Manila, Manila, Manila…

I remember I first heard about it from my high school Philippine friend. We were on our lunch walk and she asked me if I have been to Manila, which left me slightly confused because I have never necessarily been to vanilla…

Yeah, we had a good laugh. If somebody told me 6 years later or so I would actually go to Manila, I would probably believe him, but the years of waiting would be a torture for me.

I absolutely love philippinos. Lovely people, so fun, so open, and so easy to make friends with. I befriended Irish D.T. in the plane to Manila, and so not too long after we landed, we were already at the Mad Monkey Hostel trying street food, smoking shisha, and getting free welcome shots. Of course, in reality all these things happened at different places, but don’t all roads lead to Mad Monkey (and Rome)?

At 10:00 pm (roughly) we all gathered at the roof top patio to join the bar crawl party. It cost 800 pesos (omg, I did not know!!!) and covered all alcohol. The folks would go to all the fun clubs in the area to dance and drink. I would typically go along till the end, but that day I woke up at 4:30 am to be in time for my plane from Bali to Philippines, so… no. Back in bed by 2:00 am, which is still quite late, isn’t it?

Next day we saw the Old Manila, or Intramuros (“behind the wall”). The wall surrounding the city appeared quite low from the inside but was high enough from the outside. I saw the gunshot markings, the prison cells (now renovated to hold small cafes for the university students from the opposite side of the street), the Japanese cannons (which could only turn up and down, and was directed inland; when Americans landed from the shore, the huge cannons appeared to be useless), the old fort with the Museum dedicated to Jose Rizal (“philippinero”, the founder of Philippine national movement, poet, writer, and scientist, falsely accused and executed in 1896).

Irish was having a hangover after sleeping for only 1.5 hours, so she headed back home while I enjoyed the street food and drinks. Philippines is the first country in my travels that has decent desserts, really, really good ones. The drinks are masterpieces, its not just juice, soda, or smoothie, no! They would mix whipped cream, cookie crumble, jelly, smoothie, milk tea into one, marvellous drink.

Also, they have one of the best dancing fountains I have seen. People gathered around the lake, kids screaming, and the music started around 6:30 pm. Had some Asian songs, some American ones – but they all were extremely synchronized with the water movement, and you could really follow along the rhythm and beat. They continued playing songs with 5 minute intervals.

Next morning a bus took me to Batangas pier for 268 pesos. Public transportation here is a problem – you just gotta ask around, defend yourself from taxi drivers (again), and be ahead of time, really. My bus was supposed to leave at 10:00 am, but left around 9:15, and I am pretty sure there were some empty spots still. On the contrary, my ferry was delayed.

Oh well 😊