*04/03/09, Friday – Head out to HK. Left work early that day to take public transportation with Henry to EWR but Henry got himself locked out of the apartment so I headed back home and we took the taxi instead. We got to the airport on time but the airplane did not. I believe we were delayed for three hours because of weather problems. The plane couldn’t land so it circled around but when it could land, it ran out of gas so it headed off somewhere else and we had to wait until they refueled before we could depart from EWR. Henry and I spent this time starting to watch the first few episodes of Lost. We were glad we started to watch this show before we got on the plane. Didn’t know it started with a plane crash!

We ended up landing in HK four hours late. We missed our connecting flight. Unfortunately, we flew in with Continental but our connecting flight was Cebu Pacific. Cebu Pacific had cheaper rates but they suck when it comes to dealing with unexpected things like this. I got on the phone with them to make a reservation but it took forever and I got charged like $50 on my credit card for just the time I was on the phone with them from HK. I had to rebook the flight and we got into a ton of crap with them before and after the trip. Don’t know if it was worth it. The only thing they’ve got going for them besides cheaper fares is that they have their own terminal and its easier for my parents to pick us up from there.

*04/04/09, Saturday – We spent most of Saturday flying to the other side of the world. Then we slept in the HK airport. We only got about two hours of sleep. It was fun having an empty airport as our playground for a brief moment in time.

*04/05/09, Sunday – It was a big sigh of relief to see my parents when we finally found each other at the terminal. Finally, our long arduous journey was over. We didn’t have time to go to Divisoria so we stopped by the eyeglasses shop to order my transition lenses. Then we headed home to eat lunch. After eating, Henry and I presented my family with gifts: Sean got his laptop (they requested and bought it) and Skullcandy headphones from Henry and me, Nikki got a Sansa Clip MP3 player which she enjoyed and used a lot (she put music in before heading out to tagaytay highlands), Mom and Dad got an iPod Touch (Dad was hogging and using the ipod touch a lot so it was definitely a good gift for him but I hope Mom gets to partake in that gift too =p). After that, we showed, rested and packed. Then we headed to Tagaytay Highlands. It was such a nice relaxing start to our vacation, especially after our long journey here. We went bowling. I need to work on my game. Here were our scores = Game 1: Mom (78), Dad (102), Sean (51), Me (65), Henry (113), Nikki (79); Game 2: Mom (72), Dad (88), Sean (59), Me (92), Henry (95), Nikki (101). Note that they had night bowling for game 2 and had lights off except for some disco balls and music was playing. Oh yeah and we kept having problems with our lanes since the pins kept getting stuck. Later we ate dinner. Took a nap thanks to food coma + jetlag.

Later at around 11pm, I got my first ever massage. It wasn’t as bad as I had thought. It was comforting to have Henry there. I kept asking a ton of questions and it was nice to have him there beside me. We had a couples massage and both picked the combination massage (shiatsu and some other thing). The type that works on sore muscles. It felt like a body reboot. I wasn’t completely relaxed since it was my first time but I do think it’s important to do that stuff about once a year just to reset the body and fix the sore muscles. I still much prefer getting a massage from Henry rather than a stranger. I don’t think I can feel completely comfortable otherwise. Oh yeah and they recommended Aroma Therapy as newbie massage. I am so glad I didn’t get that. Its supposed to be the boring, relaxing, do nothing, smell weird stuff type of massage. I wasn’t bored. In fact, the massage hurt at times. But you don’t really appreciate the massage until its over. Then you realize that the muscles are as relaxed as it can be. I also found out I tense up a lot and I had a ton of knots in my muscles. I gotta learn how to relax. Mom got a massage too and it was cool that she had our company this time as she frequently likes to get massages at the Highlands but the rest of our family (previously including me) isn’t into that stuff.

*04/06/09, Monday – Had lunch at The Highlander Steakhouse. Good food. Had dessert at Geraldine’s Soda Fountain where I got a taste of Ube Ice Cream again from my childhood and Choc Nut Ice Cream which tasted like a candy thing I liked. We headed out in the afternoon. Got back to Manila and had dinner at this chinese/filipino fusion restaurant called Solihiya. Headed home after that and rested.

