Ground Zero

KB warned us that Saturday and Sunday would be the coldest days in our entire trip and his weather forecast proved to be accurate. During these days, the highest temperature was 5 degrees and it dipped to as low as zero degrees in the evening. My gaaaaad, it was freezing!

As mentioned in the last post, we decided to head back to Yuyuan since we were pressed for time during our first visit. We opted to have lunch at the World Famous Dimsum Restaurant located at the center of the Market. We weren't sure if that was just a description for the restaurant or its name was written in Shanghainese. Either way, the place turned out to be a treat! They had a variety of xiao long dim sum which I thoroughly enjoyed! My dad was also very happy because he found some pork siomai and hakaw -- low end dumplings according to our english speaking server. He was so frustrated with the xiao long bao! Lagi daw siyang napapaso! Heehee.




After lunch, we all parted ways. Cousins Inc. decided to spend the afternoon at the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum (SSTM), Samahang No Kids went to the Urban Planning Museum while the Oldies stayed at Yuyuan to indulge in a little retail therapy. The cab ride there was long and tedious. Just entertained ourselves by taking pictures of the busy streets and the huge and imposing structures. When we get to SSTM, we have to wait another hour as KB and family decide to take the train because they don't allow 4 adults plus one child in one cab. Hello! The 'adults' were aged 12 and 8! Oversized nga lang. Heehee.



Since so much time was wasted sa 'hintayan', we opted to just watch the 430pm showing at the IMAX theater instead of going around the SSTM. We were advised that two hours would not be enough to go around the whole area and so we wouldn't get our money's worth. Pero naman, yung movie, in Mandarin! Ano yon. Oh well, we might as well go along with the plan since we went all the way there na rin. Of course this did not seem to affect my two angels who were amused regardless of the chinese audio. After the movie, we made our way back to Nanjing for our 630pm appointment with the rest of the gang.


Since this would be our last stress-free dinner in the city, we opted for the buffet in the Tatler Restaurant at the JC Mandarin Hotel. To this family, buffet means eat until you can't breathe. Which is exactly what we did! Im sure nalito sa amin yung resto because even the kids were big eaters! They had to continously refill all the stations because parang dinaanan ng bagyo.

After dinner, the four of us crossed over to Plaza 66 to look around a bit and try to work out the calories we piled on. Plaza 66 is super high-end and you can go around the whole day without buying a thing. Ang mahal kasi! After our short stroll, we headed back to the hotel to get some sleep.

The 30th would be our last day here. As usual, we started at 11:00am na. We made our way to the Shanghai Uncle Restaurant as recommended by Dondi's HS pal and Shanghai resident Candy. I first caught a glimpse of the resto's ad in the cab we were riding. It looked a bit sleazy but open heart, open mind diba.

The place turned out to be the best restaurant we had eaten in! All the dishes we ordered were wiped out! We had noodles that looked like soba with little bits of chorizo sprinkled all over. It was also my first time to taste hamonado na duck (imagine duck jerkey). My dad also took a chance on boiled/braised pork. OMG. To die for. Melt in your mouth pork liempo--hard to explain. But my favorite dish was the shrimp wrapped in dory fish in black bean sauce. I wish I was one of those foodies who could eloquently describe a dish and its taste. But Im just your regular Joe and my kindergarten explanations will have to do. But you must, must try the Shanghai Uncle Restaurant while there. You will not be disappointed!

The rest of the afternoon was spent at the Westgate Mall on Nanjing Road. As mentioned, it was an extremely cold day and so we had to look for an indoor activity. This was also the only time we had to go shopping and buy something special for the kids. Believe it or not, I did not buy anything for myself. Nor did Reymond. We just bought remote control helicopters for the kids para lang masabi na may remembrance of Shanghai. It was just so cold (kahit indoors). It was difficult to enjoy the stores. Besides, hardly anything was on sale so we just saved our money. Dinner was just at the food court so that we could rush back to the hotel to pack up and catch our 12:30am flight to Manila.

