Lunch & Ride to the Hotel...

(written 6/15/10:)

My wishes for the kids to get a feel for the difference of the two worlds were put on hold a bit as we were picked up at the airport by 2 drivers who would accompany us throughout our trip. We met chauffeurs Nimrod and Danny.  They get our bags for us.  They walk us across the street holding an umbrella for us. They go outside of the restaurant and buy the kids these adorable marionettes as requested by Mom and Dad. A huge difference between an American driver and Mr. Rod and Mr. Danny is that these new people who have just entered our lives are now new friends.  They joined us for lunch. They will stay with us in the same resorts when we travel to other cities too.

We are on our way to our first destination. Shangri-La Hotel and Resort right outside Manila. Rod is our driver today.  Dad, Erwin, Ethan, Abby and I are in the van and Rod is now my Super-Hero Driver. I have made the decision that there isn’t one U.S. driver that can rightly say they are a “good driver” after watching Rod navigate us through the traffic congestion of cars, vans, jeepney’s, tricycles both leg-powered and motor-powered. Inches between us all. Three lane roads were filled with vehicles 5 and 6 wide weaving in and out of side streets and main avenues while barely missing pedestrians and peddlers selling their wares. Inches people….inches!  I actually couldn’t watch when we would approach to change lanes or when another vehicle would attempt to do the same.  Was I scared? Oddly enough, no. That is why I think Rod is my Super-Hero Driver.

The drive was overwhelming for me and not just because of the maybe 5 hours of sleep I had under my belt in the last 24 hours.  The streets were full of people.  Full of kids with clothes on and some without. Some corners had trash piled knee high.  The next corner we would drive by a building with 12 ft stone walls surrounding it.  (Obviously something important going on inside those walls.)

Abby: “Are we there yet?”

Me: “Nope, just go to sleep. We will be there soon.”

Abby:  5 minutes later “Momma I’m going to sleep. Can you wake me up when we get there? And wake me up if you see something really cool!”

We stopped for lunch before checking in. Aristocrat said it was an American/Filipino cuisine. Not a problem. As we pull into the driveway there are a few men with the same color t-shirt on and they are waving us into a parking spot and then banging on our van to tell us how close or if it was okay to stop. I still can’t believe we are here. In the Philippines for real. It’s pretty hot out. Nothing that can’t be cured with cold water and short sleeves. We were all wearing warmer clothes since we were on the plane in air conditioning for so long. The one thing we all noticed was all the open doors and flies. Flies everywhere.  This made it a challenge to eat. You definitely had to pay attention when your food was brought to the table. I ordered some BBQ chicken and lava rice. I didn’t really like the lava rice. I’m a fried rice or white rice kind of girl. The chicken was good. The “bottled water” was good too. Oh ya, so when you are out pretty much everywhere in PI you have to order bottled water. Specifically “bottled water”.  This way you don’t take the risk of contracting any water borne illnesses. Although, Dad asked the waiter who spoke a little bit of English if the water was from tap or filtered. Filtered was the answer. Erwin and I still were a little unsure as was mom. But since Abby was finally with her Papa he bought her a Mango smoothie.  She drank some and then Dad finished it off. She said it was good.  Erwin was so glad to be eating Filipino food.  While we were enjoying lunch there was a man outside playing with a feathery marionette bird. It was tapping around and then made to look like it was pecking the ground for seed. This obviously caught the attention of Abby and Ethan and so much so they just HAD to have one.  Mom said ok and handed Nimrod the money and instructed him to buy 2 of them… at a good price of course. He walked back in the restaurant with two birdies. Gave the one with a pink head to Abby and told Ethan that the one with a red head was the boy one. They were in heaven and started tapping them along.  Time to leave and get to the hotel.