Singapore!

It was sooo good to get on that flight, we had great seats…bulkhead seats…so we had heaps of leg room to stretch out. We watched a couple of movies ….the kids played nintendo games. Before we knew it….we were in Singapore. We went to the Oasis resting area …one of our favourite places to hang out….reclining chairs, massage chairs, big plasma screen tvs, free internet computers. We rested there for a while…watching tv….surfing the internet, watched a bit of tv…and sort of planned what we wanted to do and what our options were. Our luggage had been checked right through to Melbourne so we just had our hand luggage with us. We had about 26 hours to spend in Singapore. We could leave and go into the city if we wanted. We went and got some breakfast and coffee ….that always helps us think a bit….tee hee

After a little chat with everyone, we had decided to just stay in the airport. The two older boys wanted to just hang around and enjoy their favourite airport. There truly is sooo much to do in Changi airport….it truly is the best airport in the world….there are over 300 retail outlets, there are transit hotels, there are gyms, there is a free cinema, there are lots of free internet computers, there are lots of xbox game terminals, there is a room where you can play LAN games for free, there are children’s playgrounds, there are gardens to enjoy, there is lots of cheap great food and it is clean. And it is really really huge…spread over 3 terminals! With our decision made to stay in the airport, I booked a room at the transit hotel. The rooms are available only over a 6 hour block with the option of extending after that. So I booked a room that had 3 single beds in it. Jordan and Jarryd wanted to play games first…so the rest of us went for a quick sleep. Jeromel and I shared a bed….snuggled…was nice sleeping with my baby. After about 5 hours sleep, we got up and had a quick shower and headed out to join the boys for something to eat. Soon after we left the transit hotel, Jeromel all of a sudden stopped and vomited. Uh oh!!

He had absolutely no appetite and over the course of the next few hours, he vomited a couple more times. Our next booking for the transit hotel was from 10pm and this time I booked it right up until 6am. Jordan and Jarryd went to sleep right away. MIL went shopping and Joseph and I took Jeromel to the cinema and to play a xbox games. When he got tired, I took him back to the transit hotel for a sleep. Jordan and Jarryd woke at around 3am to get something to eat and resume playing. By the time Jeromel woke up, he was feverish but thankfully had stopped vomitting. At 6am, we checked out and headed over to the new Terminal 3 which just opened on the 9th January as our flight was departing at 9am. OMG…this terminal is just sooo gorgeous, we had dim sum for breakfast. After that, I went and did a little bit of hunting around for a long sleeve top for Jeromel to wear. He had vomited on his jumper and being feverish, he was a bit cold and was wearing my jacket. Poor boy! While I shopped, Joseph took him to the playground where he played a little but spent most of the time watching tv.

Our flight was a little delayed due to a passenger bringing a few little boxes of firecrackers in his hand luggage, I think they had to take his checked in luggage off the plane to search it again. And two pieces of luggage had been left at the gate waiting area…so the area had to be closed off while security checked them out.

Our flight home was great…..flight number 16….yah….we’ve done 16 plane trips. Checked in our luggage 16 times, gone through security 16 times, collected luggage 16 times….I dare not count the number of hours we have spent in the air! And not once in 16 flights has our luggage been lost….for this, I am so grateful.

So now, we are home, recovering from jetlag….settling back into our routine. Jeromel is getting better. He was still getting slight fevers for about 5 days but asides from that….he’s been ok. We’ve kept him home but he’s well enough for school this coming Monday!

Dubai

If you were all waiting in eager anticipation of reading all about the beautiful sights of Dubai…the fabulous shopping bargains….the gold souks…..the great food…..you will all be very very disappointed.

Let me tell the tale…..

We flew from New York on a Lufthansa flight to Frankfurt where we were in transit for a few hours. Then onto another Lufthansa flight to Dubai. So after about 14 hours of flying and hours in transit, we arrived into Dubai and discovered that this was their biggest event of the year….their Big Sale. Hotels & Apartments were booked out…..not just booked out…but many were double and triple booked out. Heard reports of desperate people offering double or triple rack rate for a room and getting it and the people who had booked were left stranded. We went to the Central Reservations Office at the airport and the man there was turning away people who just needed a single room!! He tried for hours to get us something before finally telling us that he could only get us two rooms for one night for 6000 dirhams each. WTF….that’s like A$2000 per room for one night!!! A$4000 to sleep off our jetlag??? I’m sorry….I DON’T THINK SO MATE!! And we were supposed to be in Dubai for two nights…so what were we going to do for the 2nd night????

Joseph and I had to re-evaluate our plans as A$4000 for a place to sleep in was just not in our budget! Not even for the chance to grab some bargains!! Call me a cheap skate if you wish….but heck….there was no way I can part with that kind of money just for a place to sleep in!! All through our travels….our most expensive accomodation was in Hawaii where we paid USD$190 per night for the 2 bedroom apartment. So A$4000 was just too much. In the end, Joseph and I decided that we would try to get the next flight out of Dubai to Singapore. That’s when the fun started….we asked at Information and after the long queue, the ever so unhelpful staff steered us towards the Departures terminal….and when we stepped out of the arrivals terminal…I was quite unprepared for the scene that I saw. A huge sea of people, speaking a language I wasn’t familiar with, the smell, the long queue of people waiting for taxis….it was all very overwhelming…a big culture shock!

In the Departures Terminal…it was another long wait for the Information desk. There were only two staff serving and Joseph and I decided to split up and join both queues. While we were waiting, people just kept trying to cut in front of us and I was just sooo tired, so frustrated and had to tell quite a few people to wait their turn. When we got to the counter, the staff told us that we had to go to another counter……another long wait with people trying to cut the queue….and when we finally get to ask our question….we were told that they could ’sell’ us a ticket out if we wanted…but they couldn’t rebook our flight…that was up to Singapore Airlines. When we asked where the Singapore airlines counter was….we were told that they were downstairs …..in the basement…..and they weren’t sure if they were open at all…as by this time…it was after midnight.

We slowly found our way down to the basement and after a little while, found the office which was thankfully staffed!!! The lady there was such a godsend!! She booked us out on the next Singapore Airlines flight which was at 8pm the following day. It was around 2am by this time…so it meant that we had another 18 hours to go. There was light at the end of the tunnel……..18 hours wait or $4000……it wasn’t rocket science! We were going to be Tom Hanks in the Terminal movie…we can do this…..we got some essentials out of our luggage and then got the rest of the luggage stored at the Left Luggage office. We walked around to find somewhere comfortable to spend the night and decided on the area behind Haagen Daaz. There were some small couches and some U shaped booths. It was close to restrooms and Haagen Daaz would be open all night..and the Filipino staff were ok with us camping out there.

We all took turns to sleep because someone has to be awake to keep an eye on our stuff! In the morning, I was desperate ….my hair felt disgusting. I usually wash my hair everyday and it had been over 24 hours since I had washed it last and while it didn’t look so bad,  to me…it felt horribly disgusting. And there are no showers available…so I had no choice but to attempt to wash it over a wash basin. Luckily MIL came in at the right moment and helped me rinse it off with the help of a small water bottle.

Ok….we could have left the airport and gone shopping if we wanted to…….but we just couldn’t be bothered. Plus…if the taxi queues were so long at the airport, imagine the shopping centres. Imagine the crowds trying to nab a bargain! Imagine the checkout queues!!! Totally not for us….we rested and could not wait to get to Singapore!!

The Big Apple!! New York!!

THURSDAY 24th Jan
I have really been looking forward to New York, despite knowing that it was going to be cold here…..I still wanted to come, I wanted to see The Empire State building, the World trade centre site, the Statue of Liberty and Times Square. We arrived into JFK airport around 7.30am having gotten very little sleep on the overnight flight. We quickly got our luggage and then left the boys in MIL’s care while Joseph and I took the air train to another terminal to pick up the 14-seater van we hired. While in Vegas and trying to find transportation from JFK airport to New Jersey, we found that no one would take us…the only option was to drive ourselves there…..so that’s what we did. We hired a big ass van which would fit in all our luggage and drove ourselves with the help of TomTom GPS drove all the way from JFK airport across the state border…into New Jersey to North Bergen where we were staying….the trip took us about an hour and a bit. How cold was it??? Freezing cold….everyone was bundled up in many layers of clothing and still….we were cold! On the way to North Bergen, we could see icy slush along the side of the road and up the hills.

New York is sooo different from LA and Las Vegas….skies were grey, there was so much concrete everywhere….people were rushing about…..cars were speeding…..bright yellow taxis were weaving their way in and out of traffic….car lanes were narrow….it was cold….depressingly cold….well…maybe depressing because we were sooo very tired. We arrived at Days Inn, checked in, got up to our room and were quite pleased with our accommodation. We have two deluxe double adjoining rooms with interconnecting doors. Jordan and Jarryd share one room while the 4 of us share the other room. It’s quite spacious and we have a microwave and mini fridge in each room which is great. By this stage, we are soo tired and hungry. We have no energy to drive around to find food…so we let our fingers do the walking….we found a chinese restaurant brochure in the hotel room and got chinese food delivered to our room. After eating, we all collapsed into bed and before we knew it….it was about 8pm!!! Refreshed and again hungry, we piled into the huge van and went in search of basic supplies and food. After driving around our little neighbourhood, we settle on KFC for dinner…..it was ummm….pretty disgusting! The seasoned rice was crunchy….the chicken pieces looked huge but it was half batter….pretty unappetizing.

Our search of basic supplies led us to Rite Aid which is a 24 hour pharmacy which also sells a bit of food. No bread though…but something caught my eye at the check out…..pocket hand warmers! The little packet says that it’s all natural, non toxic materials in two little sachets…which when exposed to air, heat up and stay hot for 7 hours. At 99cents for a pair, and knowing full well how cold it is…..I grab a couple of packets to try. After driving around a little more….we find a Shop Rite supermarket which was about 5 mins from their midnight closing time. So we quickly run in there to grab what we can and after another little drive….we return back to the hotel to sleeep.

FRIDAY 25th Jan
Joseph and I wake up very very early to return the van….it’s sooo cold….bitingly cold….I open up a pack of my handwarmers to try it out…in a few minutes…they’re toasty warm….I pop them in the pockets of my coat and realise that they’re fantastic….best ever discovery!! We’ve pre-organised to return the van to Newark airport which is much closer to North Bergen. We hire a smaller van….a 7 seater Dodge Caravan which is more practical for us for getting around. We get back to the hotel to find everyone still sleeping soundly….so after they got ready, we all bundled up, piled in the car and after showing everyone my fabulous hand warmers…..we agree we need more…so we head back to Rite Aid to find that they only had 6 packets left….I bought the lot and gave everyone one each.

Then we headed into New York City. North Bergen is only 8 minutes away from New York city….just on the other side of Lincoln tunnel. Very convenient and accomodation is half the price compared to what we would pay if we stayed in NYC. We drove around the city quite aimlessly….the tall buildings block the GPS…..so our Tomtom is only working intermittently. We find the World Trade centre site and it’s under construction….nothing to see and impossible to park. We try to get to Battery Park to see the Statue of Liberty and end up somewhere near Homeland Security and made a mad dash in the freezing cold to take a few quick photos with the Statue of Liberty in the background.

Then after a little while, we were hungry and I spotted a quaint little diner ….Cheyenne Diner and park our car for $15 an hour just to eat at this place. Oh wow…this place is fantastic….it has the diner look that is in the old american movies….with the booths…and long counter. Their menu was fantastic…ok…you absolutely must click here to see their fabulous menu and drool!!

We rush back to the hotel to quickly refresh before heading out to meet more of Joseph’s old friends. We drive to Ruben & Nita’s house in Passaic where we said did a quick meet and greet with Randy, Bobby, Dicko & Jun before heading off to Century Buffet for dinner. OMG….this buffet was absolutely mind blowingly phenomenal. Why??? Because of the seafood…there were clams, imperial prawns, snow crab legs, steamed prawns, baked oysters, fresh oysters and sushi and sashimi galore. Of course there were rows and rows of other food…but I only had eyes for the seafood. Hehehe….and oh boy did I indulge or what??? After dinner, we headed back to Ruben & Nita’s place to have a proper chat with everyone. Jun has an x-box….so not long after we arrived, the 3 boys headed upstairs to play while us adults had coffee and a long leisurely chat. Michael also dropped by a little later for a bit. It was well after midnight when we collapsed into bed.

SATURDAY 26th Jan
Today, we’re determined to explore more of New York city…this time on foot….so we park near our Lincoln tunnel exit and head off on foot. We make our way towards the Empire State Building and on the way there…we are distracted big time by a few stores…..we stop by Macy’s where I get my Estee Lauder moisturiser at half the price that I usually pay in Australia! Then we’re determined to find a hotdog stand that’s on a corner …in the tvshows…they’re always on corners right??? tee hee…we enjoy our hotdog and also try the famous new york pretzels. They’re very fresh but oh sooo salty. We had to brush off most of the salt before we can enjoy it. Then we head to Times Square and this place is oh sooo wow! I’ll have to let the photos tell the story…I’m a bit tired of typing. LOL

Then tired and very very cold and hungry….we can’t decide on what to eat…when I spot Applebee’s….and I think to myself…we’re in the big Apple….it’s only fitting that we eat Applebee’s , so after a wonderful wonderful lunch and another long walk along Broadway with a quick stop at M&M world and Toys R Us for Jeromel to have a ride on their famous 60 foot tall indoor ferris wheel, we head back to the car and find that it’s sooo far away…it was amazing how far we walked that day!!