To end our memorable holiday trip, KJ gets into a fistfight with a middle aged man at the airport, right before immigration. He, together with his children, my mom and her yaya get detained by the airport police. I was not around when the incident happened because I had to run to the restroom but as per the blow by blow account of the others in my group, nasingitan daw si KJ sa line and middle aged guy was talking down to him when he began to protest. Dahil bastos daw si middle aged man, binigyan daw niya. OMG. It was really a scary moment. I was so afraid to get stuck in this communist country where the term human rights is close to obsolete. Thankfully though, KJ had the sense to just swallow his pride and apologize to the parties concerned. We got delayed though for 40 minutes and everyone was giving us the evil eye when we entered the airplane. Oh well. Happy New Year nalang. What else could we say. We were just too happy to get on that plane and go home!

Ok ba? Ay naku. My family is never complete without any drama involved. So since nasa watchlist na kami sa Shanghai (heehee), I guess we'll have to settle for somewhere other than China next year. Abangan....

The Love Bus

It's not very difficult to get around the city because the taxis here are affordable and as long as you ask the concierge to write your intended destination in chinese characters, you will have no problem directing the driver to where you want to go. BUT since we were a group of 25, there was a degree of difficulty in gathering everyone and moving from one place to the next. Fortunately, our tour package comes with a half-day tour of Shanghai, complete with a nice warm bus and a very reliable tour guide in Alex.

Our first stop was the Jade Buddha Temple which is well, uhm, ahhh, ehhh --- just your regular temple. My newest discovery is that jade not only comes in green pala. Pwede rin ivory colored. They also had a reclining buddha --- but maybe just 1/100th the size of the more popular one in Bangkok. Look, look, snap, snap, struggle to get everyone back in the bus! Off to the Bund we go.



The most popular view of Shanghai you will see in all travel books and postcards is the view taken from the Bund. This area is the equivalent of our Roxas Boulevard and the Dhow Creek in Dubai. Accross the Bund, you will see the skyline of Shanghai with the Oriental Pearl Tower as its most prominent structure. Along the area, you will find restuaurants, coffee shops, benches to lounge on, people flying kites, food carts and vendors selling silly items such as the mutating pig. The toy is thrashed on the floor/wall/glass panel (dapat slippery surface) and instantly sticks like a blob. Afterwhich, it comes together again and in a few seconds, mutates from a blob back to a pig. Gets? Ay, very hard to describe but all the kids were amused! Lola Linda bought 7 mutating pigs for our 7 little rascals.

At this point, Dad is complaining that his head is already spinning due to extreme fatigue brought about by passing the lunch hour without eating. So off we go to the Tian Hao(?) Silk Worm Factory for our free lunch and tour around their premises. Its your usual tourist trap but I guess we are smarter now. You don't actually have to buy something! Lunch was not noteworthy nor was the factory and its goodies so I would rather not elaborate on it. The last stop for our tour was the Yuyuan Garden.



The Yuyuan Garden is a famous classical garden located in the Chinatown of Shanghai. Isn't that funny? Chinatown in China? Heniway, the garden was finished in 1577 by a government officer of the Ming Dynasty named Pan Yunduan. Yu in Chinese means pleasing and satisfying, and this garden was specially built for Pan's parents as a place for them to enjoy a tranquil and happy time in their old age.

The garden is located in the middle of the Yuyuan Market and it is a very busy place with hordes of people milling around. Alex was very strict with his instructions that we should stick together and that he would give us free time after the garden to explore the market. Obviously, the oldies did not listen to his plea. They were too busy negotiating with the street vendors that a trip to the garden that should've been over in 30 minutes stretched to an hour and a half. Ergo, no more free time for us.

