Sunday, May 24, 2009

Random MOA With Random CKSC People :D:D:D:D




- May 23, 2009 (Saturday)

- I wasn't supposed to go to this "random" trip because I have a slight cold after my Greenbelt trip with Melissa the other day. Gladly, I felt better today, and was allowed to go out with some old chums.

- Joanna (with her mom) picked me up around 5 something in the afternoon, with Lala, Joyce and Mary Grace. We went to RP first to drop Joanna's mom, and went straight to MOA afterwards.

- Jack told us to meet him up somewhere near the ice skating rink, and yes, we did meet him there. We decided to eat at T.G.I. Friday's. We ate, talked, and caught up with each other on random stuff. Immediately after eating, Marnie came and met us. She was furious, due to a *slight* miscommunication with Joanna. Hahahaha.

- We decided to see a movie after eating. We were about to watch Night at the Museum 2, but the tickets for the earlier show were sold out. The group decided to watch Star Trek. Since Joanna wasn't really keen on watching Star Trek, and I obviously watched it last time with Melissa, we both decided to go some place else and have our "bonding time".

- While the group wasn't inside the theater yet, Joanna and I hung out with them. We also saw Sharmina and Jansen.

- Joanna and I had a fun time looking for clothes (like my plaid clothes), shoes, and stuff. I wasn't able to buy any of the things I found, simple because they were overpriced. :| :| :| :|

- I met some other CKSC people from the upper batch. Reggie and Merryl were in the crowd. :D:D:D:D

- We decided to have some churros from a random Dulcinea store near the ice skating rink. Sadly, they were out of churros already. It was kinda late anyway....understandable. :D:D:D:D

- We passed by Bread Talk and Joanna bought 2 non-whole-grain sticks of French bread. We walked around for a little while while holding 2 random sticks of French bread. :| :| :| :|

- Joanna and I finally settled in Starbucks where we drank overpriced coffee related products and chocolate Belgian waffles. Since we were bored, we either talked, or had fun taking pictures of ourselves, and each other. The hyper barrista even thought that we were "going out". Of course, that's not true. Haha.

- We waited until after the others were over with the movie. For some reason, the others got lost in MOA. Thanks to technology, like the cellular phone, we were able to meet in front of the outside door of National Bookstore. The others rode with Joanna. Knowing that my house was a block away from Marnie's house, I guess it was a good idea to stay with Marnie and wait until her good brother picked us up. *thanks Marnie, and Mark* :D:D:D:D

- I guess I could say that the trip was random because the crowd wasn't the usual one, the time was random, the things we did (at least with Joanna) were random, and the reason for going to MOA was random. I like random stuff. That's what makes life RANDOM. :D:D:D:D *sorry I'm kinda sabaw. It's kinda like, 1:45am now. Haha* (Some pics were grabbed from Joanna)



Random Conversation:

At Starbucks:

Hyper Barrista: *something something latte* for *someone*.

(the *someone* he was referring to was missing)

Hyper Barrista: *something something latte for *someone*

(Mr. Hyper Barrista repeated the same phrase over and over again with different accents and all, but the *someone* he was referring to was still missing in action)

Gilbert (since we were seated near the counter): Um, kung hindi darating si *someone*, puwede akin na lang drink niya??

Hyper Barrista: OSIGE SIR!!!! ETO OH!!!!

(Gilbert smiles and refuses, obviously I was making a joke with Mr. Hyper Barrista)

A few second later, *someone* arrived to get her drink....awww....I thought I was gonna get a free one. Hahahaha. :D:D:D:D

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Almost 8 Months After My Birthday: Greenbelt With Good Friend Mel




- May 21, 2009, Greenbelt

- We always celebrate each other's birthday. Normally, I would celebrate my birthday during October or November, during our sem break, and Mel would celebrate her birthday during summer break (late April or within May).

- Due to some unknown circumstance, I was not able to celebrate my birthday with Melissa last October~November (and probably because I went to HK for a week as well).

- AFTER ALMOST 8 MONTHS AFTER MY BIRTHDAY..............I was able to celebrate it with Mel. YEY. Hahahaha.

