Back from MLA

I just got back from a week's vacation in Manila. Boy, it sure was raining out there! But notwithstanding the occasional flooded street that caused traffic jams, I liked the rainy weather and the umbrella-busting wind action. Sure beats the sticky heat that was the daily experience when I was there earlier in the year, in late Feb to early March, to be exact.

Ditching my usual Jetstar Asia for Philipppine Airlines this time around, I thought the baggage collection at the Ninoy Aquino Int'l Airport would be faster since the terminal only serves PAL flights. Wrong!

After breezing through immigration, my fellow passengers and I soon found ourselves stuck in baggage collection, jockeying for spots near the conveyor belts with passengers from a PAL flight from Japan. It seems that those who flew in from Japan have had to endure more than an hour's wait for their baggages by then, triggering loud exclamations of dismay from Singapore-arriving passengers. If an earlier flight had yet to fully empty its cargo, what more us?

Despite the huge numbers of Filipino workers coming and going through our airports, airport management apparently still does not have an efficient plan to make baggage collection smooth and fast, rain or shine. What will it take to make this people remotely interested in drastically reducing the long waiting time a traveller must endure to retrieve his bags and boxes? Hello, this isn't rocket science, Mr Airport Manager! Surely you can do something to fix this?!

I could only sigh. Welcome to the Philippines. What else is new?

Anyway, after an hour of waiting, spent quietly observing the people milling around me -- most distinctive of all being the ladies who obviously were 'cultural entertainers' in Japan (they all look alike somehow: slim with long, straightened hair, tight jeans and shirts, high heels, many clutching Louis Vuitton bags, a brash, defiant sort of confidence) -- I finally had my luggage. Yey!

My 7 days home were a whirl of activity, as most vacations are wont to be. I won't bore with details but suffice it to say that through my packed days there, I was also filing away in my heart new, warm memories of unconditional love and kinship from family and good friends.

Some thoughts that crossed my mind while there:

1) Any meal, any activity that involves family members is a chance to reconnect.

I am so happy that I was able to spend most days with my sickly mother. We went to the hospital for her check-up together, went to the malls, watched a movie, ate food that we both missed. All the while, we also talked, catching up on each other's lives. She told me about the recent weddings of my cousins, her various ailments, her recent trip to Cebu while I told her about my new life as a wife, apprised her about my job and plans.

I was also so happy to see and hug and cuddle my 2 nephews and 1 niece. They are growing up so fast, their antics multiplying by the day!

Spent time too with my siblings and my SIL and BIL who are like my own sister and brother to me now. These folks always make time to see me, take me around, do errands together. Bless their hearts. I miss them already.

2. I am truly so blessed to have great friends.

As I only had a week, I didn't call most of the usual suspects to schedule a lunch or dinner. I knew that I was going to be tied-up with trips to the hospital so just sent word to 3 ladies, to see if we could have a quick catch-up over coffee.

As it turned out, I got to have lunch with Weng in Saisaki on Tuesday and a couple of drinks with Hanabanana in Giligan's Malate on Wednesday.

The show stopper was a text from Malou saying that dinner had been set for Sat night at Mard's place.

Now, if you were invited to Mard's for dinner, please don't say no because the food she prepares with my other mates is just YUMMY!!! And boy, was it good that night -- we started off with some ulang tom yam soup (made from scratch, pls), pako salad (delicious. I gotta try to make it myself, I think I can live well with just that!) and then pritong lumpia and humungous, gigantic, gargantuan crabs!!! For sweets, we had a heavenly chocolate caramel cake.

Through all the munching and slurping and glogging, 6 batchmates and good friends exchanged news, joked about, planned, reminisced. We didn't part until it was 4.30am on the day of my return flight to SG.

(We missed you then Anna, Kathy, Jasmin, Jean and Alma. Let's all come home at the same time one day soon!)

On a lighter note,

I watched Sukob ni Kris Aquino. (Pls don't pelt me with rotten tomatoes. I knew I was in for at least an hour of Kris and her idea of acting, so I knew I was in for torture.) Anyway, the movie is really scary, not because the plot is scary, because it ain't. Kris didn't disappoint. Her acting is still scary. She only has one expression on her face, which to me looks like she's found out she has an STD again.

And may I know how come the idea of 'sukob sa kasal' now involves death, death, death and more deaths? From old wive's tales, someone who marries on the same year as another sibling only has financial bad luck to possibly contend with. Certainly not death!

Wow, ang jologs ko!