That night, we go back to Ruben & Nita’s place for dinner with them and Randy, Cora and Bobby. We have a fabulous dinner and so much fun chatting to them. Jun takes Jordan & Jarryd out for the night….to the mall and then to watch a movie. Jeromel is rapt because he gets the xbox all to himself! The adults go down to the basement which is just absolutely gorgeous and get stuck into playing cards and karaoke and of course a bit of drinking. It is at this house that I get hooked on Dunkin’ Donuts coffee…..it’s soooo yummy!!! We leave at around 2am soon after the boys get back from the movies after having such a fabulous time.

SUNDAY 27th Jan
While the rest get to have a sleep, Joseph and I are up at the crack of dawn because we have to return the van to Newark Airport. Randy has kindly offered to pick us up from the airport and pick everyone else up because we have a busy day planned with them. On the way back to our hotel, we grab Macca’s breakfast for everyone. It’s a special treat because we usually only eat breakfast in our hotel with our bread and cereal. Ruben comes to pick us up because we won’t all fit in Randy’s car. Then it was back to Ruben & Nita’s place for a quick stop…managed to indulge in another cup of that delish Dunkin’ Donuts coffee before we head over to have a quick catch up with Russel’s family.

Then it was back into the car for the drive to Bebe’s place for lunch. It’s there that MIL gets to catch up with a few of her friends. This place is close to the beach and is sooo windy and sooo cold…but nevertheless…..we head to Bradley beach for a few photos on the boardwalk. It is absolutely freezing cold…..our faces and hands get numb from the cold!! By late afternoon, we say our goodbyes to everyone else and head back towards Edison.

On the way back….somehow…we get lost and end up crossing the bridge to Staten Island!! Luckily we have TomTom with us and after a quick stop at the loo for me, we manage to find out way back to meet up with Randy who has safely made it back to Russell’s house. On the way back to Passaic, after a phone call to Jun, Nita says we’re having dinner at Houlihan’s in Bridgewater. Because there are 10 of us for dinner, there is a little wait before we are seated…but the wait was well worth it because dinner is absolutely fabulous! Jarryd has a New York Strip Steak, Joseph has the Prime Top Sirloin, Jordan has a Tillamook burger and Jeromel and I share a delish Prawn & Pasta with a side of Caesar Salad. Soooo good!!! After dinner, we got dropped back to the hotel where we had to do some laundry and pack our bags.

MONDAY 28th Jan

Our last day in USA

We’ve arranged for a shuttle bus that operates out of our hotel to take us to the airport, so we check out at 10am and because our flight isn’t until 7.30pm, we leave our luggage with reception. Ruben and Nita pick us up and take us to IHOP for brunch. We had seen IHOP restaurants before….in Anaheim and in Vegas…but we had never been before….I mean….IHOP….it’s a strange name for a restaurant. Until Nita tells us that it stands for International house of Pancakes. Pancakes!!! This place is unlike Pancake Parlour! They have steaks, they have all you can eat pancakes and the servings are massive!!! And all sooo cheap!!! Check out their menu here! After brunch, we have to say goodbye to Nita as she’s off to work. Ruben takes us to the mall to while away some time. I’m good….no shopping for me….I mean…I want to buy a bag…but I can’t find one that I like. All this time, I’ve been using my trusty big bag that my sis gave me a few years ago and it’s falling apart…the handles seams are fraying badly, there are rips inside the bag lining, another growing gash on the outside. It’s only saving grace is that it’s big enough to hold all the ‘crap’ that I need while I travel and the fact that I can’t find a replacement for it that I am happy with. By 5pm, we’re back at the hotel ready to go to the airport. We’re all so tired that we snooze in the shuttle on the way to the airport.

At JFK, we go through security check for the last time in the USA. I don’t think I’ve mentioned it….but in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Las Vegas, we’ve had to go through the special security check line. I think we’ve been earmarked because we’re doing so many stops through the USA in a short time. Maybe they think we’re drug runners because each time we go through…we have to take shoes and jackets off…we go through a special air blower thing….we get patted down…even our pants waist bands get checked…even the soles of our feet. All our hand carry gets searched thoroughly…..selected items like keys and mobile phones get drug swabbed. It was scary the first time, but we’ve learnt to expect it and enjoy it. We bypass the long queue that most people have to go through. We get to sit down and rest while they search our hand carry luggage. We have nothing to hide and it’s rather entertaining watching them do their job.

I felt really sad leaving New York….knowing that we were leaving the United States….we’ve had such a great time here and while Joseph got to catch up with a lot of his old friends, I’ve made new friends. Friends who have opened up their homes to us and have taken us out and made our time here extra special. We truly can’t thank them enough.

Viva Las Vegas!!!

