Rather than bringing the trailer back this winter, which is difficult to do with Eric's truck because it is on it's last leg, Eric built a temporary cover so that the snow would not crush it. So he made a quick trip over to build it. There was already some snow on the ground. Here are some pics from his trip.
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Making Cookies
We had a bunch of people over for Wes' 18th birthday party. It was a fun day of video games and tons of food. Me and the kids took some time out of the video game fun and made some Christmas cookies.
Saturday, December 05, 2009
Cats
So I guess we had nothing to worry about with the cats being friends. They play together and cuddle together. We are just glad they are both fixed. Eric got them a cat condo that they just love.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Jessi
A few days after Jimmy came home with us I received a phone call from the Humane Society. Apparently the female cat that I picked out ended up having feline leukemia and they would not let me have her. So they told me to come in and pick out a different cat. So I went in and asked them to show me their favorite young female cat. They handed me a little black cat. Instantly she began licking my face. I new she was the cat for me. Once again I had to wait 5 days to pick her up, but in 5 days I brought her home. Since Eric named the boy cat Jimmy I wanted something that went with that, so I named her Jessi. They are both about a year old. And when one is male and one female they have the best chance to get along. But we were a little nervous about their meeting for the first time. So we did it slowly. We put them in separate rooms to start with. There was a lot of hissing. Jessi was very friendly with us, but there was a lot of fighting over the food bowl and any time they were in the same area. So we got another food bowl and we are trying to introduce them to each other slowly.
Monday, November 09, 2009
Jimmy
Eric and I could not stand for very long having no pets at all. Now that we had lost our Blue and our Bella we wanted to get a new cat right away. So I started looking around at the humane societies. I had picked out one female cat, but they told me that I had to wait fro 5 days before I could pick her up because the had to get her fixed and to run tests on her. I was waiting in line to pay for her. There was only one person working at the counter and there was a long line. I waited over an hour. While I was waiting the was a cat that was the closest to the door and had a discount sticker on his cage. He had been sleeping the entire time I was there but decided to wake up. And I am glad he did. He was very playful and was talking to me, not to mention he had a beautiful coat. So I told the lady at the counter that I would take him as well. He was already fixed so I got to take him home right away. He came with the name Peter, but Eric really wanted to name Jimmy. So Jimmy it was. Jimmy is a wonderful cat. He loves to play and is very smart. He made himself right at home.
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Dancing Queen
Here are some pictures from JJ & Ashley's wedding. Dustin and Christi were in the wedding party. And Taylor was the flower girl. I was a very pretty wedding. They also had great wood fired pizzas. But of course the life of the party was the little Dancing Queen.
Wednesday, October 07, 2009
Goodbye Bella
I am sad to report that our precious cat Bella has ran away. After being gone for 8 days in the Philippines she was not very happy with us. She had plenty of food and we had someone to come by and visit her, but it did not make her happy that she could not go outside when she chose to. When we got back she was very upset. Eric let her outside one morning and she never returned. We miss her dearly. We miss her snuggling on the couch with us, and how she liked to see under the covers. And most of all we will miss how good she was at catching moles and once in a while bunnies. We just hope that she found a good home rather than the alternative.
Here are a bunch of posts about Bella.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Philippines
Eric and I took a trip to the Philippines for his friend Jim's wedding. In normal fashion, Eric saved the planning of this trip to the last minute. So we packed as much as we could into a carry-on and hopped a flight to Manila, not really sure what to expect when we got there. This was my first trip out of the country (unless you count driving 30 minutes across the border to Canada). I had never been on more than a six hour flight so I was a little nervous about everything.
I can tell you that the flight over was much worse that I had expected. One thing that I was not told about flying on Asian airlines was that the seats are built for Asians. Not very wide, and not much leg room. Unfortunately I was in the middle seat between Eric and some other American guy. It was in no way comfortable. Eric got some sleep on the plane. I did not get any sleep. Fortunately they had individual entertainment systems at each seat. You could watch movies, TV shows and play games. You could even use the Internet if you wanted to pay for it. I watched so many movies I don't even remember what I saw. That helped the time go by a little, but after 18 hours of flying with a layover of 3 hours I was ready to go to our hotel and go to bed.
Here was the view from our hotel.
I can tell you that the flight over was much worse that I had expected. One thing that I was not told about flying on Asian airlines was that the seats are built for Asians. Not very wide, and not much leg room. Unfortunately I was in the middle seat between Eric and some other American guy. It was in no way comfortable. Eric got some sleep on the plane. I did not get any sleep. Fortunately they had individual entertainment systems at each seat. You could watch movies, TV shows and play games. You could even use the Internet if you wanted to pay for it. I watched so many movies I don't even remember what I saw. That helped the time go by a little, but after 18 hours of flying with a layover of 3 hours I was ready to go to our hotel and go to bed.
Here was the view from our hotel.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/Es7HMTp447m3wJnj6
We got into Manila and got settled into our hotel sometime before dinner. Because the time zone is actually a day before our time zone I really couldn't tell what time of day it was, but if they say it is dinner time I will eat dinner.
We got into Manila and got settled into our hotel sometime before dinner. Because the time zone is actually a day before our time zone I really couldn't tell what time of day it was, but if they say it is dinner time I will eat dinner.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/S3KPWbx2bFGkveMS6
We met up with Jim and his dad and walked a couple blocks away to one of the malls in Manila to find something to eat. We decided on a soup bowl, kind of fast food place. Everything we had was OK except for the guys decided they wanted to try eating jellyfish. I tried it, because I would probably never get a chance again. It will be the last time though. It was like eating a tasteless rubber band.
We didn't spend much time looking around, we just headed back to the hotel and crashed early.
The next morning we woke up refreshed and ready to go. We were pleasantly surprised to find out that there was a complimentary breakfast buffet. This was not like any breakfast buffet I have ever had at a hotel. There was every kind of food you could think of. All the American breakfast foods, eggs, sausage, bacon, toast, waffles, pancakes, fruit, cereal, omelets and anything else you could think of. And then there was all kinds of Asian food including stir fry, sushi, build your own soup, stick buns, and all kinds of meats that I really couldn't identify. I don't remember how many trips through the line I took, but I could have hung out there all day. But our time was limited in Manila and we wanted to check things out before we had to leave.
Jim had some things he needed to deal with in the morning, so Eric, Jim's dad Fred and I all went for a walk. We weren't really sure where we were going because we hadn't done any research on Manila before leaving, so we just started walking. We found out very quickly that you needed to watch your step while walking the streets. Traffic is the most insane thing I have ever seen there. A red light seems more like a recommendation than a requirement. As were the lanes. The cars just snuck in wherever they felt they could fit, including the opposite side of the road. The horns were endlessly beeping. Most of the time it was not a rude horn, more of a warning that someone is going to pass you on the opposite side of the road, squeeze in between you and another car, or do something else that would be seriously frowned upon in the US.
