prepping for a 33-hour day of travel

When people wish for more hours in a day, I don't think they really understand what they would be getting themselves into. But that's getting ahead of myself.

Sunday after mass, we had a final Daez family reunion. We met at C2, a nice restaurant with classic Filipino cuisine. After a filling dinner, we went to Tito Nilo's condo for desserts and "bonding bonding." We had prepped the one bedroom condo by putting our luggage and bedding in his hidden storage area. However, cramming 30+ people was still very cozy — good thing we're all family!

It's hard leaving just as we start to get to know our family better. Thankfully, the internet and social networking will help us stay connected.

Monday we relaxed and packed a bit before heading to dinner with Lola Turing, Mom's colorful godmother, and her daughter, Susie. We had lots of fun spending the evening with them, and it was fascinating to hear about all the places they've traveled.

Tuesday we completed our "lasts" and finished packing. We got our final super-cheap pedicures, manicures and haircuts. We stepped on and off the scale with and without the luggage to make sure nothing was over the 50-pound maximum (without extra fees). Of the six suitcases, four were right on the nose, and two were one pound under. We did good! After triple-checking we had everything packed and all of our passports and ticket info ready, we turned in early so we could get up bright and early for our long day.

Which brings me back to the realization that no one would really want extra hours in a day. Wednesday, we were up at 4 a.m. to get ready, loaded up, and leave in time to make it through the busy airport and several security checkpoints for our 8:10 a.m. flight. Some airports you know security will take less than the recommended 2 hours (3 for international). At NAIA, however, it would be too risky.

Our four-hour flight to Japan was uneventful, and we enjoyed their fancy bathrooms, luxurious passenger lounge, and beautiful origami.

We were also impressed, once again, with how courteous and accommodating their security was. The inspectors said thank you after every request they made. One guy even tucked in a little girl's baby doll before putting it through the x-ray machine.

Next up was our almost 10-hour flight to Salt Lake City. We had planned on napping for most of this flight, but we got distracted by the individual screens and large movie selection. Each passenger could individually watch movies or play games at leisure, instead of set in-flight programming. With several movies on our must-see list free and at our fingertips, we ended up staying awake the entire flight. This was perhaps not a good choice.

We arrived in Salt Lake City and instead of a wonderful "ahh, we're home" experience, we were tired, grubby, and not impressed with American security's less than pleasant demeanor, especially in comparison to Japan's airport. They were gruff and impatient with some of the foreign travelers trying to figure out how to go through customs, and even with us. During our long 8-hour layover, we also were amazed at how EVERYTHING is bigger back in the States. Fast food meals, walkways, people, you name it. As many things as I missed, I feel I'm much more aware of some of the shortcomings in our culture.

During the next eight hours, we passed the time with naps and card games. Everyone had embarrassing naps moments, but unfortunately Ian's and Dad's weren't captured in photos.

As I sat and involuntarily slept, countless girls, dolled up with perfect makeup, ungreasy hair, and cute outfits arrived and departed on planes. I wanted to make a sign that said "I'm gross because I was halfway around the world less than 24 hours ago."

After watching the population of the terminal roll over several times, we boarded. Our departure time came and went.

I think all of us fell asleep before we took off. Ian woke up just in time for the snack, only to discover he had a drool spot the size of an olympic medal on his chest. I got cookies, but couldn't stay awake long enough to eat them. We woke up as the plane touched down in Denver. A short wait for luggage, a quick shuttle ride, and we were at the hotel. Another hour for dinner, and we were finished with our 33 hours of travel. Midnight to midnight, we experienced a 38-hour day. Trust me, it's not pleasant.