- We first went to see the list of movies, and decided to watch Star Trek after lunch.

- We ate at Krocodile Grill, since Mel was craving for sea food. We had a "banquet". Hahahaha. *Complimentary Chicharon is Love :D:D:D:D*

- I opened my present and Mel gave me a nice shirt. Good thing it fit me. I liked the color too. Kudos also to the nice gift wrap. I super loved it. :D:D:D:D THANKS MEL :D:D:D:D

- After we ate, we still had around 1 hour and 45 minutes before the movie. We decided to go to Glorietta and buy our stuff. I bought my new *ORANGE* card reader (RIP to the old black one....), and Mel bought her socks.

- We strolled around a bit before deciding to go back to Greenbelt. While Mel and I were inside Powerbooks in Greenbelt, I saw blockmate Vica. HI VICA :D:D:D:D

- Mel and I went straight ahead to the cinema lobby, and bought our movie munchies. We sat around for a while before going inside the theater.

- Star Trek was amazing. :D:D:D:D I love Spock's hair. I think I want Spock's hair now. :D:D:D:D Hahahaha. Crazy thought.

- After the movie, we strolled again, and went to Cold Rock for ice cream. MAN THE ICE CREAM WAS EXPENSIVE. :| :| :| :|

- We left Cold Rock and headed towards home. Mel also stopped over at Red Ribbon Masangkay to bring something to her family. Yey.

- Mel thanks again for the day....until my next birthday....then yours....then mine....then yours....etc....:D:D:D:D AND YES....YOU SHALL NEVER DELETE PICTUES THAT HAVE YOU ON THEM. HAHAHAHA :D:D:D:D Peace tayo :D:D:D:D

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

JUST LIKE BEFORE: Melissa Tan's 19th!!




- May 19, 2009, Tuesday -> Mel celebrated her "belated" 19th birthday.

- When I went to Yellow Cab Binondo, I met Venus, her sister Diane and their cousin Lance. Lady was already inside. We sat in the part of the restaurant, and waited for the others to come. Mitize came next, and so on and so forth.

- We had a great time catching up with each other....It's as if nothing changed....:D:D:D:D Knowing the effects of Yellow Cab on my sanity level, well....I became as insane as I was when I attended Crystal's debut last June 12, 2008, in the same restuarant. Instead of singing Bleeding Love and whatevers, the "song" of the day was Jai Ho. I personally don't like the song that much, but Lance kept on telling us that he had the song on his Ipod. I kept on changing my voice to fit AR Rahman's voice and Nicole's voice. It was a very very weird version of Jai Ho (baila bailaaaa). HAHAHAHA.

- Mark came in late, since he had to walk all the way to Binondo from Metropolitan Hosp after his intern. Toni came in later.

- Lance had a good time playing with us....and using the two ice cream lids to hide the Sola bottle cap....just like a modern version of "the nut in the bowl" type of game. (The one where ancient people had three bowls and the player only needed to guess which bowl had the nut/stone inside). Of course, people had their fingers on me. Hahahaha. Toni even tried to trick me by having Boks get the bottle cap (so the bottle cap would be on neither ice cream lid). Hahahaha. Of course....I kinda know Toni's tendencies, especially when she already has that funny and hyper laugh. Hahahaha. Peace tayo Toni :D:D:D:D

- Jill came in last. She arrived around sundown. She drove to Yellow Cab Binondo. Hahahaha. At least she can drive already. I'm a wreck. Haha. Oh well. :D:D:D:D

- We also had fun teasing Toni's bf. Hahahaha. Does he really look like.....nvm. HAHAHAHA. Toni might kill me for writing the "someone else"'s name. Hahahaha.

- Oh yeah....did I mention....I was in plaid. HAHAHAHA. Random. :D:D:D:D

- Belated Happy Birthday Mel :D:D:D:D




****Sorry for the late post. My card reader died recently....I am about to buy a new one. Gladly my neighbor was nice enough to lend me her car reader for the moment. :D:D:D:D Thank you neighbor Charmaine Chong a.k.a. Sailor Ramen :D:D:D:D

Sunday, May 17, 2009

DAVID ARCHULETA AND DAVID COOK LIVE IN MANILA :D:D:D:D




- May 16, 2009

- I left my house at around 4pm, and walked my way towards Ongpin. As always, I stopped by once again at Shirby's store to tell her random stuff. Hahahaha.

