Baguio Trip...

It's been 3 days since I updated here...
It's because we went for a trip...
We arrived in Baguio around 11 in the morning last Sunday...
I was tired and I haven't had a decent sleep so the moment we reached our hotel room, I slept immediately...
My mom woke me up around 2 to take a bath...
Before going to the mass, we looked for a salon first because we need someone to do our hair and make up...
There's hardly any beauty salon there but in the end we found one...
Then, we proceeded to the church...
The mass for 4 o'clock has just started when we arrived Baguio Cathedral...
After the mass, we went to SM Baguio for dinner...
We ate at Mann Han for chinese food...
Finally I learned how to eat using chopsticks...
My dad taught me...
I still need more practice to be able to use them...

My mom has a half-sister living there so we tried searching for her house...
It's been 20 years since the last time they saw each other...
Actually I haven't seen her so I was excited to finally meet her...
After almost an hour, we finally found the right house...
We stayed there for about an hour...
They weren't as excited as I am when we saw each other so I was kinda sad...
But I guess it's okay...
It's the first meeting anyway...

Before going back to the hotel, we passed by the bride's cottage in Baguio Country Club...
We went to Baguio for the wedding the next day, by the way...
My brother, Rei is the wedding coordinator so they had to talk about the final touches for the wedding...
The wedding gown was so beautiful...
It's a bit overdecorated but it's really pretty...
Then, we went back to the hotel to have a good night's rest...

My mom woke me up again around 5 in the morning, took a bath and ate breakfast...
Then, my make up and hair was done by the make up artist...
The wedding is at 9 and we arrived around 830...
The wedding proceeded as planned but it was kinda disappointing...
It's not as beautiful as I expected it to be...
I feel like the bride's hard work was put into waste...
The reception at the Baguio Country Club after the wedding was not good too...
Well, the food was great, it's in buffet style but it wasn't that organized...
A wedding entourage was supposed to take place in the reception so we all lined up...
The host started calling the names of the entourage even if the the newly weds has not arrived yet...
What the hell was that...
Even the names of the entourage were wrong, they were not in order...
It resulted in entering the reception hall while you're being called by a different name...
And we don't even have a reserved seats so I ended standing for about 15 minutes pretending to wait for my brother...
I have to wait for the additional table to be set up...
It's sooo frustrating...
In the wedding program, there's a part where the couple dances and the guests will pin money in them...
It's like a tradition in the Philippines...
I can't believe the host translated it into "DOLLAR DANCE"...
Just because the groom's family and friends came from America does not mean that you have to call it "dollar dance"...
He made it look like we are so into money...
It's really embarrassing...
Besides, the dance should be done at the very end of the wedding program...
Not at the start right after eating...
And the souvenirs were also distributed right after eating...
The tendency for the guests who have eaten and got their souvenirs is t go home...
It's like they already got what they want...

As for us, we weren't really planning to finish the reception because we still have somewhere to go...
So we left early...
Good thing, as we were going out of the hall...
The bridesmaids were being called for the catching of the bouquet...
And I really really really don't want to participate...
The day is already bad for me and I don't want to make it worse...
I ran to the toilet as an excuse, pretending I need to use it first before leaving...
I think we were the first guests to leave...

We went back to the hotel, changed into casual clothes and off to our sight seeing spree...
Unfortunately, it rained very hard and it's already getting dark...
The only place we were able to visit was PMA (Philippine Military Academy)...
We only went to the museum, took some pictures and bought souvenirs...
Then, we had our dinner at Shakey's in SM again...
While going back to the hotel, we passed by the street where there are a lot of ukay-ukay...
My brother wanted to go shopping there so we went...
My brother wasn't able to buy anything...
Instead, I was able buy shoes and earrings...

The next morning I woke up to my parents noises...
They were preparing to go to the public market to buy fresh vegetables...
Parking lot is hard in the market so they went there in jeepney instead...
They returned around 7 and then we ha our breakfast, packed our things and checked out the hotel around 9 am...
My brother wants to buy another shirt, so we went back to PMA before going back to Manila...
While on the trip, my mom said she wanted to pass by the Our Lady of Manaoag Shrine...
It's still early so we passed by there...
We bought rosaries and other religious items...
Fortunately, we're just in time for the blessing and we had the things we bought blessed...
It was a fruitful experience...

We arrived in Manila last night around 8 pm...
I had so much fun in Baguio...
It was my first time living in a hotel...
Second time in Baguio...
First time to go on a trip with my family (except for my other brother who wasn't able to go)...
My dad said next time, we'll go there purely for vacation...
I can't wait for that next time...
I hope it'll be soon...