Flying over Nevada is something I will never forget…the desert landscape…the mountains, the beautiful shades….the picturesque houses….and that’s all before we even see the famous Las Vegas Strip! We land at McCarran airport and as soon as we walk off our plane….we know we’re in vegas….we know we’re in the gambling capital of USA…..there are slot machines in the airport terminal!!! hehehe…no…we didn’t have a flutter…it’s always a mad dash to secure our luggage. Once we had the luggage, we didn’t really know how we were going to get to our motel. You see….there are no blue super shuttles here….the transportation at the airport is totally catered to those hotels which are on the strip. So we had to get a stretch limo….no choice….tee hee…not that we were complaining too much. Our second time in a stretch limo….this limo was waaaay nicer than the one in Hawaii. The driver had no clue where our motel was…..so it took a few goes before he found it…which was nice because we got to go the scenic route.We’re staying at Desert Tides aka Las Vegas Cay Club and omg…..it was totally perfect for us….the whole place has just been recently renovated….so everything was new and immaculately clean. We have a full kitchen with a huge fridge, kitchen utensils, pots n pans, dishwasher & dining set. We have a cupboard laundry with huge washing machine and dryer. It’s a two bedroom apartment….Joseph and I get the master bedroom with king sized bed, full ensuite and walk in robe. Jeromel and his grandma share the other bedroom with a queen sized bed and walk in robe. The boys rough it out on the leather loungesuite which converts to a queen sized bed. The two bedrooms and loungeroom have plasma tvs too…and of course…with cable tv.Weatherwise….we expected it to be warmer in Vegas……since it’s a desert and what not……but it’s actually very cool during the day and freeeeeeezing cold at night.We’re about a 10 min walk to the Rio and Gold Coast Casinos and about a 15 min walk to the Palms casino…which is apparently where Britney Spears and Paris Hilton hang out! LOL…rolling eyes here!!Our first evening, we catch up with Chona and her gorgeous daughter. Because there are 6 of us and we can’t possibly all fit in her car, she takes Jordan, Jarryd and MIL first..and on the way…she asks them where they want to go for dinner….she rattles off a few options…but once Jordan and Jarryd hear there is a Jollibee in Vegas….the decision is made. So on our first night in Vegas….we’re at a Filipino centre having Filipino food. I can’t complain though…as when I get there….there are options…..not only is there Jollibee, there is Red Ribbon…there is Chow King and a big Filipino supermarket! There are other stores…but they’re closed. Our 3 boys opt for their favourite Jollibee…which is fried chicken and rice. Joseph, Chona and MIL head for Red Ribbon and because I’m cold and I want something soupy…..I head for my favourite comfort food…..noooodles….wonton egg noodles in soup. Bliss! After dinner, Joseph and I do a mad dash in the supermarket to pick up a few essentials……bread, water, breakfast cereal, milk, snacks…and end up with a small trolley full of food. ok..the trolley was really really small.THURSDAY 17th Jan – We catch up on sleep, unpack, lounge around and late in the afternoon, Chona picks us up and takes us to the Las Vegas Factory outlets for a little while. We didn’t have a lot of time there, so it was just a really quick look and shop before Leo arrived to take us all to a Filipino restaurant…..and there to our surprise….Ricky & Paz show up too!! Sooo good to see them. Ricky and Paz played big part in our wedding as well and it has been 15 years since we last saw each other. After dinner, we visited a few casinos….we went to Wynn, Bellagio and saw the grand opening of the Palazzo. There was so much to take in….trust me….seeing the casinos from the strip….from afar…..nothing prepares you for how grand they are inside. It’s not just gambling….each casino has something spectacular…well more than just one thing…but they are just sooo grand ….jaw droppingly grand. Everything is perfect….everything is so clean….people here are just so friendly and helpful….there was sooo much to taken in!! At Bellagio, we stop off to check out the world’s biggest chocolate fountain….biggest…in volume and in height….it’s totally gorgeous and very spectacular. At another store, Leo buys ice cream and tempts us to eat it….it’s sooo cold…definately not ice cream weather…but I try a spoonful…..omg…..absolutely fantastic….almonds and vanilla ice cream….totally delish. Then Paz bought a cherry flavour one which we also try and again….totally delish.FRIDAY 18th Jan – Over the next few days, we visit as many casinos as we possibly can….we find our way around weaving from one casino to the next and have a few flutters on the slot machines…aka one arm bandits. We snapped lots of photos and catch up with our friends late at night. Friday, we started off after lunch and took the free shuttle bus from the Rio to Caesar’s palace and watched the Fall of Atlantis show before going for a little walk along the strip.On the left hand side, Flamingo casino where Toni Braxton has her show, then further down you can see the Eiffel tower from Paris Paris and on the right hand side….Caesar’s palace.Then later that night, Ricky & Edward picked Joseph and myself up and took us to the Hilton….we caught the Sunset Strip show…and have a bit of a fling with the slot machines and before we knew it…it was 3am and hungry…so we headed to California Hotel to have supper.SATURDAY 19th Jan - we take the free shuttle from Rio to Bally’s and bought tickets on the Double Deuce (double decker bus) and got to see lots more beautiful Casinos along the strip.One of the most spectacular Casinos on the strip is the Venetian. It’s absolutely gorgeous ….this is where the Phantom of the Opera is on. One of the longest running shows in Vegas and apparently the set is absolutely stunning.Of course…in Venice you would expect to see Gondolas…so the outside of the Venetian has a few canals and you can go for a little Gondola ride.The beautiful Wynn Casino…..that was where we had the fabulous icecreams on our first night.Riviera Casino…..love the pretty colours!!!We were headed towards the Stratosphere but when we got there, we found out that the tower had been booked by a private party so the boys can’t go on the rides they wanted to do. So we made our way to the Las Vegas premium factory outlets for a bit of a browse and to get more winter clothing for New York as temperatures there are between -3C and 5C….brrr…very cold. We also buy another two pieces of luggage so that we can fit everything in. Winter gear is so bulky so while our luggage isn’t that heavy…it’s bulky!!Late that night, we got a phone call from Leo who was hanging out at I-Bar at the Rio with a friend and invited us to join him. The guys had an absolute blast …drinking Grey Goose Vodka mixed with Red Bull….apparently this doesn’t give you a hangover….well…it mightn’t give you a hangover…but you sure get drunk from it. LOL Aida and I chatted and stuck to soft drinks. After that, the guys decide they need soup…and following one drunk man’s directions to a Vietnamese pho restaurant….we end up lost….and after a hilarious phone call…we find ourselves at the right restaurant…and had to laugh at it’s name….pho kim long….say that really quickly and you’ll know why we were in absolute hysterics. The noodle soup is absolutely massive and very delish..just what we needed to thaw out from the cold and burn up some of the alcohol in the system. It is again….another very late night out for us but so much fun!SUNDAY 20th Jan – On Sunday, Leo and Aida take of us in their big Hummer for a drive to the Hoover Dam. This Dam is just sooo damn spectacular….it’s absolutely massive and stunning. The Hoover Dam was built on the Colorado river on the border of Nevada and Arizona and actually crosses a timezone! The Hoover Dam makes enough electicity for the state of Nevada and they still have enough to sell to other states. Cool facts about the Hoover DamDo you recognise the Dam? The Transformers movie was shot there……their plot being that the Hoover Dam was constructed to hide the energy cube from outer space. tee hee…..my boys thought it was cool!!!Our next stop was Lake Mead which is the largest man made lake and reservoir in USA. It was formed by the water impounded by the Hoover Dam and supplies water to Las Vegas and some parts of California. Lake Mead draws a majority of its water from snow melt in the Western Colorado Rockies. Since 2000 the water level has been dropping at a fairly steady rate due to less than average snowfall and from memory, Lake Mead is at 47% capacity. The water is an absolutely gorgeous bluey green….absolutely stunning. You can see in the photo how windy it was that day!!Then we drove down to the Lake Mead marina area to feed the fish. When Aida and Leo were telling us about the fish….we had no idea how big they were…they were massive and they love to eat popcorn!!! The little store sold big bags of Cheese and Buttered popcorn …so we bought a few bags and fed them to the fish and ducks…and ate lots as well! The kids had sooo much fun that we ended up feeding them about 6 bags of popcorn!!!See the bits of popcorn on the water surface? The ducks and the fish scrambling for the popcorn…..during which there is lots of splashing!Tee hee….the fish have actually come up under the duck so that it’s above water!Ok….now with Jarryd in the photo…you can really see that I wasn’t kidding about the size of the fish. See the beautiful colour of the water too?Tee hee….we were amazed to see this one absolutely pure golden fish….it obviously only likes the cheese flavoured popcorn.And one Albino fish…..which must only like the buttered popcorn!After feeding the fish….and eating some popcorn ourselves it was mid afternoon and we were hungry…so Leo and Aida took us to the Fiesta for a buffet. Leo and Aida say that you can’t say you’ve been to Vegas until you’ve had their buffet and they were not wrong….the buffet there is unlike anything we’ve ever seen before…..food galore…from all parts of the world…but what really caught our eye was the seafood….particularly snow crab legs…..we ate and ate and ate until we could eat no more. And no photos….we were too busy eating!But as we were leaving the Fiesta, I had to take a photo of the sunset. Las Vegas has the most spectacular coloured sunsets I have ever seen. A wintery desert pastel sunset…..pretty huh?Then after a quick stop at Leo and Aida’s house, we head to a birthday party….uninvited….tee hee….we met the gorgeous birthday girl Liberty and her whole family and of course…ate some more. There…we watched our first ever football match and it was a very exciting game which went into overtime and ended with the New york giants winning! By around 9pm…we were totally exhausted and had to bid everyone farewell and on the way home, Ed showed us a Las Vegas home that was up for sale….omg…totally huge….totally gorgeous….I wanted to pack it up and ship it home to Australia!!! LOLMONDAY 21st Jan – we’re invited to lunch at Ricky and Paz’s house. The boys get stuck into X-box games with Patrick and Raymond within a few mins of arriving. Liberty and Chito are also there…so it was really fun….chatting, eating, laughing and eating some more.  And we even managed to play a few rounds of cards!By late afternoon, Ricky drops us off at Mandalay Bay Casino and we take the monorail to the Luxor Casino which is a huge black pyramid….totally all Egyptian ….Jeromel was so excited to see the Sphinx that he came running to tell me to take a photo of the “Stinks”. Rofl!! So here you go….here’s a photo of us and the “Stinks”.An overview of the Luxor Casino….the huge black pyramid with the “Stinks” in front of it. At night, the pyramid has little lights which run up and down the edge of the pyramid and from the peak of the pyramid, there is a very strong spotlight that shines up to the sky. This light can be seen from miles away. Spectacular!Lobby of the Luxor hotel….lots of eyptian statues and even a King Tut’s tomb exhibit somewhere upstairs.Jeromel trying to decipher the hieroglyphics…..he was sooo excited to discover the secret pictures on the wall.After that…we checked out the Excalibur which is a beautiful majestic medieval castle…Then it was time to walk across to New York New York which is just absolutely gorgeous….Manhattan’s skyline including the Empire State building and Statue of Liberty in 1/3 scale. There Jordan and Jarryd went on the exhilarating Manhattan Express roller coaster….and enjoyed it so much…they went on it again.After that….we went to the MGM Grand Hotel for a late dinner and checked out their live Lions who were blissfully snoozing. Then utterly exhausted…..we headed back to our motel. That night, Joseph and I take a taxi to the airport to rent a car for a couple of days so that we can drive ourselves to the airport when we leave for New York Wednesday night. They didn’t have very many cars to choose from….so we picked the Chrysler 300 which was an absolutely beautiful beautiful ride. On the way back, we stop at the Value 4 Less supermarket and pick up a few small tubs of that totally delish Haagen Daaz ice cream that we can’t get in Australia.TUESDAY 22nd Jan – Armed with our trusty TomTom GPS…we make our way to Target to get ourselves some thermal wear. LOL….very glamorous! We find what we need and surprisingly find that Mossimo and Levis are sold there!! Levi’s are USD$17.99 for the classic cut!! We also buy a belated birthday gift for Liberty before going to Stratosphere so that Jordan and Jarryd can making our way to another factory outlet in Las Vegas. We drop Jordan, Jarryd and MIL off there to shop while we made our way to the Gambler’s General store for Joseph to pick up some more items to add to his home casino. *wink* By the time we get back to the Factory outlet, Joseph and I only have about an hour to get a few items before we have a late dinner before doing more sightseeing. We went to the Stratosphere which is set at an astounding 869 feet high with a 360-view of the city, the Stratosphere’s outdoor observation deck is the tallest of its kind in the country. While we amuse ourselves at the casino, Jordan and Jarryd head up the tower to do scary things.BIG SHOT - The Thrill Ride that Touches the Sky!Strap in and prepare to be shot 160 feet in the air as you overlook the majestic Las Vegas Valley in the Big Shot. From a platform 921 feet high, you and up to 15 other thrill seekers will be catapulted to a sky-high 1,081 feet. In a matter of seconds you’ll be shot to the top at 45-miles-per-hour and will come back down – and back up again for more. Experience a gut-wrenching four ‘G’s of force on the way up, and feel negative ‘G’s on the way down as your legs dangle in the Las Vegas skyline. The Big Shot thrill ride catapults 16 riders from the 921-foot high platform up the Tower’s mast to a height of 1,081 feet. Traveling at 45 miles per hour, riders experience 4G’s as they reach the very top, and feel negative G’s on the way down.INSANITY – Three ‘G’s of Pure Insanity!Insanity the Ride is a truly mindbending experience! A massive mechanical arm extending out 64 feet over the edge of the Stratosphere Tower at a height of over 900 feet, Insanity will spin you and several other passengers in the open air at speeds of up to three ‘G’s. You’ll be propelled up to an angle of 70 degrees, which will tilt your body into one position – facing straight down! If you’re brave enough to keep your eyes open you’ll be rewarded with a breathtaking view of historic downtown Las Vegas. Experience Insanity and walk away to tell the tale!X-SCREAM – I Scream, You Scream, We all Scream on X-Scream!Ever played on a teeter-totter 866 feet high? With the X-Scream, you can! With a space age, yet simplistic design resembling a massive teeter-totter unlike anything you’ve ever seen, the X-Scream will propel you and several other riders head-first, 27 feet over the edge of the Stratosphere Tower. Try not to scream when you go over the edge….you don’t want to scare the other riders! After being shot over the edge, you’ll dangle weightlessly above the Las Vegas strip before being pulled back and propelled over again for more.After they they came back down, we asked for their opinions of the rides….they said…..dark….cold….cool…..a bit boring. A bit boring?????? *Mother and father shakes head*We took this photo of the Stratosphere tower a few days earlier from the ground. Very very tall tower and you can just see the Insanity ride at the very top.Then it was back in the car as we headed off the Circus Circus which is a circus themed casino so that Jeromel could have some fun and fun he did have watching the trapeze artists perform and playing with the arcade games. By this time, we’re all exhausted… it’s 11pm…….it has been a full on day….so we head back for a little rest before late that night….and I’m talking late….after midnight…..Chona and her hubby come over and we head out to a karaoke night club with Ricky. The 5 of us enjoy a late night supper and Chona entertained us with her beautiful singing. On the way home, we decide to stop at the Rio and end up being out till about 4am!!WEDNESDAY 23rd Jan – Our last day in VegasWe spend the morning packing up our luggage…by this time….we have 11 pieces of checked in luggage…..yah…u read right….11….that’s just checked in luggage. I officially check out at 11am and we move all the luggage to the reception area for them to hold for us as our flight doesn’t leave till 9.30pm that night. They let us have the room till 1pm which is great as MIL, Jordan and Jarryd will be there until Chona can pick them up at 1pm. Joseph, Jeromel and I head to the Fashion Mall to pick up a couple of iphones from the Apple store and then I finally get to go to a scrapping store. We drove out to Majestic Memories where I get about 15 mins to have a look around. Sadly, they didn’t have the tote I wanted, or the white Sharpie pens or the Ali Edwards book…..so I just pick up a few little things (remember? our luggage is already packed) before driving all the way to Green Valley Casino where we are meeting up with everyone for a Bon Vogage dinner.Ok….I ‘borrowed’ these photos off the Green Valley Ranch website…we were there at night….the place is just gorgeous!!! Next time we come to Vegas…..we must book a room here!!Here are our photos….Ok…this is one of my most favourite photos. Over looking the pool which as you can see….has some sand in it. The gorgeous cushioned deck chairs all around the pool….could almost imagine all the gorgeous bods on it during summer. Then in the distance, you can actually see the Las Vegas strip. And that very very bright ray of light shining into the clouds? Remember what I said about the Luxor pyramid? That’s it’s ray of light. We had dinner at ‘The Feast around the World’ Buffet and oh my…the food there was delectable. To our delight….more Snow Crab Legs…but this time….it’s stirfried fresh for you by the chef with lots of chilli, tomato and coriander…..lip smacking, finger licking good. Their dessert selection was also fabulous with yummy Breyer’s ice cream and the most delish Almond slice!And then it was a quick walk around the Green Valley ranch to burn off some calories before we had to say goodbye to all our friends and heading back to the motel to grab our luggage. Chona’s pick up came in very handy as we loaded most of the luggage into it and then headed off to the airport. We again did our check in on the pavement before entering the terminal ….totally love love love this service!!! And before we knew it….it was bye bye Las Vegas as we head off across the country to New York!!!

Los Angeles!!!

I think we’ve learnt a few things…. we’ve learn’t that we need to organise our own transportation with so many people and so much luggage. So before leaving San Francisco, I booked a Super Shuttle Blue Van to pick us up and take us all the way to Anaheim. Anaheim which is where Disneyland is….is quite a distance from LA…40 miles…or about an hour away. Everything goes smoothly…the weather is beautiful…the shuttle is on time….our luggage fits….we’re comfortably seated and get to our motel safely. We’re staying at the Islander Inn which is a 10 min walk to Disneyland….there are lots of food places to choose from, we’re walking distance to 7-11 and another small supermarket….which is really important to us…because since leaving Australia, we’ve been drinking bottled water. And for 6 people….that’s a lot of water we go through.Our motel room is spacious…..which is great because we’re here for a week. The two older boys share a bedroom which has two double beds. DH, Jeromel, MIL and myself share the other bedroom which has two queen sized beds. We have a microwave, fridge, coffee maker, small dining table & chairs and a desk. Certainly not luxurious, but it’s clean and comfy and the staff at the motel are sooo nice. There’s also a pool…but it’s just too cool for us to swim. For our first day, we did nothing…we caught up on sleep, we relaxed, we did laundry (lol), we ordered food in, and we did research on what we wanted to do while in LA and DH made some phone calls to track down his cousin and an old friend. Doing research, the reality of our location dawned on us…..while we are in Anaheim which is nice and close to Disneyland….we’re actually very far from other LA sights that we want to see….so transportation again becomes an issue…..an hour taxi ride will be very expensive and not many taxis seat 6 people!! So I was ecstatic to find that this particular tour company does free pick ups from the Anaheim area and their tour starts in Santa Monica…another place to tick off our list!!We pick their most popular tour….tour # 7 Los Angeles Grand Tour & Movie Stars’ Homes!! It took us to Hollywood, Beverley Hills, Brentwood, Beverley Hilton, Movie Stars’ homes along the way, Sunset Strip, Mullholland Drive (where the big Hollywood sign on the hill is), LA Beaches, Mann’s chinese theatre (handprint and footprints of stars), Walk of Fame (stars on the pavement), Kodak theatre (home of the oscars), Universal city walk, Olvera Street, Chinatown and the famous Rodeo Drive. It was a really long tour….about 8 hours…and with the travel time to anaheim….it was late evening by the time we got back. Utterly exhausted but totally fantastic…camera sure worked overtime!!! And it was such fabulous value….$61 for each adult and $51 for Jeromel!!Two days later, we booked for this tour company to take us to Universal Studios. If we made our own way there…we would have to pay a cab fare to and from Anaheim..and pay $99 at the gate. With the tour company, they pick us up and take us there…give us our tickets and we enjoy our time there and then they pick us up and take us back to our hotel…all for $94 each adult. It was a bargain and oh my….we had an absolute ball there!! Jordan and Jarryd ditched us not long after we arrived…they wanted to go and do their rides first so we organised to meet up for lunch at a designated place. The rest of us started off by watching the Shrek 4D show which is absolutely hysterical….sooo funny….the chairs move…when Donkey sneezed….we got squirted with water too! We caught up with lots of characters and took lots of photos…stopped for a Ben & Jerry’s ice cream (yummo) and went on a few small rides and before we knew it…lunchtime with the boys. After that….while heading down to the lower section of the park where the bigger rides and shows are…we managed to lose DH!! So Jeromel, MIL and I went on the Jurassic Park ride which was fabulous and we caught the special effects stage show and backdraft show (that one was hot and scary), animal actors show which was just hilarious and we finished off with the Waterworld show which is totally totally hilarious. They re-enact the movie and the audience gets splashed with water…it was totally fun and a great way to finish off the day. Poor Jarryd copped the water from the jet ski and his top half was totally drenched. They did announce before the show started that there were very wet zones, wet zones and dry zones. We chose to sit in the wet zone for some fun. People in the very wet zones copped heaps of water. There was a tour group from China who obviously didn’t understand that they might get wet and they complained so loudly when they got soaked and this poor old chinese man got his pants soaked…..totally looked like he peed his pants. HEHEHETo catch up with Joseph’s cousin and friend, we had to hire a car to get there…so the night before…we made our way to an electronics store to buy a GPS system. That was top of Joseph’s to buy list while in the states….so armed with our GPS…we bravely booked a car. It’s not easy driving in the states…the steering wheel is on the left hand side of the car and the Americans drive on the right side of the road. It’s a lot to wrap one’s head around….very challenging for me. DH drove on the way there…and half way there ….we realised that while we have charged the GPS in the motel….we forgot to bring the car charger….oh yes…u know what happened don’t you??? The battery died ….oh yes it did….lol….there I was….navigating and relaying instructions to DH when it blinked low batt….then died. OMG…there is nothing worse than being on a very busy highway and then not knowing which way to go…we had to take the first exit and stopped at a restaurant and get the address and call Leo who came to our rescue. LOL…truly an experience we will never forget! We had a fabulous day with Leo and that night there was a fun little party at his house and we got to catch up with his cousin Gigi who was the best man at our wedding. Joseph brought a big bottle of Fundador which the men got stuck into which meant that I had to drive back. Luckily we managed to charge the GPS while at Leo’s house….so while we were right for directions…..a very nervous me had to drive back….very nerve wracking…but I got us back intact. Yay!! L-R, Gigi and Susan Cui, Eddie Siacor, Leo Alegado, Rowena and Charito. Our last two days in Anaheim were spent at Disneyland. For those who haven’t been….Disneyland is just one park in Anaheim….there is also Disneyland California Park. For DH, Jeromel and myself, we bought a 2 day park hopper which means that we can go to both parks. MIL was a bit tired and feeling a bit under the weather…so she chose to rest one day. Jordan and Jarryd are really only interested in the big rides and not in meeting the Disney characters or seeing shows…so they opted to go on one day. Both parks are absolutely amazing and truly magical. Totally a dream come true for me to go to Disneyland….I could hardly believe that I was there…..so I was just like a little kid….totally enjoying the rides, ate fairy floss, enjoyed the fabulous Aladdin and High School Musical shows, was sooo excited when I got to meet Mickey Mouse. And the absolute best bit was the parade during the evening…..totally awesome and spectacular!!Sharing a few….just a few photos from Disneyland