- After I left her store, I went to Mon's house. I got off the elevator at the 19th floor, and Marianne (Mon's little sister) opened the door for me. I saw A LOT of family pictures in the living room. I took some pics of them because they were sooooooooooo adorable. Hahahaha. I waited for a few minutes until Mon was done preparing. While waiting at the elevator, I noticed that we were all wearing brown. HAHAHAHA. Talk about color combination.

- We arrived at MOA at around 5:30 (??) and strolled around while thinking of a good restaurant for dinner. We passed by at the Music Hall, and saw the Vesak Day exhibit (Vesak Day -> Buddha's Birthday). We entered the exhibit hall, and realized that it was loosely a "grand CKSC people reunion". I saw Sandy there, and Marianne saw some of her friends as well. We were also lucky to have picture with the cute Siddhartha mascot. Haha.

- After we left the exhibit area, we decided to eat at Italianni's. We had bacon-wrapped shrimp carbonara (sort of) and a salmon and cheese pizza. We also took advantage of the unlimited bread basket. HAHAHAHA. :D:D:D:D

- At around 7, we started to walk towards the concert grounds. We didn't have an idea how to get to the concert grounds. I saw the spotlights in the sky and said. "MON....FOLLOW THE SPOTLIGHTS." I guess that's what I get from watching Dora. YEY DORA. The 3 of us felt like we were the three kings that followed the north star to where Jesus was. Hay. We just didn't have horses. Haha. Sad.

- After entering the concert grounds, I saw Grizelda and Fayanne. Alyssa was nowhere to be found. Haha. Oh well.

- We were seated at around 7:15 in the VIP area. I was so glad that we got the VIP seats (and pretty good VIP seats actually). Well, because we had chairs to sit (and stand on later....HAHAHAHA....)

- Mon and I were so so bored, because we had to wait for about an hour before the concert starts. While waiting, we THOUGHT we saw Sam Concepcion (we're still not sure if it was him).We also saw David Archuleta's dad, Jeff. He walked right in front of us, and one person from one of Archie's fan club said hello to him. Hahahaha.

- The concert started not too long after 8pm. David Archuleta performed first. YEY. :D:D:D:D

- It was hard to take a picture of him at some points because he likes to run around the stage. Hahahaha. It's ok I guess. I managed to take a lot of snaps of him. Damn. I'm still glad I got to see him CLOSELY last Wednesday (I guess I was just a few meters away from him last Wed).

- Archie did not only sing songs from his album, but he also sang his unreleased singles Zero Gravity, Waiting for Yesterday and one of Archie's favorite songs, A Thousand Miles (accdng to Archie, it was one of the first songs he ever learned how to play. Haha). He sang Stand By Me/Beautiful Girls as well. Not really my favorite Archie song, but hey, it still Archie!!!! :D:D:D:D

- David likes to say "Salamat powh". Hahahaha. :D:D:D:D YOU'RE WELCOME ARCHIE :D:D:D:D. David also likes to drink his bottled water after every song. Water is good for your body. Water in Spanish is "agua". Can you say "agua"??....AGUA!!!! Yey DORA. :D:D:D:D

- After Archie's part, there was a 20 minute break (was it 20 or 30??) before the other David's part. We all sat down. MY LEGS WERE KILLING ME....

- During the break, Jeff Archuleta (Archie's dad) passed by us again. The same person who greeted him a while ago greeted him again. Since I couldn't talk to David Archie. I said hello to his dad. Hahahaha. According to Mon, he looked at us and smiled. YEY. Hahahaha. "Kung hindi makausap ang anak, kausapin ang tatay." Gotta keep that in mind. HAHA. Random :D:D:D:D

- David Cook later arrived and rocked the stage....literally....He almost destroyed the stage. Haha. Man he was super super wild!! Rakista nga raw. It was SO MUCH HARDER to take a picture of him because of the super super bright lighting, not to mention the number of guitarists with Cook. He also moved so much around the stage, so it was really difficult for me to take a decent picture of him. Gladly, I still did in the end.

