape all the way to the Cathedral underground so no one could find them. Totally cool, and so much Pinoy history I didn't know and have learned since coming to this lovely country of 7,100 islands.
After many quality hours with the parentals we got caught in a 3 hour car ride home stuck in serious traffic. The roads here are so funny...no rules really reply: driving in the shoulder, driving between cars/motorcycles in between lanes, driving on the opposite side of the road and making another lane on the wrong side of the road...all no problems. Nerve racking, scary and hilarious. Did I mention trucks, cars or otherwise just parking in the right lane where and whenever they feel like it? Geez! It's freeing that there aren't any rules but also really annoying.

It was so nice to get to spend some quality time with Noel's parents. They are really fun. His Dad is quite but his Mom she seems to come to life with the kids. I see where Noel gets alot of his goofiness.

The last pic is at Sonya's Garden, a bed & breakfast and spa resort, in which I fould a beautiful chandelier hanging in the jungles next to a very simples mess hall feel. Hmmm. This country keeps surprising me. Can't believe we are leaving in 2 days.

Lunching, and Shopping, and Spas oh my!

Today was out last Friday in Fliplandia, and a nice mellow one at that. We had a quite morning and then walked to Serendra and met Noel's old Chicago friend Rina for lunch along with Chip and Gordon who followed us from Boracay and are now back in Manila like us.

After a nice long Vietnamese lunch Rina went back to work and the boys went shopping. Back to Noel's favorite chains 'People are People', 'Folded and Hung' and 'Bench'. Noel wasn't feeling well, but the shopping (and the A/C) was making him feel better. Then Chip and Gordon were on their way.

Bench has great stuff and for cheap! Cooler and cheaper than Old Navy, and hot models in a hot marketing/branding campaign...check it out: http://www.benchtm.com

We had a 5pm Spa appointment in Bonafacio High Street, and we decided to keep it since Noel was feeling better. O.M.G. this Spa was amazing. We had a couples room with 75 minutes of Filipino massage 'Hilo', which is kind of a mix between Swedish and Shiatsu. WOW! After we were so relaxed, we bought new shoes. LOL.

Tonight we went to dinner at a Spanish Tapas place in our hood on Borgus Circle in the BGC. It was 'SARAPE!' (yummy), we enjoyed it along with our third diner a HUGE COCKROACH! Yikes

...and then dessert at Noel's favorite chain 'Sugarhouse'. We really love this hood.

We are now watching a back to back 'I Know What You Did Last Summer' and 'I Still Know What You Did Last Summer' with the lovely Jennifer Love Hewitt or boobaliscious. Soon off to bed though, since the parentals are picking us up at 6am, yes 6AM, to go driving south on Luzon for a family day trip.

XOXO

Hangin' in the BGC

Now that Noel and I are back in Manila we are renting a condo in the new hip "Bellevue" of Manila called Bonifacio Global City or the BGC. It is surrounded by new high rise condos and bank skyscapers with hip restuarants and 3 beautiful malls Bonafacio High Street, Segera, and Market! Market! BGC was Fort Bonifacio a Filipino military base, and now that is not being used anymore its a new place for the crazy 12 million person city to expand into.

Today we had coffee at Noel's favorite Austrian (Japanese) coffee shop UCC, then off to shop at the malls for a couple hours.

Then we had a long crazy hour long taxi ride down to old town Manila called 'Intramoras' for a 2-1/2 hour long walking tour of the last 400 years of Philippino history. The tour was awesome, very informative. I learned alot about the Spanish colonization and the Catholic churches strong hold (1571-1898), and then the American occupation (1898-1945), and the Japanese/American massacre during WWII.

So interesting and brought a lot of light to the subject, like the reason the Filipinos don't speak Spanish today is because for the 300 years under Spanish rule it was ran by the bishops of the church and not by the state since they were too far away. The priests decided to learn Tagalog to spread the gospel instead of teaching the Filipino people Spanish. I also

learned that there was never a flag flown over the Spanish Philippines since it wasn't even considered a colony of Spain but instead a province to the colony of Mexico. Manila was simply a stopping point for the Spanish between China and Acapolco Mexico. Weird!

Then we learned the good and the bad of the US running the Philippines from 1898 to 1945. Manila was the most forward and beautiful city in the Far East, the best architecture, water and sewage, fashion, food, etc. The Americans also switch over all the governmental documents and roads from Spanish to English, so there was 30o years of history erased. Everything seemed perfect in what they called the Pearl of the Sea. Then in WWII the Japanese came in to occupy the Philippines. in 1945 they massacred 75,000 people of Manila, so the US flew over and bombed the old town killing a total of 120,000. Poor Flips were in the middle of the Japanese/American battle, and the ones who lost were the Filipinos and their land.