Got the magic feather to go on the Dumbo ride!!!  This was so much fun.  Jeromel controlled whether our dumbo would go up or down.  He liked making it go up and down quickly….which his mother did not appreciate at all.

Finally get to Toontown where Mickey Mouse lives!!!

oooh….don’t let Goofy catch you doing that Jeromel!!!

Jedi Training Academy

 

The Parade of Dreams is absolutely fabulous…..it’s during the evening just before Disneyland closes and it’s very full on..the floats are just gorgeous, there is lots of dancing, music etc.  They don’t just wave and go past on their floats….they dance, they entertain.  We actually had a very good position and got some great pics!!

Then it was time for one dizzying ride for Jeromel and Jarryd before we had to leave Disneyland.

It was sad to leave Los Angeles…everyone had such a fabulous time there…..but the bright neon lights of Las Vegas were beckoning to us….so we packed up our bags and headed off on our next adventure!!

San Francisco

Here we are….on plane trip #8….heading to San Francisco! 

Flying over San Francisco….all grey and it looks cold! 

Yah…..I guess that looks like the airport!! 

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!! OMG, I was totally unprepared for how cold it was in San Francisco…the wind was incredibly cold. We stayed at the metropolis which is right in the heart of the city and we were very thankful to be so close to a shopping mall so that we could buy jackets and shoes.

This is us….checking into Hotel Metropolis….see our little mountain of luggage in front of the tiny elevator? We had to take it up in a few goes! Jordan is totally exhausted….sitting down waiting to go up to the room and have a snooze. Jarryd is sort of hidden behind me checking out the hotel facilities brochure. The room on top of the lobby is the library where you can just sit and drink coffee and read or hop online.

Because of the weather, we didn’t get to do very much as well in San Francisco. We managed to go on a cable car ride (tram) and we went down to Fisherman’s wharf and explored Pier 39. We caught up with a friend from Joseph’s home town and had a fabulous seafood dinner with them at Fisherman’s wharf and then the kids and MIL took a taxi back to the hotel while Joseph and I went for a drive with Jeanelyn and Ricco. They took us to see the Golden Gate Bridge, went to Twin Peaks to check out the fabulous view and went to a few other gorgeous places.

 

 

Above are the two more gorgeous shots of San Francisco taken from Twin Peaks….the night was cold…but the view was amazingly beautifully clear.  In the first photo, the brightest street leads up to where we live.  The second photo shows the San Francisco Bridge.

The following day, we had planned to explore Pier 39, crooked street (Lombard street), take a bay cruise, but when we woke, it was absolutely pouring!!! It was so cold and it was so windy and the rain was coming in almost horizontally. So all we could really do was have a really wet exploration at Pier 39 which was nearly deserted due to the weather. We managed to see the noisy Sea Lions lounging on the docks, and saw the huge seagulls and played at an indoor arcade for an hour so that the kids could actually have some fun.  We also managed to go to Boudin Bakery to try out their famous New England Clam Chowder which gets served in Sourdough bread bowl.

 

The two photos above, you can see the Sea Lions lounging around.  They were actually very very noisy. They’re free to come and go as they please.

The Rock or Alcatraz Island….it served as a lighthouse, then a prison and now…it’s a tourist spot.  

Jeromel checking out the huge Candy Store on Pier 39….they had an amazing variety of Taffy! Although they looked delicious, we left empty handed.

 

And then all we could really do was head back to the mall to shop. I must say, shopping in San Francisco was fabulous!! We were right across the road from Gap, Old Navy and the Westfield Mall which has Norstrums, Bloomingdale, Dockers etc. By this time, we had to pick up another two luggage bags to accomodate our shopping. We’re now at 9 pieces of checked in luggage which is ok for the airlines….we’re allowed to have two pieces of checked in luggage each weighing no more than 50lbs. So we can still get another 3 bags. LOL…it’s the airport transportation which is a problem as we have to get a shuttle that is big enough for all our luggage.

Night view outside our hotel looking to the right hand side.

Here I am ….busy doing research for our accommodation for Los Angeles and Las Vegas

Leaving San Francisco, I had organised for the hotel to send us a van that was big enough for 6 people and lots of luggage. OMG…we nearly died when something no bigger than our carnival arrived to pick us up!! No way can everything fit in there….so after a bit of a hissy fit from me at the front desk, a shuttle came to pick us up and all this time I am stressing because I knew we would get to the airport leaving a little less than an hour and a half to go through the check in process. As soon as our baggage hit the pavement at the airport, I spotted a United Airlines check and Go stand. For $2 per bag, we got processed right there on the pavement…our luggage was checked in, our tickets checked, our boarding passes were handed to us. OMG….it was incredible!!! We had managed to bypass the huge queues of people either totally oblivious to this fabulous service or were too tight to pay the $2 to save their sanity and time. LOL!!

Los Angeles, here we come!!!

Hawaii

What an experience! From the time we left Cebu, I started getting sick. Joseph had somehow generously managed to share his lurgy with me…I was coughing, feverish etc and jetlagged on top of that.

Our experience at Honolulu airport wasn’t that great. Getting off the plane, we had to go into a terminal, go up escalators, then wait around for a shuttle bus to take us to another terminal to go through customs. I swear, 4 plane loads of people had arrived and there were seriously only 6 custom officers processing them. Overzealous custom officers too as the whole process just took sooo long. We all had to get digitally photographed and finger printed. It took us over an hour to go through customs and then we got lost trying to find the baggage carousels. I swear, Honolulu airport is the most disorganized airport that I have ever been to. The highlight after all that was getting allocated a stretch limo to take us to our hotel.

We stayed at the Aston Prince Honolulu which is a rather budget hotel right in the heart of Waikiki strip. Fabulous location which is close to a lot of great food and nightlife. We got a family room there which was a 2 bedroom unit with laundry facilities which was great. Yah, call me crazy, but it was good to get a proper washing machine and dryer for all the laundry that we had to do.

Weather in Hawaii wasn’t that great…it was cool and most definitely not beach weather and sadly….our family must be the only people who didn’t get to enjoy the beautiful beaches….we didn’t get to feel sand between our toes or go for a swim. We didn’t make it to a luau….no flower lei…no pineapple drinks with minature umbrellas.

Jeromel and I were so sick for the first couple of days that we spent our time sleeping while the others battled jetlag. It actually got so bad for my body clock that I was awake one night for the whole night….totally unable to sleep and the following day I was a totaly walking zombie but I forced myself to stay away for the day and by night, I was totally overtired and so desperate for sleep that I had to get something to help me sleep.

During my zombified day, we decided to explore our surroundings….

Right at the end of the street ….we see this beautiful sight….a fabulous little mountain which is most likely the side of a volcano and on one side of it….lots and lots of houses! It was usually cloudy while we were in Hawaii and it rained everyday….just short showers….but it rained everyday. It seemed much warmer early in the morning but by early afternoon it cooled down considerably.

This is at the top of our street of our hotel, say a 1 min walk and we’re at the Waikiki Strip…we truly were in a fabulous spot. Top two photos are of the left and right views at the top of our street.

HILO HATTIES SHUTTLE RIDE

In one of the many brochures that us tourists pick up at the airport, Hilo Hatties is featured quite widely…..they have a free shuttle trolley (tram looking bus) which goes all over Waikiki ending at the Hilo Hatties store which sells all the Hawaiian souveniers. So being very budget minded tourists….we hop on…

We see lots of sights on the way and we snap away like the tourists we are!

 

 

 

 

This was as close as we got to a beach….hehehe!

We actually have lunch here one day and browse at a few of the shops. Guess is on one corner while Armani Xchange is on the other….we thought of Brice!

We get to Hilo Hatties and we’re all greeted with a shell lei! I’m excited….I have been Lei-ed in Hawaii….ok…so it’s not flowers…it wasn’t by a pretty Hawaiian beauty wearing a grass skirt…I can’t be picky….but he wore a hawaiian shirt and he said Aloha……so that’s got to count. Hilo Hatties is home to the World’s Largest Aloha Shirt. It’s got it’s spot in the Guiness Book of Records….the shirt has these ginormous measurements Chest 168 inches, Waist 161 inches and Neck is 61.5 inches. Mammoth!!

Looks like you got a lot of growing to do Jeromel to fit into that shirt.

 

My little man with the cute toy sea turtles….see the little shell lei around his neck? Jeromel looks quite different here….he had been unwell….so he had really puffy eyes. Poor little man!

My own Aloha man!! And oh yes…he bought the shirt…..so he has something to wear on Loud Shirt day at work! hehehe. Mil bought some souveniers but I left empty handed….I dunno….I’m not really one for souvenirs…but there were a lot of fun things in the shop. There was a thong slipper on a handle….fly swatter. There was a hula girl duster that was very cute. But I resisted….knowing that we still had a long way to go.

LeSports Sac shop near the Waikiki Plaza. They have a gorgeous range of bags at a disgusting price. LOL

Ok…the following photos are from the International Market Plaza which is right across the road from where we live. Absolutely gorgeous little market place surrounded by big beautiful old trees. There is a food court here which we sometimes get our food from.

 

 

hehehe…this was my favourite shop at the Market place. The Stupid Factory….they have hilarious tshirts and magnets with funny sayings on them. I ended up buying two little books…one titled ‘Boys are stupid…throw rocks at them’ and the other ‘Girls are Weirdos but they smell pretty’. Very very funny reads!!

LOL…..the macaws were absolutely gorgeous…..and Jeromel thought he might enjoy holding them….but he hadn’t expected how sharp their claws were or how heavy they would be. He doesn’t look like he’s enjoying the experience very much at all!!!

It wasn’t till our last night in Hawaii that we had some fun. Noy Angel and Nang Linda took us out for a drive, dinner and we went to two nightspots to listen to some live music and have a few drinks.

 

Later we were joined by Luis Gabrillo, Iwing and Aida Gabrillo and unfortunately Gigi Villarta is not on the group shot here. 

A quick stop at Nang Gonyang and Amay Silva’s place. 

Leaving Honolulu, we had another horrible experience at the airport. The people who work there are just so unhelpful There are so many checks to get all our luggage through and no trolley in sight and once we had checked our luggage in and gone through security check, we had to walk so far to get to our gate. We had to walk all the way from one terminal to the other on the outside footpath….seriously like 3 times the whole length of the outside of tullamarine airport.

Happy New Year!!