While walking around the garden, Alessi decides to sit on a rock previously occupied by Yanna and Annika. Reymond had just put her down so he could rest his aching neck. In a blink of an eye, Alessi loses her balance and falls face first on a bed of rocks. OMG. I almost fainted when I saw the blood oozing from her lips. I was already bracing myself for the worst. Thankfully, after being checked by the 3 doctors in our group (naks), they were able to determine that her wound did not need stitches. But her lip was really swelling -- talo si Angelina. My poor baby. But then again, it could've been worse. So I'm just thankful it was nothing more than a lip wound.



Because of the deaf and disobedient oldies, we no longer had time to explore the market. Due to time constraints (the half day city tour had already stretched to 530pm!), we just decided to come back tom. to eat and explore the other side of Yuyuan.

Since we enjoyed our lunch yesterday, we opted to have dinner at the other branch of Meilongzhen along Nanjing Road. This particular branch was located in an old, authentic Chinese house so we give this resto 100 for ambiance. But the service--naku, poor! I consider myself patient compared to my parents and my brothers but even I was losing my temper with the very, very slow service. Ang bagal talaga. Duling na ang mga tao in between dishes. So my advice is, take the Meilongzhen at the Westgate Mall. Avoid the one on Nanjing Road at all costs!

We brought the kids back to the hotel and after dressing them down and depositing them to their lolas and yayas, the young ones decided to go 'templing' at Wujiang Road. This area is known for their street food and it caters more to the locals than to foreign visitors. Once again, we were demoted to pointing at food ordered by the surrounding table because NONE of the servers spoke english. Its a good thing this group is well versed in the art of sign language! Besides, Alex also provided us with a list of important words to remember (i.e. ice/cold=ping, etc.) so all we had to do was point to the food and to our list of words. We gave new meaning to the famous Filipino slang turo-turo!

After stuffing ourselves silly with food that only God knows where it came from, we made our journey back to Jin Chang. We were already dreaming of our dimsum lunch at Yuyuan tom.!

Lumpiang Shanghai

I did not find a single restaurant in this place serving my daughter's favorite lumpia. Instead I am greeted by the coldest weather I have ever experienced in my whole life! I had the bright idea of taking my family for our annual Christmas vacation to Shanghai without fully understanding the situation I was getting my entire clan into. As Maja would say, JUSKO. Shanghai was freezer temperature!

The good news is that we really got a good deal for this trip care of Cebu Pacific. Our airfare including accommodations, daily breakfast, airport transfers upon arrival and departure plus a city tour with a very able and learned tour guide cost us all but P16,000 buckeroos for each person. Beat that! If for that alone, this trip was well worth it.

We landed a little before midnight in the Paris of China. We are met by Alex -- a Shanghainese well-versed in the English language. We were so impressed by him! He brought us to the Jin Chang Hotel which would be our home for the next 5 days. Jin Chang is not 5-star! But it is clean, spacious and the staff could speak reasonably good english. In a land where hardly anyone can understand what you're saying, this is a very important consideration! Our daily breakfast though had much to be desired. If you want authentic food, then this is the hotel to go to! But if you are used to the typical omelettes, bacon, sausages, etc. then I suggest you order out the night before and then just save the meal for the next day. Heehee.










On our first day here, we head to Westgate Mall for lunch at the Meilongzhen Restaurant located at Level 6. My husband was dying of laughter because I initially told him we would be going to Gateway Mall. Ang layo naman daw ng Cubao from here! Ok, so Westgate pala! This mall is located on Nanjing Road--the equivalent of Nathan Road here. We chanced upon this restaurant while browsing thru the lonely planet book Paolo bought for Mom. We were treated to some great Shanghainese cuisine which consisted of basically your typical chinese food except it's less greasy and less prone to high blood! My newest discovery is their xiao long dim sum whose very unique feature is soup inside the dumpling. The others hated it and thought it was too messy to eat but I actually enjoyed it! Just be very careful though because the soup inside can burn! You just have to find a technique to it!