After WWII Manila had to start over culturally and with their physical architecture. Interesting and sad. The Philippines also were campaigning to be the 50th state in the US, but by 1959 Hawaii became it instead...and the Flips went independent instead.

After the tour we zipped back up (hour in a taxi again, in the worse traffic I have ever been in) to BGC, and had dinner with Noel's Mom, Dad, sis Magic and bros David and Jun. Very fun, and yummy Flip food. After the family left Noel and I found a awesome wine bar on the way to walking back home. I am loving Fliplandia!

Boracay Paalam sa ngayon!

Tuesday was a lovely mellow day of beach laying, book reading, pancit eating and ocean swimming!

We did the normal go back to the room and veg/nap/tv watch 5-8pm. As we were getting ready to clean up and go out on the town (peruse the beach), I notices a loud sound. The sound was torrential rain beating down and flooding our pool area outside, capsizing our little island. Along with the rain came a lightening show. It was pretty. The rain stopped by 8:45, so we ventured out with our umbrellas to find some food and drink.

We walked down to this little Italian restaurant called Aria that we like, and sat on the beach under the tarps between the palm trees. Suddenly before we could even get order drinks, it started pouring again. This wa

sn't rain like Seattle, this was a tropical downpour and also included some wind. People started scattering trying to find shelter. Meanwhile as the wind blew the rain under our restaurant's tarp probably about 30 of us all stood up and gathered to the center of the tarp as all our tables started to get drenched. We stood there for a good 15-20 minutes and watched the tarp starting to fill up with pools of water and sag. Yikes!

As soon as the rain again slowed down to a slow drizzle we both put up our umbrellas and hopped between sand puddles to a different Italian restaurant Don Vitos that has inside seating. We were kinda soaked from the waist down but so was the entire town. As soon as we sat the rain came again, but this time we were safe. The best part of then watching the crowds scatter again, was that the restaurant had Grey Goose and made me a yummy dirty martini and it was only 120 pesos ($3 US).

We finished the dinner and ran across to the tent by our hotel where our favorite trio group was singing. There were awesome and sang Go Go's 'Head over Heals' for us and then Ga Ga's 'Pokerface'.

Today, Wednesday 3/2/11, we breakfasted in our hotel's yummy buffet for the last time. Then we hung at the beach under cover and read our books until our pick up at 2pm.

Boracay Paalam sa ngayon! Good bye for now oh beautiful island.

We then vanned back to the south shore, and water taxied to the bigger island Malay, and bussed to Caticlan, and then flew the 1 hour back to the north biggest island of Luzon and got to Manila at 6pm. It took an hour to taxi across town, and we ended up in a new upcoming part of town called the BGC, or Bonifacio Global City. It's all high rise condos and planned hoods. We are renting a condo now for then next 5 days. It is an adorable 2 story loft.

We had some yummy sushi with Noel's sis Magic and bro Jun at 9pm. Now after watching a little TV...it's off to la la land. Tomorrow...shopping, spa, and walking tour of old town Manila.

The world is so global

Ok yes, Boracay has a Starbucks, which is really sad...though kinda cool since it is from Seattle I guess, but we actually topped that Seattle connection. As we got on the glass bottom boat the other day, they were playing songs from a radio show. Noel and I were kinda singing along, 'Weak in the Knees' by SWV, and then it got to the DJ in between songs which sounded really familiar, and then there it was the show promo song "share some love songs with Delilah"!!! OMG!!! Itwas a syndicated show FROM SEATTLE!, on a little boat of the shore in the South Pacific with all the passengers speaking Tagalog or Chinese, and all I heard was Delilah talking to us from Seattle. Hilarious! Bizarre! This world is getting smaller and smaller, so global, with technology and cultures sharing and mixing.

Watching the OSCARS was another example. We watched it live in the Philippines (7am Red Carpet and 9:30am the show) and simultaneiously facebooking with friends

commenting on the dresses and such on the other side of the world (which was the night before for them). How friggen cool yet bizarre. I had continual discussion via satellite with Juliana

in Puerto Vallarta, Heidi in Seattle and Richie in LA. WOW.