Now where did I leave off the last time? Oh yes…that last post while typing in the car was full of spelling mistakes. LOL

28^th December 2007

We had organized to meet with Joseph’s half sister Ying & her family at the Golden Cowrie which is somewhere near the Waterfront Hotel. Of course, our driver had no idea where it was, so we stopped off at a nearby small hotel and the guard couldn’t help us so we went next door to the petrol station and Joseph spotted a westerner and got some directions from him. Yay! The Golden Cowrie is a fabulous native Filipino restaurant aimed at Westerners…you get to taste all the authentic native cuisine in western comfort. Very reasonably priced for the western pocket but could make some locals gasp and proclaim daylight robbery especially when they see that you are given banana leaves to use instead of real plates! Lunch was great and after that we took a few photos and then Ying’s husband went back to work and Ying and her daughter Dana came in the car with us and we went to Mambaling to get the keys to the family crypt in Pardo. Joseph’s father is buried there and it’s his first visit to the crypt so it was really a big deal. Joseph’s father wasn’t in his life much and as a result, Joseph hasn’t really known his father’s side of the family. So during this trip, being able to meet his half sister, and many other members of his extended family has been pretty special to him.

We’re at the Golden Cowrie restaurant early….so Joseph and I are pouring over the menu trying to pick out what we should order for lunch.

 

Photo of us taken with Joseph’s sister Ying Ying’s family.

Taken at Mambaling with some of Joseph’s Aunties.

 

When we drove Ying and Dana home, it was such a pleasant surprise to be given a bag of goodies. There was dried mango, dried squid, and heaps of fireworks. The boys were sooo excited and happy.

Then it was a quick stop at SM to get my linen. Decided to get a kingsize comforter set. KS comforter, fitted sheet and 2 pillow cases for 2400 pesos. Then it was off to Ayala shopping centre for a quick dinner at Jollibee (why jollibee? Because it was one of those days where we are just too tired to be making decisions about what to have for dinner and for 65 pesos where you get a drink, freshly cooked rice and piece of chicken….without any risk of belly trouble!) While waiting for the boys to order our dinner, I spotted some he-shes. He what??? He-She’s ….or what the locals call Bayots or Plastic Girls/Boys. LOL….cross dressers, transsexuals. There was a group of maybe 6 of them and 2 were actually very pretty. 2 were passable…but it was the other 2 that were obviously males that made me take another look at the whole group more closely to realize that they were all men. LOL. Shopping at Ayala was done very quickly. We all knew that it was going to be our last time shopping, so it was all done efficiently. Joseph bought a memory card for the camera and I got a pair of shorts for Joseph and 3 Hanes bras for myself.

29^th December

Joseph’s out today…..he’s off to Valencia with his Mum, Aunty and Cousin looking at some family land. So the boys and I decide to venture out. Ok….my first time going out without Joseph. LOL…yes it’s only taken me this long. It’s just not all that easy trying to learn everything. But anyways…today we decide to go to the local department store to check it out. We haven’t been before and it’s not very far away….so we take a chappycab there and it’s 28 pesos for the 4 of us…which is um…..20cents each!!! It’s just a small department store and I get a few laundry hangers and lingerie wash bags and a couple of bags of groceries. It was great to go out for a couple of hours.

Carcar’s local department store Gaisano. The yellow van is a jeepney…sort of a mini bus. Just behind it…you can just see a chappy cab. I took lots of photos of Carcar, but it seems that we have a damaged SD card…so hopefully one day…I will be able to retrieve those images to share.

 

The boys head to the internet café in the late afternoon and in the evening, Joseph and I realized that the boys didn’t bring a mobile phone with them, so we decided to go look for them. They were in the 2^nd internet café we went to, after which we went to visit the Noel family and before we knew what was happening, the karaoke microphone was out and Joseph was singing. LOL!! It was fun! EmmyLou took me to see the piglets…sooo cute and the sow is HUGE!! Then later on, the decided to come home with us…we walked home and they stayed for over an hour so it was really late by the time we went to bed.

30^th December

Joseph’s sick today. High fever and aches and pains…so he stays home all day today sleeping and when he’s not sleeping, he’s sending text messages on his phone. He’s very busy with sms messages with family members here in the Philippines. He got a local sim card not long after he arrived and gets tons of free sms messages included…so like everyone here in the Philippines….he is nearly always sending sms messages. After breakfast, I go out with Jeromel to pick up our laundry from the Laundromat. 11kgs of laundry for 330pesos - A$9….neatly folded. I send large pieces of laundry to the Laundromat and just have the maid do the smaller and more delicate pieces by hand. We all do our own underwear and socks. After lunch, I head out with the boys to the internet café to book our accommodation in Hawaii.

31^st December

New Years Eve….it’s a bit worrying today because Joseph is still pretty sick. He’s been in bed with the fever and doesn’t seem very well at all and is very lethargic. He’s still pretty insistent on having a get together with some friends this evening before we visit a few family members for the midnight celebrations.

Jarryd goes out with his grandmother into the city to do some shopping. After an early morning meeting with some relatives, Joseph heads back to bed and I go out with Jordan and Jeromel to get some antibiotics and check emails.

Hehehe….Jeromel having crazy hair day….he was bored and was playing with the pegs. So cute!

Ok…here are two unusual fruits which I tried for the first time in the last few days:

Makupa – ever since we arrived, Joseph spotted that the neighbour had a fruiting Makupa tree and every few days he would look to see if they were ripe yet. The maid must have heard him talking about wanting me to try the Makupa because she came home from the market bearing half a dozen of these for me to try.   They were ok…a bit tart…apparently they should be sweeter if they had ripened a bit more on the tree. 

This is a Tiesa or Canistel.  I saw these in the fruit stalls in Mambaling and was sooo attracted to the beauty of it.  It looked sooo beautiful I asked Joseph to buy two for me.  He warned me that I might not like them….that they were dry and powdery inside.  He didn’t like them..and didn’t know anyone who did.  When I brought them home, the maid screwed up her face at them….Joseph’s cousin said they were yuck as well.  Luckily I was told to wait until they were slightly soft before trying them.  With all those warnings….I wasn’t in a mad rush to eat them…so I waited…until one day….I found that one of them had cracked!  So I pulled it in half and I sniffed…smelled good…poked the flesh with my finger…tasted it and it tasted pretty good….unusual taste…but it certainly wasn’t yuck.  Got a spoon and ….fell in love with this fruit! 

I remember telling you all about being able to buy things in small quantities in the Philippines…sachets of toothpaste, shampoo, mini deodorant sticks, a stick of cigarette or even a piece of gum…..you can also buy medication in small quantities. How small?? You can buy one tablet of most things here. Panadols, antibiotics, calcium tablets, vitamins….you can buy these in single doses at pharmacies. It made my head spin!! Panadols are about 6 pesos each. The antibiotics that I bought were just regular broad spectrum amoxicillin ….I decided to buy two courses of this antibiotic as I am also starting to show signs of getting sick. And I also buy a child’s course of antibiotic syrup as well just in case Jeromel gets sick. The pharmacist is quite stunned that I want full courses of the antibiotics and of course there is no discount for buying it by the course….even the packs that the pharmacy gets supplied in is in in bulk packs of blister sleeves. Two full courses is 42 tablets and there are ten caplets per blister sleeve….so I get 4 full sleeves and then she cuts two from another blister sleeve to make the 42 caplets. Jeromel’s antibiotic is even more interesting. It comes in the dry powder form in a bottle which I have to mix up with water to activate it. In Australia, the pharmacy would mix it up when you hand in your script. In the Philippines, you can mix it up when you want or they can do it for you…..you have the option. Anyways, 3 course of antibiotics, 10 tablets of Advil, 2 small packs of Strepsils set me back 490 pesos which is oh A$14!!

Joseph organized for the maid to buy some food just in case his friends came around, but unfortunately, no one was able to come, so we enjoyed the food for dinner. Then my husband found some dvds in his stash…and we watched Michael Buble and the Andrew Lloyd Webber Royal Albert Hall concert before heading out around 9pm to visit the Manlise family. The party was in full swing there with a videoke, desserts, party games etc Joseph and the boys got into the fireworks….omg ….it was soo noisy and when we were leaving, the boys got given another big bag of fireworks!! By now we’re lugging around 3 bags of fireworks!!! And it’s not even midnight and they’ve already used up quite a bit!!!

Around 10.30pm, we get to Ivy and Colen’s place and it seems very apparent that the whole street is into fireworks. All around, I can hear fireworks…..it’s like I can hear money exploding!! LOL Illness forgotten, Joseph and the boys launch into detonating their precious arsenal of fireworks. They pause for a break about half an hour before midnight then launched into full swing again. I am quite sane tonight because after my experience through Christmas, I have remembered to bring ear plugs. They are my sanity saver!!! Ivy and Colen have prepared such a feast for us to have after midnight….it is the first meal of the new year and it was fabulous of them to invite us for it. They had lechon kawali (deep fried crunchy pork belly), spaghetti, pork ribs, chicken macaroni salad, buko salad (young coconut), fresh bread, suman (sweet glutinous rice), shrimps and lots more. It poured while we were eating then, it was more fireworks again until it was raining so heavily they were using umbrellas to light fireworks…so we came home and all hopped in the shower. By the time we had finished showering, I started packing and then the boys realized it had stopped raining, so they were outside again playing with the last of their fireworks till about 4am!!! It was a great start to the new year….noisy but fun!!!

CHRISTMAS IN CARCAR

Christmas in the Philippines has been a fabulous experience. The atmosphere here is so different to that in Australia. It is not so commercialized. People aren’t madly buying presents. Christmas trees here aren’t that popular here either. But the Parol – the Christmas star is seen everywhere. The parols are either made of a plastic coated paper or pearl like shells on a wooden or metal frame. Some are very elaborate while others are quite simple. Most have lights in them as well. Everytime I pass a parol shop, I am sooo tempted to buy one, but there is no way that I can lug one half way around the world without it breaking. Especially when the one that I want is about a metre wide!!! LOL…I have great taste!

Back in October, we filled up two jumbo boxes with clothing, toys, canned foods, coffee, biscuits, cereal and gifts and sent them to the Philippines. So by the time we arrived, they had already arrived. This meant that on the way here, we only had to bring chocolates and our clothings. A few days before Christmas, Joseph and I spent hours packing up food and gift packages for his family members. The upstairs loungeroom truly looked like a department store with packages everywhere. So the past few days, we have been visiting family members and handing out gifts and food packages

We spent Christmas Eve with the Enanorias in Carcar. The most favourite celebratory food of the Filipinos is the Lechon which is a whole roasted pig. It is stuffed with a special herb called Pasiotes, spring onions, onions, garlic and seasoned with heaps of salt. It is then spit roasted over charcoals and then cooked for hours. This in itself is a social gathering as the men will sit and drink and take turns slowly turning the pig over this bed of charcoals until the skin is brown and crunchy. So Christmas eve, we had a huge gathering of family and there was sooo much food to eat and lots of chatting and then to wait for midnight to come, we played cards.

Another thing about Philippines is that fireworks are widely available here. There are stalls selling them everywhere and Joseph and the boys have gone a bit wild buying them……and that goes for everyone here too. Every night, you can hear firecrackers and fireworks going off until late at night. But come midnight, the town was like one popcorn factory. It was pop bang pop bang pop every second. It was sooo much fun. Josph managed to get these triangular ‘bombs’ near our house and they are sooo innocent looking, but when one goes off you almost expect to see a huge crater in the ground and for people to start screaming and ambulance sirens to start wailing. Lots of those were set off that night and after about half an hour of continuous fireworks, I almost felt like I was in a war zone!!!

There are lots and lots of stalls like these ….they sell fireworks….only fireworks….so many different types!!!

This is about a 10th of the amount of fireworks that my husband bought!! He quickly took a photo just as he realised he was running out of them!! See those cute little innocent triangles???? They are deafening!!

Christmas day was spent with the Manlise family who also organized another Lechon! We had so much beautiful food that day and there were lots of kids around for Jeromel to play with and they have a tv….so the boys got to watch Spymate and Airbuddies which were hilarious. We got back late in the afternoon and got to rest for a couple of hours and then we had more visitors dropping by in the evening and ended up playing cards again for a few hours.

26th December

Today, we’re on our way to the northern part of Cebu. I’m typing this up in the car on the way there. We have a lot of people coming with us, so we’ve hired a mini bus that is packed with people and kids. San Remegio is about a 4 hour drive away. I’m in Joseph’s cousin Loretil’s car, so I have a bit of room to do my typing. Joseph is in the minivan which is apparently pretty packed. I’m hoping that miraculously sometime when we pass the city, I might pick up some wifi signal….it’s Christmas right? I can hope for a miracle???

LOL….3 days later and no wifi signal was picked up and I haven’t had the time to go to the cybernet café, so I’ll just keep updating. San Remegio was fabulous…..when we arrived we did the head count and 28 of us made the trip. Tee hee….heaps of us!!! The beach house was fabulous. It was huge and open and right up on the beach. The beach house has a huge open plan living area with huge doors which open up onto the beach. Then a big verandah with a big cane chaise and one of the huge round rattan chairs with a big fluffy cushion. It has 3 large bedrooms….bedrooms large enough for a huge king bed and a double bed. We also borrowed a big queen mattress. When we got there it was low tide which was a bit disappointing, but that didn’t stop the kids from all piling up on the beach and playing with the sand. In no time, the bbq got going and the food didn’t stop till midnight. There was sooo much food and so much fun. We had two guitarists, one violinists and lots of singers, so it was really merry. At around 10pm the tide started coming up and everyone got pretty excited at the prospect of a night swim. By 11pm, about half the people decided to go in for a dip….including Jeromel who was 2^nd in the water. He had heaps of fun!!  Thank you so much to Eloise, Arnie, Papa Nap, Mama Loring and Nang Nene for organising this and making all this possible!!!

