#joeukno

[joeukno]

Last time I was in Vancouver, a border agent thought I was “stealing” jobs from Canadian DJs and sent me back home the next morning after seeing DJ equipment in my bag.

2 years passed and they sent me to the holding area again for screening. The border agent, who resembled Vin Diesel, was even more of a dick than the last one who sent me home. The agent questioned me about why I wanted to come back, and even took my phone to look up all the info he could get to nail me about a possible “unpermitted” DJ gig. The agent even tried pushing my buttons to get me to snap back at him by asking questions fast and telling me to calm down even though I haven’t talked aggressively toward him. After he couldn’t find anything on me, he let me back in to Van City! Cue up Drake: “N!**@ WE MADE IT!”

I celebrated my entrance back into Vancouver at a club my friend got us into called The Queen’s Republic. We even ran into a performance last night by Aries Spears. The DJ dropped beats as he did his famous routine where he would rap in other famous rappers’ voices. The voices were so dead on point that I thought Biggie, Snoop, DMX, and Method Man were all in the club too haha!

We stuck to beer all night since the club didn’t like to pour drinks generously. But, on a good note: we ended the night with some good ol’ Canadian poutine from Fritz! I took my time and devoured the gravy-fied cheese curded fries just so that I could enjoy every bite. I slammed dunked the empty container into the nearby trash can. I’M BACK VANCOUVER!!! What are we getting into tomorrow?!

[joeukno]

My dad and I decided to try this modern Filipino restaurant called Mesa on my last night in the Philippines. My Dad still has another week before he and my Mom travel back to the United States. The food was delicious. Shrimp cakes, two different types of beef, and fried Tilapia filled up our stomachs. I definitely had a small appetite because of being sick the past couple days, but the food was so good that I forced myself to eat. We headed back to the hotel right after dinner to catch the FIBA Asia championship game between the Philippines and Iran. Both teams are already guaranteed a spot in the 2014 FIBA World Cup in Spain. This was a big accomplishment for the Philippines. Many celebrities, politicians, and athletes were in attendance. The game even featured an interview with Pacquiao. Last year, The Philippines finished fourth place. The Philippines ended up getting Silver this time around.

[joeukno]

I paid a visit to the Ayala Museum. I was not allowed to take photos, but I managed to take a few. The diorama floor of the museum was the best part in my opinion. The diorama sequenced the history of the Filipino people from ancient times up until now.

[joeukno]

I was not feeling well the next day. I think it was a combination of a hangover and a slight fever. Jernel told me we both drank water last night from the bar and not from bottles. The fever I have is probably from this since he was feeling sick as well. Jernel actually drove to his girlfriend's house last night, dropped her off, and told her to let him sleep in his car haha! I got up out of bed in the afternoon, headed over to a Ramen spot, bought extra extra strength Tylenol, and bought a Sarsi to drink at the hotel. I did not want to do anything for the rest of the day haha!

[joeukno]

Wednesday night was the craziest night. My longtime friend Jernel was able to get me to dj at a bar/restaurant called URBN located at Fort Bonifacio. URBN reminded me of the high end bars we had back in the states. I felt right at home in this part of the city. I look at Fort Bonifacio as the cross between Santa Monica's Third Street Promenade and Downtown Long Beach without being next to the ocean. My set was not until 12:45a so we worked on the first bottle of vodka. The night was a blur after that. Next thing I know, I'm taking random tequila shots, I'm finished djing, and we're on our way to the club just a walk away, called Prive. I did not get home until 7am. I felt the early morning humidity as I stumbled back to my hotel room. My dad had already left for his one day trip to his hometown, Olongapo. It was perfect because I needed to be alone with a hangover of this magnitude. I definitely felt the pain that next day.

[joeukno]

My sister had to leave the day after we got back to Manila. So, she wanted to do some last minute shopping before we checked into our hotel in Makati, the Dusit Thani. She bought a bottle of Filipino rum, and some Cuban rum which is definitely not available in the United States. She also stocked up on dried mangoes and polvoron. We checked into the hotel around 1pm, but the room was not ready until 2:30pm. We soon found out that most of the FIBA Asia teams were staying at our hotel until August 11 for the twenty seventh FIBA Asia Championship. There were some familiar NBA faces on the Iranian and Chinese teams.

[joeukno]

On our last night in Iligan, we hurried to buy all of our souvenirs. We stopped by a shop where a lot of our furniture back home was from. The store was run by a Muslim couple. My Mom knew them fairly well since they talked as my sister and I looked for goods to buy.

We had dinner later on in the night with a couple that owned the restaurant we ate at yesterday, Fontina, and the hotel next door we were staying at. I ordered an ice cold San Miguel beer as my parents shared stories with the couple. The man was quite conversational switching from speaking Tagalog to my parents and speaking English to my Sister and I. We walked to the hotel right after dinner. We ended the night early to rest. My Dad, Carla, and I had to leave the hotel at 4:30am to make our flight back to Manila at 7am. My mother had to stay here for the remainder of her trip to take care of business at her gym.

[joeukno]

My mom, driving in the rain, pulls over to tell our bodyguard to head back to PowerHaus...my mom's Badminton gym.