Well Hello Again Makati.

My uncle was kind enough to book us a hotel room with a nice view of Makati:

I had fresh fruits for breakfast (mmm ... mango) and I feel pretty well-rested.  Not feeling jet lagged at all!  It helps that I am comatose on planes.  

Landing in the Manila airport was a better experience than ten years ago.  I was able to refuse help and insist on taking my luggage by myself.  A decade ago I was like a deer in headlights as luggage handlers fought and even punched each other to carry my luggage.  

There was a SUPER SNOTTY woman though.  Not to me, but to the poor customs guy.  She thought she was too good to fill out her customs form (even though the flight attendants on the plane re-iterated numerous times that we had to fill out our customs forms which were handed out to us) and became extremely rude when he told her to fill one out.  She must've thought that as a Filipina with a different passport (she was in the "foreign passport" line up with me) she was entitled to do whatever the hell she wanted.  I saw the form she gave him at the end and it was still only half-assed filled out.  He was nice enough to say "please ma'am fill it out properly next time" and she walked away in a huff with her nose in the air.  This was one of those moments where it would've been nice to bypass the "respect-your-elders" rule. 

I guess she had some warped hierarchy in her head where she was above local Filipinos.  Ugh.  People like that are something else.  I would like to see her try and do that to a Canadian customs officer.

In an hour, one of my cousins will be picking us up to meet with everyone else. The circumstances are tragic, but I am excited to see everyone again and reminisce about Nanay Carmen.  It'll be interesting to see the traffic.  Last night when my uncle and aunt picked us up, the traffic was not too bad at all.  They said it was because everyone was in mourning over Pacquiao's loss to Mayweather.