Walking toward the beach house from Papa Nap & Mama Loring’s house. After we got there, we sent the drivers to bring the vans and our bags.

The beautiful beach house with well maintained gardens and our own private beach.

The inside of the beach house….walls and ceiling are covered with beautiful woven nipah leaves and we had such a huge spread on the table….jackfruit, seaweed salad, grilled fish, pork chops, chicken skewers…u name it….we had it. Gluttons!

Loungeroom of the beach house….and in the far back, you can see 3 doors leading to the bedrooms.  We had an absolutely fabulous night with lots of singing and music. 

Papa Nap serenading us with his violin.  He plays sooo beautifully and we enjoyed his little concert very much.

Big group photo taken across the road at Papa Nap and Mama Loring’s house.

Totally love this photo of Jeromel and his cousins.

Joseph and his cousin Ivanhoe

On the way back, we stopped by to check out a Golf and Dive resort called Casa Del Mar.

 

When it came time to sleep, there were bodies and beds everywhere. There were 12 people just in our room!! But everyone was comfortable or maybe tooo tired to care where they slept. The following day, we all rose early and cleaned up and packed up and were on our way home before lunchtime. By 4pm, Joseph, Jordan and I had our last checkup with the optometrist and all’s well with our eyes which is great.

Yesterday, we spent the day resting and sleeping lots. Joseph and I went out to the internet café to check emails very quickly and I didn’t have the laptop with me so I couldn’t update the blog….but I managed a mini entry into my blessed to be stressed blog. Then in the afternoon, I ventured out with the boys without Joseph as he was busy with something else. We took a chappycab to the local department store and bought some groceries. What is a chappycab? It’s an amazing contraption!! It’s basically a motorbike with a sidecar….a covered side car. And it’s amazing how many people can fit in a chappycab. For short trips….we’ve managed to fit five of us on it. Yah….Joseph, Jordan, Jarryd, Jeromel and myself on it. Two people can ride behind the motorbike driver and then 3 in the side car. That’s like the local mini taxi here. It costs about 6 or 7 pesos per person per little trip which is very very affordable and they are everywhere!!

28th December – Today, we only have 3 more sleeps in the Philippines before we leave and still lots which we want to do. Today we’re headed again into the city (typing in the car again)….to meet up with Joseph’s half sister….going to have lunch with her family and then after that we’re going to do some shopping. I bought a sheet set last week as we were desperate for some cotton comfort and I bought a king size sheet set for 1250 pesos (roughly A$40). We’ve had it laundered and used it and I’m impressed with the quality so will pick up another couple of sets (wish I could get more but they’re quite heavy). A$40 for a flat, fitted and two pillow cases!

Merry Christmas Everyone!!!

Finally made it to a cybercafe in our little town of Carcar and am sitting with our laptop right under the air conditioner.  My vision isn’t all that crash hot yet….well….because one eye is for reading and the other is for distance and my brain still hasn’t learnt to merge the two smoothly yet.   It’s normal and takes up to a month so I can’t stay on too long. But I wanted to wish everyone…..a very very Merry Christmas and hope to come again soon to update my blog!! 

Day 8 – 13

In Manila, we also went to Greenhills which is like an indoor market. Shops closely packed together selling every conceivable kind of clothing, shoes and bags. It was like an agrophobic’s nightmare. The place was sooo packed with shops and people and sellers trying to get your attention. Of course, as soon as you ask how much it is in English, the price gets bumped up. Then you try to haggle for something that you really want, and still not satisfied with the price, I walk away hoping they will miraculously drop the price a bit….sometimes they do, but more often they didn’t. I didn’t buy much as I couldn’t tolerate the crowds. I’m too impatient with crowds bumping me left and right. I almost wished I had a whistle to tell people to get out of my way. I even wished for traffic lights or one way lanes because in a tiny aisle of say 3 feet, there were people trying to jostle past in both directions!! We made our way to the outside of Greenhills for some open space to eat in and found a seemingly nice modern place called Gerry’s selling Filipino food. The service was terrible, they were slow in giving us our menus, we ordered our food and drinks and when they set the table, somehow they missed setting the end of the table where Joseph, Jeromel and I were seated. So by the time the food arrived, we had to ask for plates and cutlery. Then they only brought 2 sets and we had to ask for another set and that took another few minutes. I was already irritated with the market…and was sooo not in the mood for bad service. The food was ok…nothing to rave about….it was tasty and edible but I much prefer Aristrocrat which we had the previous night. Needless to say, I only left them a mini tip…..as in loose change.

Traffic on the way back to the hotel was horrendous….the morning trip took about 40 mins only and the way back took more than an hour and a half. I was so glad that we had booked the driver and the van for the trip back instead of taking a taxi. By the time we got back, everyone was exhausted and we didn’t re-emerge till close to 7.30pm and no one could mustle enough energy to even think about what to eat, so we went around the corner and had dinner at Wendy’s which is similar to Hungry Jacks. Food there was quite ok….different things on the menu like a shrimp burger with a big shrimp fritter in the middle and you could actually see big pieces of prawns!!! And service there was excellent. In the Philippines, there are ‘security guards’ everywhere…just about every shop has a security guard who also doubles as the doorman. Usually they are very stern looking, but the security guard at Wendys was really friendly and helpful. Since we went upstairs, he brought us our meals and drinks upstairs and was extremely helpful. We tipped him very well when we left.

Day 9-13

We left Manila on Monday 17^th Dec on another Cebu Pacific flight. This was the free flight which they owed us as Cebu was our initial destination. The flight was delayed by an hour and by the time we got into Cebu, it was already evening. Joseph’s cousins came back with us….so we were a group of 12 people traveling together. We had a fabulous Filipino dinner at a restaurant near the city called AA in Pardo. You basically pick which ever fresh fish and/or marinated meat you want and it gets cooked for you. We had beautiful clam soup, fish soup, bbq pork and beef ribs and charcoal grilled fish. All delicious.

National fish of the Philippines…..the Milk fish or Bangus as they call it. It’s usually very boney….but here it has already been split and deboned for us to enjoy. Yum!

Clam soup…..sooo delicious. Jeromel loves shellfish and really enjoyed these clams.

 

By the time we got to Joseph’s home town Carcar, it was close to 9pm and we were so excited to see our rented house. The house is very nice compared to the standards of the houses there. But to our disappointment, it wasn’t fully furnished. The upstairs has 3 air conditioned bedrooms (2 double beds and a single bed) and a small living area with a bamboo lounge suite and a small bathroom/toilet with hot water. Down stairs has a spacious lounge area with a bamboo lounge set, dining area has a 6 seater dining set, bathroom/toilet and a minimal kitchen. What’s a minimal kitchen??? Benchtop, cupboards and nothing else. No refridgerator, no stove, no kettle, no cutlery, no crockery…..nuffink. Maybe I shouldn’t even call it a kitchen. We ended up borrowing an electric urn from the caretaker. Another family member kindly offered to lend us their small refridgerator. Joseph quickly went to the convenience store to get some disposable cups, cutlery and plates, bread, water etc…..and came home with a big tub of ice cream!!! Hehehe….the ice cream was so hard that we couldn’t get at it with the plastic spoons so had to borrow a real spoon from the caretaker. LOL

Having said all that, we are so grateful to have this house.  It is actually owned by our friends Willie, Mila and their son Mark who live in Melbourne.  It’s their investment property and we happened to have asked at the right time because we were able to rent it for the 3 weeks that we were there.

 

Photo taken from the gate….looking into the two apartments.  We are renting the apartment at the back which is pink

Loungeroom looking up at the stairs which lead upstairs to the bedrooms 

This is me….loungeing around…waiting for everyone to get ready so that we can go out! 

Our view from the upstairs balcony.  Very very lovely and green

View of the left hand side, you can see the long driveway leading up to the gate.  Great security.  On the otherside of the tall fence which was extended (grey bits) while we were there….you can see some of the tricycads parked behind the trees. 

 

Night time view from the balcony…..it’s sooo beautiful.  The yellow star parols lead up to the barangay (council ?) hall.  And a few times a day, music will blare from the hall…which is nice because we don’t have a radio.  LOL 

Our little guard dog friend, Kim, who belongs to the caretaker Roy.  He is little….but he’s a great guard dog. He used to bark a lot at us for the first couple of days and then he got to know us and we fed him some fabulous food…so he got quite friendly with us. 

We have absolutely no wifi here….and there are a few internet café’s…but I haven’t been so I shall run through the next few days quickly.

The day after we arrived, MIL, myself and Joseph’s cousins went to a mall about half an hour away to get the things that we need. We had to buy floor mats, kitchen wipes, cling wrap, plates, cups, pillows, towels, things to clean the ‘kitchen’, bathrooms and toilets. We had to buy hangers and pegs, a big basin for Jeromel to bathe in and to wash clothes in. When it came down to buying groceries….I was brain dead. You have no idea how draining it is to shop in another country. In Australia, with everything, I know what brands to use and which to steer clear of….here I have no idea as well. So I had to ask about everything. Sometimes I just picked things with pretty packaging and Joseph’s cousin would look in my trolley and say….oh that’s no good…use this one. LOL So by the time I got to the groceries…..I had a huge headache….just tooo overwhelmed, too much to take in. Just bought a few bags of groceries to last us a few days until I can go again with Joseph. LOL…now another little tidbit about Philippines. Using credit cards here is quite rare here and it must have been a totally new experience for this checkout chick. So when I asked her if I could use credit card to pay, she replied it depends what it is. I told her it was a mastercard and she said she had to look at it. In my head I’m thinking….a mastercard is a mastercard, no mater what it looks like. It’s universal. So I hand it over and she looks at it with a very quizzical expression on her face. And she said….oh I haven’t seen this before, I am not sure if you can use this. I told her in very bad cebuano that it doesn’t matter what the card looks like…as long as the mastercard symbol is there….it’s a mastercard. She consulted two other people before letting me pay with the card. And they’re soooo not set up for credit cards that she had to walk to the supervisors office to swipe it. And naturally safety conscious me had to tail her. LOL

Jeromel and his little cousin Inday Ritchel.  They can’t communicate very well…but they sure do have a great time playing with each other!!  One of their favourite things to do was to draw on our disposable paper plates and turn them into pizzas. 

Our next few days in the Philippines was spent settling in, and doctors appointments for our laser eye surgery. We went in on Wednesday morning and had our assessment which took an hour and a half each. It was extremely thorough and omg this place is fabulous. As soon as we walked into this office, it was like we had left Philippines. The staff spoke English extremely well, were very patient, softly spoken, professional and explained every step to us. After our assessment, we went into see the surgeon who would be performing the procedure and his office is really something….it’s like it’s sooo futuristic….totally a gadget lover. To our delight, he did the calculations and we are all good candidates for the laser eye surgery.

With Joseph and myself because we’re both at the age where we need reading glasses, the surgeon suggested that we have one eye corrected for reading and the other for distance. It takes a while for the brain to learn to interpret different images from each eye but apparently for people at our certain fabulous age, doing it this way gives more lasting results. Surgery was set for 6 hours later at 7pm, so we decided to go to a nearby mall for a late lunch, catch a movie (Golden compass) and catch up with Joseph’s cousins who have just returned from Netherlands. BTW…the cinema was fabulous. It was huge, sooo modern….comparable to a vmax cinema in Australia. It was 120 pesos per person which is about A$3!!!!

We got back to the hospital at 6pm and they were running ahead of schedule so we were ushered in straight away. Jordan went first followed by myself and Joseph. We were prepped and donned our surgical gowns, our shoes were covered, our hair was covered, faces sterilized, anaesthetic drops were given as well as a 5mg dose of valium to help us relax. Jeromel was with us as well and he was really good and amused himself. The laser procedure was very straight forward, I was taken into the laser room, asked to lie down, more drops were given, eye was washed, prepped, and each eye only took about 2 mins!! It was over before I knew it and then it was back to the comfy chair to keep my eyes closed for half an hour then checked. We have to wear these safety like glasses for 2 weeks at night, we can’t get our eyes wet or go swimming. The goggles aren’t very flattering or comfortable, so for vanity’s sake, the next day we went out and bought some sunglasses. And I also bought a pair that are pretty much clearish to wear indoors. The day after the surgery, we had our post op check and Jordan and Joseph’s are fine but my right eye cornea is a little wrinkled….as in the flap has moved a bit…so I had to go back into the surgical room to get my eye flushed and get the flap straightened and then a contact lens was put in to keep the cornea wrinkle free. That was removed the day after (which was yesterday).