After lunch, KB directs us to their train system and we make our way to the Shanghai Ocean Aquarium. It is the biggest aquarium in Shanghai and reputed to be one of the most beautiful ones in the world. The Aquarium has a total built in area of 20, 500 square meters and it sits right beside the Oriental Pearl Tower. The kids had a blast! Ika nga ni Carlo, 'this is the best day of my life!' That boy is so sweet! I would recommend the SOA for anyone who will be visiting Shanghai with kids. Even a big kid like me couldn't help but be in awe of their exhibits!

But you know my family and we cannot have a vacation without any drama involved. KJ decides to hitch a ride back with us to the hotel since he got left behind looking for some USB cable wire he allegedly dropped inside the SOA. He obviously didn't find it in the 20,500 sq meter facility and so he kept muttering and cursing inside the cab for the whole ride. HASSLE. It didn't help too that we were travelling during the rush hour. What should have been a 20 minute cab ride that would typically cost 30 RMB stretched to close to an hour with double the fare! I was near tears!



We got back to the hotel barely in time to make our 630pm departure for the Chinese Acrobats show. This was a treat! Although it was at times bordering on freakish, it was entertaining nonetheless. They had the sisters with no bones, juggling hats, hoolahoop matrix, magicians, balancing on chairs, playground rollers, swinging in the air on a piece of cloth, going through hoops, etc, etc--man, these people did not stop moving for an hour and a half! The highlight of the evening was 4 crazy motorcycle riders inside a round metal cage going at each other's tail at what seemed like lightning quick speed! Grabeh! Sorry Gab, I was too busy watching the show that I forgot to press the REC button on my video cam! I'll try to see if my bro caught it on tape.

The show ended at 930pm and we were dog tired to go anywhere else. We were looking forward to our city tour tomorrow. Yipee! No more taxi cabs! At least for a day!

Giving Thanks

The four of us were supposed to fly to Dumaguete to celebrate my thirty-something birthday weekend. Instead, I spent my special day at the Asian Hospital looking over my daughter who was vomitting uncontrollably since Wednesday because of her stomach flu. Also on my special day, Senator Trillanes decides to throw me a surprise party at the 2nd floor of the Manila Peninsula. That day also happened to be the gloomiest, darkest, rainiest and most cloudy day of the year. But instead of dwelling on the negative aspect of that day, I am inspired by Mieke to come up with my list of things I am most thankful for. It comes almost 2 weeks after thanksgiving but it's never too late, right? So here goes....

1. Thank you God for making my daughter well. I was so frantic when I brought Annika to the hospital, asking the doctors and the nurses for details and explanations that in the midst of all the frenzy, I forgot to pray to God. So the minute Annika got discharged last Saturday, Reymond and I heard mass. The next day, we heard mass again but this time, we had Annika and Alessi with us. One should never underestimate the power of prayer. I don't think I could've gotten through this ordeal without the strength the Lord had given me. Thank you, thank you. I'm so thankful that I have Annika back home, healthy and safe.

2. Thank you to my BCBP prayer group who offered prayers for Annika. Strength in numbers, right? Ces, thanks for dropping by. You, Teena and Gel are the only 'girlfriends' of Reymond that I truly like and am not jealous of! Hahahahaha! Because I know you guys are genuine and I know that Reymond loves all three of you soooo much. As such, I consider you my girlfriends as well.

3. Thank you to Dr. Teena Magno who takes very good care of Annika. Teena, I dont know what I would've done without you. And what I love about Teena is.....whether she is in a good mood, bad mood, problematic, stressed also by other parents....her disposition never changes! Reymond and I love her to bits! We will forever be grateful to her for giving our children the very best medical attention.

4. Thank you to my family - the old one. They all gathered around me to give me the support I needed. It was evident when Annika was in the hospital but even on normal days and not so stressful days, they stand by me and help me whenever and wherever. I'm so proud to be part of a big and close-knit family! Even if there are times they are already hovering on being nosy (can also be described as being overyly curious about the affairs of others), I would not replace them for any other. Paolo, even if you're a dork because: a) you didn't know your godchild was in the hospital and b) you forgot my birthday, I still love you and you will always be our baby. Thanks guys! I love you all!

