Well it's good for foreigners to tell you about how great Philippines when it comes to beautiful spots, places worth seeing and all the travelogue stories that need more emphasis and detailing. No one could tell you the experience involve and the impression of being there in a land that is quite exotic and extraordinary. I mean they wont lie to you how gross or how exciting each place beyond your imagination and how gorgeous and friendly those people are until you meet them.
Just like me here in Canada as I first had my first view, my very first arrival at the airport in Canada in mainland Vancouver, year 1992. I was with my husband RL but we parted separately for half an hour because I was a new immigrant and have to be at the booth for new immigrants. It was not that busy actually, not so many people at the airport compared to millions of people in MIA or NAIA in Manila. I felt weird actually. Where are the people? I mean I am not so used of seeing few people. I seated for a while closer to the Filipino family who were waiting there too for their names to be called from the front desk. They were couple with 3 children and a grandma, new immigrants. They said they were from Baguio City. After having a conversation with them, I decided to ask the desk clerk and pointed me to the other booth and there my passport and other documents were inspected and stamped. The boy, I mean the younger handsome male Customs officer looked at me, smiled and asked me, "Are you traveling alone? Prince Rupert is too far away from here." I chuckled & said " No sir! My husband is with me and he is waiting for me outside." Then he returned all the stamped documents and told me, "Good luck & WELCOME TO CANADA! I said thank you! Wow! That's it? That's how convenient the process is.
My husband who was at the lobby of the airport waiting told me that he thought the processing would be that long but it's not. RL searched for his white Lumina Chev. he parked at the airport parking space ad we zoomed in through the traffic congested highway down to the ferry terminal because we have to visit my husband's parents in V.I. The huge ferry boat, first time to see a boat that has the capacity for at least thousands of passengers, hundreds of cars, buses, trucks, etc.Mind boggling almost like a cruise ship. We're lucky because the ferry was almost brand new with new facility, restaurants, arcade, shop, bookstore, etc. It took us 45 minutes to at least an hour on the ferry until we drove again 3 hours to Campbell to my parents-in law. The scenes are of agricultural rather than urban and when we reached Mom& Dad's home I was shocked at the huge house they owned seated on a 5 acre lot with fruit trees at the back and tall douglas fir, cedar and spruce at the front. You wont be able to see their house from the front gate because it is covered with those tall trees. The yard also has rose garden with those ceramic dwarf ornaments and pretty snow white. On the left side was a small barn that was for the horses (they don't have horses anymore that year). RL's mom welcomed us with an open arms, hugs and kisses as if I am one of her children and so much happier when she first saw me and teased my husband , "Son, you are a cradle snatcher!" OMG! That was so hilarious! My Mother -in law has great sense of humor eh? No, I am not that young anymore! I was already 29 years old that time but I do looked younger than my age. My Father-in law was also happy to see us. He looked kind of the "quiet type" but he is such a good man. He showed me his collection or wall clocks made from cedar, he made them all. I was so impressed. He also had a showcase of wooden bowls and wooden plates etc which he carved from scratch. Woodcarving is one of his hobbies after he retired as the owner of a logging company. They owned a logging camp before. My Mother-in law was the best cook ever especially when it comes to roast beef, gravy and yorkshire pudding. I enjoyed our dinner and helped in the kitchen cleaning and tidying up but she said they have dishwasher. While having our dessert, we all gathered at the living room and had our conversation knowing each other. My husband gave them video copy of our wedding and reception and they played it on their video machine. We watched it. She apologized that they were not able to attend the wedding in the Philippines (they were too old to travel) but she gave us a whole complete set of expensive Noritake porcelain plates, cups, saucer, platter set and Oneida complete silverware set and sets of genuine Crystal bowls, pitcher, wine glasses, vase, etc which fill up my China cabinet. And it was her who had sewn a dainty honeymoon dress made of silk and purple satin-silk bathrobe. Yes, they were such loving couple, generous and just as happy that their one and only Son found the right wife. We stayed for the night.
The next day, we woke up early, Mom had our early breakfast ready and after long goodbyes we drove back to the ferry terminal bound for the mainland Vancouver to the long highway going up to Prince Rupert, BC. Oh my God! I never thought that the long drive would be such a pain and scary one. Pain the butt seated for very long hours inside the car on a very long highway as if endless made me feel nervous and all I can see are mountains, hills and valleys and long wide arrays of vegetation, forest and where are the people? Sure it was a culture shock for me at first. The majority of the population of people in Canada stayed in congested city. The farmlands are endless where herds of cattle, sheep and other farm animals roam freely at the horizon. It was immense, I felt like drowning from the wide blue sky above and the large tract of land without houses to see for few hours of drive, less vehicles to see, sometimes, nothing nor people walking on the roads and highways and in the long route from Chilliwack to the next cities and towns where population of people are getting less from 10,000 - 5,000 to 100's only! Every city and town have a post sign (billboard) of their population. You wont believe how clean the highways, the posts, the signs, billboards, the direction, the traffic lights, the roads, the maintenance of the long concrete highways are incredible, almost in perfect order. There is no pothole whatsoever on the roads and highways. I didn't see any debris or garbage, nothing! The only thing that by chance you can see deer or bear or elk along the side of the road. We passed by the Fraser River, Cache Creek where the valleys looked more like dry desert land and scenes from a cowboy movie. We stopped by for gas fill-up and lunch at the nearby gas station, a fastfood restaurant good enough for western foods. We drove again until we reached Prince Williams Lake and stopped to rest for the night in the motel which is quite nice, clean and beds freshly been cleaned and ironed and up to a good quality standard for customers convenience. After we showered, freshen up change clothes then we had our dinner at the nearest restaurant. We've been having mostly Canadian foods and I got nothing to complain. Then next morning, tired but we have to continue our long journey home. We passed by Prince George, it is much bigger city with bigger population than Prince Williams Lake. It was already afternoon when we reached Terrace, BC. We had our burger & fries at A&W. On the way home to Prince Rupert, noticed that the mountain is so much closer to the route or path towards the city and on its edge is a ravine. OMG! I just couldn't believe, what if there's an avalanche on that site? It is treacherous edge of the road but we managed to stay alive and arrived to our destination PRINCE RUPERT but before we get home, husband wants to go shopping for groceries at Safeway, it was newly built supermarket. While we're browsing for goods, a short skinny (very slim) woman with long dark hair, dark skin complexion, but she looked pretty asked me if I am a Chinese or Vietnamese. Ngek! What the heck!((Sure! I looked like Zhang Ziyi! LOL)) ((Just kidding!))
I was more like a "Shannen Doherty of Beverly Hills of 90210 ! Ha ha ha! OMG, dreaming ))). Beverly Hills was so popular way back that period of time and so as SAVED BY THE BELL. But I usually watched MATLOCK & AIR FARCE ON TV.
She introduced herself when she finds out I'm a Filipina. Well, that happens! I mistook her for an African actually! She's a bit talkative and my husband and I were in a hurry to get home & WE ARE HOME!
TO BE CONTINUED.