The sidewalks were also extreme chaos. Each building had their own sidewalk and none of them matched up. So you had to squeeze between parked cars, street vendors and store awnings and displays. You also had to watch for puddles. No it was not raining yet. The smell of the streets was horrible, so I will let you imagine what we were walking in. And it was extremely hot and muggy out so I was wearing flip flops. Of course my flip flops I brought with me broke a strap, so I bought the first cheap pair I found.
We walked and walked, not really knowing what we were looking for, but low and behold we came across a Starbucks which put Eric in a lot better mood. The funny thing about this Starbucks was that it had guys with machine guns at the door for security. Most other large stores also had security. Apparently there is a lot of theft and terrorism???
We then crossed 8 lanes of traffic (super scary), to get to the boardwalk of Manila Bay. We were walking along the sidewalk in from of what I think was the US Embassy when I saw a really cool tree that looks similar to this one. I stopped to take a picture of it when a guy with a machine gun informed me that we were not allowed to take pictures. So we kept moving.
We came to the boardwalk and instantly realized that we would be staying on the boardwalk and not venturing on to the beach. It was covered in garbage and debris. Sadly there were people down there scavenging for stuff. And 50 feet down where the tide was higher people were fishing. I just hope those weren't any fish that I was eating in the restaurants. It was pretty early in the day but the street vendors were already there and setting up. They were pretty persistent. Following you down the boardwalk to sell you anything that they can carry with them.
We had walked quite a ways a decided to head back into town to our hotel to meet up with Jim. We went back a different way and came across a cool statue and an old church. The rest was mostly residences and businesses. We did find some interesting power lines on our way back that make you wonder how many people get electrocuted there each year. There were actually people sitting on top of large trucks holding sticks and would hold up the power lines as they came across low hanging wires.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/iX9wjWZRUxnmssDW9
We got back to the hotel, escaped into the air conditioning for a little while and then headed out to lunch at the same mall we had walked to the night before. Since we were awake this time we looked around a little. There were lots of small stores, and also lots of booths that you could bargain at. We did not really stop to shop because we had things to do. We went and had lunch at TGI Fridays. Yes, you heard that right. We had Brent with us who is a friend of Jim's and went to high school with him on Vashon. He does not really like Asian food. Not really hungry after our large breakfast I went on the hunt for different shoes. After our morning walk I discovered why the flip flops I bought were so cheap. The soles were so thin that the bottom of my feat ached. And the straps were some uncomfortable plastic that gave me blisters. Unfortunately I did not find anything better than I already had.
After lunch, Jim took us to the Manila Ocean Park Aquarium. It is pretty new. They are still working on some of the exhibits. It was pretty cool though. I am glad we went. It was a little crowded because there were a number of schools on field trips there. So we had to wait in lines to get to see stuff, but that's OK. They had manta rays, ells, sharks, and lots of cool fish. They had a cool tunnel you could walk through. All above and around you was a fish tank with fish in it. They also had a special jellyfish exhibit that Eric was really excited about. The lighting in there was really neat. But what made Eric really excited was the box jellyfish. They are the most dangerous on the planet.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/63TTKgkEgbReWLxd6
After we were done at the aquarium, Jim wanted to go out to the Mall of Asia to look for a wedding band before we left Manilla the next morning. So we caught a cab there. That was just about the time is started to rain. When we got to the Mall of Asia I realized that the previously mall we had been to was a mere mini mall compared to this thing. There were two parts to the Mall. There was and open air walkway all the way around that had a roof on it. And then on the inner part it was all closed in. There were countless stores, an ice skating rink, some stage where they had performers, an Imax theaters, and a couple other theaters as well. I am not really sure if we walked the entire mall, but it seemed like we walked forever. My feet were killing me. Jim went around to numerous jewelry stores bargaining for the best rate. While we were waiting I looked in every shoe shop and stand I could find. I found thousands of cheap flip flops. At this point I was walking with a limp, and seeing as I brought no other shoes with my due to trying to squeeze 8 days of clothes into 1 carry on, I was whiling to pay whatever the cost to get a new pair of flip flops. Finally I found some nice ones with actual soles and padding with nice cloth straps. It cost me $40 American, which is pretty expensive over there. But it was so worth it.
After walking around some more Jim found the deal he was looking for on his ring. We decided that it was time to eat and then we would head back home. We found a restaurant that was on the out part of the mall in the open air section. It was a pretty cool restaurant. They had these towers of beer that you could order for $10 American. It was almost like having your own personal keg. I had some dish that had raw squid, octopus or some other kind of raw fish in it. It was pretty good. But the main attraction was the rain. We had a prime seat to see the sideways rain. The mist coming off the rain was actually quite refreshing after the very hot and muggy day. But I began to wonder if this was the beginning of something very bad. We finished our dinner and caught a cab back home. I was sitting in the front seat with the driver and I asked him about the rain. He told me that yes it was a typhoon. The one thing that I had researched about the Philippines before we left was the weather. What I found was that we were going there in the middle of typhoon season. I was really worried about this, but of course everyone I mentioned it to said, "What are the chances there will actually be a typhoon." Well apparently the chances are pretty good. The Philippines is routinely hit with typhoons during this time of year. When I told all the guys that it was a typhoon they all laughed at me and said it was just raining.
We all crashed for the night after a long and eventful day. We woke early in the morning. It was still raining. We packed and went down for a couple trips through the buffet line before we had to head out to the airport. The guys went to check out, and I asked one of the bell hops about the rain. He reassured me it was a typhoon. The guys still seemed unconcerned. We went out to the front of the hotel and got a taxi. It was actually a big SUV because between Eric, Jim, Fred, and Brent (who is a former NFL lineman), and all of our baggage we didn't really have room n a small taxi. Good thing that we got a big taxi too because the rain was really coming down now. As we got near the waterfront on our way out to the airport the rain was really starting to collect on the street.
On the smaller cars it was as high as our bumper. It was a bit of a crazy ride. I didn't think our taxi was going to make it through some of the water but it did and we made it to the airport. The airport was on higher ground so there there was no standing water there.