5. Thank you to my friends who sent their birthday greetings and also prayed for the speedy recovery of Annika. All the messages that came via text, facebook, friendster, multiply... thank you! I appreciate all your well wishes! Ria, thank you to you and Talia for taking time out to come and visit. Talia put a smile on Annika's face that day. Special mention to Jill who never stopped texting and calling me for the 3 days I was in the hospital. Jill, i remember what you wrote on my birthday card and I can't help but smile when I think of all the crazy and looney things we've been through...especially mommy matters! People say it's hard to find friends outside your childhood buddies but I think I've found one in Jill. I hope Cam and Annika grow up to be great friends....even if you transfer her to DLSZ! Never mind, neighbors pa rin!

6. Thank you to Alessi for making me smile with all her crazy antics. Example: when Cindy and Dondi asked her if she wanted to have breakfast in their house since she was alone (Reymond and I were at the hospital), she asked what their food was! Hahahahaha! Cindy was taken aback. She was merely expecting Alessi to accept her invitation. Hello, namili pa ng pagkain! Another example: at the hospital room while talking to Kuya Bunny who was wearing his white coat, she asked him why he was dressed as a doctor! Bwahahahahahaha! She's so 'ungas'! KB was super gigil with her. Lessi, we love you and Ate so much! Even if you're super kengkay.

7. Thank you to Reymond for being the best husband to me and the best father to our girls. He is unbelievably patient with me even if I say the bitchiest things, he tries his best not to make patol even when I become the rudest person when under extreme stress and he never ever loses his composure even when I turn into a witch because I can't vent my frustrations on any other person except him. I love him so much. He doesn't have a multiply account nor a friendster account nor a facebook account nor does he ever read my blog unless I force him to but I hope that in one way or the other, he realizes how much I truly, truly love him.

8. Thank you GOD for all my blessings. I hope that your renewed presence in my life will allow me to have a closer relationship with you. I now realize that I must lift everything up to you. You are my savior, my redeemer, my source of strength, my provider, my main man and reason for my being. Thank you for your presence in my life. I hope that by praising you, I am able to bring people closer to you.

Hey guys, if I didn't mention your name particularly, it doesn't mean I love you any less. Thank you all for your presence in my life. In one way or the other, you all inspire me to become a better person. Thank you. Thank you.

CHI-CHI and NAJAH

Joel Daradar is one of our proud alums, a 2001 BS Tourism graduate now based in Abu Dhabi. He works for the National Health Insurance agency of the UAE government and AVV Jr. (aka Dad) teases him always as being the highest paid PATTS Alum in the UAE (they met last February on a previous trip he had with MFV). He was the one tasked with organizing our graduates and what a great job he did!

With about 4 days notice, he was able to organize thirty one of our graduates for dinner at the Chi-chi's restaurant at the Le Meridien Hotel. Of the 31 who attended, 30 were men with only one lady braving the company of some very loud and boisterous young men. They had so much fun chatting and reminiscing about their college days in the old PATTS campus. While they were browsing through our business profile, they were surprised to see the transformation from the old campus at Domestic Road to the new campus at Paranaque City. They were all saying that with the little facilities they had at the PATTS campus, they were able to make it all the way to the Middle East. Now that our students have better facilities, there is no excuse na raw for them not to exceed what the graduates in the UAE have achieved. Ahhhh, may yabang din pala ang mga PATTSeans na 'to! Heehee.

What made the occassion extra special was that Joel even prepared a short program, a plaque of appreciation and an enormous bouquet of flowers for MFV. She was visibly touched and was at a loss for words ( a miracle for MFV! ) while surrounded by her 'children'. Nakakatuwa. The party ended at 10pm with everyone promising to keep the PATTS spirit alive in Abu Dhabi. Thank you to Joel and to the rest of the PATTS contingent there. You made us truly proud of PATTS!

