Philippines 2008!!!

woo hoo!!!! it's only 3 days away... gonna be packing the pasalubong luggage today. did some PI shopping yesterday. picked up some swimming trunks, some shirts, got maris a ds lite (he he he)...

anyways, sorry xop about not being able to meet up. maris has a friend going there as well and we might try to meet up with her. but i'm slowly getting antsy... 2 days of job stuff and then i'll be on a plane to manila. we flying cathay pacific. 15 hours straight from JFK to hong kong. then another 1.5 hour flight from hong kong to manila. cannot wait, cannot wait.

t - imma try to play that course. kinda steep on the greens fees though... but, we'll see... club rentals and shoe rentals aren't too bad. maris even said, "hey maybe i can play while we're out there?".... yea boy!!! maybe we'll do a day of golf sandwiched in between some scuba diving and some beach fun... ha ha ha...

woo hoo!!!

FreshBukoJuice wrote:woo hoo!!!! it's only 3 days away... gonna be packing the pasalubong luggage today. did some PI shopping yesterday. picked up some swimming trunks, some shirts, got maris a ds lite (he he he)...

anyways, sorry xop about not being able to meet up. maris has a friend going there as well and we might try to meet up with her. but i'm slowly getting antsy... 2 days of job stuff and then i'll be on a plane to manila. we flying cathay pacific. 15 hours straight from JFK to hong kong. then another 1.5 hour flight from hong kong to manila. cannot wait, cannot wait.

t - imma try to play that course. kinda steep on the greens fees though... but, we'll see... club rentals and shoe rentals aren't too bad. maris even said, "hey maybe i can play while we're out there?".... yea boy!!! maybe we'll do a day of golf sandwiched in between some scuba diving and some beach fun... ha ha ha...

woo hoo!!!

may seem expensive but consider you will prolly have a caddy and a perfectly manicured course..hehe

Nice Buks....i see it finally hit you (the fact that your'e leaving for the motherland)!! by the way, which color DS lite did you get for Maris? also, which games did you get for her too?? all i can say is i wish i were stowing away with you in your luggage.....not that i'd be able to fit, but you know what i mean. so i take it you are off from work on Wednesday. what time do you leave from JFK?? is it the infamous 11pm-12am flights??? dude, you told me before but i forgot what you said, when was the last time you were in the PI??

you have a very short 3 days now........and as for me, i have a very long month left before i breathe in that infamous/peculiar PI aroma. dude, by the way......you hear about that typhoon that hit Manila?? peeps are swimming around in the streets for gods sake!!!!! i hope it all resides by the time you get there.....cus it looked pretty bad on the news.

yea i saw that isht... there was actually a ferry that was travelling from manila to cebu that capsized. 749 people. they found 33 and confirmed 6 dead. so they still got 700+ to find. craziness...!!!

hopefully it's not too flooded in our area... would be a bummer if it was...

so Buks, what time is your flight on Wed?? and you said you havent been there since 2005 was it?? if so, you must be really excited to go, cus thats a long ass time ago!!!!

flight is on wednesday at 2 PM from JFK. 15 hours straight to hong kong. ha ha ha...

ahh shizzat, 2pm aint bad at all. i thought most flights for the PI departed close to midnight?? i guess i was wrong. so, in our time, you should be in Manila by early Thursday morning (about 6am or so)??

i'll be touching down in manila at 11:55 Thursday night. he he he... woo hoo!!!

lucky bastard, at this time 3 days from now.....you'll be in the motherland, breathing in its smog-filled air, enjoying the good food and good company (aka....family)!!! lucky bastard!!! you'll be enjoying the land where everything is cheaper, where you're the tallest/biggest person around, the place where everyone is polite and friendly (unlike here), the place where San Mig is in bountiful supply, the place where everyone stares at you for being american, the place where after you eat at a public place....you dont have to pick up after yourself, and ofcourse the place where you can eat rice at freggin McDonalds!!!! i am envious of you, my friend!!! please, please, let me stowe away with you dammit!!!!!!!!!

hey Buks, have a safe trip man. actually, i'm not even sure if you took today off, but if you managed to make it into work for one last day.............have a safe trip and have a gud time!!

yes xop, i'm actually still here at work... gotta tie up some loose ends... then i'm off... thanks man... you have a safe trip as well...

hey thanks man, try to post every now and then while you are in the motherland. i dont know if your family has a computer.......but as was my case, i had to hit up the local internet cafe's to e mail peeps (not that i had to, but i really wanted to). funny thing is, even though you are enjoying yourself on your getaway to the PI.........you'll still have a strong urge to log on to a computer and check your e mail, etc... anyway, have fun. and again, hopefully the remnants of the typhoon wont hinder your trip. damn, i wish i was leaving already too. one more month to go!!!

damn xop... you make it sound like we live in the boonies... yea, there are computers at my family's house. we also have a fridge and a TV. ha ha ha... but i probably won't be logging in to talk to you fools... ha ha ha... that'll be the furthest thing from my mind while on vacation (no disrespect)... ha ha ha...

