October 14, 2006 Manila

It’s our last full day here in Manila. I slept at about 2am yesterday blogging again, and woke up today at around 10am. We went downstairs for breakfast and I gave Lisa’s uncle and aunt some ginseng back from Vancouver. I feel bad, because it’s really nothing. Them and their daughter, Cheryl have been excellent, excellent hosts. Lisa’s other cousin Eileen has also been a fabulous host. They sure know how to treat visitors well. My stay in Manila has been an excellent one. It has far exceeded my expectations… I know they were low to begin with, but honestly, this week has been perfect. From the food, to the family, to the friends… I couldn’t ask for anything more… oh wait... except for shopping.

We headed out on our journey for the day at about 11ish, and went to the Fort, which is like a flea market that is setup in a permanent tent. At the bizarre, there are clothes, toys,wallets, watches, etc. Basically anything you would want to buy is there. It’s kinda like Green Hills but their stuff here is nicer because they are mostly overruns, not fakes. It’s only open on the weekend, so we were able to take advantage of it today. Anthony and Darren bought some stuff, so did Becky and myself. However, the person who bought the most was Lisa. She was able to source some Hollister and Abercrombie hoody jackets which she has been searching all over Manila for. Well, she found it. And lets just say she purchased more than one. These aren’t fake either, these are the REAL thing… they are overruns. A&F and Hollister have their factories in the Philippines, so there are always overruns. They are real, but at a fraction of the cost. Anyhow, that’s just good news for us, because we were able to find some deals.

After Fort, we went to Rockwell, which is where Cheryl’s weekend getaway apartment/condo is. But prior to getting there, Eileen went to pick up a frozen mango tart dessert and we ate it in the car. It was sooooooooo good. I absolutely loved it. I can’t even explain it, but it’s damn good. Here’s a photo of it while we were eating it in the car:

Cheryl’s condo a fabulous place, with great facilities. There’s a 25M pool, a nice gym, restaurants, etc. It really does look and feel like a hotel, rather than just a residence. I found it that it would cost about $600K to purchase a place like hers… it must have seemed 1500-2000 sq ft. Property sure is reasonable back here…. And we’re talking prime property! Here’s a picture of the pool:

It’s me again, Lisa. So of course Wes had to poop while we were in the condo, and of course it wouldn’t flush. Wes broke yet another thing! No..for some reason their toilets wouldn’t flush properly. This time I don’t think it was Wes’ fault. (yeah man, she forgot to mention that Becky broke a toilet too! –wes)

Cheryl’s condo is connected to a mall called Powerplant. We ended up walking the mall for a bit until we were told it was time for mirienda (snack) again. We went to a place called Via Mare and had dinuguan (pigs blood stew), puto bumbong (some purple glutinous thing with cheese, sugar and coconut that everyone hated), palitaw (another glutinous thing with sugar and coconut), arroz caldo (chicken congee), and lumpia ubod (some veggie wrap). Everyone tried the blood stew surprisingly – which is one of my favorite Filipino dishes. The guys think that Filipino dishes are weird because everything is a little sweet , salty, and sour. No wonder I have a weird palette! So our mirienda was more like a dinner, and we left stuffed again.

We walked around the mall after and looked for places that could accommodate all of us for manicures, but the guys and the girls eventually had to split up. The boys got their manicures at the barber shop, and the girls went to a salon. Wes came by to the salon after and we both got haircuts. A manicure, a guy haircut, a shampoo, a ladies haircut, another shampoo, style all cost a grand total of $25 canadian including tip! So cheap! Anth even said he’d get his eyebrows waxed if Wes did it, but he wouldn’t. Boo, that woulda been funny.

Bex and Dar went off to meet with Ryan’s family and the rest of us went to Mall of Asia. It is a humongous, new mall in Manila. Very nice. I don’t think we could have finished walking it in a day. My cousin, Aileen’s, family came to join us too and we went to Gerry’s Grill for dinner. Filipino food again! But I think this was the best Filipino meal we’ve had so far. We had little fried crablettes, baked scallops, grilled squid (a famous dish), fresh porkrinds (awesome), taro leaves in coconut milk, grilled tuna belly, crab fried rice, pig face (yummm)…. Food here is awesome.

Finished dinner at about 11pm, so it was time to go to bed…we’re all tired. Boo tomorrow is our last day here!