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By Becca -- July 12 at 12:47 a.m. *15 hours ahead of Sacramento*

Day 5 of our trip has already come and gone, which means it was our last day of performances in the Philippines.

We started our morning with our final group breakfast, gathered our costumes and headed to our first appearance -- a basketball camp for kids. The camp was put on by Caltrex, another partner of NBA Madness. The kids were enthusiastic and happy to see us.

After our performance, we gave a motivational speech to the kids. Our goal was to push the importance of education, hard work and following your dreams.

Following the basketball camp, we headed to Ayala Mall, which is about 30 minutes outside of Manila. The event was an opportunity for us to interact with the community, sign autographs and hand out SKDT photo cards.

By the time we wrapped up the event at Ayala Mall, it was 11 a.m. and we were really hungry! Fortunately, one of the restaurants in the mall was nice enough to provide us with a complete Italian meal. It was delicious!

After our filling meal, we went to Glorietta Mall for another performance. Since it was our final day, they had plenty in store for us.

Before we could perform, however, we needed Jeannie's creative wit to design a last-minute specialty top for our first set of routines. For our second routine, we were joined by the two dance audition winners, who were nervously awaiting their dancing debut. Although they didn't have much dance experience, they did a great job and the crowd loved it!

After we took a group picture with the audition winners, we had a two-hour break before our performance finale. We performed our final routine around 4:30 p.m. and then had a farewell celebration and took a lot of photos. It's hard to believe the time has gone by so fast!

Although we have only been here for five days, the NBA Madness staff has been touring Asian countries for five weeks. So by the time we were finished with our last performance, they were excited to take all of us out for a goodbye dinner.

The restaurant of choice served Hawaiian-style cuisine called Molokai. We sat on a tropical themed patio surrounded by a lush green landscape. We enjoyed a buffet with a lot of entrees. One of the entrees was a Filipino delicacy, 'Tuna Cici,' which was a little easier to eat than the roasted pig we had yesterday!

After our meal, one of the NBA Madness staff coordinators gave a big "Thank you" to all of us and gave us beautiful NBA watches.

Now we're back in our hotel rooms packing our bags and getting ready for our early check-out. Tomorrow we'll have some time to do some last-minute shopping before we catch our flight home.

This trip has been an experience of a lifetime and couldn't have gone any better! It's always great to know that fans are cheering for the Kings all over the world!

Photo Gallery

By Candace and Katie -- July 12 at 1:11 a.m. *15 hours ahead of Sacramento*

We awoke at 6 a.m. on Saturday to some exciting news -- our picture was in the Philippine Star Newspaper!

After checking out the newspaper and eating breakfast, our bus departed from the hotel at 9 a.m. for our first performance of the day at Assurance College, where the DHL Basketball Tournament was taking place. It was quite a surprise when we passed by the basketball court and all the fans, players and staff stopped what they were doing to cheer as we walked by. It made quite a scene and it put smiles on all our faces. The noise was so loud, it echoed throughout the halls! DHL is one of the partners for NBA Madness, and we spent a little over an hour after our routine signing autographs and taking pictures.

After our event, the NBA Staff treated us to our first Filipino meal. By the time we got to the restaurant, they had already ordered several traditional entrees. One of our favorites was comparable to a vegetable spring roll, while many of the others we weren't as familiar with. Overall, the food was amazing and we hope to try more throughout our trip.

After lunch we went to the mall to prepare for our afternoon performance. Our schedule was similar to yesterday, except one thing was different -- the crowd was much larger!

In between our performances, we were interviewed for a local magazine. We were each asked about life as a member of the Sacramento Kings Dance Team and our experience so far in Manila. At the end of the interview, we each had an individual photo-shoot for the magazine. We were told the feature will be on newsstands tomorrow.

Following our two routines, we threw out a ton of free T-shirts, posters and photo cards. Just like at Kings games -- everybody loves free stuff!

Although the injury count is still at two -- Candace and Katie -- we did have a wardrobe malfunction. Becca had a mishap with her costume during one of our routines and the emcee poked fun of her for it, which the crowd got a kick out of.

After all the excitement at the mall, we headed back to the hotel to freshen up for dinner when we found out that Scott, our even coordinator, had set up massages for us after our meal!

The NBA staff took us to a Cajun restaurant which was inspired by the 2008 NBA All-Star game in New Orleans. While we had our first Philippine meal earlier in the day, the food at this restaurant was even more unfamiliar to us. When the server brought out one of the dishes, we were shocked to see the head of a PIG on a wooden platter! (Please see the picture in the photo gallery. But for those with weak stomachs, proceed with caution!)