We checking in at the counter to catch our domestic flight to the city of Butuan where Jim's wife lives and where the wedding was taking place. We were there a couple hours early and thank goodness we were. The rain continued and we were glad to be on high ground. The guys were hoping to get off the island before they closed down the airport. As far as I was concerned, I did not want to fly in this weather. We had a couple hours to waste and we met up with Jim's sister Pam and her husband Paul. We also met The bride's sister-in-law Miracle who was also flying to the wedding. We all hung out and waited to see what would happen. Before you new it a few flight started to get cancelled, and pretty soon all flights were cancelled. I was happy to not be flying in this weather, but the wedding rehearsal was the next day so it was important that we get there as soon as possible. Here is where all the madness began.
First, the power went out. I would assume that it was a city wide precaution due to all the low hanging wires. But that is just a guess. The airport had a back-up generator, but that did not include the air conditioner. So it became increasingly muggy in the airport, especially with the thousands of stranded people in there. The power also messed up the computer systems. It took them a while to get them back up and running. We had to go back to the check out counter and get a refund. Then we had to go to the ticket purchase counter and try to get a new flight. And since these planes were smaller and had less room for luggage then made us check them. So while Jim was trying to get tickets for all of us, Brent, Paul and I went down to try and retrieve our luggage. The process took hours. After sweating and waiting, sweating and waiting we got everything settled. Our luggage was found. Our flights were booked for the next day. All flights were booked for Butuan airport so we had to fly into an airport in Cagayan de Oro City. This is a four hour drive away from Butuan. Jim arranged for two vans to meet us there. Our flight left at very early the next morning. So we needed to figure out what to do until then.
The airport was so hot and muggy, and there were people camping out everywhere. Cardboard boxes were being laid on the ground which people were sleeping on. We decided we did not want to spend that night at the airport with the masses. So we went outside. Outside the airport everything was pretty empty. Then we noticed that there was an absence of taxis and cars. We then asked someone and apparently no taxis were able to come to the airport because all the roads were blocked with water and cars waiting for the water to recede. Off in the distance you could see a bank of unmoving red tail lights. And on the road across the street from the hotel you could see cars abandoned on the side of the road. Apparently people decided to walk instead of waiting. So we weren't really sure what to do. We saw that across the street there looked like there were some hotels. So Jim and Fred decided they would walk across the street to see if they could get us rooms. Eric wanted to go but I wouldn't let him. It was still raining and he kept talking about how he wanted to get closer to the flood waters so he could take a picture. So while Jim and Fred ventured out, we all hung around outside the hotel. I couldn't really tell you how long we were there. A couple hours??? Good news was that Paul had packed a couple of bottles of wine in his bag and some snacks. So we entertained ourselves. We had arrived at the airport at about 9:00 AM that morning. At about 6 PM Fred came back with a taxi. He said that Jim had found a hotel and that this taxi was able to get us there. He was only able to find one taxi and there were 7 of us that needed a ride, we needed to take two trips. Brent, Eric and I offered to wait for the second trip. We had no idea that it would be another couple of hours before the cab returned. I was dark and we began to contemplate whether or not we should just head back in the airport and wait out the night there. Finally the cab came. It turns out that the hotels across the street were still being built. They were able to find a hotel that was at high ground that was about a half hour drive away in normal conditions. So after some interesting driving to get through all the cars that were stuck waiting to get into downtown we finally made it to the hotel. It was around 9:00 PM. We were starving, tired, and in desperate need of a shower. Unfortunately we needed to be up at 1:15 AM to check out, get in our taxi, which was already secured to show up, and make it back to the airport for our flight. Eric and I said that we would just sleep on the couch and not get our own room since there really wasn't much time to sleep anyway. After eating some pizza from Shakey's next door and taken showers we all settled down for the night. Eric took the cushions from the couch and slept on the floor. I slept on the frame of the couch with no cushions. Needless to say we didn't sleep much. At 1:15 AM we all got up to head out for our next day of adventure.
Our taxi from the previous day showed up with a friend there as well to take us all to the airport. The streets were much calmer because it was the middle of the night. When we got to the airport there were people everywhere, but no check in lines were open. After waiting an hour or so for the check-in lines to open we managed to wiggle our way to the front of the line by having each of eight people stand near the area we thought they might open our flight. My line won. So Jim rushed over to me with all the tickets. He got everyone squared away, except for Miracle. Somehow, her ticket was not booked. They said that our flight was full so they would not give her a ticket. It is the day before the wedding and she needed to get there somehow. The rest of us took our tickets and went to find food while Jim and Miracle tried to straighten it out. In a couple hours when it was about time for our flight we headed over to the boarding are to wait for our flight to be called. Jim showed up. No Miracle. They said that the flight was full and the best we could do was get her a flight to the same city that would be and hour or two behind us. They told us that they would put her on standby. Meanwhile we waited. It was now 6, 7, 8. Who knows after all that we had been through. We figured it would be a good time to start drinking. They still had not called our flight so we found some cheap drinks and waited. Finally a couple hours late they called our flight and we got on our plane. It took for every for everyone to get on. I think with all the ticket changes they everything was a mess. Jim was on the phone to Miracle to try and get her on the flight. They were taking final head counts and there was still room on the plane. Jim tried to get the flight attendant to get her on the plane but the captain said that we were so late that they could not delay any more. So we took off knowing that we would have to wait again once we reached the airport.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/NAPxSwFkNQgUZ11z8
So we had more drinks.
At least everyone was in pretty good spirits by this time. It was a pretty short flight.
When we got to the airport we found out it was pretty small. A small room to pick up your luggage and that was about it. This island was very different from Manila. The luxuries that we had in Manila like air conditioning and toilet paper no longer existed. As there was no where to wait in the airport we went outside. We found Annalyn and our drivers with the two vans. For a moment I thought there were locals hovering around wanting to see what was going on. Then someone explained to me that all six of those six of those people were ridding in the vans with us. Not sure why they sent so many. The weather wasn't too bad. There was a little bit of a cloud cover, so we hung out and waiting.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/qt7FYxHuRPLZxLDV8
In a couple hours Miracle arrived. So we loaded up in to our vans to find something to eat and head to Butuan. We thought with two vans we would have plenty of room, but with the now 14 people and lots of luggage it was a little snug. We stopped at a Asian fast food past. It was descent and cheap. We ate lots as we didn't really have breakfast and were up for hours. Probably was not a good idea because what we had in front of us was a four hour car ride. This was no ordinary car ride. If we were in the US it would probably been more like a six hour luxurious drive through lovely palm tree mountains bordering the clear blue ocean. Instead we went on a four hour death defying race through curvy and narrow mountainous roads, passing cars, trucks, animals, people all with a honk of the horn. There was no sleeping on this trip because there was the constant braking, accelerating, and honking every few seconds.
