The Real Life

After getting married, then preparing for another wedding, getting married AGAIN and a longish vacation we finally settled down. We choose to rent a condominium in Cainta. We choose this as our first home because it is near our church, it's furnished and it is relatively nice residential complex near commercial areas. Now the real life of married couple begins...

Our first few days was really not normal, we were still not recovered from our vacation mode so we still wake up at 9 am, have breakfast at 10 am, lunch at 3pm and a very late dinner. This mode lasted, well until now... Josh is working from home so he doesn't have to rush to wake up and get ready and drive to work. He just simply gets up, take a few steps to get a shower then another 4 steps to go to work. Speaking of work he did go back to work the day after we arrived from Bangkok.

I know how josh can be obsessive with things, especially with work and books (he has warned me about it before and i heard a couple of warning from his friends as well) so i have my heart prepared for that, but being with him in actuality makes the all difference, i underestimated his obsessiveness, my expectation failed me... Josh, the minute he gets his hand on his computer will work restlessly like the energizer bunny... he can stare in his computer without looking away for hours, he is perfectly fine watching tv shows in his ipod for hours while working, he watches tv shows intensely without moving, so still that i can sketch his profile and he can read books while doing other stuff or in very extreme conditions (e.g. while a boat is being shaken forcefully by waves). These are some examples of how josh can be obsessive. It was hard at first to adjust to this obsessiveness because I on the other hand am Josh's exact opposite... i have a hard time paying attention to a certain thing for a long time. I get bored easily, so i find myself doing other things to amuse myself (e.g. drawing while listening to a lecture at class, or just simply fidget ing with things). My friends even jokes that i have ADHD, but that's just a joke there's nothing to be alarmed about.

We are in the real life now, beyond the long distance relationship and holidays. We get to live with the flaws and imperfections of each other. While talking before we have our expectations set that living together will not be all fun, we know that in our case there will be major adjustments and conflicts will arise. And being two different people living together certainly creates friction. We know it is foolish and selfish to expect someone to change just to conform to ones temperament. Knowing our differences makes us learn how we can balance each other... So i provide josh good distraction and he helps me to have structure and help me endure boredom. We learn that we can easily hurt each other if we will be just focus on our own temperament so we can learn how to serve each other well.

Bangkok

Bangkok was a really nice change of pace. Where Hong Kong and Macau felt a little hectic (and we were getting to the tired stage of long vacationing), we were going to be in Bangkok for a while and the famous Nikolaiev ability to work out amazing details had put us in amazing housing for several days as we checked out the city. While in Bangkok we took some boats around to a really big wat (temple),



we saw a museum on royal barges,


and we went by the temple of the reclining buddha which was truly epic in proportion.



We did a nice bit of shopping in bazaars, most impressive of which was the weekend market. that market is big enough to lose a couple football fields in and sells everything from clothes to furniture to food to souvenirs to pets including all the regulars: dogs, cats, bunnys, guinea pigs and a rather interesting selection of live chipmunks.



One evening while eating dinner I caught this shot on the street. This is really a good image of Bangkok.


As always we ate some really good food, at truly amazing prices. I think for living expenses Bangkok is really the best place I've been to so far when it comes to stretching your dollar.

We also took a package trip out of the city to ride elephants,



we also rode on rafts,


crossed a rope bridge


and played in a waterfall. A rather nice outing.






All in all Bangkok was a really nice end to our post-wedding vacationing. But the time ended and we all had to go back to our lives in America... except for Joy and myself. So the rest went back to America and Joy and I stayed in Manila and got settled into our apartment.

Hong Kong and Macau

The remaining group (Matt and Rachel Nikolaiev, Erik West, Fuad Loutfi, Joy and I) flew into Manila and then out to Hong Kong. We were met at the airport by Edwin and Lilly Chow my friends from school. They had gotten us set up to stay at the YWCA. Which is essentially a clean dorm room with shared bathrooms which is reasonably priced by Hong Kong standards and nicely located near major public transit stops and not too far from major city stuff.



While we were there we toured around the city catching the ferry around the bay,

We went up the worlds longest escalator, really a series of escalators that allows passage up the long incline to the richer area of Hong Kong.



visiting the zoo,


and taking the tram up the mountain to look out over the city.



Of course we also spent some time sampling the food. Dim sum was incredible and reasonably priced and We ate soem truly amazing food at a restaurant that Edwin's mom was at. This was Szechuan cuisine rather than true cantonese fare but it was quite tasty.


We also ran across something that came across an enormous gathering of Filipino ex-pats working in Hong Kong.




This came to be a running joke that Joy can go anywhere in Asia only speaking Tagalog and she would be fine because Filipinos permeate Asia's service jobs. One of Joy's Aunts actually was working in Hong Kong so we went by her work and visited with her for a little while.



On an amusing note, Fuad ran across his much older chinese beard twin and got a picture with him. Although neither could understand the other their beards were a communication beyond language :)


After our couple days in Hong Kong we parted ways with Edwin and Lilly and took the ferry to Macau.

While waiting for a pickup from our hotel Joy gets into a conversation with a Filipino working as a porter for the hotel. Filipinos really are everywhere.

Macau is the Las Vegas of Asia with oversized super-extravagant casinos throughout the island.

Macau was actually originally a portugese settlement with some remnants from the early days and some of the picturesque narrow winding streets common to Europe.




Edwin had told us that portugese egg tarts were a must-try on the island and he was truly correct. We stopped at a dessert shop, each got a tart and then immediately got back in line for several more. They are truly addictive and really tasty. So we spent the day wandering the city and a little time playing around in a little fitnesse themed park next to our hotel.

That night we visited the two of the most well-known casinos on the island. The Sands and the Venetian. The Sands was really nothing that great but the venetian was truly amazing. It was part casino part theme park. With indoor canals with people on boats punting through the canals and an enitre mall of top brand stores and really nice restaurants. Its the sort of place that offers the most efficient transfer of money from your back pocket to the casino while distracting you with a twinkle in your eye.



We only spent about 24 hours in Macau but unless you are planning on gambling its pretty well enough for the island. We then caught a flight out from Macau to our next destination, Bangkok.