As for the Academy Awards themselves, Noel and I loved Anne Hathaway as host, but not James Franco as co-host; There were some amazing dresses; We loved the opening monologue using the Inception elevator for Anne and James to zip through different nominated m

ovies; We were ecstatic that 'The King's Speech' and Colin both won; and the best part is even though we were in paradise it was raining so we didn't feel guilty being inside all morning till 1pm.

Anywho, lets see...a couple of other random notations on the island.

There seems to be a trend with the many Japanese here...last night we counted up to 10 couples who were dresses like twins. Straight couples wearing the same hoodies, knit shorts and even matching bad Bo Derek '10' beaded hair. And the man would always be the one carrying the woman's over-the-shoulder handbag. Totally funny, and incredibly stupid. We so have enjoyed spotting them. It's become kind of a 'slug bug' when we see another couple, and Noel is far more bruised than I. Can't wait to see what we see tonight on our last night on Boracay.

Another observation is that the beach merchants somewhat like the ones in Vallarta, are are passive and not agreesive except the boat cruise guys. But the we

irdest thing is unlike Vallarta where all the beach vendors would be wear Corona tees and sandals, the vendors here all have tees that say 'Keep Boracay Clean', 'Please don't litter', 'Thank you for not smoking' and such. So funny.

Yesterday afternoon after the warm rain had stopped, we met up with Gordon, Chip and Chips siblings and cousins. We all walked into town and after all having 3 rum drinks at a bar that looked like the bow of a ship with mermaids and all, we all staggered off to take siestas. Some people rose again at 8 and 9pm and some people did not. We've been forcing ourselves to get up after naps and stay up till midnight since we are both finding it hard not to go to bed at 7pm and get up at 3am. So Noel and I had some coffee and spaghetti at 9pm and rallied and met Chip and fam. We has some Red Horse beers and did a little dance at Epic and got home at midnight to watch a little Jersey Shores (always good for a little drunk watching).

This morning (Tuesday March 1st) Noel and I had a reoccuring breakfast buffet at the hotel with the garlic rice, scrambled eggs, pork tocino (like Judy Fu's candy chicken), and pineapple everything...and waited for a little tropical rain to pass. It is now 11:30am and the sun is SOOO out! Off to the beach...

We found Nemo!

We went on a glass boat snorkling cruise...and it was awesome! The day was cloudy this Sunday, and then starting to rain, a very warm rain. We thought we may as well snorkle since we'll be wet anyways. So we jumped a boat with 15 others and went around the other side of Boracay. The glass bottom was cool. Once we anchored Noel and I were the first in the water. We saw probably 20 different types of colorful fish in the clear blue water amongst the coral. And then...We found Nemo! A couple adorable Filipino Clown Fish.

We then got back from the boat and it was raining pretty hard, but we were already wet so we continued to walk around the White Beach boardwalk/village in the warm rain. It was kinda romantic. Then we ended up (cover your eyes) at the island's Starbucks. Yes, there's a Starbucks here, I heard there's one on the moon too. We only wanted a Boracay mug since sadly we collect them and just in the last two years have acquired the following mugs: Toronto, Vancouver, Puerto Vallarta, Guadalajara, London, Paris and Portland.

Now we are on our way to dinner at a Mongolian Grill (authentic since China is literally a puddle jumper away)...

...Going to bed now after a nice long walk on the beach under the stars and a pina colada nightcap serenaded by reggae. Getting up at 7am to watch the OSCARS live!

Please turn over 'Sir'

I've never been called 'sir' so much in my life. Normally I'd feel old but in Fliplandia it's a sign of respect and politeness. Every server, every door person (and there's one on every door), and every massage therapist (yes we're on our 3rd session)..."Please turn over sir". The women workers in Manila and Boracay are all so petite, beautiful and soft spoken, but their hands...DEAR GOD! The grip and poke and squeeze of a big man!

Let's see other DEEP THOUGHS BY JACK HANDY (or Pinoy observations by Scooter Handy):

CHINA: The island of Boracay has been taken over by Chinese nationals. Watch out Seattle, we could be next. There has seriously been an invasion in the last 24 hours of Cantonese speaking packs of 30 plowing through the beaches and shops. Their tour guides are translating everything from restaurant menus, to what a 'I heart Boracay' t-shirt means. It's like those annoying tour groups in a museum that block a painting you want to see, but you're in a swimming suit instead just trying to get passed.

US POP: The Pinoy love Rihanna and Gaga and most anything from the states to Taylor Swift (who was just in Manila last week) to Kayne. But they REALLY love Rihanna...she's in the malls, the restaurants, the beaches and the bars. Hmmm.