It was beautiful country and I would have loved to look around and take pictures of the palm and banana trees. The interesting bamboo houses and all other things that just went by in a blur. I tried to take pictures but not many of them turned out.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/pzPg6TfypnqK7Zd56
By the time we got to Butuan I was feeling ill and ready to get out of the car. In our van there was Brent, Eric and I and then our Philippino escorts. Since most of our escorts did not speak English or chose not to, we really had no idea what was going on. We didn't know where we were going, what we were doing, how long there was to go, or much of anything. When we finally arrived at the hotel we were told that we had half and hour to get a shower in and then we were heading out to Annalyn's house for dinner.
For being a rural island the accommodations at our hotel were pretty good.
We met up with Jim and his dad and walked a couple blocks away to one of the malls in Manila to find something to eat. We decided on a soup bowl, kind of fast food place. Everything we had was OK except for the guys decided they wanted to try eating jellyfish. I tried it, because I would probably never get a chance again. It will be the last time though. It was like eating a tasteless rubber band.
We didn't spend much time looking around, we just headed back to the hotel and crashed early.
The next morning we woke up refreshed and ready to go. We were pleasantly surprised to find out that there was a complimentary breakfast buffet. This was not like any breakfast buffet I have ever had at a hotel. There was every kind of food you could think of. All the American breakfast foods, eggs, sausage, bacon, toast, waffles, pancakes, fruit, cereal, omelets and anything else you could think of. And then there was all kinds of Asian food including stir fry, sushi, build your own soup, stick buns, and all kinds of meats that I really couldn't identify. I don't remember how many trips through the line I took, but I could have hung out there all day. But our time was limited in Manila and we wanted to check things out before we had to leave.
Jim had some things he needed to deal with in the morning, so Eric, Jim's dad Fred and I all went for a walk. We weren't really sure where we were going because we hadn't done any research on Manila before leaving, so we just started walking. We found out very quickly that you needed to watch your step while walking the streets. Traffic is the most insane thing I have ever seen there. A red light seems more like a recommendation than a requirement. As were the lanes. The cars just snuck in wherever they felt they could fit, including the opposite side of the road. The horns were endlessly beeping. Most of the time it was not a rude horn, more of a warning that someone is going to pass you on the opposite side of the road, squeeze in between you and another car, or do something else that would be seriously frowned upon in the US.
The sidewalks were also extreme chaos. Each building had their own sidewalk and none of them matched up. So you had to squeeze between parked cars, street vendors and store awnings and displays. You also had to watch for puddles. No it was not raining yet. The smell of the streets was horrible, so I will let you imagine what we were walking in. And it was extremely hot and muggy out so I was wearing flip flops. Of course my flip flops I brought with me broke a strap, so I bought the first cheap pair I found.
We walked and walked, not really knowing what we were looking for, but low and behold we came across a Starbucks which put Eric in a lot better mood. The funny thing about this Starbucks was that it had guys with machine guns at the door for security. Most other large stores also had security. Apparently there is a lot of theft and terrorism???
We then crossed 8 lanes of traffic (super scary), to get to the boardwalk of Manila Bay. We were walking along the sidewalk in from of what I think was the US Embassy when I saw a really cool tree that looks similar to this one. I stopped to take a picture of it when a guy with a machine gun informed me that we were not allowed to take pictures. So we kept moving.
We came to the boardwalk and instantly realized that we would be staying on the boardwalk and not venturing on to the beach. It was covered in garbage and debris. Sadly there were people down there scavenging for stuff. And 50 feet down where the tide was higher people were fishing. I just hope those weren't any fish that I was eating in the restaurants. It was pretty early in the day but the street vendors were already there and setting up. They were pretty persistent. Following you down the boardwalk to sell you anything that they can carry with them.
We had walked quite a ways a decided to head back into town to our hotel to meet up with Jim. We went back a different way and came across a cool statue and an old church. The rest was mostly residences and businesses. We did find some interesting power lines on our way back that make you wonder how many people get electrocuted there each year. There were actually people sitting on top of large trucks holding sticks and would hold up the power lines as they came across low hanging wires.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/iX9wjWZRUxnmssDW9
We got back to the hotel, escaped into the air conditioning for a little while and then headed out to lunch at the same mall we had walked to the night before. Since we were awake this time we looked around a little. There were lots of small stores, and also lots of booths that you could bargain at. We did not really stop to shop because we had things to do. We went and had lunch at TGI Fridays. Yes, you heard that right. We had Brent with us who is a friend of Jim's and went to high school with him on Vashon. He does not really like Asian food. Not really hungry after our large breakfast I went on the hunt for different shoes. After our morning walk I discovered why the flip flops I bought were so cheap. The soles were so thin that the bottom of my feat ached. And the straps were some uncomfortable plastic that gave me blisters. Unfortunately I did not find anything better than I already had.
After lunch, Jim took us to the Manila Ocean Park Aquarium. It is pretty new. They are still working on some of the exhibits. It was pretty cool though. I am glad we went. It was a little crowded because there were a number of schools on field trips there. So we had to wait in lines to get to see stuff, but that's OK. They had manta rays, ells, sharks, and lots of cool fish. They had a cool tunnel you could walk through. All above and around you was a fish tank with fish in it. They also had a special jellyfish exhibit that Eric was really excited about. The lighting in there was really neat. But what made Eric really excited was the box jellyfish. They are the most dangerous on the planet.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/63TTKgkEgbReWLxd6
After we were done at the aquarium, Jim wanted to go out to the Mall of Asia to look for a wedding band before we left Manilla the next morning. So we caught a cab there. That was just about the time is started to rain. When we got to the Mall of Asia I realized that the previously mall we had been to was a mere mini mall compared to this thing. There were two parts to the Mall. There was and open air walkway all the way around that had a roof on it. And then on the inner part it was all closed in. There were countless stores, an ice skating rink, some stage where they had performers, an Imax theaters, and a couple other theaters as well. I am not really sure if we walked the entire mall, but it seemed like we walked forever. My feet were killing me. Jim went around to numerous jewelry stores bargaining for the best rate. While we were waiting I looked in every shoe shop and stand I could find. I found thousands of cheap flip flops. At this point I was walking with a limp, and seeing as I brought no other shoes with my due to trying to squeeze 8 days of clothes into 1 carry on, I was whiling to pay whatever the cost to get a new pair of flip flops. Finally I found some nice ones with actual soles and padding with nice cloth straps. It cost me $40 American, which is pretty expensive over there. But it was so worth it.