So….results. Jordan now has 20/20 vision and is rapt with the results. Joseph and I are still getting used to both eyes seeing differently, so some things are a bit hazy for us. Simple things like looking at the mobile phone or this laptop is a bit challenging but I know that it takes a while for the brain to learn. I am extremely pleased with the results. I can see distance well and although I am still wearing these clearish sunglasses to protect the eyes from dust and to prevent me rubbing my eyes accidentally, I totally have no regrets. Totally highly recommend this surgeon and this surgery to anyone who is not happy wearing glasses. The surgery cost us each 40,000 pesos which is about $1200 which is very cheap compared to the $4K it would cost to get it done in Australia. So pretty much you can have a holiday and get eye surgery done. LOL

Pic of us and our Surgeon who did the Laser Eye Surgery for us. I’m still wearing my protective glasses….wish I wasn’t though! Can photoshop fix this? Anyone?

Yesterday we went to SM Mall and the kids had a fabulous time there. They have a huge kids play area which is like timezone on a huge scale. There are heaps of arcade games, computer games, carousels and rides and dodgem cars and all oh soooo cheap!!! It’s 6pesos for a token which is like 20cents. We also had 4 of Joseph’s nieces and nephews with us, so they all had a ball and got lots of tickets which they exchanged for prizes and lollies. The kids were there for HOURS with the 200 pesos we gave them each.

Photos of our fabulous lunch at the SM Food court…all soo cheap, fresh and tasty!!!

Seaweed salad – very very unusual seaweed with bubbles on the stems…..they’re so tasty when they pop in your mouth as you bite on it. Dressed simply with calamansi lime juice, some red onions and tomatoes. When it’s not dressed, you simply dip it in some palm vinegar and yum!

Another type of seaweed salad. This kind of seaweed has a more of a crunch on it…very refreshing. Again simply dressed with some calamansi lime juice and green tomato.

One of our favourites which I also make at home. It’s eggplant which has been grilled whole until the skin is blackened…let it cool then just pull the skin off…..flatten it slightly, dip in beaten egg and then pan fried. Eggplant omelette I suppose?

A Filipino favourite Leche Flan- their version of creme caramel except it’s steamed instead of baked. Yummy…..this one was tasty but not very well made because there were steam holes in the leche flan.

There are two kinds of meats on skewers here….there are two chicken bbq skewers and the round one is actually like a chorizo – sweet cured pork mince.

Fresh Lumpiah – or fresh spring rolls. A huge favourite with Filipinos. Very very tasty!

After lunch, we met Joseph’s sister Ying Ying and her daughter Dana for the very first time.

Another tidbit about the Philippines, you can buy fireworks….not just little firecrackers, but real fireworks….just from roadside stalls and from shopping centres. So of course….my man had to buy some for new years eve. I got a king size sheet set for 1250 pesos which is like A$40! I’ve just sent it to the laundry place this morning so will see the results after it has been washed. We’ve hired a maid to work part time for us while we are here. She does the cleaning and some handwashing and runs errands for us. Of course this house doesn’t have a clothes line so we’re using a laundry service in town for most of our clothes…..cost? 30 pesos per kilo of washing. I sent a huge bag the other day and it only cost me about A$7. It comes back smelling great and folded up very neatly. Wish there was such a service in Australia!!!

Today, we’ve finally set up the gas cooktop that someone has kindly lent us so that the helper can do some cooking for us….then of course realized that we have no pots or cooking utensils. So we’ve bought some cooking utensils and borrowed a pot. The other day we realized we had all these fruits, but no knife…..and all these can foods but no can opener. LOL….seriously had lots of laughs.

 

Day 7 – Manila

After a leisurely start to the day, we decided to go to Mall of Asia which is the largest and most modern mall in Manila. It is not very far from the hotel, so the 12 of us hopped into 3 cabs which the hotel hailed for us. What we learnt is….

• most taxis in Philippines don’t have meters, the cab drivers set a price based on who you are and where you are going. When we hopped out, the cab drivers charged each of the cabs 300pesos which is just under A$10. We paid it then learnt that it was waaaay over priced. It should have only been just over 100pesos. We got ripped off badly and chalked it down to a lesson learnt. The Mall of Asia is fabulous….sooo huge and absolutely gorgeous.
• 

• People here carry firearms…..yah…bit scary. At all the shopping centres, security guards check you. Males go in one side and get patted down. Females get their bags searched.
• Krispy Kreme and Starbucks are here!!!! Soooo rapt over the starbucks!! I didn’t have one as I was a bit hot, but went in to check out to see if they have giftcards. When I left Australia, I bought my Melbourne and Sydney giftcards hoping to collect one from each starbucks that I visit in each city. Sadly, they don’t have giftcards.
• Getting used to the currency is a bit of a learning curve, we went to the Hypermarket (supermarket) and bought a basket full of groceries…cereal, milk, bread, some fruit etc and I nearly fainted when the checkout girl pointed her finger to the total…..1560….wtf was the first thought into my head!! Then I remembered it was pesos. Tee hee-
• Filipino notes are all the same size. 1000, 500, 200, 100, 50 & 20 pesos are notes. Coins are 25c, 1, 5 and 10 pesos.
• Learnt that although the money changer gives you 1000 notes, not many little shops that you try to buy drinks and snacks from can change 1000 peso notes. Tee hee-
• tipping is quite the norm here. Hotel staff bend over backwards to help you in the hope of getting tips. Their daily wage is quite small and they rely on tips to make ends meet.-
• Manila smells. You get a mixture of pollution, food, dirt, urine, smells. It’s quite an assault on the nose!!!-
• No Filipino uses their indicators. It’s like indicators are totally optional. Car lanes are totally optional too. It’s like the lines on the road don’t mean anything….like it’s just there to decorate the road! Cars jump and push into your lane. They beep their horn when they want to cut in front of you. It’s totally crazy!!! I swear, you would find a 50 year old rust bucket and the indicator would be in perfect working order and the horn would be totally dead!!!
• Crossing big streets here is like having a death wish. There are hardly any pedestrian crossings…so you just have to chance it to cross the road…you truly don’t know if cars are going to slow down for you or run you over without batting an eyelash. The only thing to do is find another group of people who are going to cross and get on the side of them….so you at least have some buffer from the oncoming cars. hehehe….human shield!
• Our lunch today was fabulous. We chanced upon an Inasal restaurant which is basically filipino bbq. It’s a very clean fast food place with air conditioning…..just like mcdonalds except they sell bbq pork, fish and chicken with rice wrapped in banana leaves. We had to try them all. The fish was fabulous. The fish is a traditional filipino fish called Bangus which is a milk fish and is usually very very very boney. Somehow, somewhere, someone has the patience of a saint and has butterflied the fish removed all the bones!!! It is then marinated and charcoal grilled to perfection and then served with a big bowl of kalamansi limes. I’m salivating while typing this…it was that good.
• Then not wanting to get ripped off again, while waiting in the taxi queue, we were talking about how to approach the taxi drivers for a fixed fare to get back to the hotel when I spotted a whole row of vans and a big group of drivers just hanging around. We weren’t sure if they were waiting for their owners….so we sent Stella to ask and she came back and happily told us that one was for rent and that the driver would drive us back to the hotel for 350pesos. yah….350 pesos for 12 people…compared to the 900 we paid to get to the mall!!We got back to the hotel mid afternoon and rested our weary legs and waited for all the food to digest…then before we knew it…..it was dinner time and we decided to go for a walk to a restaurant called Aristocrats which Stella said did fabulous Filipino food in family restaurant. She knew it was off Roxas ave and I had seen it on the way back from the Mall of Asia….so we set off for a walk. Little did we know it was going to be a long 2km trek….only the promise of fabulous filipino food kept us going!! When we got there…it was soooo worth it. The Sinigang, Crispy Pata and Crispy squid are some of my favourites. With bellies full of heavenly food, On the way home, we decided to cross the road at a pedestrian crossing….well….it was a zebra crossing……of course, white lines on the road don’t mean anything to drivers. They still barrelled down the road!! So we played a dangerous game of jeopardy crossing the road….hehehe and it was soo worth it because the other side of the road is waterfront and if I ignored the smell, I could almost pretend I was in St Kilda walking along The Esplanade! Everyone enjoyed walking off the food especially Jeromel who kept asking us to take photos of him. Jordan and Jarryd are especially surprised that the weather is sooo nice. It’s not overly hot or humid. It rains almost everyday and the breeze is lovely and cool (but it smells!).

• On the way back, we stopped at the 7-11 near us. Yup!!! Not to eat but to get a few essentials. Hehehe…my first time in there and it was such an eye opener!!!
• Learnt a few more things: – You can get sachets of just about anything in the Philippines. I’m talking about small sachets of obvious things like coffee, tea, cereal, but also small sachets of shampoo, fabric softner, toothpaste (yes it comes in sachets), gel, deodorant etc.- Alcohol is sold in 7-11 and it is sooo cheap. A can of San Miguel beer is 28 pesos….a can of soft drink is 25 pesos. Yah, alcohol is about the same price as soft drink!!! Vodka and whiskey is very cheap too….about A$10 for a 500ml bottle!!! Jarryd told me later that he was offered a sampling of Baileys which he of course accepted (naughty boy!!)….and he had a really good laugh when I innocently asked if the sampling was in a sachet!
• Mammoth post. Leave a comment if you’ve made it this far!!

Day 6 – Singapore Manila

We got the counter and the lady there serving told us that due to a F-up by Cebu Pacific, the flight was grossly overbooked. Apparently we were told that their booking system lets them keep accepting bookings for the same flight even though it is full. So they didn’t have 6 seats for us. WTF???? I bought these tickets back in August!! YES AUGUST!!! I was probably the first one to buy tickets and because our queue progressed soooo slowly (ie the girl’s processing speed for each passenger is sooooo slow) we missed out on our flight. So I asked, when the next flight direct to cebu was……we were told Friday…..WTF???? We made up some white lie about needing to be at an appointment at 9am in Cebu hoping that would work….it didn’t. All they could offer us was a flight to Manila and then a connecting flight from Manila to Cebu. This is another disaster waiting to happen because from the time we land to the time the next flight takes off to Cebu there was a gap of an hour. It doesn’t take an idiot to calculate that more than one f-ing hour is required for 6 people need to go through customs, collect luggage, move from the international terminal to the domestic terminal, check in and board the next plane. And because it’s F-ing Cebu Pacific, they probably overbooked all their flights!!!We had no choice but to accept the manila flight or risk being stranded till Friday!

Then the customer services officer who I shall nickname Dickhead decided to make a bad situation worse by looking at my passport and saying that with a Brunei passport, I would need a visa to enter Philippines. Since it was past midnigh and my patience was already sooo stretched, I informed him as politely as I could that I don’t need a visa. Then he got on the phone and phoned someone at the Manila airport who apparently told him that I did need one. At which stage I started to doubt myself and made a call to my father who confirmed no visa needed. Then I rang my sister who hopped online and checked out the Philippine embassy website and confirmed that as my stay was under 21 days, no visa was required. I relayed the information to Dickhead who didn’t believe me and told me that he would not let me board any flight headed to the Philippines as the airlines would have to pay a fine. At which stage I got quite rude and told him that I would deal with it if it came to that at the airport but I was 100% sure I didn’t need a visa. Dickhead stood firm at which stage, I started demanding his name, his duty manager’s name, the check in girl’s name and the name of the man he spoke to at the manila airport …..which must have rattled him a bit because he went to speak to his manager and came back to inform me that if I signed a waiver form absolving the airlines of any penalty, I could fly. It took Dickhead a good 15 mins to find the f-ing forms which I signed and when I asked for a copy, I was told that I didn’t need one. Can you imagine me at this stage???? I was ready to leap over the counter and stab him with any blunt object I could find!!! I nearly yelled out that he was getting me to sign a legal and binding document full of spelling mistakes and I had every right to a copy. Dickhead got the useless check in girl to make a photocopy for me.

By this time, Jeromel had fallen asleep on the check in luggage conveyor belt, Jordan, Jarryd and MIL were sitting down on a few luggage conveyors as they were not allowed to go far from the counter. Everyone was sooo tired and hungry by this stage. By the time we were issued with our boarding passes, we had to run in to catch our flight to find a huge queue waiting to get on. The plane was grossly full and there was so much hand luggage that by the time we got on board….we were right at the front of the plane in row 1…..our overhead compartments had been filled. So we put our hand luggage in front of us. Then we were informed that our hand luggage had to go in the over head compartment by a rude air stewardess ….wrong move woman…..wrong f-ing move to mess with a very irate customer. We demanded she empty OUR over head compartment so that we can put our luggage there. One look at our faces and she did as she was told. Very smart.

After the plane took off…the air stewardesses started getting the food cart ready and forgot to serve us….whether it was deliberate or by accident, we didn’t care….we were thirsty, hungry and not in any mood to be messed with. Arriving at Manila, thank goodness, everything went well. No questions about my passport or lack of visa, no problems with luggage. On the flight over, DH and I decided that we could not put ourselves through another flight….so we would stay on in Manila for a few days to rest before going to Cebu. So we got got a couple of rooms at the Rosas Garden Hotel, got here very quickly, ate our complimentary breakfast and washed our faces and got into pjs and collapsed into bed. In the evening, we decided to walk to Robinsons Mall to get some dinner and omg…what an eye opener for the boys…..the smell, the dirt, the street people, the kids sleeping on the sidewalk, the skimpy bar girls trying to solicit customers, the roadside stalls cooking food that was unrecognisable. Truly culture shock!! By the time we got to Robinsons mall and went to the food court, our appetites had disappeared and we finally ate a small dinner at a Japanese restaurant. Yah….you read right….first dinner in Manila and we ate Japanese food. Tooo tired to even remember to bring the camera, so no pics to share with you…and totally no regrets about that either.