And neither is the jetlag! After 5 days, we're back to almost normal. We've been going nonstop since our return, with a quick trip to visit Ian's grandmas and attend a wedding reception, and a Cubs/Rockies baseball game in Denver. We're excited now, though, to spend some quality time with Ian's family as we wait for a job opportunity to come through for Ian. Patiently — we know God has a plan and we'll be where we need to be in His time. In the meantime, we're enjoying free cable and internet, a great shower, a fun cat, and best of all, great family time!

shopping, samba, and Imelda Marcos

Yesterday Tito Nilo took us to Greenhills to finish off our shopping list:

• big bag for Mom to use as a carry-on
• barong tagalog for Ian — this is a traditional dress shirt, see through and worn over a white t-shirt
• a fake certain brand of purse, requested by Karen
• final souvenirs to take home for family and friends

The shopping area was crazy: no distinct organization so you had to wander around and find vendors with the items you had in mind. Every place you walk past, the vendors encourage you to purchase their wares. "you buy sexy shorts, ma'am sir, we give you discount." Then there are the guys trying to sell pirated dvds. They sidle up beside you and whisper, "dvds. you buy dvds." They evoke images of drug dealers. Don't worry, we didn't buy any. We did, however, find a great deal on some high quality not-so-designer purses — a big one for mom ($14), and smaller ones for me and Karen ($10 and $6), as requested.

We also found a barong tagolog (only $20!) for Ian at the same store where Tito Nilo purchased a few for the ushers at our wedding. To speed the process and protect their merchandise, they helped Ian get the shirts on and off. One guy kept telling Ian, "Up hands," to slide on the next shirt. Mom couldn't stop laughing, but as silly as it sounded, Ian knew exactly what he was supposed to do!

After an interesting day of shopping, we headed back to Makati and Power Plant for some dinner. As we ate, we heard music from an upper floor. Intrigued, we went upstairs to check it out. We were just in time for a cd release party/concert by Nykó Macá + PLAYgROUND, a "Sambatronica/Fliphop" band that was fantastic! You should definitely check them out.

For nm+pg's final song Brigada, a samba drum line from the University of the Philippines, joined them, then continued with eight more encore songs of their own. They were incredible and it's amazing an open drum line can have such precision.

Today, after lunch with Tito Mar, Didy, and Tita Gerts joined us and Tito Nilo for another tour with Carlos Celdran, completing our Filipino history lesson. Our previous tour covered Spanish control through WWII. "Living La Vida Imelda!" covered more recent history, focusing on the Marcos family and their impact on the Philippines, both good and bad.

The tour was especially relevant in light of Cory Aquino's passing today, due to cancer. Cory was the wife of Ninoy Aquino, whose assassination led to the peaceful People's Revolution, overthrowing Marcos and electing Cory president. She was a beloved national hero and she is mourned and honored by the entire country. Yellow, her color, is fluttering and blooming everywhere you look, from street lights to store windows to restaurant tables, reminding me of the beauty of a life dedicated to freedom and justice in the face of violence and tyranny. It cannot stand against forgiveness, honesty, and selflessness.

Filipino history and culture

These two days since getting back to Manila have been filled with history and culture. Yesterday we woke up early for the Carlos Celdron "If These Walls Could Talk" tour of Intramuros, the historic heart of Manila. Carlos was a fantastic tour guide, and we learned so much history of Manila and the Philippines, from it's days as a Spanish holding through the destruction of Manila during WWII.

Influenced by José Rizal's writing in the late 1800s, The Philippines started a revolution for freedom from Spain and from the control of the Spanish Catholic clergy. But instead of independence, the islands were given to the United States as part of the treaty to end the Spanish-American War. Thanks to it's location, Manila became a beautiful metropolis, mixing the best of all the cultures with which it came in contact, earning the title Pearl of the Orient. In WWII the Philippines fell to Japanese control, and Manila was destroyed by the Allied Forces bombing the Japanese, who refused to surrender. Whether or not the Allied Forces made the right decisions in the Philippines is for better informed minds to decide — the devastation of history and culture was tragic, yet the Japanese atrocities to the Filipino people were great. I'm very thankful to have these new perspectives of my half-country and it was fascinating to see the remaining historic beauty of Manila.

After the tour, we explored Intramuros on our own, then took the scenic route back to Makati. Ian experienced his first jeepney ride.

The jeepney ride took us to the Pasig River ferry, which we rode back to Makati. We saw new sides to Manila, from the Malacañan Palace (the President's home, which we couldn't photograph) to the makeshift homes under bridges.