After walking around some more Jim found the deal he was looking for on his ring. We decided that it was time to eat and then we would head back home. We found a restaurant that was on the out part of the mall in the open air section. It was a pretty cool restaurant. They had these towers of beer that you could order for $10 American. It was almost like having your own personal keg. I had some dish that had raw squid, octopus or some other kind of raw fish in it. It was pretty good. But the main attraction was the rain. We had a prime seat to see the sideways rain. The mist coming off the rain was actually quite refreshing after the very hot and muggy day. But I began to wonder if this was the beginning of something very bad. We finished our dinner and caught a cab back home. I was sitting in the front seat with the driver and I asked him about the rain. He told me that yes it was a typhoon. The one thing that I had researched about the Philippines before we left was the weather. What I found was that we were going there in the middle of typhoon season. I was really worried about this, but of course everyone I mentioned it to said, "What are the chances there will actually be a typhoon." Well apparently the chances are pretty good. The Philippines is routinely hit with typhoons during this time of year. When I told all the guys that it was a typhoon they all laughed at me and said it was just raining.
We all crashed for the night after a long and eventful day. We woke early in the morning. It was still raining. We packed and went down for a couple trips through the buffet line before we had to head out to the airport. The guys went to check out, and I asked one of the bell hops about the rain. He reassured me it was a typhoon. The guys still seemed unconcerned. We went out to the front of the hotel and got a taxi. It was actually a big SUV because between Eric, Jim, Fred, and Brent (who is a former NFL lineman), and all of our baggage we didn't really have room n a small taxi. Good thing that we got a big taxi too because the rain was really coming down now. As we got near the waterfront on our way out to the airport the rain was really starting to collect on the street.
On the smaller cars it was as high as our bumper. It was a bit of a crazy ride. I didn't think our taxi was going to make it through some of the water but it did and we made it to the airport. The airport was on higher ground so there there was no standing water there.
We checking in at the counter to catch our domestic flight to the city of Butuan where Jim's wife lives and where the wedding was taking place. We were there a couple hours early and thank goodness we were. The rain continued and we were glad to be on high ground. The guys were hoping to get off the island before they closed down the airport. As far as I was concerned, I did not want to fly in this weather. We had a couple hours to waste and we met up with Jim's sister Pam and her husband Paul. We also met The bride's sister-in-law Miracle who was also flying to the wedding. We all hung out and waited to see what would happen. Before you new it a few flight started to get cancelled, and pretty soon all flights were cancelled. I was happy to not be flying in this weather, but the wedding rehearsal was the next day so it was important that we get there as soon as possible. Here is where all the madness began.
First, the power went out. I would assume that it was a city wide precaution due to all the low hanging wires. But that is just a guess. The airport had a back-up generator, but that did not include the air conditioner. So it became increasingly muggy in the airport, especially with the thousands of stranded people in there. The power also messed up the computer systems. It took them a while to get them back up and running. We had to go back to the check out counter and get a refund. Then we had to go to the ticket purchase counter and try to get a new flight. And since these planes were smaller and had less room for luggage then made us check them. So while Jim was trying to get tickets for all of us, Brent, Paul and I went down to try and retrieve our luggage. The process took hours. After sweating and waiting, sweating and waiting we got everything settled. Our luggage was found. Our flights were booked for the next day. All flights were booked for Butuan airport so we had to fly into an airport in Cagayan de Oro City. This is a four hour drive away from Butuan. Jim arranged for two vans to meet us there. Our flight left at very early the next morning. So we needed to figure out what to do until then.
The airport was so hot and muggy, and there were people camping out everywhere. Cardboard boxes were being laid on the ground which people were sleeping on. We decided we did not want to spend that night at the airport with the masses. So we went outside. Outside the airport everything was pretty empty. Then we noticed that there was an absence of taxis and cars. We then asked someone and apparently no taxis were able to come to the airport because all the roads were blocked with water and cars waiting for the water to recede. Off in the distance you could see a bank of unmoving red tail lights. And on the road across the street from the hotel you could see cars abandoned on the side of the road. Apparently people decided to walk instead of waiting. So we weren't really sure what to do. We saw that across the street there looked like there were some hotels. So Jim and Fred decided they would walk across the street to see if they could get us rooms. Eric wanted to go but I wouldn't let him. It was still raining and he kept talking about how he wanted to get closer to the flood waters so he could take a picture. So while Jim and Fred ventured out, we all hung around outside the hotel. I couldn't really tell you how long we were there. A couple hours??? Good news was that Paul had packed a couple of bottles of wine in his bag and some snacks. So we entertained ourselves. We had arrived at the airport at about 9:00 AM that morning. At about 6 PM Fred came back with a taxi. He said that Jim had found a hotel and that this taxi was able to get us there. He was only able to find one taxi and there were 7 of us that needed a ride, we needed to take two trips. Brent, Eric and I offered to wait for the second trip. We had no idea that it would be another couple of hours before the cab returned. I was dark and we began to contemplate whether or not we should just head back in the airport and wait out the night there. Finally the cab came. It turns out that the hotels across the street were still being built. They were able to find a hotel that was at high ground that was about a half hour drive away in normal conditions. So after some interesting driving to get through all the cars that were stuck waiting to get into downtown we finally made it to the hotel. It was around 9:00 PM. We were starving, tired, and in desperate need of a shower. Unfortunately we needed to be up at 1:15 AM to check out, get in our taxi, which was already secured to show up, and make it back to the airport for our flight. Eric and I said that we would just sleep on the couch and not get our own room since there really wasn't much time to sleep anyway. After eating some pizza from Shakey's next door and taken showers we all settled down for the night. Eric took the cushions from the couch and slept on the floor. I slept on the frame of the couch with no cushions. Needless to say we didn't sleep much. At 1:15 AM we all got up to head out for our next day of adventure.
Our taxi from the previous day showed up with a friend there as well to take us all to the airport. The streets were much calmer because it was the middle of the night. When we got to the airport there were people everywhere, but no check in lines were open. After waiting an hour or so for the check-in lines to open we managed to wiggle our way to the front of the line by having each of eight people stand near the area we thought they might open our flight. My line won. So Jim rushed over to me with all the tickets. He got everyone squared away, except for Miracle. Somehow, her ticket was not booked. They said that our flight was full so they would not give her a ticket. It is the day before the wedding and she needed to get there somehow. The rest of us took our tickets and went to find food while Jim and Miracle tried to straighten it out. In a couple hours when it was about time for our flight we headed over to the boarding are to wait for our flight to be called. Jim showed up. No Miracle. They said that the flight was full and the best we could do was get her a flight to the same city that would be and hour or two behind us. They told us that they would put her on standby. Meanwhile we waited. It was now 6, 7, 8. Who knows after all that we had been through. We figured it would be a good time to start drinking. They still had not called our flight so we found some cheap drinks and waited. Finally a couple hours late they called our flight and we got on our plane. It took for every for everyone to get on. I think with all the ticket changes they everything was a mess. Jim was on the phone to Miracle to try and get her on the flight. They were taking final head counts and there was still room on the plane. Jim tried to get the flight attendant to get her on the plane but the captain said that we were so late that they could not delay any more. So we took off knowing that we would have to wait again once we reached the airport.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/NAPxSwFkNQgUZ11z8
So we had more drinks.
