Vancouver. Finally.

So yes, people. The Panda has landed in Canada. It was a 6-hour flight to Japan, then another 10 hours to Vancouver from Narita. As we headed to the airport in Manila, the sky opened up and it began to rain. Great. Just when we were leaving. Haha. I mean, for the 2 months before we left it's been nothing but baking heat and sweaty humidity. And it rained. It looks like Manila was glad to see us go. Either that or the heavens were crying. Haha.

It was about 6:00 AM and we were pretty much wasted from the previous night, but i have trouble sleeping on planes so I got to Narita dazed and confused.
But we didn't get out of the airport (Think The Terminal with Tom Hanks and Catherine Zeta-Jones) However there were a lot of interesting things to do in the 4 hours between flights. The place was HUGE. We had to take a bullet train between buildings. And EVERYONE was in uniform. Too bad my brother refused to take my picture with them. (" Have you no shame?!") I loved the ads and the plastic food on display in all the windows and the funky english. I didn't think i'd enjoy the place as much as i did. Although I did get sneered at by some hunky effeminate Jap Cashier as i used my credit card to buy a bottle of Oxygenated Lemon Water.

LIP GROSS!

They said Japanese Bananas were small. Yup. They are.

And here's a panda I wanted to bring home but couldn't afford. Awww. Anyhoo. The 10 hour flight to vancouver was punctuated by the wails of a superbaby 5 seats away who SCREAMED for the duration of entire flight, and the amazing b.o. of some guy in front of us. We saw Blood Diamond, Happy Feet, Music and Lyrics and Clint Eastwood's Iwo Jima a couple of times over and over. The plane food was ok too, being authentic Japanese, but sadly i had to stay away from the seafood.

So. We arrived in Vancouver on a bright and sunny afternoon, 1:00 PM Wednesday. (Which was so funny since we left Manila 9:00 AM Wed) The airport people were extra nice to us (Which was a relief after the japanese stewardess who kept barking in japanese to me until i had to explain to her that i couldn't understand her.) and my tita Nanette was waiting for us. We stepped out to a crisp sunny day, like Baguio on a really bad day, and a man in shorts, sweating, ran past us. Damn him. I dove into the comfort of a sweater, a jacket, and a scarf.

And there was a CROW or RAVEN on the car waiting for us. A great omen, i guess. As we drove away from the airport, i was shocked by all the SPACE. Seriously. Land as far as the eye can see, FLAT. And nothing between us and the sky, not a skyscraper in sight, no mountains. Nothing. Just green. Grass, i think they call it, unused as i am to seeng nothing but cement. And I saw a hostile squirrel too! It climbed up the pine tree next to our building, hissing at me.

So there. The panda is now in Vancouver. Burnaby, actually. haha. And yes, i am now looking for a job.

To see more pics, add me up in multiply: isharaine. Cheers!!