*04/07/09, Tuesday – Henry was scheduled to fly out from Manila to Hong Kong this day. To get the most out of his stay in the Philippines, we squeezed out as much shopping as we could before he left. We did make it to Divisoria in the morning. Then we went to SM after. Henry and I managed to get a lot of stuff and I gained an appreciation for the Divisoria prices. Divisoria was in the Chinatown in Manila so Henry got to see that. It was funny when it came to bargaining since we tried to get Mom to do most of the talking since I have an accent and suck at talking in full Tagalog and Henry cant speak a word of it. We tried to stay quiet but it was obvious especially for Henry that he wasn’t a local. His Chinese did help out a bit as he managed to converse with the store owners and bargain in Mandarin. It was still difficult for him though as most of them were Cantonese speakers. After the shopping spree, we stopped by home to grab Henrys stuff and sent Henry off at the airport without a hitch.

Mom and I went to the salon afterward to get my hair done. I had my hair done in January but I figured that it was worth getting it done in the Philippines since it was so cheap anyway. I got it re-dyed and re-cut. I couldn’t make up my mind about how to dye my hair so I left it up to the hairdresser. I was hoping for a deep, rich brown color with a tinge of redness to it as I had at one point before. She suggested a brown highlight mixed with a red highlight. I thought the colors she picked were way too bold but she said the mixing of the two would make it look good. I figured, eh whatever, its just hair. If it goes wrong I could just re-dye it. I told her I trusted her so we went for it.

It took forever and just like the last time I was in the Philippines, she got distracted in the middle of doing my hair and attended to another customer. She finally got back to me and hurried to wrap up. They got this weird octopus looking red heat lamp thing with multiple bulbs facing my head instead of a regular hair dryer. It was supposed to make the process go faster. Uh huh. I was supposed to get an oil treatment that was supposed to make my hair texture better. They said I needed it to keep the color in as well. But it was closing time by the time they finished and they wanted me to go back there. I didn’t think it was worth it.

I had fun because I could chat with mom and hang out but I thought the service was poor. On top of that, we found that the hairdresser was also distracted that day because her purse or wallet was stolen and she complained about it for quite a bit that mom and I worried her head wasn’t all there and perhaps that was affecting her service and judgment. When they first showed me my hair under the light, the red really stood out. I laughed at myself and thought it looked interesting. It was definitely not the look I was going for but whatever. They helped mom feel better about the colors by turning the glaring light off and leaving the backlight so it showed my hair looking more normal. Mom said she liked my hair in the dark. haha.

When we got home, Nikki didn’t notice my hair at all. Dad did and was proud of himself for that but they didn’t have shocked expressions or anything that Mom and I expected from them. I guess the colors weren’t so apparent when the light isn’t right on it. Later on when I washed my hair, the color was coming off on the towel so yeah I’m definitely not going back there =P.

That night, Nikki was looking for a book from my childhood that mom and dad kept and through her search I saw some old baby-sitters club books I used to read. After much searching, they finally found it. It was a book I made in the fifth grade as a collection of myths, jokes, prayers, etc. I don’t remember making it but it was cool having something from my elementary school days. Having erased all my memories from that period of my life (I threw my journal and pictures away because I wanted to forget it), I had forgotten everything and it was nice to hold on to bits and pieces of memory from back then. I also looked through a bunch of old pictures of me and my old baby book. Got nostalgic.

*04/08/09, Wednesday – Mom, Nikki and I spent this day shopping at SM and Rockwell. Nikki got a tankini. I got some bras, got my glasses, got Henry’s pants which he left to get altered. We A good bulk of my purchases this day was actually getting Team Manila t-shirt souvenirs for my coworkers. I got Mom and Nikki to help me try to fit the shirt design to my coworkers work or personalities. It took a while but I was pleased with the outcome. I even got Henry, Helen and myself Team Manila shirts as well. Nikki just tempted me with the Suman shirt hanging in front of me so I went ahead and got it. I got Henry a Tinikling shirt to match his dance hobby. That night, we got ready and packed for Hong Kong. I had been sleeping early/on time so I conked out early and woke up early the next day for our flight.