Thursday night, our main problem was what words/phrases should we put on our banner, little did we know that that was the least of our concern.
p.s. Pardon me for the grammatical errors, will try to edit it soon
- FIGHTING MARIO
Thursday night, it was all over the news that Mario will make its presence known in the country. Metro Manila will not be along the typhoon's path but the storm would intensify the monsoon which will then bring intense rain in the Metro. I wasn't much bothered by it thinking that even if it rains, we could still go to the concert.
However, at around 3am (D-Day), the rain outside woke me up and I was terrified because at the back of mind, I knew that if the rain continued on, it would cause us problems later on. I was not able to go back to sleep and just went straight to work.
Prior to the concert, Yshel and I asked our superiors that we would leave the office at 2pm (Ate Monette took a leave and would supposedly meet us at the hotel).
Hours before we leave, news about the floods in most part of Manila and nearby places reached our ears. I was intently praying for the rain to stop. When the clock struck 12, I was doubtful on whether I should go on or not. I really really wanted to go to Araneta but I was afraid of the flood. My mom has called me asking me if I would push through and I told her that I would think about it.
There was even a time that I was hoping for the organizers to cancel the concert but thankfully they didn't.
At one, I asked Yshel whether we should go or not, she told me that it was up to me and Lizette. Honestly, I am very thankful to Yshel, if not for her, I would have backed out. Anyway, it was Yshel who always told me to think positive and to not think of the worst. When we were about to leave, I called my mom and told her that I would still go, from her voice alone, I knew that if I was in the house and I told her that I would go, she would not allow me, but since I'm at the office, she can't stop me! lol.
- BRAVING THE STORM
An hour before we left, the red rainfall warning was issued in Manila and Cavite (where we live/work). That didn't hamper us, however the first major problem that we encountered was the lack of buses. It took us 30 minutes (?) to finally ride one (the rain and wind were unbelievable) and when we reached Baclaran, we walked a little and luckily an Ortigas-bound bus came along.
We were originally opting to ride the MRT but the jeepneys were scarce and if there was one, it was full (we were all carrying heavy backpacks and paperbags).
Ate Monette kept updating us about road conditions going to Ortigas (where our hotel was located) and the only time that we encountered the flood was before we reached Ayala:
After that, it was a bit smooth-sailing for us (except for the occasional traffic). The bus dropped us off at SM Megamall and from there we waited for a taxi that would take us to Marco Polo. The ride to Marco Polo took us 5 minutes? The wait for the cab took as an hour but we were still grateful that we were a short distance away from our destination. What seemed impossible in the beginning was made possible by our faith and determination. The funny thing was, Lizette told us that the storm was like a test for us. It was testing us of our loyalty to the boys.
Frankly, I'm not into KPOP anymore. Prior to CNBlue, there were only three KPOP groups that I liked: DBSK, Super Junior, and Shinhwa.
I was so gaga over Super Junior a few years back and when I got to know Shinhwa, I never looked back (I still like SuJu but not that much anymore). Shinhwa is my number one group but when I got to know CNBlue, they were a close second. I ain't comparing them because they are different in so many ways but suffice it to say that I love them equally (I have loved Shinhwa for a few years now so you know how attached I can be).
When SuJu went to the Philippines for the first time, I was devastated that I could not go because I was a student and I would never ask my parents for such extravagance but now that I am making my own, spending big on CNBlue just felt right.
- THE MARCO POLO EXPERIENCE
So here's the thing, we arrived at Marco Polo in:
*Flip flops
*Wind-swept/rain-soaked hair
*Granny umbrellas
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| Not really into posting pictures of myself but this is an exception. |
Upon arriving, we were greeted by ladies in dresses, men in suits and foreigners! It was really a shame. How we wish that we could have fixed ourselves but given the things that we went through, we were happy just to arrive safely at the hotel.
The hotel was so posh. It was my first time staying at a hotel (a bummer, yes) and I wasn't disappointed at my choice (forgive our messy room!).
We freshened up a bit and made our banner 20 minutes before leaving the hotel:
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| The "N" is inverted, can't do anything about it since we ran out of paper! |
Ate Monette was not able to meet us at the hotel since she left home rather late. She lived in Rizal and if we thought that our travel to Ortigas was hard, she had it harder. She left home at around 5:30 pm and she was forced to tread on waist-deep water just to go to Araneta (she jokingly told us that she can't afford to not go because she had all our tickets! haha, but we were so thankful to her).
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The thing is, Ate Monette told us that if we wanted the chance to see CNBlue in the hotel, we should book a day before the concert (since CNBlue has a tendency to head straight to the airport after every concert) but we told her that it was more practical to book it the night of the concert since it will be stressful to commute home late in the night.
Also, I thought that CNBlue would at least stay the night after the concert (to rest) and given the weather condition that day (with flights getting cancelled), they would probably wait until the skies clear. However, after the concert, we got the heartbreaking news that they went straight to the airport :( We were really speechless at that point :( Heartbroken is a more appropriate term. I then remember when we were about to enter the elevator, I saw some of the Korean staffs at the concert going out (they were probably going to the airport). Anyway, what was done was done and we could not do anything about it so we just decided to have a CNBlue marathon at our room (plus it didn't hurt that as we were about to go to the elevator, there was this nice lady who gave us CNBlue freebies!).
TBC (next part is the concert experience/fan account)...
Related links:
CNBlue in Manila: Pre-concert (part 1)
CNBlue in Manila: Can't Stop Concert Experience (part 3)
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