I’m still jet lagged. I know its saturday but I don’t believe it. I sleep after eating breakfast and wake up thinking its another day. Either way, my day started at about 2PM today when our driver picked us up.

 

(we went to the Mall of Asia and went through the Hypermarket entrance. Its a Hypermarket because its MUCH bigger than a supermarket.)

(we picked out our lunch. Those red spotted fish are called Lapu Lapu. We know them as GROUPER! Look how tiny they are! There are no limits on commercial fishing sizes in the Philippines. Despite how overfished their waters are, it is still more plentiful than Florida’s waters with very strict limits.)

 
(Live pompano! Just pick one and they cook it for you. This was really cool. I sat there for a long time and watched how they picked at shrimp on the bottom of the tank. It makes complete sense now how we catch them back home by working jigs off the bottom.)

(my favorite dish in the Philippines and the 2nd time in two days eating it, Tuna Belly!)


(Sweet and Sour Lapu Lapu)

(My mom and her coconut drink. It’s a whole, sliced up coconut with a straw inserted.)
 

(and then HOOTERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

The night ended with a trip over to Greenbelt 5 in Makati with Cherry and Angelica… =) … we went bar hopping to an indian bar, an absinthe bar, a bar with beds called bedspace, and then to a cuban bar where we enjoyed some mojitos. MANY MANY drinks later and having to pretend to be Angelica’s boyfriend to keep off all the guys hitting on her at every bar… my day (and night) has finally come to an end at about 5am. GOOD NIGHT!

**EDIT**

i just turned off the light in my room and noticed the sun is already rising. ughhhh… tomorrow is going to be rough.

Today was my first full day in the Philippines. My parents condo is on the 26th floor of the Lancaster Hotel in Mandaluyong City. It’s 2br/2ba and 2 floors. The view is pretty nice. I can see Star Mall, the Wack Wack Golf Course, some mountains in the distance and the building’s window washer. He is fearless. He works up to the 31st floor with no safety devices… just a couple ropes holding a piece of wood.

I woke up around 8am and by noon my parents and I were walking to the nearest mall. I’m seriously shocked at how much has changed since my last visit (2001). It is so much more westernized than I thought. At the Star Mall, besides how HUGE it was (6 floors), it was literally just like any other mall back in Florida. I bought a new Crumpler camera strap and a sim card for my iphone. The sim was $1 and the e-Load was $4. That’s enough for hundreds of txt’s and lots of minutes. Everyone is so polite. I’m not used to everyone calling me Sir. I only wish I was a knight. We had lunch at my favorite fried chicken restaurant, Max’s Chicken: The House that Chicken Built. Total bill came out to about $12 for the three of us.

Anyways… I’m still pretty jet lagged. I had to take a nap in the afternoon for about 5hrs. Then it was off to dinner. We went to a place called Metrowalk. Its all restaurants and bars. I met up with Karl’s girlfriend, Cherry, and she brought a super cute friend, Angelica. Also, my cousin RenRen came. I haven’t seen her since I was a baby. 

Looks like my schedule is filling up already. Sunday I should be meeting with Jong Clemente, photographer at Studio 33 in Quezon City. He’s allowing me to accompany him on photoshoot and possibly do some shooting for myself. Monday I start my journey to the provinces, the real Philippines. We’re going to Visaya for a couple nights and then to my Mom’s home island, Marinduque. I really enjoy Marinduque alot. It’s nice to see a place that hasn’t changed much in the last 50 years.

just waiting for my connection to Manila from Tokyo. This airport is AWESOME! Instead of a hand dryer in the bathroom they have Air Towels! They sell cool stuff in the gift shops and the girls are super cute. 

(here i am waiting at the airport in Minneapolis…. testing out my new Shure headphones)

(cool gift shop at Narita Airport)

(Duty Free! this is where all the hot girls are!)

(There’s Hello Kitty EVERYWHERE! It must be a happy meal or something.)

(Very cool glass installations but its really just a place for people to sleep.)

 
(this too)

One of my clients (and also business consultant/fishing rod building mentor) e-mailed me yesterday to meet him and his wife for dinner at a Thai restaurant in Plant City. He told me that his boss was happy with the brochure I did for their company and that “we’re happy, so you should be happy”. Then he presented me with a nice suprise:

Wowwwww! A Daiwa TD Sol 3000, G.Loomis P844-IMX, Fuji TITANIUM Silicon Carbide Guides, Fuji Ergonomic Deluxe reel seat, Grade A Portuguese Cork split grips and copper thread to match the reel! This is easily $500 retail. He bid me farewell and safe travels on my journey and told me that they have more work for me as soon as I get back.

TIME TO PACK! 20hrs to flight!

Cathy gave me this for my birthday. His name is Berry Chong

Wowwww a brand new blog. It’s been a long time since I started a new blog. This one is way more advanced than Xanga. 

First news announcement… I’m leaving Wednesday for the Philippines for three weeks. I’m taking all of my camera gear with me, including my first L-series lens (Canon 17-40L) so check back often to see where my adventures lead me.