Day 11
Not much to say about today as most of it was spent on the bus. It was hard to say goodbye to everyone this morning but here I am back in Manila. I can’t believe my vacation is almost over and I can’t believe it’s only been about 10 days, it feels like I’ve been here for years. Got up this morning and had some tortong talong for breakfast as usual, then started the tedious chore of packing up. While we got ready to go, we went through the usual routine of taking a bunch of last minute pictures and saying our goodbyes to anyone who wouldn’t be coming with us. We had to carry our suitcases all the way to the bridge and it’s so frigging hot that by the time I got there I was just soaked with sweat so the wife’s sisters had to settle for business-like handshakes instead of the usual goodbye hugs. We loaded everything onto the tricycles and headed for Rosario to catch the bus. The wife went off with Luca to get some diapers and her mother went off to get some drinks and snacks for the bus ride and her father sat with the tricycle, leaving me standing at the bus stop watching over all the bags which was a little uncomfortable because every single person in the area was staring at me constantly. At one point an older woman walked up to me and started asking me something in Tagalog (or some other language) and even though she didn’t look disheveled or unkempt in any way, it seemed t ome that she was begging for money. I just told her I didn’t understand and she gave me a weird look and then sat down on the bench next to us talking to nobody in particular. A little while later the wife’s mother came by and the crazy lady saw her talking to me so she got up, walked over and started talking to her about who knows what. I don’t know what they were talking about but a couple times during the conversation I distinctly heard the wife’s mother say “In Jesus name…” so I figured I’d better stay out of it. Eventually the bus came by and we loaded all the bags in and got aboard. The ride was long but pretty comfortable. The bus was air conditioned and was so chilly that the wife’s parents, as well as the X Man and Luca, all wore jackets. For me, it was paradise. The ride went a good 5 hours or so but I could not sleep a lick as it was a good chance to see more of the country which I always enjoy, even if it is through a bus window. Just outside of Manila however, the skies opened up and it poured so hard that I couldn’t see a thing. For some reason the bus dropped us off at a different stop than everybody seemed to be expecting so we stood under a building awning in the pouring rain while we waited for Tita Conchita to make her way through the congested madness of the Manila traffic.
So here I am Tita Conchita and Tito Willy’s house in Manila (Quezon City to be exact) with visions of the beach and the provinces in my mind. The plan is for Conchita and Willy to spend the day tomorrow showing us around Manila which I’m really looking forward to but I have to admit that I really miss Pangasinan.
One interesting thing did happen during my last night at the wife's parents' house, or this morning I should say. I got up in the middle of the night, sometime around 2 or 3 am and I had to take a leak really bad so I stumbled to the bathroom, turned on the light, and as I was about to go in, sitting there on the wall near the floor was ANOTHER huge freaking spider. I turned around, shut the light off and went and pissed outside, although I did manage to get a picture of the bastard first.
So in case you’re keeping score, there were zero snakes but three huge, ugly spiders.
Click here for Day 12
Not much to say about today as most of it was spent on the bus. It was hard to say goodbye to everyone this morning but here I am back in Manila. I can’t believe my vacation is almost over and I can’t believe it’s only been about 10 days, it feels like I’ve been here for years. Got up this morning and had some tortong talong for breakfast as usual, then started the tedious chore of packing up. While we got ready to go, we went through the usual routine of taking a bunch of last minute pictures and saying our goodbyes to anyone who wouldn’t be coming with us. We had to carry our suitcases all the way to the bridge and it’s so frigging hot that by the time I got there I was just soaked with sweat so the wife’s sisters had to settle for business-like handshakes instead of the usual goodbye hugs. We loaded everything onto the tricycles and headed for Rosario to catch the bus. The wife went off with Luca to get some diapers and her mother went off to get some drinks and snacks for the bus ride and her father sat with the tricycle, leaving me standing at the bus stop watching over all the bags which was a little uncomfortable because every single person in the area was staring at me constantly. At one point an older woman walked up to me and started asking me something in Tagalog (or some other language) and even though she didn’t look disheveled or unkempt in any way, it seemed t ome that she was begging for money. I just told her I didn’t understand and she gave me a weird look and then sat down on the bench next to us talking to nobody in particular. A little while later the wife’s mother came by and the crazy lady saw her talking to me so she got up, walked over and started talking to her about who knows what. I don’t know what they were talking about but a couple times during the conversation I distinctly heard the wife’s mother say “In Jesus name…” so I figured I’d better stay out of it. Eventually the bus came by and we loaded all the bags in and got aboard. The ride was long but pretty comfortable. The bus was air conditioned and was so chilly that the wife’s parents, as well as the X Man and Luca, all wore jackets. For me, it was paradise. The ride went a good 5 hours or so but I could not sleep a lick as it was a good chance to see more of the country which I always enjoy, even if it is through a bus window. Just outside of Manila however, the skies opened up and it poured so hard that I couldn’t see a thing. For some reason the bus dropped us off at a different stop than everybody seemed to be expecting so we stood under a building awning in the pouring rain while we waited for Tita Conchita to make her way through the congested madness of the Manila traffic.
So here I am Tita Conchita and Tito Willy’s house in Manila (Quezon City to be exact) with visions of the beach and the provinces in my mind. The plan is for Conchita and Willy to spend the day tomorrow showing us around Manila which I’m really looking forward to but I have to admit that I really miss Pangasinan.
One interesting thing did happen during my last night at the wife's parents' house, or this morning I should say. I got up in the middle of the night, sometime around 2 or 3 am and I had to take a leak really bad so I stumbled to the bathroom, turned on the light, and as I was about to go in, sitting there on the wall near the floor was ANOTHER huge freaking spider. I turned around, shut the light off and went and pissed outside, although I did manage to get a picture of the bastard first.
So in case you’re keeping score, there were zero snakes but three huge, ugly spiders.
Click here for Day 12
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