That night, Joseph’s cousins flew in from Cebu to holiday with us in Manila for a few days.

Day 5 – Brunei & Singapore

Pretty sad day today…..only had a few hours with the family before we had to leave. It was a mad flurry of packing, chatting, eating, playing with Shania and more packing. Before long, it was 10.30am and time to get the cars loaded up with luggage and people and head off to the airport. Luckily we live so close to the airport! Jen and Javier showed up at the airport to say goodbye to us as well so it was good to get in a good cuddle and play with both babies. They are both sooo adorable. It was sooo sad to say goodbye to Dad, my sister and Shania. Going to miss them so much. Wish I didn’t have to leave but then on the other hand, eager for the next adventure to start.

We got into Singapore at 2pm and it was pouring and quite cool. We had to check our luggage out as our next flight wasn’t till midnight. We left the luggage at the left luggage section and then hopped on the bus to go to Parkway Parade to while away a few hours until the restaurant opened. LOL….ok…you can all roll your eyes!!! Our mission….or maybe I should say MY mission this time in Singapore was to have Chilli Crab at Jumbo seafood restaurant. LOL….research was done on the internet….found a location close to the airport with a shopping centre close by. This whole trip was orchestrated around Chilli crab!! Hehehe….anyways, the kids enjoyed Parkway Parade. Jordan headed straight to borders and stayed there the 2 hours we shopped. We didn’t buy much, mostly browsing, but I took Mich’s advice and got fresh pretzels ….yummo!!!

Before long, our tummies were rumbling and we took a couple of cabs to the Eastcoast seafood centre and headed into Jumbo. The place was already quite full and it was nice to dine in an alfresco setting overlooking the water. We ordered one chillli crab, scallop yam rings, squid stuffed yu tiao and cereal prawns. OMG…everything was divine and yes, I took photos….and yes…will share them one day….sooon!! Jeromel tried a few of the scallop yam rings and squid stuffed yu tiao and one cereal prawns….and then threw it all up…all over the chair and a bit on the floor. None on himself which I was very grateful for. Something musn’t have agreed with his stomach. We panicked thinking there was some peanut in his food and dosed him with some zyrtec and his puffer….thank god he didn’t have any trouble breathing.

Then it was back to the airport to collect our luggage and had a brief break to freshen up before taking the shuttle bus to the budget terminal to catch our Cebu pacific flight to Cebu. When we got to the terminal…it was packed …..all these Filipinos heading home for Christmas laden with heaps of luggage. There were two queues for our flight and our queue progressed sooo slowly. An hour later, when we got to the counter….disaster struck!!!

Day 4 – Brunei

Still haven’t had time to load any pics yet and we’ve taken so many!!! hehehe…after reading through all the fabulous comments on my blog about everything we’ve eaten…..Joseph and I have decided that we are going to change the name of our blog…..from ‘Where the heck are we now?’ to ‘Eating our way around the world’….lol…truly is a gastronomic round the world trip. And Mich….I am sooo not weighing myself….on holidays….no scales…that’s my excuse. LOL

Day 4 in Brunei we started off early…..Dad invited us to breakfast….at 8am….so we were pleasantly surprised to be taken to SD Cafe which is one of our fav haunts….which we tried to go to on our first day but they were fully booked. We had a lovely breakfast of Indian flat bread which we dipped in tiny bowls of either curry dahl or chicken curry. So a flat bread and a tiny bowl of dipping curry costs…..B$1.50. YUP!!!!

Then MIL, Jeromel and I got dropped off at the mall to get some Ben 10 toys for Jess’s son. Mission accomplished there very quickly and then I went to the scrapping shop in the Mall called Shabby Chic. OMG…love the store…it’s all white and sooo gorgeous. It was done by my BIL’s company….totally want to live there. Lots to see and had to hold myself back from buying things…but in the end I caved in and bought some adhesive…just regular 26m tombow tape runner. They only had 3 refills so I bought the lot.By then, it was lunch time and we went for the one thing….the one thing that is my absolute all time favourite. Yam (taro) ring with stirfry inside…it’s called a Yam basket and Dad also ordered a few more dishes…but I only had eyes for this gorgeous Yam ring and glared at anyone to managed to spin the lazy susan and grab a piece of it. LOL After that, we came home for a bit of a rest and a play with Shania. My aunty also dropped around for a visit which was really nice. then it started pouring……when it rains here…it really rains….and continued raining heavily for a few hours….so Joseph and I decided to go out and get some takeaway for dinner. The boys requested for Ideal chicken which is like a sweet roasted chicken which usually comes with garlic rice. Yes!!! in Brunei….instead of getting chips with your fastfood meal…..you usually get rice. So whether you order fried chicken, roast chicken …you get rice. A bit of balance! Shania and her parents went off to a dinner party and they got back just after 9pm and Shania went to bed and Joseph, Shawn, my sister, Jeromel and myself went to a Bruneian scrappers house. Jasmin runs a scrapping business from home…and walking into her house….was WOW. Such a huge area and such a huge stash of scrapping stuff and tools galore. I think my husband now has a new appreciation of how little stuff I have. LOL It was sooo great to finally meet Jasmin and Jessie who I chat with quite often on msn. Jasmin took some pics so I’ll be able to share them one day. By the time we left Jasmin’s it was nearly midnight!! Joseph and I stayed up till about 1.30am to pack for our departure the following day.

Day 3 – Brunei

Breakfast this morning was at one of our most favourite breakfast places. It’s a bakery cafe called Jin Chiew where they serve hot bread and other yummies. We ordered lots and lots and lots of our favourite things….

My Teh Tarik – milk tea….sooo yummy!

Jarryd enjoying his Milo Peng – or rather….cold Milo with ice in it. Love the photo!

Now this beauty is one of the most fabulous invention…it’s called Roti Kahwin or marriage bread….It’s Kaya (coconut jam) and a slice of butter between toasted bread. Now everywhere else that I’ve ordered it….in Singapore and Malaysia…they make it with just plain sliced bread. Here in Brunei…in Jin Chiew…they make it using yellow egg bread…doubly delicious.

A thick slab of yellow egg bread done ala french toast. LOL

This is my sister’s favourite…..Fresh rice noodles with their secret sauce with crispy sliced fish fillets sprinkled lightly with sesame seeds and spring onion.

Curry puffs….not the best in Brunei…but they come to the table piping hot from the oven. Passable….I like my curry puffs with lots of potato in them…these ones were heavy in meat…but it was still wolfed down.

Now this…..is a favourite with the boys…..it’s simple….we make this in Australia for a weekend brunch. Yellow egg bread with omelette and ketchup in the middle. Not tomato sauce…it has to be ketchup and it has to be yellow egg bread.

Then my sister took us on a sightseeing tour of Brunei for my mother in law’s benefit as it is her first time to Brunei.

Kampong Ayer or water village. There are entire villages on the Brunei river. Communities….houses, hospitals, schools, stores, petrol stations etc

In the background is the Omar Ali Saifuddin Mosque. The buildings on either side are shopping malls.

Before long it was lunchtime and we headed to have Steamed chicken and chicken rice at Thien Thien which has been famous for their signature dish since I was a little girl.

Then off to do a bit of shopping at a couple of shopping centres before coming home for a short rest after which Shawn (BIL), MIL, Joseph and I headed to the Fish market to splurge on prawns, cockles, crabs, fish and lobster prawns.

We dropped off the food at Shawn’s mother’s place and then went to the Empire hotel for a photo shoot session …..which finished at around 7pm

Totally love this photo……the inside of the Empire Hotel.

when we went back to Shawn’s mother’s place to find that they had cooked all the food and we had our seafood feast – cockles (steamed and fried), soy sauce lobster prawns, steamed prawns, steamed fish, tomato crab and chilli crab. There was also a spicy veg salad, stirfried baby ferns, soy sauce pork and sweet corn soup. OMG….sooo much food! Quite a few of my sister & bil’s friends came to help with the food as well and even then, there was still sooo much left over. We didn’t leave till close to midnight!!!

It’s now 1.30am and I’m blogging away so that I don’t fall behind!!! Still having trouble uploading pics…so pics will be updated later on as it is just too late for me to work it out now and the mac battery is close to running out! Nite Nite!!

Day 2 – Brunei

We had a very slow and leisurely start to the day….hung out around the house and played with Shania until it was time for the year old Miss Social butterfly to go to a party.

Dad took us out to Gadong as Joseph had to go to the ahem software shop (hehe…that means the shop that sells pirated software…amazingly enough…he only bought 1!!) The rest of us went to The Mall which is a pretty big shopping centre which is very much like Chadstone. To Jeromel’s delight…there was heaps and heaps of Ben 10 stuff and I bought him a lunch bag and a Ben10 shirt. To our surprise, we bumped into my nephew Edward and niece Yvonne who were there with some friends doing a yoyo performance on centre stage. It was a fabulous performance and Jeromel got a fabulous yoyo from Edward too. We only had a very short time there and I didn’t make it to the scrapping shop there…must go there before I leave as they placed an order for some Crop for Kids embellishments. Not long after we arrived home, Jen, Jeff and their gorgeous baby Javier came over to visit for a short while. For dinner, we went out to have Soto which is a beef noodle soup. Sooo delish!!! On the way home, we stopped off at the night market to get some fruits and managed to get some of my favourite Tarap which is similar to a jackfruit, some bananas, star fruit and mangosteen. However, we didn’t eat any when we got home as we were all very very full from dinner.

Photo of Jordan’s purchase at the Tamu (night market) – the most amazingly coloured marble cake.  I seriously have not seen marble cake this brightly or elaborately coloured before….but it tasted absolutely delish!!

Singapore Airlines A380

OMG….imagine the joy when we finally boarded our flight to find out that we got to ride in the new Singapore Airlines A380 plane. This plane is massive….the first and business class seats have sooo much room and it converts to an actual bed!!! We were all very envious and we thought that SQ were very mean to make us walk down the whole length of the plane to marvel at all it’s glory to find out that economy class is still very much the same. hehehe….nah….there is a bit more room, foot rests….and we still have our own screens to choose what movies or tv shows we want to watch and this time more games as well and you can even do word processing etc on it too. Just not on the internet…tee hee. Fabulous plane. We arrived in Singapore at around 5am and had 4 hours to wander around their gorgeous airport before we had to board our 9am flight to Brunei during which time, I found a post office to mail a small package off and check emails…do a bit of shopping and then headed to the food court and had dosai, wonton noodles and prawn noodles (har mee). yes..we shared. The Christmas display at Changi Airport Terminal 2 is just gorgeous…so we had to stop by and take some photos.

And then of course….I had to stop by and take some photos of the Orchid Garden…..

It was fabulous to finally meet sweet gorgeous Shania and sooo good to have my sister with me again. We came home and surprised Dad. Hehehe…it was well worth it keeping this trip a surprise for him as he’s totally over the moon having us all here.

Day 1 – Brunei

Arrived in Brunei at around 11.30am and we were met at the airport by my sister, bil – Shawn and the gorgeous Shania. Home is only about 3 mins from the airport, so we came home and I was just about to send Jeromel out of the car to knock on Dad’s door when my sister beeped the horn. Dad came out and got a very very pleasant surprise!!! Then it was off to one of our fav noodle restaurants for lunch. Had my grass jelly drink and yummy wonton kolo mee – egg noodles tossed in yummy mixture soy sauce, fried onions and other yummy things with some wonton. Then it was home to hang out and unpack and have showers to freshen up and by the time it was 7pm, we all decided we were hungry enough to eat again….so we decided to go to have roti which is a flat indian bread which is usually served with a small bowl of curry to dip the flat bread into. We ended up having roti norbi, roti prata, roti kertas, mee goreng, beef soup, and nasi lemak!!! Ok…we shared!! Jeromel was sooo jet lagged he crashed just after he ate dinner…while we were still at the restaurant. We came home and chatted and by 10pm….we decided to go out and have some satay!! LOL…never stop eating and talking!!! My sister & her hubby and Joseph and myself went for a short drive to a place near us and had chicken and beef satays, Roti John, and teh tarik!! Omg..can’t believe that in less than 12 hours in Brunei, I have managed to cross off some of my very very long list of things we must eat in Brunei!!! LOL

Hello world!

Join us as we travel around the world!!!

Travellers:

Rowena (MIL), Joseph, Ruey, Jordan, Jarryd & Jeromel

We are going to:

Brunei, Singapore, Philippines (Manila & Cebu), Hawaii, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, New York, Dubai and then home again.

During which…we will take 16 flights!!

Will we stay sane?  Will we lose any luggage?  Will we get lost?  Will we survive?

Stay tuned….