It's kind of funny how fast a year goes by. A year ago exactly, I was here typing away about my trip to Manila, and now I'm back at it again. This trip compared to last year was a lot shorter though, for about seven days I was in Manila, and the other seven, I visited Tokyo. Even if my stay was minute, it was still worth it. It is always a blast to see all my relatives back there, especially my grandmother and grandfather.
The one thing I can say that I dislike about traveling all the way back to the Philippines now is the fact that I have to fly to LA to get on a Philippine Airlines flight. PAL unfortunately pulled the airline from Las Vegas, and I'm hoping they bring it back in the future. Not really worth it going all the way to Los Angeles, getting all your luggage, and transferring them again.
LAX's International Airport definitely squashes McCarran.
Hi mom!
The International Lounge was on the fourth floor, so I got this pretty cool view of some of the shops.
The snack bar that they had. They had a large selection of drinks and sandwiches/wraps in the refrigerators down more. I mostly drank the decaffeinated coffee they had, I wasn't very hungry lol.
Flying Business is always fun with PAL. The seats recline all the way so that you're practically lying down. I just find it a little stressful that the minute you sit down, the super kind and friendly stewards immediately ask you to choose your choice of orange juice, water, or vodka, then your choice of appetizer, dinner, then breakfast. It's like, come on guys let me relax for a minute! Lol. I do have to admit though, Philippine Airlines and their staff of stewards are so accommodating and so helpful.
The seats basically pull forward and recline all the way where my backpack is. Mom sat next to me while my sister sat in the seat in front of mine.
My choice of appetizer. The ahi tuna like I said was pretty meh, but other than that everything else was still pretty good! I was mostly intrigued by what the thing was on the upper right. I had no idea if it was an eggplant or something, but holy gosh it was still really good!
Dinner was a type of simmered pork belly in sauce. I liked it a lot more than what my mom and sister had, which was some type of prawn dumpling soup. Dessert was creme brulee without the torched crust and a cup of Haagen Dazs ice cream.
What kept me sane for the next 14 hours. Right before the trip I downloaded Gogo no Bossa's Cafe Ghibli album. As for the movies on the flight, there was such a huge selection. I chose Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part Two, then Guardians of the Galaxy, then The Dark Knight Rises.
So finally, after that long flight, I arrived in Manila roughly around 3AM. Our uncle came to pick us up and off we were to my childhood home.
We had breakfast with my grandma and grandpa, unpacked, and relaxed for a bit. Since we came so early in the morning, we hung around the house and waited for the salon to open. The first thing on our list when we go back home is to always get a haircut. A beautification process if you must. Like last year, we went back to Tony & Jackey, the Korean chain salon.
My aunt's Christmas themed pillows are so cute.
If there's one thing I think my mom should buy for 2015 is a bar cart. We have a TWG tea set also, but a a bar cart would be absolutely perfect for our home. 
So my sister had the digital straightening process done to her hair. They added in this alien squid looking contraption to her head that basically inflated until she looked like Squidward from Spongebob. My hair was being cut as this happened so I really had no idea what was going on, haha.
Paul-hyung cut my hair. He's pretty cool. My cousin Cassie said he gave her candy.
Cassie! She kept me company while my sister got her hair done.
Adventured around the mall for a bit before lunch. There was a Barbie exhibition going on in the first floor.
I'm not entirely sure if the Barbies were from special edition releases or if they hired designers to create outfits for them.
Soon after, we had lunch. Kimono Ken is one of my favorite Japanese restaurants in the world, but after eating Japanese food in Japan, the experience is completely different.
While my mom and sister were getting their hair done, I had lunch with my Uncle PJ, Tita Lei, and Tita Jin.
The only California roll I could really enjoy. Being biased because it has mango and actual tobiko on it.
Tempura and Cha Han. My faves.
Went inside Fully Booked and snapped a picture, then I realized no photos allowed. lol.
Saw a collection of Murakami books amongst others and immediately thought of Nikki!
Afterwards, we went straight home to prepare for our annual Christmas party. My family throws a rather large Christmas party for ourselves, and for the employees at the company.
My family is into themed events, so for Christmas it was a cowboy theme? Lol.
They hired a singer who sang the best of the 80s and good gravy his voice was freaking awesome. Even if I didn't know half the songs he played because of the generation gap, it was still wonderful hearing him sing.
My family also got the choir from the church they go to to sing some songs, and man that was wonderful also.
Food! The buffet area had a ton of selections, from grilled prawn to a whole roast pig. I didn't take photos because I was too hungry, lmao.
This is day one of Syd in Manila Round 2. Stay tuned for the upcoming posts! Thanks for reading.
.x
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