We didn't have time to remain in our sentimental mode because as soon as we got into the hotel that evening, we had to pack na and prepare our luggages for check out at 9am the next day. We would check out of the hotel and just deposit our luggages at the concierge before heading off to the Abu Dhabi National Exhibition Center (ADNEC) for NAJAH at 10am.

As soon as we get into the cab headed for ADNEC, MFV protests because naiwan daw yung kanyang 'something precious' in the luggage and baka daw mawala sa storage. Grudgingly, we headed back to the hotel to recover her 'something precious'. Midway through the taxi ride, the driver tells us that we have to pay double the meter fare because we had to make 2 trips. We told him it didn't make a difference and that we should just follow the meter. Apparently irked, he left us on the roadside in the middle of nowhere where there were about two dozen questionable men 'hanging out'. Even if we were scared out of our wits, we continued to remain steadfast in our fight to get the right fare! In fact, we were refused by two other cabs (and even let down by 1 of them after just a few meters) because we refused to pay double the meter fare. I told nga MFV, can you just imagine the headline? And all because we refused to give a few more dirhams! Finally, after 10 minutes, our prayers were answered. Our 4th cab driver got us to NAJAH by 11:00am. FINALLY!!!!



The NAJAH is indeed very impressive and world-class. Most of the schools on exhibit there are big universities in the United States and Europe who have their satellite campuses in Abu Dhabi. There were also a few universities from Malaysia hoping to attract some locals to study in their country. There were none from the Philippines. Of course my number one apprehension was how on earth I could compete with these universities who already had their satellite campuses there. Another was even if studying in the Philippines would definitely cost half of what they would spend in their country, how can I convince them that our country was safe when Abu Dhabi and Dubai are both virtually crime-free. Oh well. These were some of the things to consider. But that would come much later. Should we decide to join the 2nd exhibit, our contingent would be back in this venue by Oct 19-21 of 2008. Something to consider....



By 5pm, we were on the road headed for Dubai to make our 10pm flight to Bangkok. We were so tired, our feet were aching and our heads were spinning from all the activities! But at the end of the day, we were grinning from ear to ear. What an adventure we had! I'm so thankful to have experienced the Middle East and I will cherish this always. I hope I can share it though with Reymond and the girls someday. Until then, Dubai and Abu Dhabi will be 'tattoed on my mind'......

Abu Dhabi Doo

Abu Dhabi is a much gentler and calmer city compared to Dubai and yet I find myself very drawn to its old school charm and laid back trance. We arrived in the city in the late afternoon and checked in immediately at the International Rotana Inn (IRI) at the corner of Salaam and Hamdan. It is crucial to memorize this as there are about 5 other Rotana hotels in the immediate vicinity of our hotel. The IRI is a 3-star hotel and it was the only one available when i booked on the internet a month before our trip. Most of the hotels were booked due to the GETEX exhibition that would be held from Nov. 1-3 at the Beach Rotana Hotel and Towers. Thankfully though, it turned out to be a nice, clean hotel and I heaved a sigh of relief upon entering our room. It may not have been a 5-star hotel but it was twenty times better than the Ramee in Dubai (sorry, talagang hindi ko makalimutan!). The highlight of the day was dinner at Soba Restaurant at the Le Royal Meridien Hotel (you must also be particular because there is a Le Meridien Hotel -- walang Royal!). The host, servers and even the chef was Filipino. Even if Mom made a comment that their tempura tasted like Camaron Rebosado, they were still very cheerful and the chef even prepared a sumptuous dessert to compliment our yummy dinner. The walk back to IRI was also very refreshing. It prepared us well for the NIGHTMARE AT BEACH ROTANA.






