we are nearing the end of our Christmas holidays. and we are slowly moving towards colder air. we're currently in Shenzhen, just north of Hong Kong in mainland China. we have a long wait here for our flight this evening. thankfully we met up with one of my colleagues and her husband, who are taking the same flight, and are just as early. we spent last night in Macau at a Best Western. they upgraded our room for free and threw in buffet breakfast too! it was nice....though the room still smelled like smoke.
it has felt like such a long vacation, though we've only been gone for just over 2 weeks. we've been so busy relaxing....I should have written throughout the vacation, I've probably forgotten some of the fun details by now.
we started out by flying here to Shenzhen then travelling by bus to Hong Kong with my colleague Joy, and her husband Rob. we all stayed at their friend's place, which is the apartment at the top of the YMCA hotel right downtown. a beautiful view of the city. Hong Kong is a nice place. clean and well-organized. the buildings are so tall, just to fit all the people in the small area they have. we wandered the streets and took a short trip up to Victoria Peak at night-time. we only stayed one night, then took a ferry to Macau, where we caught our flight to Manila. apparently that night in Macau, was the grand opening of the MGM.
we arrived in Manila just after midnight. but by the time we got picked up, drove home and had a snack, we were in bed by about 3:30am. thankfully we had no jet lag to recover from, so the next day we were ready to enjoy the hot weather and pool in the backyard. we spent a few days just relaxing and shopping (and eating lots of fresh mango) before all the Christmas parties started. then the meals got bigger and bigger! those filipinos love to eat. and they are so hospitable. I have 3 Aunts plus some cousins living there. another cousin from the U.S. also went home for Christmas. it was great to reaquaint with all of them. we rarely see each other. we took a day trip to Tagaytay, a mountinous area. unfortunately because we were with lots of people, we weren't able to do the adventurous boat ride, horse ride and hike up to the volcano.
every Christmas Eve they go to Kawit, to the home where my mom's family lived for many years. one of their cousins still lives there, along with other relatives in the neighbourhood. that city has a parade every year, with floats depicting various stories from the Bible, and some good marching bands in between. this year they made the parade earlier, because of high tide. some streets get flooded now when the tide comes in, because the sewage system is all plugged up with garbage. the river there is a sad sight. so dirty with drifting garbage everywhere. my second cousin, Rizza, was on one of the floats this year, as the angel announcing the coming of Christ. she looked beautiful!
Christmas Day is different than in North America. presents aren't a priority. the biggest priority is spending time with family. so when we went to my Aunt Fely's house for lunch, presents are given inconspicuously and without much fanfare. we had a lovely dinner. the very next day we flew to Boracay island. but that's another big story and I'll save that for another day.
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