Thursday 19 April 2012
We got back to Vancouver at 6 AM and had to rest up before anything else. Later that day we went grocery shopping to restock. We chilled for the evening so Nori and I could get to the badminton courts for 9:30 AM Friday.
Friday: After a long 2.5 hours of badminton we went to a flower shop to place an order for thy mother whose birthday is on 2 May and my father’s whose on the 10th. I have been sending a dozen long stem roses to her and a fruit basket to my dad for too many years to count and this one is her 85th birthday and Nori and I are not there to celebrate. I think that I will be forgiven….maybe I will be with her for my birthday in March which in reality is her “Birth of Me Day”. Needless to say, it was time to do laundry before we head out to Nori’s homeland (Philippines) on the 22ndwhich was a few days away. I checked out my e-ticked that I got on-line and called the issuing company for confirmation and their phone was disconnected. Not to panic, I then called China Airlines to verify our reservations and then I noticed that we did not have seats yet and so I’ll try to get them as well. Apparently, since we were in the LOW class of seats, it is a first come, first serve when your arrive at the check-in. Did not know that…lesson learned! My sister Lynn invited Nori to go at 5PM and get their nails done (all 8), remember we have two thumbs. That was very nice of you Lynn, thanks ….I take back all the solicitor jokes. After the trip to the salon and it was late and Nori was dolled-up……. I took her to Quiznos.
Saturday: We were scheduled to meet sister Lynn around 1PM and go lamp/chandler shopping for her new place…the one with a fantastic view (see photos from Canada blog). We went to a part of town that has lots of antique shops specializing in period items. After finding a great potential and took pictures we headed back to her place (the one with the, did I mention super view). The plan was to make homemade pizza and so we walked to the corner store (which also has a good view but not as grand as my sisters) to grab all the ingredients for 2 pizzas. After having appetizers, beer, a martini (my first), and then wine and pizza, it was time to watch the light show from city hall. By the way, this light show is best viewed from my sister’s place. OK, OK I’ll stop now with the fabulous view notations.
Sunday 22 April 2012 was the day for departure to the PI (Philippines Islands). There are 7107 islands that make up the Philippines….so it would take a person almost 19.5 years to visit every one of them every day. It’s a good thing that I’m retired…I’m going to need it if I want to see them all…..Na, I’ll just visit Nori’s and maybe Joys (our tennis friend). We did some last minute shopping for anticipated medicines that we may need, then showered and packed.
Mama duck up-date: Nori noticed the mother duck sitting in the nest after we returned from Hawaii. It’s nice that we witnessed all the egg laying and are sure that all will turn out well for the ducklings.
The ticketing/check-in would open 4 hours prior to the flight so if we wanted to sit together on a 13 hour (1st leg) trip, we had to leave the house by 9:30 PM for a 2 AM flight to be first in line. It all paid off…we were 3rd in line and got seats together. After 3 movies, 2 meals, playing Tetras for hours, watching 6 documentaries about different cities in China, and trying to sleep in a seat not made for a 6’ 1” old man….we finally arrived in Taipei and that was only the 1st leg of 2. Thank goodness, leg 2 was only a 1.75 hour flight and we got to recover for a couple of hours before we left for Manila. There are no pictures for this blog….SORRY!
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