I’m coming home to Leyte. This will be a special Christmas for the family as my one and only sister is getting married. This post will be a photo diary of events leading up to the New Year. You can move between pages through the page links below.
Pure Terror: Christmas. Toy Kingdom. Domestic Airport (12/23/2004)
It’s really funny how they always try to package the Christmas season as the time of peace and goodwill. Try wading through endless waves of crying kids and ill-mannered parents at Toy Kingdom. See Sharm and I were busy finalizing which ZOID models to buy for my kid cousins. It’s really cool these toys - a little assembly is required (for IQ/EQ purposes), they’re motorized (for geek chic-ness ala Technics) and they have a Cartoon Network spot to boot (can you say advertising). And the ultimate treat: some models even bond together to form meaner ZOIDS. Needless to say, all boys under the age of 12 wanted these toys for Christmas. I was fighting for the sales attendant’s attention with half a dozen parents. Good thing I already did some research into the ZOIDS universe (for the times when I was late for work now you know the reason). Rule of thumb, always buy the good guys, or in ZOIDS speak, get the ZOIDS on the side of the Republic. If you’re a parent desperate for some product research, head on over to the official ZOIDS website.
The Manila Domestic Airport should be torn down. I see little point in maintaining this run down facility, with its insane queues and less than habitable interiors. It’s just not people-friendly anymore. And the baggage carts..they suck. Mine refused to stay on a straight path, always veering to the right. Normally, I wouldn’t mind the inconvenience..hey there’s too many sick and hungry people already…but when you have 5 boxes to move, it can get downright annoying. As if that wasn’t bad enough, I would find out later on that our flight would be delayed for over an hour and that they’d be serving us Chippy and bottled tea for lunch. I kept my mouth shut all throughout, being the resilient Filipino that I am.
For therapy I took out my FinePix S5100, shot a few subjects, then had a 30-minute body massage inside the waiting lounge. It wasn’t as rejuvenating as I imagined, but the kwentong barbero-esque discussions with the blind masseur made up for an otherwise so-so session. He bragged about having serviced Ruffa Gutierrez and Angelu De Leon and I’m thinking “bai, you’re blind; it might have been Ruffarigno Gutierrez for all you know“. He gives me the evil smile. Roll credits.
Caption: Balikbayans and their ubiquitous balikbayan boxes
Caption: It’s a long way home
Caption: And they came home bearing gifts from Mongkok and Old Navy factory outlets
Caption: Poor little critter