Philippine Trip 2017/2018

Hello Everyone! 

Happy New year and Merry Christmas!!

2018 is finally here and it's quite scary how 2017 has just whizzed by. I know I haven't updated in a while when I was in the Philippines. The wifi was so volatile that I couldn't even get my blogger to function right, let alone load up facebook or youtube on my laptop, so I decided to have that two weeks to myself, take a photo or video when I feel like it, and do a collective blogpost and travel vlog when I'm back! 

So I flew out with Dad, cuz Mum flew in before we did, like even before I flew to Japan!

I think this plane ride was somewhat manageable because it didn't feel as claustrophobic and it was smooth sailing in general and the staff were nice etc etc. Sad to say it was the complete opposite on the flight back, but that doesn't need any attention.

We reached our home at night!

Just to put it out there, I don't think all these photos are in proper order - it probably is 90% of the time. Apart from the festive celebrations, honestly, nothing really happened so I spent my time wandering about the house or somewhere else with my parents or just spent time being silly with my cousins. 

I think this will be more of a 'travel photo journal' type of post than anything? Haha.

Little kittens in our backyard~

And precious doggos in the garden!

Apparently, there's a rule in our area that requires us to have the dogs constantly chained. Basically, they aren't free to wander about which I think is just so sad because they need exercise and some freedom to run and play. Our dogs are chill but the neighbour's dog makes so much noise through the day it's really heartbreaking.

We're trying to clear this plot of land out and hopefully turn it into something great!

Yes, we did pop by a Chinese restaurant during the first week. It was pretty good though!

Everytime I head back there, I have to have corned beef!

I know it's available in Singapore but we don't eat beef at home to respect my Dad's religion, so mum and I only eat beef when we're outside! My eldest cousin always cooks for me when I go back to Philippines and I always ALWAYS ask him to cook this for me. It's hearty and just makes me feel very at home. 

Home cooked Pancit <3

Popped by the Thunderbird resort quite a bit during our trip!

The little ones!

Well, they aren't very little anymore but to me, they're still the little ones! My youngest cousin's 5 and the oldest just turned 29 in December!

I'd love to have a garden of my own one day too.

Apparently Shakey's is pretty decent there! Yummmm

Look at that evening sky~

Just FYI, these were all taken on different days at different places haha.

Managed to watch a Basketball game!

Two of my cousins play basketball and they were having their finals while I was around so of course, I had to watch it and cheer them on!

Also, it feels nice to live near the beach!

A morning snack at La Fayette! My eldest cousin works there.

My little nephew, he's just 6 months old~

This is the little 5-er!

Tricycle ride~

Some of the pets that my cousins have in their other house in a different area~

Prepping little christmas games for the kiddos!

We have a Karoke set at home which is bloody amazing!!!! 

Also, the festive season does allow you to make as much noise as you want (well, but I suppose you can't purposely cause a huge rukus) until ungodly hours so when the karoke was out we just went ballistic. Especially since we celebrated Christmas, my grandmother, eldest cousin and uncle's birthdays and New Year. It was pretty much felt like it was party after party at one point!

Brought the kiddies to Poro Baywalk!

I've never been there so it was pretty nice to experience something new. We didn't spend too much time there because there wasn't too much to see, but the kids sure had a lot of fun at the playground! 

More games!!

I realised that celebrations there are massive, they have games, endless food, lots of alcohol for us older 'kids' and the adults. Its all pretty crazy! Unfortunately, the sun did set earlier (at about 6ish) compared to Singapore, and we all played games into the night so I'm guessing most of my footage of the games would be super dark too ):

Yes, we drank so much..

A little floating restaurant~

So I'm not big on seafood, so I personally didn't particularly enjoy that meal, and the service was honestly terrible and the food took forever. Apparently, there was a miscom amongst the staff and we had been waiting for 45mins and were told our table was given away but mum remedied that situation pretty quick so we did get our table, but the food came mor ethna half an hour later lolol the waiting game was terrible. 

On the other hand, the scenery was great. 

Probably one of the bigger highlights of this trip: Pebble Beach at Luna

UGH IT'S SO PRETTY I LOVE IT

NEW YEARS!!!!

I was very careful at New Years to not overdrink because I had quite an episode with the gin during the birthday party (if you were wondering which one, it was a collective one..) and let's just say I'm not too keen on gin anymore. 

And then, we had to say goodbye.

Went to the beach with some of my cousins one last time!

Then came the teary goodbyes, and the long drive to the airport. 

Then I was home~

I realised that goodbyes there are terribly emotional, and I used to cry so hard and I couldn't stop crying even during the drive to the airport. I definitely told myself not to cry this time (I had eyeliner and everything haha I was so confident) but when one cousin starts crying mid-hug, everyone just starts to cry and it all gets incredibly emotional. 

It always hurts to say goodbye, but at least I know there's social media to connect us all now, though I don't know how they all get on social media with the wifi and general connection there being so volatile. In fact, I bought a data passport with my local telco but even then I only managed to get a 4G connection for an hour or so on a few occassions. Needless to say, my bill this month is going to be high because I've exceeded my data bundle since I couldn't really tap into the home wifi. 

Anyway, I hope you guys are having a great start to 2018 and that you guys are all geared up to reach your goals for 2018 and that you achieve them! I'll see you in my next blogpost! 

xx

Shayne