At least everyone was in pretty good spirits by this time. It was a pretty short flight.
When we got to the airport we found out it was pretty small. A small room to pick up your luggage and that was about it. This island was very different from Manila. The luxuries that we had in Manila like air conditioning and toilet paper no longer existed. As there was no where to wait in the airport we went outside. We found Annalyn and our drivers with the two vans. For a moment I thought there were locals hovering around wanting to see what was going on. Then someone explained to me that all six of those six of those people were ridding in the vans with us. Not sure why they sent so many. The weather wasn't too bad. There was a little bit of a cloud cover, so we hung out and waiting.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/qt7FYxHuRPLZxLDV8
In a couple hours Miracle arrived. So we loaded up in to our vans to find something to eat and head to Butuan. We thought with two vans we would have plenty of room, but with the now 14 people and lots of luggage it was a little snug. We stopped at a Asian fast food past. It was descent and cheap. We ate lots as we didn't really have breakfast and were up for hours. Probably was not a good idea because what we had in front of us was a four hour car ride. This was no ordinary car ride. If we were in the US it would probably been more like a six hour luxurious drive through lovely palm tree mountains bordering the clear blue ocean. Instead we went on a four hour death defying race through curvy and narrow mountainous roads, passing cars, trucks, animals, people all with a honk of the horn. There was no sleeping on this trip because there was the constant braking, accelerating, and honking every few seconds.
It was beautiful country and I would have loved to look around and take pictures of the palm and banana trees. The interesting bamboo houses and all other things that just went by in a blur. I tried to take pictures but not many of them turned out.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/pzPg6TfypnqK7Zd56
By the time we got to Butuan I was feeling ill and ready to get out of the car. In our van there was Brent, Eric and I and then our Philippino escorts. Since most of our escorts did not speak English or chose not to, we really had no idea what was going on. We didn't know where we were going, what we were doing, how long there was to go, or much of anything. When we finally arrived at the hotel we were told that we had half and hour to get a shower in and then we were heading out to Annalyn's house for dinner.
For being a rural island the accommodations at our hotel were pretty good.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/mTXfpLNjmiSMY5Bg6
We also met Jim's stepbrother John there. After getting in a hot shower we felt a little bit better. We got back into our vans and drove out to Annalyn's house. We weren't really sure what to expect. What we found was a very small remote village. Annalyn's family lives in a cinder block house. It is a nice little house, but of course no air conditioning, and it was very hot and muggy out. While dinner was being prepared we hung out in the yard. We saw their fighting cocks that they had tied up in the yard. There were also numerous neighbor children that came to take a look at us. The kids were very cute but mostly shy. The stared at us through the gate for hours. I can imagine it is what it would feel like to be a fish in a fish bowl. Then we sat down to dinner. I was sweating bullets. There was a fan but it didn't really help too much. The dinner was great. They cooked an entire baby pig, with rice and other side dishes. After dinner we were ready to crash. We had not really slept in days and the boys had to be ready to start taking pictures at 7:00 AM the next morning. So we made the long trek back to the hotel and went to bed.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/g4GkpaNcC7pKBkzx7
The next morning was the day of the wedding. We woke up early and got all ready to go. When we turned on the TV in the morning there were headlines everywhere about the typhoon. Apparently it was the worst flooding in Metro Manilla in 40 years. In the villages just outside Manilla it was really bad. Over 400 people died. Because we arrived a day late the boys all missed the wedding rehearsal so no one was quite sure exactly what was going on. They were told to be ready to take pictures at 7:00 AM. The photographer came to the hotel and start taking pictures. And let me tell you, Philippinos seem to love to take a lot of pictures. After a couple hours of waiting around at the hotel and the guys taking pictures we went off to the church. It was just a couple minutes down the road. It was an old, interesting and beautiful church. It even had its own guys with machine guns standing out front. Of course it was an open air church with no air conditioning. We waited for a couple more hours outside the church for everything to get started. And took more pictures.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/CXteQz3TvomjnyYr9
It was a pretty hot day and I was already sweating and it wasn't even noon yet. When the bride arrived people started going into the church. Paul and I were the only people in our group that were not in the wedding. Paul was off taking pictures of people, I found the best fan I could find and parked myself under it. That helped a lot. It felt pretty weird sitting by myself with a bunch of people staring at me though. Then began the long process of a Catholic wedding. I could not tell you what all there different rituals were because there was no one there to explain them to me. At least 50 people walked down the aisle. There were sponsors. Someone said they were friends and family to give advice. Then there were the traditional wedding party, and even what they call a little bride. She is all dressed up in white. All of the guys were wearing a traditional Philippino shirt. They are long sleeved and sort of see through. Brent's shirt was so tight because they had trouble finding one to fit someone his size. With all the sweating the shirt was sticking to him. Needless to say he was pretty uncomfortable. That was only the beginning for him. Brent was the best man, and not knowing till the day of because we missed the rehearsal, that at a Catholic wedding this means he stands on the stage with the bride, groom and maid of honor. The rest of the boys sat in the front row of the pews. Brent looked completely uncomfortable. We found out later it was because the chair they had given him was an antique and was creaking under him. He was basically doing a squat over the chair for the duration of the 2-3 hour wedding. No wonder he had a pool of sweat under him. At one point Annalyn asked the Maid of Honor to get him a fan.
The highlight of the wedding was definitely Miracle's son. He was a ring barer, or some part of the wedding party. About half hour into the wedding he decided that we wanted to be more involved int he wedding and stormed the stage. He went around talking to the bride, checked out Brent, and laid down on the alter in a tantrum. The Maid of Honor tried to chase him down he would not sit still. Eventually they gave up and he just became part of the show. The wedding wrapped up and the wedding party took pictures. We left Jim and Annalyn there at the church to finish up their pictures while the rest of us went back to the hotel to unwind before the reception.
