This is an email I hurriedly sent to my family who were worrying about my unfortunate mishap in Nanjing. I sent this email while cooped up in my hotel room while my 2 nieces went out to explore Nanjing. Thought I had to tell the entire story to my family back home to quell their worries. Cheap Flights, Nightmarish Departure and Arrival Times Taking a late night flight from Manila, we arrived in Shanghai midnight of September 21-22. Managed to sleep a few hours before taking the 2 hour train to Nanjing with the Sanchezes. We did not waste time as we promptly hired a van to cover the sites in historic Nanjing. It was a day certainly not wasted. We covered a lot of ground in Nanjing, enough photo ops and exhausted our energy levels ... read more

May 25, 2007 Friday It was a very early flight to Seattle at 6 am. And traffic was bad! Good thing Mar was at the wheels, tried 3 detours, and managed to get us to the airport in the nick of time. Thank God! Again, we got ourselves booked at unbelievably low rates in Westin Seattle through Bebeth. At $69 per day, a hotel in this fabulous location, is basement bargain! All the posh shops surround the hotel, and we only needed to cross the street to get on the skytram to reach Space Needle. Or go to the other corner to catch a bus. Or walk just a block to dine in Cheesecake Factory. Or shop in Macy’s just off the corner. Or even just get out a door to buy a Mcdo burger and ... read more

May 21, 2007 Monday The flight from San Francisco to LA went smooth. Just as smooth as this guy at the Frontier check in counter who, upon learning we’re from the Philippines, went “Wowowee” and chatted with us about Piolo being gay! For these guys to learn of this noontime show, Wowowee’s popularity is truly phenomenal! We were still laughing as we got nicely settled on our leather seats on this new airline. My thoughts ran …… “I’d take another Frontier flight in the future……….” We got not only good seats but good service as well. Romy was there waiting for us at LAX. After the pleasantries, he drove us to our hotel for the next 4 days. Through Bebeth’s connections, we got rooms at WESTIN Bonaventure for a measly rate of US $49 per day. ... read more

St. Paul's Subterranean River National Park in Puerto Princesa, Palawan certainly deserves to count among the 7 wonders of the world. My friends and I thought it's about time we visit this famous underground river which has been declared a UNESCO Heritage Site , and check out the many other attractions of this southern part of Palawan (the northern part deserves a separate blog!). We were pleasantly surprised to find many more wonders in Puerto Princesa. And this is how our adventure went. St. Paul's Underground River It took us a couple of hours to reach the place. That's over land. Next step is to board a boat passing limestone cliffs to reach the entrance to the underground river. The boat ride was another 30 minutes. When we got off the boat, we found a path ... read more

March 11 Friday It’s heartbreaking to wake up with young Patricia hugging you tight, hardly letting go. Even before we woke up at 4 am to prepare to leave the house slightly past 5 am, Patricia woke up crying…….not a word , no pleas, just a quiet whimper knowing that Tata Nang and Mamu are leaving for their US holiday. When we actually boarded the van to leave for the airport, Patricia was with her Mom Suzette bravely waving us goodbye. Not long after we left, Suzette sent a text message to inform us that the young girl cried loudly into the green shirt I wore the night before…..Awwww……… A brief stopover in Narita, then we continued with our 16 ½ hour flight to Minneapolis for another 2 hour stopover, before finally taking the nearly 2 ... read more