Hello and Goodbye, India

I know I'm lucky.  I got the most amazing fiance that a girl could have, my remaining family member is well(dad passed away of cancer last December, few days before Christmas) aside from me who is suffering from TB, I will be cleared in the next two weeks though plus I can still do the thing I'm most passionate about, travelling.  I have a lot of things to be thankful for.

Luke and I embarked on our final holiday or honeymoon as I call it in India.  I was a bit nervous about this trip because I'll be meeting his relatives on his mum's side of the family.  They are well-off although I don't think Luke will want me to write about them being rich.  Growing up surrounded by relatives who are devoted to telenovelas, I had a horrible perception on how they will react towards me but thankfully I was wrong.  :)

Our first 3 days were spent in Delhi.  We stayed overnight at her cousin's apartment that looked more like a building to me.  Not wanting to sound inosente o mangyanin,  they had a touch screen lift on their house, their walls are covered in painting resembling an exhibit and all the rooms in the house have an ensuite bathroom and a small walk-in closet.  Luke also commented that our flat in Reading is as big as their living and dining area.  That's not an apartment to me.  :P  All the riches aside, they were humble, down to earth people.  Totally changed the idea of rich people on my mind.  I'm glad I met them and I was more talkative this time.  :P  In Delhi, we went to Qutub Minar, Red Fort and India Gate.  We shopped at Cottage Industries, I wanna take the whole place home and Janpath.  I love walking but I realise Luke doesn't enjoy walking aimlessly.  :P

Thank God he wore his jeans!  It feels spring in New Delhi.

From Delhi, we went to Agra where Taj Mahal is.  The trip, of course, won't be complete without my usual craziness.  We arrived in Agra in the morning but we didn't leave until 3PM for Taj Mahal.  It was all because I wanted to start planning the wedding with Luke.  This was wayyyy before we decided to have a civil wedding this year then church next year.  Both weddings will happen in the UK to avoid family drama.  :P

You can't tell that we fought here.  We had the camera mode on.  Kidding aside, we finally patched things up.  I can't get annoyed with him for a long period of time.  

Everyone was commenting how photoshopped we looked.  Well, this was the best one from the bunch.  We had to try from different angles, different time and different people.  Thank you white lady for taking a good photo of us.  This will definitely go to the family album.

We left Agra the next day for Bhopal. It was the longest train ride of my life.  I was comfortable but the toilet is horrible.  It was stainless steel.  I hate my skin touching accidentally on the steel.  It was cold and I felt dirty.  No exaggeration.  On top of that, I had to go several times. Curse you Indian curry!  Hehehe.

Bhopal is Auntie Truli's residence.  Auntie Truli is Carol's, Luke's mum's older sister.  In short, Luke's aunt.  Luke loved me so much.  Luke wanted to go to an animal reserve but I wanted to go to Goa so he completely changed his plans.  Thank you babu!  

In Bhopal, I saw a white tiger for the first time and cave paintings hundreds of years old.

Auntie was supposed to go with us in Bhimbetka but left Luke and I alone when she found out that we were in a long distance relationship.  The drive from the entrance from the actual cave paintings was very reminiscent of Karratha according to Luke.  

I purchased my first sari in Bhopal too, thanks to Auntie's haggling skills.  Auntie also showed me how to wear a sari.  It was 7 meters long and you have to wrap it around yourself.  Auntie Truli wears hers everyday without any difficulty.   Luke bought his traditional relaxing clothes aka kurta.  Wait til I get to the UK for photos. :)

We flew to Goa from Bhopal.  I was disappointed at first of Goa because the sand isn't what I'm used to.  I like my white sand.  Hehehe.  I realised that it's not about the whiteness of the sand but who you shared the experience with. GAY!  We went around Goa by motorbike.  At the end of the day, I had my usual we don't have photos together enough drama, we got lost looking for the suggested tour from the book only to stumble the street the minute we decided to give up, had a fantastic KFC meal that made me crave the whole trip and burnt Luke's ass.  He was a trooper, he drove again the next day cause I wanted him to show me around.  I'm a bit self-centered sometimes.

I thought Luke loved tanning himself.  He told me that he liked going in the beach but staying in the shade.  We had to share one big umbrella between us in Goa so we switched when I felt the need to.  Hahaha!  

The Arabian Sea's waves are strong.  We played in the waves until I hit my face and right arm in the sand.  It worried Luke so we left and stayed in our sunbeds.  Hehehe.

This photo was taken whilst ordering dinner at Noodle Republic.  

Me:  Do you want Tom Yum?

Luke:  Hmm, no.

Me:  Fuckkkkk!

Luke:  Actually, I'm gonna have Tom Yum.

Me:  Are you sure?

Luke made fun of this scene the whole trip.  He had an exaggerated version of this story.

From Goa, we flew to Jaipur.  Our trip to Jaipur was amazing!  Mr.Khan, Aunt Truli's supplier/ friend arranged a driver for us to take us everywhere in the city.  He was such a head shaker.  You know, the stereo typical Indian who shakes their heads constantly.  Well, he surpassed my Indian head shaking expectations.  LOL!  He had difficulty speaking English which was a bit of struggle for me and Luke.  