We also met Jim's stepbrother John there. After getting in a hot shower we felt a little bit better. We got back into our vans and drove out to Annalyn's house. We weren't really sure what to expect. What we found was a very small remote village. Annalyn's family lives in a cinder block house. It is a nice little house, but of course no air conditioning, and it was very hot and muggy out. While dinner was being prepared we hung out in the yard. We saw their fighting cocks that they had tied up in the yard. There were also numerous neighbor children that came to take a look at us. The kids were very cute but mostly shy. The stared at us through the gate for hours. I can imagine it is what it would feel like to be a fish in a fish bowl. Then we sat down to dinner. I was sweating bullets. There was a fan but it didn't really help too much. The dinner was great. They cooked an entire baby pig, with rice and other side dishes. After dinner we were ready to crash. We had not really slept in days and the boys had to be ready to start taking pictures at 7:00 AM the next morning. So we made the long trek back to the hotel and went to bed.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/g4GkpaNcC7pKBkzx7
The next morning was the day of the wedding. We woke up early and got all ready to go. When we turned on the TV in the morning there were headlines everywhere about the typhoon. Apparently it was the worst flooding in Metro Manilla in 40 years. In the villages just outside Manilla it was really bad. Over 400 people died. Because we arrived a day late the boys all missed the wedding rehearsal so no one was quite sure exactly what was going on. They were told to be ready to take pictures at 7:00 AM. The photographer came to the hotel and start taking pictures. And let me tell you, Philippinos seem to love to take a lot of pictures. After a couple hours of waiting around at the hotel and the guys taking pictures we went off to the church. It was just a couple minutes down the road. It was an old, interesting and beautiful church. It even had its own guys with machine guns standing out front. Of course it was an open air church with no air conditioning. We waited for a couple more hours outside the church for everything to get started. And took more pictures.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/CXteQz3TvomjnyYr9
It was a pretty hot day and I was already sweating and it wasn't even noon yet. When the bride arrived people started going into the church. Paul and I were the only people in our group that were not in the wedding. Paul was off taking pictures of people, I found the best fan I could find and parked myself under it. That helped a lot. It felt pretty weird sitting by myself with a bunch of people staring at me though. Then began the long process of a Catholic wedding. I could not tell you what all there different rituals were because there was no one there to explain them to me. At least 50 people walked down the aisle. There were sponsors. Someone said they were friends and family to give advice. Then there were the traditional wedding party, and even what they call a little bride. She is all dressed up in white. All of the guys were wearing a traditional Philippino shirt. They are long sleeved and sort of see through. Brent's shirt was so tight because they had trouble finding one to fit someone his size. With all the sweating the shirt was sticking to him. Needless to say he was pretty uncomfortable. That was only the beginning for him. Brent was the best man, and not knowing till the day of because we missed the rehearsal, that at a Catholic wedding this means he stands on the stage with the bride, groom and maid of honor. The rest of the boys sat in the front row of the pews. Brent looked completely uncomfortable. We found out later it was because the chair they had given him was an antique and was creaking under him. He was basically doing a squat over the chair for the duration of the 2-3 hour wedding. No wonder he had a pool of sweat under him. At one point Annalyn asked the Maid of Honor to get him a fan.
The highlight of the wedding was definitely Miracle's son. He was a ring barer, or some part of the wedding party. About half hour into the wedding he decided that we wanted to be more involved int he wedding and stormed the stage. He went around talking to the bride, checked out Brent, and laid down on the alter in a tantrum. The Maid of Honor tried to chase him down he would not sit still. Eventually they gave up and he just became part of the show. The wedding wrapped up and the wedding party took pictures. We left Jim and Annalyn there at the church to finish up their pictures while the rest of us went back to the hotel to unwind before the reception.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/HsPHBKwo5YEtdRP97
The reception was a different hotel than ours. It is a much nicer hotel with a really nice hotel that looks like a little resort. Pam and Paul were staying at that hotel so we went to their room to hang out until the reception. Fortunately they happened to have a couple bottles of wine in their room. They always seem to have a spare bottle of wine when it is needed :) We ended up being late to the reception. Oh well. The reception was in a banquet hall that was sort of air conditioned. There was so much food. It just kept coming and coming. But we were told to pace ourselves because there was actually two receptions. The food was very good and there was another baby pig that was roasted. There was also a number of rituals during the reception. There was an MC on a microphone going through the rituals throughout the reception. I don't remember them all. There were all the traditional ones. Then all the sponsors and wedding party gave advice to the bride and groom, they release doves, and a bunch of other stuff.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/7VRXpRoAwvb2N6hW7
After the reception we hung out at the hotel and waited for Jim and Annalyn take more pictures. And then we were off to the second reception. This was back out at Annalyn's family's house. So we made the trip out again. This time we had brought little treats for the neighbors kids. Eric had lots of fun giving them out. There were a number of people hanging around. I am not sure if they were family, friends or neighbors. There was another delicious pig roast. There was also another American there. He was one of the sponsors. He lives in Japan and is married to a Philippino that is either a relative or friend of the family. He brought with him a bottle of Phillipino rum. The gave everyone the courage to start singing when the karaoke machine was brought out. Our group and Miracle were the only ones really singing. Everyone else kind of hung out in the shadows and watched. And finally after a very long day we headed back to our hotel.
The next morning we slept in and then checked out. Everyone except Jim and Fred was headed back to Manila. We were set to fly out of the country the next day. We had the afternoon in Manilla to hang out. The flight back was pretty uneventful. We got to our same hotel in Manilla and were pretty tired but we did go with Brent to McDonald's because he was still feeling a bit overwhelmed with everything and somehow McDonald's felt comfortable to him. We talked to our bell hop and he said that our hotel did get some water damage in the flood on the bottom floors.
We did discover the advantages to the typhoon though. The city smelled a lot nicer and there was hardly and garbage on the streets. I guess we know now why the waterfront is littered with trash. That must happen every time a typhoon comes through.
Eric and I decided that we better get some souvenirs before we had to leave. We walked down the block to the mall near by. And then Eric went to work. We walked through all the booths in the middle and Eric started bargaining. We bought a bunch of different trinkets. And everything was pretty cheap. We found these magnetic bracelets that were kind of cool and we wanted to get a bunch to bring back. We found them at most jewelry stands. All were slightly differently, but mostly the same. So Eric started bidding the booths against each other. There was one stand that had little pearls on their bracelet, but they wanted a whole $2 American. So Eric tried to get the price down. The gal even went to her boss (who was lurking in a corner) and asked if she could lower the price more. She said he would not let her. We had people running back and forth following us. Eric was having a blast. Eventually we ended up buying from a couple booths because we kind of felt bad.
We had dinner at the mall at a place where they serve food on a banana leaf instead of a plate. Totally a tourist thing but it was kind of fun. Then we headed back to the hotel.