That evening, we went out for a big family dinner at a restaurant serving traditional Filipino foods. I tried just about everything, even black rice (rice with squid ink and squid bits). Ian was even more adventurous and partook in balut, as a sort of family initiation. Balut is a fertilized duck egg. My cousins were nice and didn't get ones that were too old, so it wasn't as weird and crunchy as it could have been. Kuya Ryan demonstrated for Ian. First you make a good sized hole in the top of the egg and drink out the juice.

Then you peel it open and eat the inside. Yes, the black part in this photo is the baby duck's wings.

mmmm.

This morning we were up early once again, to catch the boat to Corregidor Island, in Manila Bay. This island was the location of the US military base prior to WWII. During WWII it fell to the Japanese, then was recaptured by the Allied Forces. Most of the ruins are still intact, and the island is now open for tours. It's most famous as the place General MacArthur uttered his famous words "I shall return." The island was especially interesting in the context of our newly learned history, via Carlos.

It was strange to think how many people died on this island. And despite all of the reminders of the violence, it was a beautiful and peaceful place.

After two early mornings, we're exhausted and are taking some much needed rest back at the condo. We do have more photos on Flickr, so you can keep resting in front of your computer and check them out!

our year-and-a-half-moon part 3

Our final two days in Singapore contained our final "can't miss" attractions and revisiting a couple favorites. Monday was rainy, but we still had a great day. In the morning we visited the Singapore Botanical Gardens and the National Orchid Garden, which were unbelievable. The light rain prevented it from getting too hot so we could enjoy walking around outside all morning. It made for some great photos, too! (We also discovered The 1872 Clipper Tea Co. in the gift shop — a fantastic souvenir.)

(corn plants made us think of Jenni and her plants!)

After lunch we headed back to Little India to do some shopping. Our friend Amit, from Philadelphia, recommended Indian clothing as its supposed to be really comfortable, not to mention beautiful. I found a nice kurta and we had lots of fun exploring.

We dropped off our purchases at the hotel, then headed back down to the central business district to accomplish our before-we-leave list. We had to wait out a downpour in a shopping mall, where we finally experienced the kaya toast Singapore is famous for. After the rain stopped, we resumed our list. First up was the Raffles Hotel, which is apparently the fanciest hotel in Singapore.

Next, we tried to recreate a few photos Mom and Dad showed us from their own slightly delayed honeymoon trip to Singapore a little over 25 years ago. The skyline had changed considerably...

We also explored the top of the durian buildings. They built a nice space on the roof area, and it has a great view.

For dinner, we revisited Glutton's Bay where I enjoyed kaya jala and bananas tempura and Ian tried black carrot cake — no, it's nothing like our dessert carrot cake. Below is the kaya jala.

After dinner we headed to the Singapore Flyer, the world's largest observation wheel. We'd been saving the experience for our final evening.

The wheel takes 30 minutes to make a full revolution, and you can see Indonesia and Malaysia from the top. It was hard to tell because we went at night, but the lights of the city were absolutely beautiful.

The final item on our list was durian. Dad discovered durian during my parent's missions stint in Indonesia. Because of this, and hearing about the fruit's appearance on various travel shows, Ian didn't want to miss tasting this infamous delicacy, described as "French custard passed through a sewer." One of my favorite descriptions is from David Quammen's The Boilerplate Rhino.

It's creamy and slightly fibrous, like a raw oyster that's been force-fed vanilla ice cream. There's also a hint of almond. It tastes strange, rich, wonderful. It smells like a jock strap. It doesn't remotely resemble any substance that you've ever touched, let alone eaten.

Cheers!

For the record, I took a bite after the video. It was unpleasant. The flavor and scent lingers for a day or two, even when you brush your teeth. However, since trying it, the scent isn't overwhelmingly nauseating.

This morning, we took our time packing up the last of our things before checking out and taking the MRT back to the airport. A four hour flight and later, and we were meeting Mom and Tito Nilo at the airport. After a false alarm that the vehicle had been stolen, and a long drive in Manila traffic, we're back at the condo, ready to enjoy our final week in Manila.