In Jaipur we went to Hawa Mahal , the building that I wanted to visit initially because I was intrigued with the honey combe design, Jantar Mantar, Amber Fort and Chowki Dhani.  Chowki Dhani offers you a taste of India.  You will be treated to Rajasthani food, you can have your photo taken in costume, ride an elephant or camel which Luke and I mostly did.  It was such a joy experiencing all this with my bestfriend and lover.  I have to avoid this gay route on my blog.  Hahaha!

Thank you for the fantastic holiday babu!  We'll definitely be together this year.  I love you!  xxx

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Irie Sunday: 19.02.12

My social life is officially back on.  :)

Luke told me that he is happy that I'm going out again.  Truth be told, I think he is happy that I'm less bitchy cause I have something to do with my time.  Therefore, less drama in our long distance relationship.  LOL!

Lorraine, Ruzelle and I went to Irie Sunday.  Ruzelle has been talking about going here for months and we thought we should give it a try.  We had lots of fun with the unforseen Makati Med Emergency Room event.  No details, it's been us girls and Luke.  Hahaha!

Grabbed from facebook.

People spotting FAILED!  After the second band, a not so good looking guy approached us and asked if we were having fun, we continued talking.  Suplada lang.  But if you see the guy, you might do the same thing.  Afterwards, I asked Lorraine if we could sit down.  2 guys moved next to us clearly wanting to chat as there were lots of vacant seats.  We didn't dare look at them and continued talking and then we left.  Pagmamaganda.  LOL!

At Makati Med.  The clue is in this photo and facebook.  :P

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Party Til We Dropped

I do go on holidays quite a lot but I have never been on a proper holiday with Lorraine and Ruzelle.  When I say proper, I mean, no boyfriends, out of town, no wet blanket.  I am usually the wet blanket as I rarely drink plus of course there's my tb case.  Hehe.

Ruzelle arrived on Thursday, I arrived on Friday and Lorraine arrived on Saturday.  

Friday.  Ruzelle and her siblings took me out for drinks.  We went to Epic then to Summer Place.  Nothing blog worthy happened.

Saturday.  We went to Club Summer Place as usual.  We had a bucket of beer then head off to Juice Bar after midnight.  Our trip coincided with Juice Bar's 7th Anniversary.  Drinks were sold for 7 pesos per plastic cup.  We tried Blue Margarita.  It had horrible effect on both Lorraine and Ruzelle and I couldn't stop dancing.  Hahaha!  Lorraine went blank for a bit.  Before we left the bar, this happened:

CASE 1

2 guys approached us.  I was still in my normal coherent condition.  

SPO4 Tan:  Sorry, anak yan ng mayor.  Then SPO4 Tan introduced himself.  We shook hands.  LOL!

The mayor's son asked for Lorraine's number.

Lorraine declined at first but said, sige.  Then added, di ko alam pano gumamit nito, iphone ako!  Dictated someone's number.

Anak ng Mayor:  Di mo yata number to e.  

Lorraine repeated the number again.  I told SPO4 Tan to take his companion.  

CASE 2

Ruzelle went missing.  She said she was only gonna go to the toilet.  When she didn't return after 5 minutes, I went paranoid.  But thankfully, it was only a case of pagkakasalisi.

Sunday.  It was Kuya Ji and Jamie's wedding.  After the reception, most of the bagets went to Club Summer Place for the after party but the trip wasn't as prolific as the previous nights.  To top it off, there are lots of retirees.  Hahaha!  We went to Juice Bar but the scene was too relaxed.  We decided to check Paraw but it's too hip-hop for us so we decided to head to our accommodation.  I went to bed at 2:30AM but everyone else stayed til 7:30AM.  

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One Destination: Jamie + Jill

I don't really know who Jamie is or what she is like.  I only met her twice prior to the wedding.  The first time was in Christmas 2009 and the second time was on her bridal shower, 2 weeks before the wedding.  Jillian or Kuya Ji as we call him, is my cousin.  He is Ruzelle's older brother.  She wanted to be an actress but ended up working in Marketing, he is a fine arts UP graduate and is a freelance director.  Together they make a good story.  Ang cheesy lang.  :)

He proposed in Greenbelt cinema.  He rented the whole place.  Both of their families and friends were there.  She was ecstatic.  It was her dream to see herself in the big screen.  They were hands-on throughout their wedding.  They would fly to Boracay to look for wedding venues and food tasting.  They didn't use a wedding coordinator until the wedding day.  I don't think I can do that to my own wedding.  I am too unorganised..

The wedding is puno ng pasabog!  Both parties siblings participated in the flash mob for their couple's entrance.  I jokingly told Botchok na ituturo ko sha sa end ng performance but that joke's on me.  Di sha nakatingin!  Hahahaha!  To close the program, Kuya and Jamie hired a group of fire dancers.  What we didn't realise is that, they are gonna dance too.  Production number talaga tong wedding.  I super enjoyed it!

Couple's entrance.

  Jamie arrived in a paraw. 

Wedding game.  Yes, we do wedding games here.  I don't know if they have something like this in the UK though.  

Kuya and Jamie with the fire dancers.

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