| here comes the long blog...
fyi: A LOT of pictures are just below, so prepare for a long load... these are just some of the pictures...find the rest here:
album 1: http://www.imagestation.com/album/pictures.html?id=2103528472
album 2: http://www.imagestation.com/album/pictures.html?id=2103572019
the trip overall was great....minus typhoons and all the rain :/ I'm glad that we got through those long drives in swirling winds and rain and I thank you God :]
details....that'll take forever...so I won't include haha. But my family was why I wanted to come and just seeing those countless uncles, aunts, cousins, lolo's, lola's, was enough for me because they were never known in my life and I was missing something. A family of 11 my mom was apart of and seeing just 3 of her 8 siblings was overwhelming enough.
But what I won't ever forget, were those last hugs, those final words, those final farewells, and the tears that fell . . .
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Too much travel??? ...at least I got some sleep [for once] haha
3 hours drive to LA Airport
12 hours Flight from LA to Guam (stop over)
1 hours Stop-over/ refueling in Guam
3 hours Flight from Guam to the P.I.
10 hours Drive to Candon, Ilocos Sur
(in the dark, in a cheap car, in heavy rain,
in nothing but fields and one lane roads)
[talk about scary]
8 hours Drive back to Manila
2 hours Getting Lost
1 hour Flight to Boracay
1 hour Flight back to Manila
3 hours Drive to Batangas City, Batangas
1 hour Drive to Taal
1 hour Drive back to Batangas City
2 hours Drive to Tagaytay
2 hours Drive back to Batangas City
2 hours Drive to Manila
9 hours Drive back to Candon, Ilocos Sur
2 hours Drive to Ilocos Norte
2 hours Drive back to Ilocos Sur
9 hours Drive back to Manila
12 hours Flight back to Los Angeles
3 hours Drive back to San Diego
camera Number 1
Ilocos Sur
The Balbino Family [2 / 8 of mom's siblings]
Lola :]
teaching her pusoy....losing on purpose by dealing myself the worst possible cards, playing only singles, passing everytime I had the higher card; all that to see her smile, that's love hahha
Boracay
warning: if u give me a camera with 1gb memory, I will take pictures, a lot of them haha
i see fish eating...wait...that's our pan de sal O.O
scuba diving
jet skiing is tiiiiight
Batangas
that was my dad's pool when he was little HAHA
the Hernandez side [some]
the cousins
they're the coolest :]
go uncle & auntie!!
lolo's sis
top: lola, lolo ; bottom: dad, lolo's sis
It was during the week of graduation.... RIP Lola Pat ... June 12, 2006
For Her .... now she's happy and all that matters. We Love You.
the masonic lodge isn't real great on the outside, but inside ..Oh My...it's the niiiicest i've everrrr seen O.O
Dad's college
Taal Church, the oldest in the Philippines
A Wish, A Hope, A Dream ... a candle of light to help me in the future
the night b4 we visited Taal Church ...and guess what...they were apparently shooting an episode for a show...i think it was Captain Barbell or something like that?
someone please tell me what that is???
Tagaytay . .. home of the the world famous Taal volcano. the only volcano within a lake, within an island, within an ocean
when we first went to tagaytay 2days earlier...that's what we saw.. talk about a waste of an 1.5 hours travel :/ ....dang rain!!!
Manila
i didn't know these were my dad's highschool friends until after they left . . .
check it out: they're all living it big
starting from the left:
1. the lady with the shades is a doctor whose husband owns a million dollar computer chip company and who even bought a hospital for her
2. that guy now lives in SF but he designs Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's clothes
3. apparently she's some movie star or actress?
4. (in pink) she owns her own business somewhere
5. (to the right of the lady in pink)....she;s also married to some wealthy business owner with computers n stuff
Ilocos Sur (we're back)
my mom's side is a farming family...so naturally we have chickens, pigs, goats... and of course....a monkey...yeah a monkey! haha
the Balbino home.... once housing 9 brothers and sisters
our farming land . . . years of toil and it still provides the food :] (and it's pretty good too haha)
the court was alright....until it rained and so when u dribbled, water splashed in your face HAHA.... but hey, going to the court with just a roof and no lights was good enough. fyi: 4 straight games of bball in that humid weather doesn't do the body good. i was gonna collapse haha
they ate some of the mosquitos :D ..i love these guys hahha
little cousin Shane is just plain precious heh.... she can play catch pretty good
and yes, we did go see Ferdinand Marcos's dead body...While I did not agree with several things about this man, you have to at least give the man respect.
this right here is rather good....u should read it
yeah....we went to the zoo haha....rather random. i was wondering where we going that day HAHHA
Mother Mary
mother's high school
Mom & Dolly in the elem. classrooms
i didn't know half the stuff on the table...apparently they killed a pig and a goat for this last feast
shane.. im gonna miss that girl
she didnt wana play catch this time haha
a difference in language yes...but everyone knows the language of cards!!! hahah
those were our poker chips :]
Dolly got caught in the act.... I'm gonna miss our games and funny faces :/
the kewl cousins
Jay-R...please...No hhaha
from left to right: boyut, angel, mom,dolly, auntie imelda, bro ray, me, hannah [and jay-r posing of course haha]
wana ride??
the Farewells :/
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camera Number 1
(warning: if u give me a camera with 1gb memory, I will take pictures HAHA)
Manila
the new airport
now that's what I call basketball
Mall of Asia
ice skatting in the P.I.???!!!!
Ilocos Sur
my dad was driving in the dark, in the rain, in one lane roads, with no street lights, and a messed up car..all while being half asleep O.O ..propz to him
Typhoon Florita & all her furry
Manila
Manila Hotel.... talk about a niice hall. They even had an orchestra playing O.O
the hotel room
Boracay
random kid haha
I still have no one to sit next to :/
You see something ??? . . .
.... yeah, it's a rainbow. Yeauh, it took me awhile to recognize it :]
Manila
these were in the coastline waters...can someone tell me what they were???
mega mall isn't so great anymore
Batangas
behing this door lies a rebuilt home . . . a home featured in a magazine in 1994
the uncle and auntie are landlords/ realtors and were pretty well off since high school....so yeah, that explains the house transformation haha ...one half remains the same old fashioned home (below), the other half turned future (above) haha
other side
Our Lord and Savior
a little fun with the ceiling
you see how high that wall on the right is?? well....guess what, when my dad was little he fell straight down to the groundwhile trying to get a ball . . . A good thing he landed in a small puddle and was rushed to the hospital stat. Thank You Lord.
home grown Hot Chocolate right from your backyard....literally.... YUM :]
Basilika Menor ng Immaculada Concepcion
see that dome there....well, when my dad was little he was an altar server and when he and the other server's got bored, they went up there and ate the leftover unblessed bread HAHA
In memory of the innocent victims of abortion.
I will never forget you,
behold I have inscribed you on the palm of my hands.
Isaiah 49.16
This monument stands to
remind us of children who
never had the chance to run
and play.
K of C 3347
talk about nice marching band uniforms haha
Basilika ng Taal, oldest church in the P.I.
Makati City
Glorietta Mall.... more like that the Fashion Valley of the Philippines hhaa
Ilocos Sur
near the farm . . . got rice?
the zoo
Mother Mary
No matter how dark the road may seem, there is always a light.
airport...LAX bound
FUNNY SHIRTS....courtesy of Spoofs Ltd. "Laughter You Can Wear"
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