aite boyz... i'm off to the motherland. gonna hit the beaches in boracay as well as olongapo. then going to try to get up to the banaue rice terraces. get my culture on. ha ha ha...

peace patis isdang buntis!!!

hey boyet.........dude, if you want me to bring anything to your folks just lemme know. pics of raffy, food, documents, ....anything, just lemme know. if you do have something....you've got a couple more weeks before i take off for the motherland. i'm sure we'll take the trip to see your folks regardless, so dont feel bad that we'll go out of our way to trek it up to your folks' hometown (sorry, forgot the name). Pritong, your brother's gonna be back in just a week!! dude, maybe its just me.....but, that seemed like a short trip. you got any plans of heading back yourself pritong??????????

i'll be trying to go at end of october.. sigh but i might not be able too since i won't have enough time but we shall see...

Buks.....been meaning to ask you, but keep forgetting. did you see any remnants of the typhoon when you arrived in Manila?? any flooding when you were there?? just wondering. I am leaving this week to Hawaii for a wedding...then its off to the PI. thank god the motherland is only 10 hours from Hawaii. looking forward to eating some good-ass food. gots 1 more day left of work (tomorrow nite).....then i leave early Thurs morning. by the way....that really sucked that some little China-boy was kicking your seat during your 15 hour plane ride...........you must've been thinking "just my f**king luck!"

nope... no remnants of the typhoon in manila... but we did see it when we went to boracay... have fun man!!! lucky bastard... i wish i was still there... already researching ways to make $$$ over there so i can move there. thinking of opening up a call center... so am asking around on how to do that isht...

3 words my friend, "PAPAYA CALAMANSI SHAKE"... that isht was the BLIZZOMB!!!!! off the HIZOOK!!!! try it my friend, try it... we had it at boracay. this one restaurant we just hung out at. italian restaurant owned by an italian. fucking food was awesome!!! who'da thunk real italian cuisine on a tropical beach setting... anyways, we hung out there for 3 days, on the second day, they ran out of papayas. i think we drunk all their papayas!!! i was having like 3 - 4 a day... and there was 10 of us... ha ha ha... they made some money off of us.

food? we tried sawa (python - adobo), pagi (stingray - bicol style) and usa (deer - tapa style). if you're in the manila area and wanna take a day trip, i suggest going to this place in laguna(?) called EXOTIK. that's the name of the restaurant... exotic cuisine.

have fun man...!!! we're actually already planning to go back there november 2010. marissa's cousin's wedding.... hopefully by then i'll have the dough to stay for good. ha ha ha...

but seriously, HAVE FUN!!!!

Nice Buks.........i'll be searching for that shake when i am in the PI. luckily, i'll be staying in Manila for one day en route to Bohol, plus one day en route back Stateside. so, there is a good chance that i'll find it in one place or another in Manila. i just hope they have it in places other than Boracay. so what else did you do over there?? what/where did you eat?? did you get a whiff of that PI peculiar odor once you stepped off the plane?? by the way, how much is the terminal fee nowadays (in US dollars)? sorry for all the questions....just curious. damn dude......2010?? thats a long time from now!!!

man we went everywhere. this is the first vacation where everyday we had something to do or someone to see. it was a brutal schedule. thanks to boracay and pundakit, we were able to relax.

yea, the shakes are better in the islands out of manila. hardly any in manila...

did i say 2010, i meant 2009. ha ha ha... we're probably going to postpone the honeymoon and just go to maris' cousin's wedding...

Marky mark.........when you stayed in your hotels in Manila or whatever other areas you were at (Boracay, etc...). did you pay a local rate for the hotel room??........or did you pay the "american" rate?? just wondering cus Kim and I are trying to work it out so we will pay the local rate. lemme know.

when we were in manila, we stayed with family... so local rate was FREE...

in boracay, we stayed at marissa's aunt's timeshare... so local rate was FREE...

in pundakit, we got the local rate of P2600 for 3 bedrooms... but that was outta the way prices...

not really sure how you can get the local rate. you'd need somebody out there to book it for you. that's the way you'll get the local rate. you can't call from here or email from here. you'd need to actually have someone there book the room for you...

also, here are the terminal fees:
international flights: P750
domestic flights from manila: P200
domestic flights back to manila: P50 (i think)

Nice. thanks for the info....it is very helpful especially the terminal fees. damn man.......$26 terminal fee for international flights??? kinda hefty!! its not really a problem for us to have someone over there book a room for us so we can get the local rate. so let me get this straight.........you paid 2600 pesos for all three bedrooms?? or was it per room?? dude, if it was for all three......that is ridiculously cheap!!! anyway, again......thanks for the info. atleast we know what to expect. by this time next week.........i'll be in the PI!!!!!!!

dammit russ i got 3 more months to go...