TWENTY THREE LONG HOURS ON THE PLANE

Yes, it was looooong. From the time we boarded the plane in JFK on Friday night, to the time we landed in Manila on Sunday morning, it was OVER 23 hours. New York to Vancouver to Hong Kong. Get off plane, RUN to other terminal, with 20 minutes to spare, to catch the final plane to Manila. Not a good vacation without some excitement: the NY plane was about to touch down in Hong Kong, when suddenly, the plane nosed up and before we knew it, was up in the clouds again. What the???? Apparently, the plane landing ahead of us lost its tire on the runway, so we had to go up again to avoid colliding with it. Phew! Thank you guardian angels!

When we landed in Manila, chaos at the airport of course. Unique Manila airport phenomenon: be greeted by a Pinoy band as you enter the terminal, and be greeted by "radar" checking people's temperatures to see if you have fever, i.e. bird flu! I thought I had fever anyway, super mainit! Welcome to da Pilipins!

We were met by Dad, and Popsie, and surprise, China! We packed strategically, by destination eight maletas, 4 handcarries. Popsie took our extra maletas back home with her, as dad whisked us off straight to the beach!

Popsie, ever prepared, handed me a baon bag for the trip. The girls hungrily started to devour it, especially after we discovered that cousin Lando's Bistro Filipino at the Fort was closed, so we headed out of town for lunch instead. Our baon bag contained bags of Baby Juan Monkey Banana Chips (private label, ask Pops where to get it), a jar of Mamon Tostado from the Vargas Kitchen (we suspect it is not made from old bread, but old butter cake), an entire box of Mary Grace Cheese rolls, Milky Way chicharon, Macapuno balls from San Pablo, Laguna. The bag would not last very long. The Bakasyon Binge had begun.

But first, lunch in Tagaytay, at Josephine's! This was a one day belated "Happy Birthday Dad" lunch! We had: kare kare, ampalaya salad, fried Tawilis, inihaw na baboy, pancit palabok, crispy fried kang kong, bibinka, and dirty ice cream, plus an incredible view of Taal Volcano! The girls also had fun watching puto bumbong being made.

Then it was off to the beach house in Calayo, Nasugbu, Batangas. On the way, we stopped at a Metrobank ATM to get some pesos. Gerry discovered that the ATM vestibule is private pala, one person at a time. He entered the vestibule, and there was someone in front of the machine, who politely asked him to leave, "sir, private ho ito." So he walked out and waited outside. Turns out the machine "talks" out loud, and so you hear the choices being made. ATM as confession box, only in da Pilipins!