After a good night sleep, we got dressed in our suits and headed for the GETEX exhibition. As we got down the cab, the doorman greeted us with a wide smile up until the time we asked him where the exhibition was. In his most optomistic tone, he said HE WASN'T SURE but he believes that the GETEX was cancelled. I let out a nervous chuckle and asked him to get the Customer Relations Officer so that we could get the directions to the exhibition hall. When Katia, the Hotel Manager herself, came out to see us, we knew we were in trouble.

Apparently, the GETEX was CANCELLED the week before and the organizers failed to inform us of this very important development. When Katia got the GETEX organizer on the phone, she admonished me for not checking their website a week before the event so that I would know that the exhibit was cancelled. Hello, the week before, nasa Dubai na ako!!!!! I was visibly upset and was trying my darndest best not to scream and curse my lungs out. I asked her why she didn't email me since I was already in their mailing list, she reasoned that since I was only a visitor AND NOT AN ACTUAL exhibitor, I didn't deserve the courtesy of an email. Can I say it? P_ _ _NG_ _A NIYA! I travelled halfway around the world and she could not even offer me an apology (kahit ba galing sa ilong eh).

Thank God for people like Eldwin Dormitorio. Eldwin works as the Employee Development Coordinator of the Beach Rotana and seeing how distraught we were, Katia felt that Eldwin would be the best person to talk to (or even bitch to) since he was a fellow kabayan. Eldwin explained to us that the GETEX was cancelled at the very last minute because they couldn't get a permit from the government. NAJAH, another organizer, was able to get the exclusive rights to host the educational exhibit and it was going to be held right after GETEX. No way was NAJAH going to allow GETEX to spoil their party! So even if the GETEX organizer was bitchy to me, I now understand that she too was under extreme pressure having to cancel her event only the week before. We ended our short meeting with Eldwin assuring me that he would get all the details for NAJAH and make sure that we would be able to attend the event. This was of course important to us because.......eh yun nga yung whole point of this trip diba?

The rest of the day was spent at the Abu Dhabi Mall, just adjacent to the Beach Rotana. My mind was just blank while accompanying Mom on her round of 5 shops for the whole day (super bagal). Ang sama talaga ng loob ko. I couldn't breathe sa sobrang disappointment. I was left thinking....if I had known about this maybe 1 or 2 days before we were about to board that Emirates flight, would it have changed anything? Was I obliged to check their website a day or two before we left even if my communications with the GETEX organizer began 6 months prior to the event? Talagang I couldn't get it out of my head. Until 6pm that day, I was pissed as hell.

As soon as we got in IRI after the mall, Eldwin calls me and assures me that our trip will not go to waste. He facilitates an invitation for us to attend the NAJAH exhibit on Nov. 4, the day of our departure. It's a good thing we leave at 10:00pm that evening. We would have the day to attend NAJAH then head straight for the Dubai airport after.




To celebrate, we decided to have dinner at the Emirates Palace. As per MFV, the EP is more impressive than the Burj and a hundred times classier. I, of course, can't say the same as I did not have the opportunity to enter the Burj. But let me just tell you, the EP is beeyootipool. Huge, Imposing, Lavish, Grand --- naku, all the superlatives you can think of. You feel so small being inside the EP.

As we were looking through the menus of the restaurants there, we were floored by their prices! Pero kailangan panindigan na diba? So we settled on the Le Vendome Brasserie and their international buffet. OMG. Eat til you drop. It was really so good!

On the way home, we had a minor incident with our limo-cab accidentally ramming into some C or E class Mercedes Benz. Naku, they were so civil, even the owners of the brand new Benz! They exchanged numbers and then that was it. Ok ba? If that happened to anyone in Manila, I'm sure they would've landed on TV Patrol or Saksi.




We had 2 whole days to gallivant around the city since NAJAH was due to start on Nov. 4 pa. Those days were spent going around the Marina Mall and the Al Wahda Mall. Not very productive days but a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do. We were reserving all our energy for the PATTS reunion on the eve of the 3rd and NAJAH on the 4th.....