It was after 8 pm, and the march quickly became a jumble of
emotions and thought to hard to separate. We needed to eat. One of our friends
was Filipino and only in town for a few days. We decided that we would try the
only Filipino restaurant in town - Mabuhay
Restaurant- and jumped
into a nearby tuk-tuk.
We entered the restaurant, and everyone was staring. Quite
used to that phenomenon we didn’t think much about it at first, but soon we
could tell we had just walked into some kind of celebration. Everyone appeared
to be finished with their meals, a buffet was set up in the corner, and someone
was playing songs on a keyboard. We asked if we could eat or if there was a
private party, the women said something before disappearing into the back. Out
came the owner of the restaurant. It turned out that is was her “6th
tenth birthday” or 60th birthday, and we in our damp clothing, had
just crashed the party.
She seemed quite unfazed by it all, and told us to eat,
there was plenty of food left, and handed us each a plate. Someone else quickly
cleared a table nearest the food, dance floor, and keyboard. We were in the
center of everything. It was incredibly awkward, and our party crashing skills
quickly became the butt of many jokes of the evening. But everyone there was incredibly
gracious and welcoming.
Not only did we get to eat dinner for free, and have some
wonderful birthday cake, but there was entertainment. Singing, dancing, funny
stories in Thai, English, and Tagalog, and of course jokes about the birthday
crashers kept everyone laughing. Before leaving, we exchanged e-mails, and one
family insisted on giving us a ride to where we were going. We were treated to true Fillipino
hospitality, and it was wonderful!