They next morning we woke up and had our last free buffet. We saw Pam and Paul before we left. They were supposed to be traveling to a different island to vacation for a couple of days but on the news it said that an even worse typhoon was supposed to come in the next day. Before going through the whole adventure again they decided that they wanted to go back home. They were not able to get a flight out till the next day so we gave them a bunch of our left over money because we didn't want to bother with exchanging it back in. They were headed to the pearl market and were going to get us some pearls. We said good bye and good luck on their return trip and then headed out to the airport. Our first flight was fine, and then we had an eight hour layover in Taiwan. Unlike the last time we had a layover in Taiwan, this time everything was open. The airport was one huge mall. Eric slept, but I knew there was no way I was going to sleep in a busy airport. So I shopped. I am sure I walked countless miles. Looking at all the stores. I bought a tea set and an assortment of teas. They had whole shops of teas and little samplers. I looked for more trinkets to bring home, found free computers where you could check the internet, and played video games in the entertainment stores. That took about four hours. So I kept walking and looking around. Oddly the most popular thing in the place was a Hello Kitty area. And it wasn't just the kids who were excited about it. Men and women were standing in front of it and getting their pictures taken. Not sure what all the hype was about that.
Finally the eight hours was up and we boarded our plane. After our miserable flight on the way over we were determined to try and get some extra seats to ourselves. Somehow Eric convinced a guy to move and we ended up with 4 seats for the two of us. So we took turns sleeping across the three seats. I have to admit that I slept for a long time and Eric only got a couple hours sleep. The flight is so much more tolerable with more room. At some point on some day, not sure when because of the time change in which we lost a day, we finally made it home. It was really hard to adjusting back to our time zone. I didn't' really get much sleep for about a week. I also had a little bit of vertigo because I have ear problems on planes. I always chew gum, but when you are sleeping you can't really chew. After a couple of weeks it was back to normal though. It was so great to be home. It will be some time before I take an 18 hour flight to a country that has routine typhoons again.
The reception was a different hotel than ours. It is a much nicer hotel with a really nice hotel that looks like a little resort. Pam and Paul were staying at that hotel so we went to their room to hang out until the reception. Fortunately they happened to have a couple bottles of wine in their room. They always seem to have a spare bottle of wine when it is needed :) We ended up being late to the reception. Oh well. The reception was in a banquet hall that was sort of air conditioned. There was so much food. It just kept coming and coming. But we were told to pace ourselves because there was actually two receptions. The food was very good and there was another baby pig that was roasted. There was also a number of rituals during the reception. There was an MC on a microphone going through the rituals throughout the reception. I don't remember them all. There were all the traditional ones. Then all the sponsors and wedding party gave advice to the bride and groom, they release doves, and a bunch of other stuff.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/7VRXpRoAwvb2N6hW7
After the reception we hung out at the hotel and waited for Jim and Annalyn take more pictures. And then we were off to the second reception. This was back out at Annalyn's family's house. So we made the trip out again. This time we had brought little treats for the neighbors kids. Eric had lots of fun giving them out. There were a number of people hanging around. I am not sure if they were family, friends or neighbors. There was another delicious pig roast. There was also another American there. He was one of the sponsors. He lives in Japan and is married to a Philippino that is either a relative or friend of the family. He brought with him a bottle of Phillipino rum. The gave everyone the courage to start singing when the karaoke machine was brought out. Our group and Miracle were the only ones really singing. Everyone else kind of hung out in the shadows and watched. And finally after a very long day we headed back to our hotel.
The next morning we slept in and then checked out. Everyone except Jim and Fred was headed back to Manila. We were set to fly out of the country the next day. We had the afternoon in Manilla to hang out. The flight back was pretty uneventful. We got to our same hotel in Manilla and were pretty tired but we did go with Brent to McDonald's because he was still feeling a bit overwhelmed with everything and somehow McDonald's felt comfortable to him. We talked to our bell hop and he said that our hotel did get some water damage in the flood on the bottom floors.
We did discover the advantages to the typhoon though. The city smelled a lot nicer and there was hardly and garbage on the streets. I guess we know now why the waterfront is littered with trash. That must happen every time a typhoon comes through.
Eric and I decided that we better get some souvenirs before we had to leave. We walked down the block to the mall near by. And then Eric went to work. We walked through all the booths in the middle and Eric started bargaining. We bought a bunch of different trinkets. And everything was pretty cheap. We found these magnetic bracelets that were kind of cool and we wanted to get a bunch to bring back. We found them at most jewelry stands. All were slightly differently, but mostly the same. So Eric started bidding the booths against each other. There was one stand that had little pearls on their bracelet, but they wanted a whole $2 American. So Eric tried to get the price down. The gal even went to her boss (who was lurking in a corner) and asked if she could lower the price more. She said he would not let her. We had people running back and forth following us. Eric was having a blast. Eventually we ended up buying from a couple booths because we kind of felt bad.
We had dinner at the mall at a place where they serve food on a banana leaf instead of a plate. Totally a tourist thing but it was kind of fun. Then we headed back to the hotel.
They next morning we woke up and had our last free buffet. We saw Pam and Paul before we left. They were supposed to be traveling to a different island to vacation for a couple of days but on the news it said that an even worse typhoon was supposed to come in the next day. Before going through the whole adventure again they decided that they wanted to go back home. They were not able to get a flight out till the next day so we gave them a bunch of our left over money because we didn't want to bother with exchanging it back in. They were headed to the pearl market and were going to get us some pearls. We said good bye and good luck on their return trip and then headed out to the airport. Our first flight was fine, and then we had an eight hour layover in Taiwan. Unlike the last time we had a layover in Taiwan, this time everything was open. The airport was one huge mall. Eric slept, but I knew there was no way I was going to sleep in a busy airport. So I shopped. I am sure I walked countless miles. Looking at all the stores. I bought a tea set and an assortment of teas. They had whole shops of teas and little samplers. I looked for more trinkets to bring home, found free computers where you could check the internet, and played video games in the entertainment stores. That took about four hours. So I kept walking and looking around. Oddly the most popular thing in the place was a Hello Kitty area. And it wasn't just the kids who were excited about it. Men and women were standing in front of it and getting their pictures taken. Not sure what all the hype was about that.
Finally the eight hours was up and we boarded our plane. After our miserable flight on the way over we were determined to try and get some extra seats to ourselves. Somehow Eric convinced a guy to move and we ended up with 4 seats for the two of us. So we took turns sleeping across the three seats. I have to admit that I slept for a long time and Eric only got a couple hours sleep. The flight is so much more tolerable with more room. At some point on some day, not sure when because of the time change in which we lost a day, we finally made it home. It was really hard to adjusting back to our time zone. I didn't' really get much sleep for about a week. I also had a little bit of vertigo because I have ear problems on planes. I always chew gum, but when you are sleeping you can't really chew. After a couple of weeks it was back to normal though. It was so great to be home. It will be some time before I take an 18 hour flight to a country that has routine typhoons again.
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