A home away from home

Finally getting to do this before the rush of school happens..which will be tomorrow because I have a full day!

From the middle of July and up until last week, my sister and I went back home to the Philippines. We loved it. I miss it. I miss a whole lot of it. So many nose and ears bleeding. I miss my Tita Fe, who is super everywhere. “Girlaloooooos, kumain na kayoooo. Hoyyy!” We felt really welcomed and loved.

Not everything was great though. Going back to my Inang’s house was tough. Before this trip, Orani was my most favorite place to be. It sucked so badly. My cousin didn’t even want us there. It was so so sad. 

We went everywhere. Baguio, Kalibo, Boracay, Davao City, Tagaytay, Cavite. So many beautiful places. But there was still much, much more to see.

All in all, this trip was good. My Tito Jimmy (my daddy’s twin bro) and Tita Tita and Kuya Mark, treated us so well. And all we could do was say thank you. Multiple times. 

I took a lot of pictures. A lot of them were blurry, inside-of-the-car shots. And, my camera needs to be cleaned. :(

I’ll start off with pictures on the first day we arrived.

I think it was about 20 more minutes until we landed. Philippines, here we go!

NAIA- waiting on the runway because another plane was in our parking stall. I swear it was a really, really, really long flight.

Mang Inasal, its hard not to look at huge advertisements like this one. “Unli” and “bottomless” are super popular there.  Waiting on our 3 balikbayan boxes and jasmine’s luggage! Haha, my sister and I were the last ones out because we went in to brush our teeth. I didnt know if you were supposed to tip the people waiting outside the bathroom or not. Because when I walked out, they said something about “not giving.”

We walked out of the airport and this type of hot, sticky air greeted us. And the smell of the philippines smelt so familiar. I guess it was then it hit us that we were not in Hawaii anymore. 

This is the second picture I took after being in Tito Eric’s car for about 5 minutes. We thought that my dad’s cousin, Tito Ronnie was going to pick us up. No, it was my Tita Fe’s bf. We were like, “Tito Ronnie?…Oh, Tito Eric.” Oops. Haha, and my dad called my Tita Fe and we talked to him and he asked who picked us up. I said “someone else” because my dad didn’t know about Tito Eric up until that moment. Haha, and they were together for almost about a year now. 

An art piece right next to NAIA. Tito Eric said its an eyesore.

I didnt try the Durian one, but Piaya is good. Tito Jimmy brought it from Davao.

First McDo we’ve seen. 

Shakey’s! After this trip, I think I’ll be done with shakey’s for a while.

Traffic. TRAFFIC. I think we were heading down EDSA. Or going towards it. But do you see this? People are not even in the lanes! 

I wish I got a better shot. :(  But this is the billboard that is actually alive! Where the Fukien tea plants absorbs the surrounding CO2!

McDo! 25 pesos lang! About 60 cents! Can you believe they deliver?!

More traffic. It goes on and on. 

Filipinos always find a way. 

Unli!

“Art of People Power” statues. This commemorates the 25th anniversary of the fall of President Marcos’ dictatorship. 

Passed by the MegaMall. It looked bigger last time. Idk. I guess it was because I was smaller back then. Haha. They are adding a parking structure on the side of it. OK, irrrrelevant.

While in the car Tita Fe gave us this to look at. “Here, this was 10 years ago.” Ew. Yep, 10 years ago. Finally coming back home. Right now, Ate Joann (yellow) already has a baby. Jennica, the one next to my sister just passed her board exam :) Tita Fe looks so much younger now. This picture makes her look so old. Jason looks so small. Karen (toddler) is such a teenager. No joke. 

Ouch!

Reminded me of Ketch-up.

Mmm, Dunkin’ Donuts. We didn’t buy ANY throughout our whole trip.

Mmm, Derek Ramsay. 

Stop over! Getting some Treats! Actually, we didnt get treats. 

We got Jollibee! I got fries. LOOK how cheap the fries are! Sissy got a chicken burger thingy. 

Tita Fe and Tito Eric got the Yum! Burgers. Ehhh, its not so Yum! though.

Tita Fe also bought Chicharon. I swear to you, this is the best Chicharon EVER. So very, very, very yummy.

I didn’t eat Bibingka from here, but when I did buy it was bland. It smells really good though!

Subway! Sulit subs! I wouldnt mind paying 69 pesos for a 6 inch. 

After not having this for about 7 months and 21 days, I finally gave in.

Starbucks!

About $6.70!

Super Popular Flavor

Frapp Flavors. No Chai Frapp though. Coffee Jelly is really popular. Idk why.

About $2.60 per slice.

Pickynic outside of starbucks.

Jas’ chicken Yum! You know, it tasted good the first time. But after that. Bleh.

Back on the road again.

This is on the way home via SCTEX (Subic Clark Tarlac Expressway). You can drive really fast here. Except under the bridges because of the so called radar-ing.

First view of Mt. Arayat. 

Passing by a huge storm cloud.

It was maybe about an hour and 45 minutes more till we got to the house. It was such a long flight and long commuting. But it sucked because my sister and I woke up the next day super early. One day down, 27 more to go.  

(Source: jusss)