After our interesting dinner, we walked to the spa to relieve our fatigued bodies. We had lots of sore muscles to be kneaded out. It was fabulous getting an hour-long massage for just $820 pesos, which converts to $20 U.S. dollars. Now, we feel rejuvenated and can't wait to start another fun-filled day on Sunday.

Keep checking in Kings Fans! We're sure there will be more excitement tomorrow.

Photo Gallery

By Becca, Candace, Jeannie, Jenn, Katie and Lisa -- July 11, 2008 at 12:17 a.m. *15 hours ahead of Sacramento*

We just experienced our longest day yet.

We started our day at 10 a.m. at the Glorietta Mall where we performed four times. In between our performances we took breaks to take pictures with fans, hand out NBA gifts and introduce ourselves to the locals. We also held a dance audition at the mall and the two winners get to perform with us later this week.

Although we were indoors, we weren't able to escape the humidity! Halfway into teaching at the audition, we didn't have a dry piece of clothing on us. All we wanted was a shower! There were about 20 participants that entered the audition -- both men and women. Becca was on the microphone teaching the moves while the rest of us were scattered about helping with choreography. After watching the girls and guys perform their audition dance, we chose the two winners that'll be joining us later this week. At the end, the guys surprised us with some choreography of their own in a freestyle dance-off. It made for an entertaining moment at the mall!

Once we finished performing at the mall, we went back to the hotel with just enough time to get ready for our next event -- a VIP party performance at Ascend Night Club.

After being introduced at the club, we performed two times in front of a wall of paparazzi, VIP guests and fans. We finished dancing but, little did we know, our work wasn't over yet. We changed into our party dresses and then took pictures with fans, signed autographs and mingled with the guests.

Oh by the way... the SKDT injury total is up to two, so don't say we don't work hard! Candace and Katie experienced traumatic knee injuries due to fishnet pantyhose malfunction! On the SportCourt at Glorietta Mall, then again tonight at Ascend, the medics had to be called for bandages and antiseptic. You know what they say, bad things always comes in threes, so hopefully that's not the case!

Now we're back at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, it's past midnight (our time) and we've had a busy and exhausting day. We hope to get some good sleep so we can start off energized for another eventful day tomorrow! We're having a lot of fun so far, and we're really happy to be here together.

Stay posted for more Kings Fans!

By Jenn -- July 10, 2008 at 10:39 p.m. *15 hours ahead of Sacramento*

Hey Kings Fans!

It's been a long day. We've been up since 4:45 a.m. (Wednesday) in order to get to Sacramento International Airport by 6 a.m.! From Sacramento, we flew to Honolulu, Hawaii and switched planes to connect to our flight to Manila, Philippines. After a little sleep, three onboard movies and getting our elbows bumped by the beverage cart, we've ARRIVED!

At the end of our 16-plus hours of travel time, we happily walked off the plane without makeup, ratted hair and our clothes in a wrinkly mess, to find ourselves surprisingly in the middle of Paparazzi! Video cameras and flashes were going off every second. We didn't know which way to look! All we knew was it was something like this week's "Star Magazine" feature, "Celebrities without Makeup," as we envisioned ourselves splattered across Manila magazines and newspapers.

After making our way through the Paparazzi, we were escorted to a VIP lounge. From there we made our way through the crowded airport outside where the humidity struck us as if we had walked into a sauna, and hopped into a van that drove us to the Mandarin Oriental Hotel. Along the way we captured a glimpse of the city life in Manila. There's a wide range of diverse development, from brand new airports and hotels, to houses made of fallen paper from billboard signs.

As soon as we got to the hotel, we went straight into a meeting to cover our busy day for tomorrow. And I mean BUSY! After our meeting, we went to our rooms and got changed for dinner excited to see where the NBA staff had decided to take us for our first Philippine meal. We also had a bodyguard there watching our every move, making sure we're protected at all times.

Now we're back at the hotel, preparing for our big day tomorrow. We haven't slept in more than 24 hours, and we're all a little delirious right now. We just finished gathering our costumes and are going to bed. Stay tuned for more action from our trip!

Good Night!

By Jenn -- July 9, 2008 at 7:27 a.m.

Hey Kings Fans!

The Sacramento Kings Dance Team and I are headed to Manila, Philippines for NBA Madness 2008! Right now we're about to board the plane for our 18 hour flight. Stay tuned for daily updates as we track our journey through this exciting experience. You know when it comes to the SKDT, there's never a dull moment!