CHEAP: I want to live in a world where the taxis are 100 PH pesos across town ($2 US), and the vodka drinks are 120 PH pesos ($3 US), and the liter bottled water is 35 PH pesos (70 cents US). Our huge plate of sizing huge prawns on the touristy beach last night were 500 PH pesos... Where in Seattle can you get something in as close for $8 US?

BILINGUAL: I decided that the way the Philippines are set up with signage/marketing/tv all in English but the spoken language most all Tagalog that the Pinoy aren't necessarily bilingual like I thought but instead they just speak and learn and know both in tandem to communicate. So its kind of all one language, they just know to switch only to English when they need to (like when they see me).

XOXO from Sir Scooter.

Kitesurfing in the South Pacific

What a day. I am actually writing this drunk and 2am (just to preface). Long story short we started our day with breakfast in our hotel. We then walked over the island from west to east to get to the other side, Bulabog Beach. After walking passed the tourist area we then walked into the traditional Filipino village where to the workers and others reside.

Bulabog Beach was super deep and windy. We watched the kitesurfers and windsurfers zip around the amazing blue waters. So fun. Especially when they got air. It was a cool sight with Pinoy, Dutch, Aussies, Kiwi, German and American's filling the bay with what had to be 30-40 kitesurfers. Very global feeling. Evidently this is where the International windsurfing finals have been held since 1988 too. Hmmm.

We then walked back to White Beach and had a great lunch and laid out till 4pm. Yes, I do have quite a healthy red glow about me now (stop laughing), and yes my lips are all f*cked up again (stop laughing Sharon). I also haven't got very far on my book 'The Devil in White City' since I seem to fall asleep everytime in the sun, and/or am distracted with all the goings on.

After having a dipped in our pool, Noel then ordered up a room massage. OMG these two little Flip girls showed up in their little uniforms with tight red pants and logo'd white shirts. Very soft spoken the both said 'sir, please take off all and lay down on the bed' (we have two very hard queen beds in our room, which was perfect for more crazy Swedish and Shiatsu). She laid a sarong across my ass, and then next thing I know is literally kneeling on my lower back/butt and jabbing under my shoulder blades with her pointing sharp albows....AYE YA!

We finally, after freshening up, went out and ate dinner on the beach. We had these huge prawns (with their heads included in the sauce) and grilled pork belly...YUM! Noel was in heaven. Then we moved down the path to our favorite singers and stayed on the beach. This trio was so good, singing things like Jason Mraz, Neil Diamond and Creed but in a Reggae beat and style. It was awesome in a dark candle lit atmosphere on bamboo low sofas and tables intermidst the palm trees on the sand.

And then we cockatailed down the beach. And ended up at a disco of sorts called EPIC. There are no gay bars here but Epic pretty much turns into one after 11pm. Picture 30 gays, 15 Euros/Aussies/Kiwi, and 15 very confused Chinese.

Bali High, my special island...BORACAY!

We zipped to the airport early in the morning from Makati in Manila, and flew off on Cebu Pacific Air to Caticlan in central Philippines. From there we took a water taxi to the little island of Boracay.

What a cool, beautiful, strange, exciting island in the South Pacific! Our hotel Le Soliel de Boracay is awesome and right on the beach. Our room is right off the pool with big wall fountains...good times. We walked down the beach and found a cute Mexican/Filipino/Fruit shake restaurant, and after a couple San Miguels sitting on the sand we knew we had arrived!

Then...

SWEDISH MASSAGE + CHINESE ZEN ROOM + COUPLES SESSION + BIG STRONG FILIPINO WOMEN + POST-BEACH SUN = HEAVEN!!!

After our amazing 1-hour body treatment we then walked up the center of the narrow island, where the Flip workers were and had an eyeopening experience.

Later we walked the island's strip and and had a fun night of dinnering, people watching and a little dancing on the sand!

It's Cory Aquino Day!

Well our second full day in Manila was awesome. Noel was feeling much better which is great...so downstairs we went again for the amazing buffet breakfast.

