"Pamamanhikan" in Filipino is the traditional "formal asking of the lady's hand in marriage" from her parents. The groom's whole family goes to the bride-to-be's house to formally meet the family and plan for the wedding. Weddings are actually big in the Philippines because it's the union of two families. Okay so these photos are not exactly about my Kuya's Pamamanhikan. He braved it by asking his girlfriend's hand for marriage on his own and doesn't want me to film his nervousness and blog about it. A month later, his immediate family in the Philippines which he fondly calls "The Team Araguas" (us!) came to finally close the deal.
It's been five years since I last rode the deluxe bus. My first deluxe bus that I experienced before is called Fariñas Bus and it was bound for Ilocos Norte. This is the first time that I am riding via Victory Liner Deluxe Bus:
Victory Liner Deluxe Bus
How much: Php750 ( From Sampalok, Manila to Tabuk City, Kalinga)
They have in board free wifi ( c/s Sun Cellular, but lost the signal once we were in Nueva Ecija...so Boo!)
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| Top: Before journey, Bottom frame: Mid journey! It's freezing cold and it's a good thing we came prepared! |
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| Top Frame: My Kuya Stew and his fiance Jaydee; Bottom Frame: My sister Aprille of Aprille Araguas Designs (Shameless plugging na to!) and her beau, Jay. |
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| Le outfit! Lakas maka-KPop! :) Scarf and Bonnet (thank you @yeyeahye for lending me yours! ) |
Commercial:
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| (Top Frame: Kuya as a serial killer; Bottmo frame: Kuya as a certified online junkie!) |
We left at 8:30pm and by past 5am, we arrived at Tabuk City, Kalinga Apayao!  |
| (L-R, Top to Bottom: The Church where the wedding will be held, JayDee's family house; what it looks like inside the church, one view of the wedding reception on top of the mountain.) |
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| I just had to post this as a photo. Kuya, who's a major cheapskate, who looks British on the outside but lives almost a full blooded Filipino, is a major fan of fakes! He told Aprille that he got his watch for 50k and Aprille yanked the watch open to prove that it's fake! You don't mess with the haggle queen Kuya! Haha! |
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| The rice that they regularly serves us is the red healthy red rice. We went to Grand Zion hotel to check for accommodations for the wedding and they served us berry juice. It's too sweet for me though. |
Sunday:
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| We heard mass at St. William's Cathedral in Tabuk City, Kalinga and it's my first time to hear a Catholic Mass in a different language! I like their own rendition of church songs and it seems like the whole church is singing. |
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| This is called the mayflower and is locally grown in Kalinga. My sister, a wedding florist, took photos of it. |
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| We took a tricycle going to church. I've been noticing that tricycles look different in every part of the country. |
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| The delicious feast that they keep on feeding us. I am such a meat lover but this is too much! First time that I got scared of meat but it was delish! |
One of the cute houses where we had lunch in. They call this the red house and I like how their culture reflects inside their house:
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| Super best in hospitality! |
After spending a little over 36 hours in Kalinga, here we are again via Victory deluxe bus. I like the seat of this second deluxe bus but too bad they don't have built in restroom.
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| That's me looking like a nerdy conehead, and that's my sister looking like a bus stewardess. |
Can't wait for Kuya's wedding in October! We will be back with our cousins and some of Kuya's friends from UK but we'll be flying via Tuguegarao this time. This is going to be the first inter-cultural wedding in our family and I have feeling it's really going to be a riot fun!
*Photos taken from my phone. I know, I know I need to invest in a new camera but I like how my blackberry phone's got an application called pic frame where I can frame it real time. :)
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