It was the day of our flight to the Philippines. Lyn had made the arrangements for our trip. Last time we cut our two week trip short. This time, Lyn thought we could survive three weeks. Lyn is overly optimistic.

Our cats: Lalaki and Babae.

Arlene was to take care of the cats, showing up every other day to feed, water, and de-poop the litter box. Two years ago, we had returned home from a Philippine trip to find a flooded house. I made sure the water was turned off and the thermostat was turned down. Milet and Jeremy came over to take us to the airport. Milet said there would be no problem fitting our luggage into their car. No way! We loaded up our car and drove to the airport. I hoped Jeremy was a careful driver; our car was counting on it.

Our 14.5 hour flight's takeoff (San Francisco to Philippines) was delayed for an hour - bad news, but the scheduled stopoff in Hawaii would be deleted - good news. We knew airlines were cracking down on carry on luggage, but we were the only ones. In true Filipino tradition, there were carry ons galore - a flight bag here, a few loaded plastic bags there, and a squawking chicken to boot. Philippine Airlines was cracking down, however. Carry on bags were limited to a maximum of 25 pounds. On the honor system, you were asked to come up to a scale and weigh your bag. One passenger misunderstood and weighed himself. Well, at least it gave us something to do while we waited for the plane.

The legroom was good for coach class, the food wasn't and neither were the movies. We arrived in Manila at 10 p.m. Christmas day. On arrival, we didn't even have to duck our heads to avoid the welcome picture (which you have to pay for or you may find it hard to get through immigration). We picked up our three balikbayan boxes relatively quickly and made it through customs and immigration.

Lyn, Martial, and two of their children

Unfortunately, Martial, who was to pick us up at the airport, didn't know about our early arrival. We needed to call Martial, but didn't have any coins. We tried getting change for a 5 peso note from a guard at the airport, but in true entrepreneurial fashion, he said that bill was no longer valid. Lyn, however, was able to use his phone card for 10 pesos (if you have coins, it's 3 pesos). Outside of the terminal building I propped myself against the wall with our 2 suitcases and 3 boxes next to the taxi station. I felt it was the safest place. Lyn paced back and forth between me and the street, keeping a watchful eye out for Martial. The three taxi companies had adjacent booths. As passengers exited the terminal building, the girls at the taxi stands waved and flashed their best "please choose us" smiles. Clearly this was a job where guys need not apply. Lyn inquired about taking a taxi to Martial's house. All of them said there was a set price and would not go by the meter.

Martial drove up and gave us a nice welcome. Much to our relief, all our luggage did fit in his car. Though, Lyn had to sit on my lap for the fifteen minute ride to Martial's house. There we were welcomed by Lynn, Martial's wife, their three children, and their three servants (they call them "help"). In America only the rich can afford servants, but in the Philippines it is much more common. For 2000 to 2400 pesos (about $50-$55) a month, you too could have a servant. They slept in a bedroom on the ground floor. There are three more bedrooms on the second floor. One bedroom was used as a study. Martial, Lynn, and their two youngest children shared the master bedroom under normal circumstances. The third bedroom, normally David's, their oldest, was given to us. He didn't seem to be very happy with this arrangment.

Rea

Tito and Rea, Lyn's friends, originally told us they were going to pick us up at 6 a.m. the next morning. Fortunately that was changed to 9 a.m.. Tito and Rea seemed like a nice quiet couple which is very unusual for Filipinos, at least the quiet part. They have a nice new Toyota minivan. Rea was able to get a loan for it at only a 6% interest rate from her employer, payable for 10 years. Being sized for Asians, it seats fifteen and has a very important option for the Philippines - air conditioning. Tito uses the van in their business of taking tourists around to see the local sites. While on our trip, they even had sandwiches, cold drinks, and candy for us.

Take your pick: fast lane, slow lane, or shoulder.

Tubas, Lyn's home town, is normally about a six hour drive, a little more if you take a wrong turn like we did. Surprisingly, we didn't see any accidents, just several vigilantes beating up a pick-pocket. The first part was on a six lane freeway. At the overpasses, there were signs which named each lane: fast lane, slow lane, shoulder. Tito said it's legal to drive on the "shoulder". Eventually the freeway was transformed into a two lane road. This is where the scary part starts, with constant games of chicken being played out as faster vehicles tried to pass trucks, over-loaded jeepneys, tricycles, or maybe those driving for the first time. I don't know what it takes to get a license in the Philippines, but one requirement must be blind confidence. Even Tito seemed to be infected as he would drive with one hand on the steering wheel and the other on the horn. Unlike America, the horn is used frequently; it is a statement "I'm coming through - get out of the way". In passing, it is okay to be in the oncoming lane with traffic rushing towards you - as long as you get to the spot first, the oncoming vehicle has to slow down.

Manila looks out on the South China Sea to the west. The dirty air leads to some beautiful sunsets. Further west is Vietnam. Taiwan and Japan lie to the north and Indonesia to the south. It's proximity to the Equator makes for hot weather year around. This is also an area ravaged by typhoons. However, this is supposed to be the dry, cool (relatively speaking) season. Therefore, it was just a gentle rain that started to fall, rather than the torrential downpour. Travelling southeast we eventually worked our way to the Pacific side of Luzon, which is the main island in the Philippines. We stopped for gas. Strangely enough, gas stations appear to be the most attractive retail sites. They also seem to be the fastest growing. They take a large plot of land, cement it over, and even sometimes add landscaping. There's lots of glass and color. The rest rooms are even clean! These facilities put the restaurants to shame.

Jollibee is the most famous home grown fast food chain in the Philippines. The location we selected was at a large crowded bus station complex. Out of the dozen plus stores and restaurants, I was the only "kano" or Americano in site. We entered Jollibee and edged our way over to the end of one of the eight lines, each of which had about ten people. Their specialties are burgers and fried chicken. I tried the spaghetti and fried chicken. The spaghetti being the tastier of the two, coming with a tomato sauce with plenty of cheese. The chicken had a generous oily crust and came with a small cup of gravy and the omnipresent scoop of rice. Not since the Tower of London have I seen so many black haired people in one place, or as Lyn referred to them in one of her faux pas: "black heads". Sticking out like a sore thumb, I was their afternoon entertainment. Having finished lunch I walked to the other end of the complex to visit the rest room, or "comfort room" as they call them. Comfort is one of the many things it lacked and it made me wish we had eaten at one of the gas stations.

Children would stand along the road with their hands held out, wanting money from the passing vehicles. Some would edge out into the road to encourage the holiday season "donations". Some held one end of a rope with the other end being tied to a tree on the other side of the road. They would tug at the rope raising it off the road and then loosen their grip letting it fall back to the pavement. Others held rocks in their hands, displaying their ammunition as you drove up and then throwing it after you passed. I don't know whether their aim was bad or they had no intention of hitting us, but we managed to snake our way through the obastacles unscathed.

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