Wanted to go out…
May 20, 2008 
1:37 AM
Daily
Tags: Dinagyang Festival, drawings, events, Iloilo, Nintendo DS Lite, pictures, trips, watercolor… And buy an EDGE cartridge for my DS Lite (or n5… Or whatever’s available, cheapest, and with good features). But I woke up late. My Mom and I had to organize all the stuff we left at the dining area.
It was getting annoying seeing all that stuff there blocking the way. 
As we were organizing, I saw some sketches that I got from our store room. I thought I should scan and put them in my dA scraps. I miss drawing. I also saw in the store room a lot of PS CD covers. I kept some of them for future reference/sketches. It’s about time I try the 
Attending art classes didn’t do me any good. I really need practice. Everyday practice. Anyway, with all that organizing, Mac and I had to cancel our plans.Time to blog about my Iloilo trip/Dinagyang Festival experience! Shiet, this is damn long overdue. I forget and I’m lazy. Sorry.
Yearbook shots were scheduled to be taken the morning before our flight. So I went to school first. I was so much in a hurry. I’m pretty sure my shots turn out bad and probably Photoshop wouldn’t do much.
Flight was around 2:30PM. I hanged out for a bit in the PAL Lounge. Ate a lot of sushi, took some drinks, and rushed off to the plane. I wore my sunglasses the whole time because I was afraid I looked like I was punched on both eyes with the thick make-up I was wearing. I didn’t get to wash it off because we had to hurry to the airport. I only got to remove my make-up after 2 hours trying to look for a decent and not-so-expensive hotel. My Dad had a reservation in some hotel, but I think whoever managed the reservations didn’t do a good job. They said his name wasn’t on the list. GRR~ It was tiring walking and having my huge bag. I felt uneasy with the make-up too. We ended up in an expensive hotel. We had no choice because even motels were full.
That night, before the dance contest, my Dad, me, and 2 of our hosts from the Mayor’s office accompanied us to dinner at a resto in a place I forgot. 
That place reminded me of Baywalk. Anyone from Iloilo might know what I’m talking about. There was a fireworks contest that night. It started at 8PM and lasted until 12MN. The first ones were alright. Nothing extravagant. But later on, the fireworks amazed me. They were all pretty. I recall that the grand price is something around PhP100,000 or more. Seeing the fireworks, I bet they all spent more than that. 
Where we had dinner and watched the fireworks; that’s me in the middle picture drinking Cerveza Negra
On the morning of the street dance, my Dad and I hurriedly ate breakfast at the expensive hotel we stayed in. The hotel wasn’t supposed to be expensive, but it turns out that during the Dinagyang, they increase their rates twice the normal. I wasn’t fully satisfied with their breakfast buffet. I got mostly leftovers that were hardly warm anymore. The old chef who cooked eggs spoke to me in their dialect that I don’t even understand. I said I wanted sunny side-up. Then he asked me something. I didn’t reply right away because my mind was being slow.
Those behind me were staring at me oddly. I spoke in English as I requested my egg. Isn’t it obvious I couldn’t speak their dialect? 
I just said, “Yes, whatever,” then he gave me a half-cooked egg. D: After that, we hurriedly went to where the event will be held. The traffic was a bit bad, so we had to walk for a bit. We weren’t late and even though the place was packed we got good seats. Thank goodness!
We also got free softdrinks and food… Even more than what they gave to the audience since my Dad and I had access to where all the I remember when I went there to go to the washroom, all of them stared at me. Even their security guards did. I felt like a criminal sneaking in. 
The Mayor giving his, fortunately, short speech
My Dad and I
Look for the Ms. Dinagyang winners
Camwhoring
It rained…
… But they still went on
The men shaking butts
I want one of those huge fans
Tribu Ilonganon
Still Tribu Ilonganon
There were a lot of participants. I took more than a hundred pictures of the event using 2 cameras — a digital camera and my Dad’s N95 thus the not-so-great quality. XD; My Dad kept dozing off, so he barely helped me take pictures. But he did take some videos with his N95. I drained his cp’s battery.
Lesson learned from this — bring a lot of spare batteries. We then get invited to a lunch hosted by the Mayor.
There were only 3 of us in our table. FoodFEST! 
I was getting kind of bored during lunch because there was hardly anyone to talk to except my Dad. Everyone there were old, too old, or too young. I’m not that sociable either, so I was just texting Mac and telling him that Mar Roxas was there wearing the blue polo he wore in his commercial campaign.
*ROFLMAO*
I heard he’s going to run for presidency.
After that, we went to look for another hotel to stay at. We ended up where a lot of Korean stayed. They said a lot of Koreans go there because studying English there is cheaper than here in Metro Manila. I was also told that 10PM is Korean night-life time.
We checked in, my Dad took a nap, and I reviewed for a bit while watching TV (if I didn’t, I would surely have dozed off). Then in the late afternoon, we went to where the people celebrated the fiesta. My Dad bought necklaces while I couldn’t find anything worthy to take back here in Makati… Something that could be cheaper there or that couldn’t be found here. You know, being in Iloilo feels like being in Manila.
The following day wasn’t busy. It was the last day of our trip. I stayed in the hotel. Still watched TV and reviewed. I went to a coffee shop just outside the hotel to check my email. Speaking of email, 95% of the restos there have FREE wifi. Including those batchoy fastfood restos.
My Dad picked me up after his meeting with the Mayor since the World Bank has a project there. We went to a mall to continue his meeting with the mayor. His office was temporarily there while the city hall was being constructed or renovated. *shrugs* I stayed there a while trying to keep myself awake. I think the Mayor saw me dozing off in the middle of reading my notes. Haahhaha~ How humiliating! Well, that kinda sums up the trip. Even though I was stressed and super worried with my board exam that time, I still had a great time.
Hopefully I will be able to go to the Dinagyang next year with Mac. Some friends also… Maybe. Oh, pictures from the trip are here. Wow, it feels good to be in a blogging mood. Now it’s Gintama time!!!
ORAS NA! ROXAS NA!