Learning tagalog and being part of a studio audience in Manila and arrival in Boracay

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Hello from the Philippines!

We (Jenny, Crystal, Rose, Allyson-friends of Jenny's and I) flew to Manila on Saturday morning on Kuwait Airlines... I didn't think that would be a possibility but the flight was fine. This is the end of term break for Jenny and her teaching friends so I decided to tag along for the trip. Allyson's family friend Dolly booked our trip for us which has led us so far for 2 days on Manila in Quezon City. Some of you may have recently heard about a bombing in Makati; it happened before we got there and we were no where near it so don't worry.

We were met at the airport by Dolly and her brother who drove us 1.5 hours across town to our hotel in Quezon. The poverty as we drove through Manila was very prominent, as young children played alongside their families shacks. Quezon City is quite clean and very safe. The hotel we stayed in was very close to ABS CBN television studio. Dolly also does some acting and is a regular guest on a superhero show called Lastik Man!

On Saturday night we actually ate American food at the TGIF. Dolly and Ambroze then took us to the Music Box a comedy/kareoke show. Crystal and Allyson were dragged up to sing and then I volunteered to go and sing Dancing Queen with the other singers... it was fun... I know some of you are saying, of course you did! The rest of the show was performed by many transvestite actors... it was funny. There are apparently many of these types of shows in Manila.

Sunday morning Jenny wanted to see if we could go and become part of the studio audience for a variety show called ASAP featuring the current Filipino pop stars... After much persistence and flirting and chatting with the staff who worked there we got to go on a studio tour and were part of the 3 hour taping. The rest of the Filipino audience had to book over 6 months ahead... I guess it was our Canadian charm. It was a fantastic show-live taping and was similar to like a Canadian idol concert. In the afternoon we headed to the mall for a bit of shopping-things are cheap, but sizes are small. Naps were necessary after our long morning/afternoon so we dined late at the Yellow Taxi pizza Co. and headed home to get some rest for our early flight to Boracay Island.

To get to Boracay we flew Cebu Pacific for 30 mins to Kalibo, then took an hour and a half bus ride through the beautiful countryside-took lots of photos that I will post later. Upon our arrival in Caticlan we took a boat ride and then took tricycles that are motorcycles with side cars. Our rest the Carmela de Boracay is nice and the view is gorgeous... almost paradise.

Hope this finds you all well. More to follow later.

love Katy

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Comments

[Meaghan]

Loving it!
Hi Katy Thanks for the updates... it is SO incredible to read about your journeys - sounds like it's been an amazing experience thus far! (Studio audience?! Kindergarten??!) Hope all's well, thinking of you lots... M.