The past few years I've met a lot of kindred souls in this wander-maniac community composed of Pinoy Travel Bloggers. It has become an unwritten rule that whenever our muse Gay Emami is in town, it's automatic that we should hang out in some random places to drink, sing karaoke songs and talk about our travel experiences. Because of our hectic schedules (not working) but traveling, it is a rare occurrence to gather a crowd of more than five. Fortunately, on one cold January night a bunch of us showed up at the 19th floor of Linden Suites in Ortigas. It was an affair billed as "Pajama Party Wherein We Don't Wear Pajamas"
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| Photo Credit: Marx of http://www.marxtermind.com/ |
It wasn't an ordinary get together as we were also welcoming to the Philippines, two popular and beautiful (I might add) travel writers from other countries; Germany's Sab of Just One Way Ticket and United States' Kate of Adventurous Kate. We occupied the whole of Linden's 19th floor except for one room, whose occupants might be wondering if we would invite them to the party, but I don't think that thought crossed our mind since we've already outnumbered the Brady Bunch.
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| Sab of Just One Way Ticket and Kate of Adventurous Kate |
I arrived at around 9 PM and as I went out of the elevator I could already hear Gaye's infectious laughter originating from the corner room with an ajar door. I walked straight into the designated party room, a spacious, well designed, one bedroom suite which got a magnificent view of the Ortigas skyline at night. I saw Sab standing by the kitchen sink and preparing her Fruit Rum Shake (Watermelon, Banana, Mangoes with Boracay Rum), Gaye was standing by the table holding lechon bits while talking and slow dancing at the same time, while the two attorneys Julius and Oman stares at the movements of her lips as she mouthed off her words. Melo (the main organizer) was working on his laptop by the glass window, Brenna, Darwin, Kirk, Kaiye, Marx and the stunningly petite Elal were fighting for the lone karaoke microphone as Yoshke, Claire and Kate talks to each other. If my memory serves me right, Dong Ho and Christine came together at around 11pm.
At the table, lies an abundance of food fit for a feast. There was a Lechon Belly from Cebu's Original Lechon Belly, Spaghetti oozing with cheese and slices of hotdog, fried lumpia, chopsuey, kutsinta, pichi-pichi , chips and other finger foods. The suite was big even for a large group of people like us, we moved around freely while we drown ourselves with a free flowing wine courtesy of Fly Ace Corporation who provided us with 12 bottles of varied Fontera Wine. I particularly like the white wine, or was it the red wine? I've forgotten already, but even though I am not a wine drinker, hell not even a heavy alcohol drinker, I was able to down a few glasses of wine that night.
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| Photo from Oman of lawstude.net |
Kate seems shy at first, but later on when she got the microphone I think she belted three consecutive songs and sang it with a voice that would make Shakira and Usher turn their chairs for her. But the best vocal performance of the night goes to the one who sang Creedance Clearwater Revival's "Have You Ever Seen the Rain" which is none other than me.
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| Photo from Melo of outoftownblog.com |
You could probably imagine how parties attended by porn stars would be like, you know conversations would sound like "who is your last scene with?", "did you shot it at the garden, the couch?". However, on parties attended by travel junkies, the topics of conversations were like "where are you heading next?", "Have you been to (this and that?)" It really has become a normal conversation starter that makes it easier for someone like me, to strike a conversation with fellow travelers, because you instantly connect just by saying the opening line. After consuming Sab's perfectly mixed and blended Rum Shake and a few glasses of Fontera wine, I sat down while I watched the others sing, I stared at their happy faces and it made me wonder, if these crazy friends I'm with inside the room are happier and contented than most people?.
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| Dong, Tin and Gaye. Photo from Tin of http://www.jovialwanderer.com/ |
The echoes of their laughter and their excitement about their future travel plans, homers out the point that one doesn't have to bury themselves with pressure to attain happiness. The easy-going but passionate people I'm among with that night, reinforces that prevailing belief of mine. I've realized a lot of things and got so much inspiration from this community of travel writers, and for that I tried to raise my glass for a toast, but I remember being sleepy that time. So I stood up and got me some tasty lechon belly.
The "Pajama Night" hosted by Linden Suites happened at an appropriate time. We have been so busy wandering out and about, walking along unfamiliar cities, climbing mountains, taking long bus rides and all to satisfy our soul, and on any given night, we deserve to just chill down, sit and sip wine while we exchange stories of travel.
The "Pajama Night" hosted by Linden Suites happened at an appropriate time. We have been so busy wandering out and about, walking along unfamiliar cities, climbing mountains, taking long bus rides and all to satisfy our soul, and on any given night, we deserve to just chill down, sit and sip wine while we exchange stories of travel.
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| Photo from Melo of outoftownblog.com |
While coming into all these conclusions, I might have unconsciously downed a glass too many of wine and rum shake, so when I checked out our room next door I went straight to bed and slept until the morning. But it's already 2 am that time and I've had fun meeting Sab and Kate for the first time as well as hanging out with my travel-addict friends again.
