We're Baaaaaaack! Still recovering from the jet lag, but we're finally home from our much needed vacation. The Philippines was great! A wonderful change from the cold weather. So much has changed there, though it's scary. It's been four years since I'd been back and so many things are different. Still, though, there are still so many things that haven't changed either.

We left on the rainiest New Years Day I've ever experienced. Jake didn't take the flight too well. He couldn't sleep, he yacked everything he ate...all over US! He wasn't a happy camper. By the time we landed we'd cleaned him up so he was all fresh. All the wife and I wanted was to get to the first shower we could find. Once we landed, we had the toughest time finding my wife's best friend. She was lost in the thick of all the poeple waiting. We tried, in vain, to use the public phones to call her...NOPE. Seems we Americans don't know how to use a Filipino pay phone. Once we found her and got to her house things started to calm down. We showered and ate and rested. I awoke to a party in full swing. I kinda just made the best of it and joined the party as soon as I could clean myself up from that nap.

We went back for the wife's best's friend's wedding. Talk about being blinged out! 330 guests (including a few famous people!), Manila Cathedral and Manila Hotel as venues, a gown that would be envied by princesses, 2 florists, and all the pomp and fanfare a traditional Filipino wedding entails...it came as a major culture shock to me to see such a grand affair Filipino style. We had a Filipino wedding, but not like that! Mind you, it was a beautiful and touching occasion, but as with most things Filipino, it was another status show...not just for the hosts, but for the guests as well. By the way, Congrats, C & D! It was a beautiful wedding!

The day after the wedding we headed for the airport again, bound for Cebu and the wife's extended family waiting for us there. We spent four restful and gloriously relaxing days there. Let me tell you, Cebu is an island of gluttony. I've never spent four successive days completely full. One meal after another as delicious as the next and mangoes and pomelo and all the fruits you could ever want! Our last night there we had a roasted pig for dinner. We "eliminated" that pig in one sitting amongst the eight of us. That pig didn't die in vain!

We spend 2 days and 1 night at the Shangri-La in Cebu. Jake had his first taste of swimming there...he had a blast! I treated the wife and myself to a 1 hour massage. It was much needed after the year and a half we've had. The Shangri-La is such an oasis of relaxation that I intend to go back there again someday. We came back to the family's house and Jop, the wife's cousin, took me for a night on the town. I won't go into details as to what I experience, only to say that I was very shocked indeed.

After our four days in Cebu, we went back to Manila. My Dad's family was supposed to pick us up and we were supposed to take my wife's aunt to Cubao so she could take the bus back to Bicol. However, the driver that was picking us up didn't want to venture into Cubao. I was livid. Tita Yee was put in my charge and I was going to get her to Cubao and safely on that bus. I couldn't live with myself if I couldn't do that out of respect for her and my wife's family. So I had the driver drop us off at the mall in Bicutan. I called my cousin Jovy to pick us up as a favor. He dropped everything to help us out. I owe him a lot!!! On the way, though, we got into an accident on the expressway and we had to "commute" to Cubao by taxi. I was scared, but I didn't want the wife and Jake and Tita Yee to know. I was also angry that my other relatives couldn't help us out. But, you know, I did get Tita Yee safely to the station and on the bus. We ended up staying at C's house that night as her driver picked us up from the bus station. We had no clean clothes, but we brought a lot of Jake's things. At least he'd be clean and fed. I made sure my parents knew where we were and that I was angry. I also made sure that Jovy was home and things were okay with him and the SUV.

The next day we went back to my dad's family in Muntinlupa. It was good to see them all, although the wife got sick while we were there so I couldn't spend too much quality time with them as I'd liked, especially my grandparents who often times didn't know I was already married with a child.

We left the next day to Alabang and my wife's uncle's house. Very posh, very clean. They took us to the Towne Center mall and we did our last minute pasulubong shopping.

Our last full day was spent with another of my wife's uncles in Paranaque. We'd wanted to go "grocery" shopping, so we went and picked up a few wants before we left for the states.

The last twelve hours were spent resting and packing for the flight. C & D came by to see us off and drop off some last minute gifts. Once packed and dressed we were off to the airport but we were met by Manila's final goodbye...TRAFFIC!

If there's one thing I hate about the Philippines it's leaving through the airport. It's one line after another. A line to get into the airport and baggage scanner. A line to get your bording passes. A line to pay the terminal fee. A line for immigration. A line to get through another baggage scanner to get to the secured departure gates. Another line to do a "final check" of your paperwork. A line for them to go through your bags. A line for them to frisk you and look inside your shoes. And finally a line to get onto the plane.

Jake got sick on our last day, and even on the plane he was running a fever. I was scared, and I'm sure the wife was doing her best not to show me that she was too. But we made it back and now it's just a matter of getting back to our normal lives again.

That, in a nutshell, was our trip. I decided not to write much about our shopping and mall experiences. That's rather blah although we were at the mall nearly every day of our trip.

I'll tell you more about the trip in person, just ask me. I'm glad to be back. I'm glad we went. God bless the Philippines!

'Cause I said so!