adventures in the south pacific pt. 1
my trip halfway ’round the world begins in southern california. i flew in to Long Beach after work on Thursday and got the chance to spend sometime with some friends. i partied it up a bit in West Hollywood with Wes on Friday, and Saturday had an amazing time at the Angels game with Missa and the crew. we tailgated it in the parking lot and spent most of the game being drunken fools with cameras and foot-long hot dogs. to be followed by Guitar Hero and more beer at Missa’s new pimped out pad. as i got home the next morning, it was off to the airport.
LAX was a crazy mess. Northwest Airlines had this long line that was out the door and down two or three airline check-ins. it didn’t even look like a line. it looked like a crowd of people waiting to get in. we went in and i asked one of the workers from NWA and she just pointed out the door and said that’s where the line is. after much confusion, my mom and i finally went outside and stood at the very end. it wasn’t long after, that another NWA worker came through the line and separated us into two somewhat decent looking lines based on the correct flights. it’s a good thing we went out there and stood at the end, because not long after we did, the line nearly doubled behind us.
finally after what felt like forever, but in reality was about an hour and a half, the line inched our way up to the check in counter. we printed out boarding passes, checked in our baggage, and headed off to our gate where our plane was already boarding. thankfully, it wasn’t long until we were on the plane and taking off.
the flight wasn’t so bad. i was under the impression that we were gonna fly first class. my uncle works for a cruise line and said he was going to upgrade our tickets, but since it’s peak traveling season and the upgrade would make us “chance passengers”, meaning there would be a chance we wouldn’t get on a flight, we just stuck with our original reservations. i was a little disappointed because i never flew first class before and was looking forward to it. it would’ve helped us skip a lot of those lines at the airport. but once we were actually on the plane it wasn’t so bad.
i had plenty of viewing options with my laptop and my ipod. so i watched a lot of battlestar galactica and rent before the batteries died. i noticed in the bathroom there was an outlet, but my power adapters were in the bag i checked. i didn’t even get to watch the in-flight movies. my view of the screen was contructed by the heads of the passengers in front of me. but it didn’t matter, i probably wouldn’t have liked those movies anyway. i don’t even remember what was on. i did get most of my trip entertained by my laptop and ipod. and then i slept for a lot of it too.
it was about half way through the flight that i started feening real bad for a cigarette. that’s usually when my body shuts down and wants to sleep. so i slept a lot. well tried to. i kept waking up, so it was like i took a lot of little naps. the food was okay too. i found that i couldn’t really eat a lot. i felt a sharp pain in my stomach the instant i got full. so it was good to not be hungry all the time, but uncomfortable because i felt full after i’d have eaten.
pandemonium and confusion once again got to us when we got to tokyo. it took me a little bit to find our gate and which way to go. plus, i was consumed with finding the smoking room. i tried to find it first, but my mom insisted on finding the gate first, rightfully so. but when you’re feenin for the nicodemon, you can’t really think straight. it wasn’t long until we found the gate, found the smoking room, and were back on a plane, headed 4 hours to Manila.
after more lines at immigration and the baggage claim, we met the aunt and uncle and headed off to her house in Quezon City. culture shock set in as we drove in and out of traffic. the way people drive her is insanity! no one stays within lines, people are constantly weaving in and out in front of each other. when a left turn light goes on, people will make left turns from all lanes. it’s crazy! i thought i was a pretty good defensive and offensive driver on the freeways of L.A., but this…. this i don’t think i can handle. i’d rather not drive here. here, i don’t mind being a passenger at all.
i’m still adjusting to the time change here. my clocks all say SF/LA time. i had lost a day coming here. what was supposed to be early monday morning for me, was really monday night here. and it was time for bedtime. i ended up staying up until 4:30 in the morning watching battlestar. (i know i still can’t get enough of that show.) but what else could i do? everyone was asleep and i couldn’t. i ended up sleeping for about an hour and a half and woke up with the sun.
we had breakfast and it wasn’t long until we were off to Tagaytay, a place where they built a complex for the Pope, but it was abandoned and now is just a tourist spot. i took lots of pictures and they shopped a little at the gift stands they had. we had lunch at this place not to far from there, and had some great filipino food. i guess it’s always better in the country it comes from.
after a long crazy drive back, we stopped at this mall, which reminds me a lot of like an in-door swap meet. my mom told me not to bring too much clothes, since we’ll buy most of it here. for the most part, the clothes are pretty cheap, but i think i still went for the more expensive stuff. i have particular tastes i guess. but i got some stuff that i’m happy about. i was starting to run out of clothes before having an opportunity to wash them, so i’m glad we went out and bought some stuff.
did i mention that the cigarettes here are pretty cheap? they’re 74 pesos for a pack, which is really $1.50 in the states. i’m still not fully grasping how much money i actually have and how much it’s actually worth. but, i’m sure there will be more shopping opportunities later.
aside from the food being really good here, my aunt and my mom really want me to come back obese. either that or they want me to die from too much food. it’s all we do here. we eat. and we eat some more. they keep offering me soda, and all i really want is a nice big glass of ice water. i don’t nearly drink enough water here. the weather is so hot and humid, and i’m constantly sweating. i think i’m getting dehydrated. so i’m trying to drink as much water as i can today. it’s wednesday afternoon right now, i took me a couple days to actually get used to sleeping and waking up. and i think being dehydrated wasn’t really helping. i’m finally starting to feel like myself again. i still have that issue of eating too much and feeling a sharp stomach pain when i’m full and feeling full after. but i think it’s going away. or at least i wonder if it has anything to do with the food having less preservatives and chemicals than american food. so my body is naturally telling me to stop eating when i’m full.
this morning was pretty relaxed. my mom had a pedicure and a manicure here at the house. she headed off to get a facial with my aunts and when they get back, we’re supposed to head off to another shopping center. apparently they’ll have a lot of electronics there. i wonder what i’ll find and i wonder if i’ll come back with anything. no matter though. i’m not really here to shop. just to sight-see and tag along. i’m kind of enjoying the sight-seeing. it’s just amazing to be half-way around the world, you kind of don’t realize how ridiculous you might look to the locals with your camera out every five seconds. plus, i’m getting some good shots, so it’s all worth it. i even shot up the starbucks we were at. working at one for so long, i was in awe at seeing the prices in a different currency and seeing the different drink and pastry options they had. i should have totally tried out some of the different frappuccinos or a pastry instead of getting my usual soy latte. (although, i really am trying to watch what i eat here. i know being on vacation is a license to splurge with calories, but i just can’t afford to. i can enjoy my time here in other ways. - that’s not to say that i’m going to turn down food or desserts, i just can’t eat a whole lot right now.)
to be continued in part two.
