Kumusta (hello) from the Philippines! I arrived in Manila safe and sound after a five hour flight from Tokyo. After dealing with the baggage claim chaos- realizing that people who live on a small island with a population of nearly 100 million need MUCH less personal space than I do- I finally made it through customs and and proceeded towards the Arrival pickup area. I quickly discovered I should have made a plan as to where to meet Regi when I found about 400 Filipinos standing behind a fenced area all waiting for friends and family arriving from flights... Lucky for me, I was the only blonde-haired-blue-eyed-lost-looking Canadian and Regi was able to find me after a few minutes of me wondering around aimlessly. We piled in the Van with Regi's driver Trés and he took us back to her house in Manila. On a side note, Manila traffic= INSANE!!! Apparently the personal space rule also applies to vehicles only needing 4-6 inches between them on the freeway.
The next day, Regi and I got up to a lovely breakfast made by Rose, and then headed to the Green Market to do some shopping. Chanel, Prada, Jimmy Chu, Coach, Fendi, Gucci, GALORE!!! Honestly, the knock-offs are sooooooo authentic looking, and cheap cheap cheap, it's crazy to think that many of them sell for thousands of dollars elsewhere. I could have bought about 300 and still wanted more... (and yes, I had MANY A.D.D. moments- thank god Regi has the patience of Jobe). I exersized self-control and picked up only one Prada purse, that I LOVE!! I also got a beautiful long string of pearls, a Tiffany's necklace, and a cell phone.... The best part? I spent less than $100 CDN all day. We took a break from shopping mania to have a Filipino Lunch at the Grill-a, and had a tour of Old Manila before heading out for a coffee (jet lag medicine) and dinner.
Today we got up and drove the mountain to Baguio, where Regi grew up. The drive was sooo beautiful through agricultural area, small towns, and rainforest. We just arrived here after about 7 hours in the car, and I'm soo glad to finally have internet access- I was having withdrawls. Tonight we're going to go out for dinner with some of Regi's cousins, and I think-if the rain ever stops- we're going to the beach tomorrow.
Anyhoooooooo, Hope all is well with everyone, don't forget about emailing me lots- I like updates too ya know... ;-) Also, I have a cell phone number now which is: (+) 63-917-451-8414... It's free for me to receive text messages and calls, and costs me only forty cents to send messages abroad. So I'm hoping y'all with throw some texts my way, and Mom, now you don't have to lay awake worrying, you can just call me! Anyway, some of Regi's cousins have just arrived, so I'm gonna get going. Love ya!!
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