Independence Day!

Happy Philippine Independence Day!

I remember when we celebrated our 100th year of independence. My family and I went to Roxas Blvd to watch the festivities. It was such a big event and there were so many people. I remember how expensive a bottle of water cost and at the end of the day, all the drinks were sold out and you couldn’t buy water nor pop anywhere.

They had the parade which was both interesting and beautiful. It was the most lavish parade I’ve seen in the Philippines. I haven’t really seen any other major parade except for the usual Santacruzan although I wanted to see the Mask parade in Bacolod City which takes place during lent. Come to think of it, I don’t think Santacruzan is considered a parade… it’s more of a procession really.We had taken some pictures but I can’t remember where we kept them.

I also remember the fireworks that night. We were staning along the coast and they were lighting fireworks off a barge. It was the longest fireworks display I’ve seen and it apparently cost the government billions of dollars. If only I had a video camera back then…

I remember we were so hungry after the whole event and we had such a hard time looking for a place to eat. Every place we went to, the lines were so long that they stretched all the way out the door. We were starving so my parents decided to just eat anywhere where we can find food. After much walking, we found a Joe Kwan and decided to eat there. Of course the food wasn’t that great but when you’re hungry you become less picky. It actually tends to taste better than it really is. LOL. The funny thing is, after we ate, we noticed a bunch of restaurants lined down the road. If we had walked a bit further, we would’ve been able to choose between Pizza Hut, Wendy’s, etc.

It was about 1am when we finally finished eating and our next dilemma was how we were going to get home. We didn’t bring a car with us at the time because we knew parking would’ve been impossible. At 1am, the LRT is closed and there are barely any buses. We had to take a bus to Makati City and then take another bus to Alabang and then take a jeep to Las Piñas from there. We literally went all over the place just to get home. It was past 2am by the time we arrived home and I remember being so tired that we literally fell on our beds.

Eventhough it was very exhausting, we had so much fun and we really enjoyed the celebration. I was glad we went because I felt it was worth it. Plus, how often does one’s county celebrate a hundred years of independence right?