We then met Magic, Noel's sis, at the Ayala Museum. A lovely little museum where I learned about 1000 years of Philippines history from the tribal people panning gold and making beautiful jewelry, to the Spanish colonization, and all the way up to modern political history with Cory Aquino's rise in 1986. This week they are celebrating 'The Lady in the Sunshine Yellow' and Ms.Aquino's life...it is also the 25th Anniversary of the the modern revolution and kicking out the Marco's reign, so tomorrow (Friday 2/25 is a national holiday).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cory_Aquino

The three of us then went across town to see a 400 year old church, The church of Guadalupe in Bernadino. It was really beautiful though in a seedy neighborhood so my first introduction to be scarey and hiding my wallet and camera. While we were on the church grounds we realized they were filming a movie in and out of the church. There was a famous Flip actress in a beautiful red touled wedding dress though I didn't know who she was.

Tonight we went up to Quezon City and had a lovely wedding reception with Noel's immediate family and all his cousins and such. It was a great feast of yummy Flip food, and lots of laughs meeting everyone. Everyone were real nice. If you know Noel's laugh, I found out where he got it...you should have seen and heard the whole family...hilarious! It made me very happy.

Tomorrow we are getting up at 5am to get to the airport by 6:30...for our flight to the island of Boracay. More to come...

Philippines or bust!

We made it to the Philippines after 13 hour flight to Seoul, Korea and then a 3 hour flight to Manila. How bizarre to go over the International Dateline and lose a day...making it 16 hours in the future from Seattle.

(I'll attempt to retro-blog about our last week of wedding festivities later, from the Wedding Pub crawl 2/12 to my Bachelor Party on 2/16, to the Wedding Mixer on 2/18, the Wedding itself on 2/19 and the Outta-towner brunch on 2/19)

Anywho...So Noel's sister Magic and brother Jun picked us up at the Ninoy Acquino International Airport at 11pm and by the time we got across town and checked in to our Mandrin Oriental Hotel it was passed midnight (which is 8am in Seattle). We were starved so got room service at 1am and watched Oprah of all things. They rolled in a fancy cart with china, silver and crystal...and we had pancit, beefsteak and Processeco. Noel has a huge arrangement of flowers waiting in our room when we arrived; beautiful lilies, roses, orchids, gerber daisies, and my favorite mini-kermit pom poms (which we also had in our wedding and on our cake).

We got up 10am and got down to the lobby restaurant in time to catch the last of the buffet from heaven: American breakfast, Omelette bar, French boulangerie/patisserie, Chinese dim sum, and crazy good Filipino food.

Off to shopping we went. I immersed myself into the 88F degree warm lightly humid weather which felt so nice. We walked down Makati Avenue to Paseo de Roxas all the way to Greenbelt, which is like Bellevue Square and Cosa Mesa malls combined. It was massive and had every store and designer imaginable from Louis Vuitton and Tory Burch, to Bally and Dolce&Gabbana, from Puma to Juicy Couture...and even random northwest places like The Northface, Columbia, and Seattle's Best Coffee. What??? Okay, so I know this is the only time I will see such a thing on my trip and it is not how 95% of the 88 million Filipinos live, but it was a lovely transition.

We then went home and had to cancel our Spa appointment that Noel made because he felt sick. I think the jet lag, and stress from the last week had got to him. He took a 3 hour nap while I read about the Philippines further. We then had a quick dinner at a lovely Chinese restaurant in our hotel. We took a taxi at 9pm to Quezon City where Noel's parents and 3 siblings live. What probably would have taken 20 minutes to do, took almost an hour. There was crazy traffic on the side streets and the freeways. Our beaten up taxi was driving down the shoulder, and in between trucks and cars and bikes, but this is what they do here. Many roads had no lines on them, it was a free for all, which was extra fun with no seatbelts. We then got to a place on the highway where the whole road U-turned the other way...Seriously THE ENTIRE HIGHWAY U-TURNED! What the?

The country is so funny. All the roads and neighborhoods have Spanish names, All the signs and directions and advertisements are in English, but everyone speaks Tagalog to each other. The TV commercials are all American English but all geared to Asians. Just picture everyone of our commercials in the states and switch out everyone for Filipino or Chinese actors. Trippy.

MEET THE FOCKERS - So we got to the Caraig's house, and met Noel's Mom and Dad for the first time. I hope they like me. I think they do. Noel was so cute, like Santa Claus he divied out all the loot he brought from the US for them: running shoes and watches for his two brothers and sister, Raisins and Splenda and lotions for his Mom, Iron Man toys for his nephews, Bratz for his neices, and even a Dept.56 House for his Dad.

Back to our hotel at midnight again, and I'm pooped. It's now 1am (which means you Seattlites are just getting to work at 9am)...have a great Wednesday work day...I'm already in Thursday!!! Good night (or is that good morning?)