Take 5

2 cousins missing from this one
The de Guzmans (sans a few)

Lamp at Uncle Manny's, Kingsville

Gosh, I'm beat! Just got back from my trip to Phillys with Ying & my folks! She's been a real trooper through it all, uncomplaining, putting up with the dozen or so relatives that we had to meet up with, as well as the hearty/meaty/oily philly food that i've grown to love. (It got so bad that we felt compelled to work out at the hotel gym during the days we were in Makati!)

It was a hella hectic trip.

Makati

We spent the first 3 days in Makati meeting with my relatives there and with 3 wedding gown designers. One of them was hilarious - a dude who liberally employed phrases like ' oh we shouldn't go with that design, you will end up being eaten up by the fabric!' Another lady disappeared into some backroom magical closet for yonks after we shook hands with her and requested she design an evening dress. She reappeared with several after a while, though it was quite unclear to us if these were done by some poor backroom fashion student who hadn't even set eyes on Ying. We eventually settled on one who offered a good deal, as well as a winning design (by Ying's exacting standards. Hey, she is the bride after all so she's entitled to be picky!)We also got a chance to have dinner at my Uncle Manny's, who owns a lovely country style cottage home in the suburbs, Kingsville, with numerous flowers in full bloom in his garden. It was great to just chill out at his outdoor porch on benches by the candlelight with my relatives. Here we discovered all of us had something in common - we couldn't live without coffee!

Vigan

The next few days were spent out of Makati. First stop was a flight and jeepney ride north to Vigan, famed for its cobbled streets and Spanish architecture. WE got a chance to stay at a lovely century old mansion where Tom Cruise & gang stayed while filming 'Born on the 4th of July'. Its a lovely place, with dark teakwood floors and old furniture. We did several of our shots here, courtesy of my ever enthusiastic semi-pro photographer dad. It was extremely warm (36 degrees) so my dad's shooting was interspaced with me rushing to the standing fan to cool down. As with all old mansions, this one had its fair share of creaky floorboards and footsteps in the night, but I guess that added to the charm of the place. The conserved cobblestoned area was surprisingly small, and we were able to walk through it (its one straight street) in under an hour.
Unfortunately, I got hit by a mild bout of food poisoning here, which i attribute to my misadvetures in samplying condiments to go with my food. In other words, I had some bad Chilli, which gave Ying further encouragement to continue labelling me as The Condiment King.

Second stop, down south by bus to Baguio. A lovely city with cool weather of about 26 degrees in summer, It was a welcome change from the heat of Vigan, and the second day of R&R for Ying and I as we could chill a bit on our own. We visited several tourist sites such as Mine's view that had an excellent vista of the place, and donned tribal costumes even! Ying really loved the place a lot. My most memorable moment occurred here, where I was able to stretch my hand out the window into the rising clouds as the non-aircon bus took this lovely road hewn into the mountain that seemed to cut right through the mist into nowhere. Being able to listen to some nice Joe Hisaishi tunes while on the ride was an added bonus.

Next, it further south by non-aircon bus to my grandparent's province, Pangasinan, where we got a chance to meet up with some distant relatives from my grandma's side who cooked a lovely meal for us, and even allowed up to use part of the garden for an outdoor shoot!

Then it was back to Makati, where we did a fitting with the gown designer, and my tailor (for the suit and barong). And of course, a final meet up with the relatives at my granduncle's place.

I'm glad we went back. I've been putting off on a trip for quite a long while, foolishly convinced that I was very much aloof from most of my cousins from both sides. Ying had an outsider's perspective though, and surprised me by telling me one warm evening that I was indeed much closer to my filipino cousins, family and roots than I'd ever admit to. My cousins were even sweet enough to hunt for a special blend of civet cat coffee beans (cafe alamid) on my behalf, and up to the last moment, were trying to organize a karaoke tell all session with me for my last evening there.

We'll be visiting them again soon, I suspect.