Torres Says…

So, I’m jet setting back to Canada in 6 hours. To be honest, I’m not ready to go back. I’m having such a good time here - just getting comfortable, and now, I have to go back and end my vacation.

Here is the recap of my last 4 days in the Philippines

Wednesday: Cinemalaya
My cousin Louie took me to watch a bunch of Filipino Indie Films. It was very cool coz we got to meet some local directors and producers.

Thursday: Beach Day
We finally made it to Matabungkay. I finally got to see some sand, sun, and surf. Matabungkay, is definitly not like Boracay, but it was still beautiful. The sand was light brown, was was crystal blue/green and very warm, the view was amazing. We left the city at 4 am and go to Matabungkay around 10am. We quickly unpacked to set up for lunch. My mother and cousins started preparing lunch while my cousin Louie and I headed to the beach to start our day. We swam for about 2 hours and then ate lunch. After lunch, we rented a water bike to tour the waters of matabungkay. I tried to take some pictures to capture the true beauty of the place. I just hope that its reflective of the what I’m going to post here when I get back to Canada.

Friday: Shopping Day & Night Life
My mother, Christian and I went to Greenhills for some mad shopping. We spent some mad filipino dough at that place looking for some bargains. To tell you frankly - We really found the good stuff! I bought some stuff for some people (you know who you are) and of course lots of stuff for me.

After shopping, I got picked up by some friends from my childhood/sunday school to tour the night life of the Philippines. They took me to this place called "Libis". That place was very beautiful. It was filled with upscale shops, high rise condos, financial district and themed restaurant. The place we ate at kind of resembled downtown Disney in California where a bunch of themed restaurant formed the centre of the place.

After some authentic Filipino dinner, we watched a local band play at the center or Libis. It was actually a band my older brother used to listen to - "The Dawn". I recognized some of theirs songs - it was very nostalgic.

After that, we drove to Greenbelt to see some of the clubs. Our first stop was Bed Room club. It was a smaller club with a small dancefloor, however it was packed with people. There were a lot of foreigners in that place. I kind of felt at home hearing people around me speak english so beautifully. Wet some people from Australia which was cool.

We later on wondered our way to Cafe Havanna which was a latin inspired club. It was again filled by foreigners from all over the world. The disturbing sight was the really old foreign guys with young filipina women. My friend described it as the modern day prostitution where women desperately tries to hook up with an older foreign man in efforts to secure a husband/better future for her (or her family) abroad. It was sad, but I guess that’s one of the sad realities of a 3rd world country.

Saturday:
Day started very early at 730 to meet up for breakfast. We went to watch "sports fest" of HSBC where one of my friends worked here. After that, we went out for a quick lunch and shopped again for some last minute stuff. After that, we went out for a last final dinner at Dencio’s which served authentic filipino food.

The most depressing part was the goodbyes. It was so sad to say goodbye to my cousins because they have been a huge part of my trips here. They accompanied me around and took me out to see the city/country. I’m sure going to miss them.

I’ve spent a total of 25 days here in the Philippines and every moment of it was filled with memory. I had the best time of my life here - I dont want to leave yet. I wish my trip was a bit longer. I remember weeks before my trip, I was filled with a lot of anxiety because I wasn’t sure what to expect. So many people gave me advise as to how to act and cope with the culture here.

Now experiencing everything myself, I can honestly say that some of people’s stereotype about the Philippines/Filipino here are wrong. I have the utmost respect for people that live here. I can’t wait to come back and experience everything again.

I am however looking forward to see my friends again. My bestfriend David is coming home from Ottawa for a week with his new gf. It will be good to hang out with him again. I miss hanging out with the Boys and the Girls - too many stories to share with them that I know they’ll appreciate because they’re filipino. I can’t wait to see everyone and talk to everyone again. Cecilia comes home from her trip on the 10th of August (miss yah hun). In 26 hours, I will be home in my own house and will be able to sleep on my own bed - far away from the roaches. Life will go back to normal but I’ll always remember this vacation.

This has by far the best trip I have ever taken. I am so happy that I took the time to go on this trip. A huge thanks to my parents and sibblings for making this trip.

This is the final message of my trip. It sure was goodtimes. Now I gotta go pack my stuff.

Mabuhay & Paalam,

Michael