all about my journeys in life

12-15 February
Dubai
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES


FINALLY. After 10 years of planning (ok, just 3!), we were able to go to Dubai together. All four of us--Malu, Mona, Adette and me. We made use of our mileage (even Adette and myself) so we could get firm seats. Luckily we did. The flight was so full!

The first problem was eliminated when we checked in online. Adette didn't have to undergo questioning by the checkin agents. We were able to pass immigration with no hassle at all. We waited for our flight and when we were about to board, that's when the questioning happened. Good that the agents there were very helpful. They let Adette go through. In our minds, we just had one more hurdle to pass...the Dubai Immigration.

In Dubai, we looked for the best counter--the best meaning the kindest-looking officer should be manning that counter. We were fortunate to have the officer who didn't ask even one question. He didn't even look at Adette! Huh! We were out immediately upon getting the stamp on our passports! Woohoo!

We were met at the airport by Christie. We checked in at Le Meridien. We ate at the best shawarma place I've ever been to. (I'm going back!) The boys drank til 2am. On Friday, we went to IKEA shopping for small items for home use. We went to different malls. The following day, we just went to the outlet mall and ate at Carinos...super sulit!

Then off we were to the airport, to catch our flight back to Doha. Bitin.

31Jan-01Feb
Manila
PHILIPPINES


Because I still had 1 OEC left which I wanted to use, I went home. ;) I miss home! I got my ticket, the flight was ok, so I was in Manila on the afternoon of 31Jan. The engineer went on halfday leave. Sweet. I thought he would just ask BIL to fetch me but it was him who did.

We had dinner with Kitty and Bert at Abe's in Serendra. We then had coffee with Iva and the lawyer. Late in the evening, my mother called me and asked if we could meet her in Divisoria the following day. The engineer and I almost had an argument because that Saturday, we had committed to attend the blessing of this company which we wanted to support. Meeting my mother meant we might miss the blessing. And the engineer didn't like the idea.

Anyway, everything went into order. We woke up at 6am to meet my mother at 730am. We had breakfast at Jollibee, went to the store where they sell curtains and wallpapers. We bought curtains for the units (my mother will make the curtains!). At 10 o'clock, we said goodbye to my mother. She was with Rose, thankfully, so she won't be alone.

We took a nap at the condo for 30 minutes and then proceeded to attend the blessing. At the office, we ate lunch and said goodbye to the people. We still had to meet Malu's cousin. Then, I left for the airport. Hay. Life is so busy.

12-15 December
Shanghai
CHINA


The trip was planned together with Joy and Monina. I can't say that the planning went smoothly. There were some decisions to make and it took a while for us to actually decide. In the end, the Engineer and I decided to stay at a 4-star hotel located at the city center while they booked at a hostel located somewhere outside the city center.

A funny thing happened at the immigration. The officer asked me to smile (I was smiling in my passport) to check if I'm actually the one in my passport. Haha. You should see my passport, I think I look different there too.

On our first day, the four of us were not together. We were not able to talk about the plan, hence we just went on our own. The engineer and I went to the shopping district...Nanjing Road. There we ate breakfast, roamed the People's Park, visited Madam Tussaud's, had lunch. After that, we went to the Yu Yuan Garden and had some pictures taken. We were so tired and the rain began to pour so we spent some time inside Burger Machine. It was cold. Really cold. And the engineer was not well-equipped. At 5pm, it was already dark so we just went back to the hotel to rest.

On the second day, Monina and Joy called us before we went out. We decided to have breakfast together and travel outside the city to see the water village that Joy wanted to check out. It was a long journey, transferring from one train to another. Eventually, we arrived at the place (even riding a taxi to get to the place we could have reached by foot!) and realized, nothing's really amazing there. So many people walking, eating, shopping. We had lunch at a Taiwanese fastfood. Not my idea of amazing but it filled up our hungry stomachs. We went back to the city and separated---Joy and Monina to go shopping and then Engineer and I went to see the 88 Building (used to be the tallest, with a good view of the city). After waiting for a long time just to see the TV station light up (it did not!), we decided to leave. Two minutes after we have exited the building, the damn lights went on! Grrr. Anyway, the night was again too cold for us to stay. We went somewhere to eat dinner at Mc Donalds (that was the only available food stall in that mall). We went back to the hotel, rested for a while and prepared for the flight back.