- In the middle of one of his songs, he went down the stage and stayed somewhere near the front row platinum ticket-holders. The group welcomed cook with a lot of digicams. If my eyes were right, he took some digicams and took pictures of himself, then returned the cameras to the owners. Haha. Again, that's how I saw things from the big screen. Hahahaha. Monica even said "Ang vain naman ni Cook....PERO OK LANG GUWAPO NAMAN EH!!!! WAHHHHH. PRINCE OF DARKNESS TALAGA!!!!"

- David Cook was a bit of a stand up comedian as well. He also said "ma-gan-dang GA-bi". Which was really nice. Hehe. He even apologized just in case he butchered the phrase. Hahahaha. Well that's ok, accents differ anyway. :D:D:D:D

- In the last part of the last song, he even called Archie to come on stage again. YEY ARCHIE :D:D:D:D

- The concert eneded around 11+, nearning midnight. We went out and waited for Mon's driver to pick us up. We saw people at the back of the concert grounds, waiting for the 2 Davids to come out. I thought of joining the crowd, but I guess there wasn't really much luck. We went to the main mall and were surprised to see a lot of restaurants and stores still opened (Timezone, Don Henrico's, Max, etc etc....)

- We sat somewhere near the main entrance, and rested. Mon's driver came a few minutes later, and we went home. Good thing the car's airconditioning system was SUPER cold. I like. :D:D:D:D

- Mon, thanks again for the food, and the transpo. I really can't thank you enough. :D:D:D:D Seriously!!!! Mon, next time, WE WILL BE JUST LIKE CHARICE.



**Random mentioning of Charcice Pempengco throughout the post came from random Charice "jokes" Mon and I talked about last night. That's just because we really admire her sudden rise to international fame. Nothing more, nothing less. :D:D:D:D

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

MAY 13, 2009: FACE TO FACE WITH DAVID ARCHULETA :D:D:D:D




- I found out about David Archuleta's meet-and-greet in MOA last night....(late at night....) I was too excited -- but of course, I couldn't wake my folks up just to tell them that I wanted to go to MOA badly. HAHA.

- Come today, my dad agreed on going to MOA....even though our car was coded today. We arrived at around 3.

- After lunch, we dashed towards MOA. Good thing I arrived just in time....I think. A lot of people were already seated, and more were standing at the back. I asked the guard what I needed in order to enter the meet-and-greet area. The guard said that I needed to buy either David Archuleta's CD or buy the SM green bag. Since I already have the CD....I bought the green bag instead (positive thinking: it's cheaper, and I can save the environment. YEY)

- I waited for a loooooooong time. At one point, the crowd was cheering like crazy...."David is here!!!! DAVID IS HERE!!!!". After a few minutes....we found out that the "David Archuleta" they were talking about was a random guy who was kinda mestizo, and had hair sorta like David Archuleta's. I bet that made the random guy's day. Hahahaha.

- While waiting AGAIN for David, I saw Razel who stood somewhere near the stage. She told me to go to her. YEY RAZEL I LOVE YOU MUCH :D:D:D:D Razel was with her little sister Lenina and her cousin who looked sorta like Lenina with bangs. Haha.

- The hosts came out once in a while to talk to the whole crowd. Come 5pm....AT LAST........................DAVID. IS. IN. THE. BUILDING. :D:D:D:D He's super white....and....um....super duper white. HAHA.

- The depressing part of it all was that....we didn't have the chance to meet and greet him....but it WAS a meet and greet session....David came....David met us....David greeted us....AND POOF HE WAS GONE. "Veni, Vidi, Vici." :( :( :( :(

"That was one of the best 15 minutes of my life"

- After meeting David....the crowd still stayed, took vain pictures of themselves and their friends....(including me....hehe)....and moving around the set, thinking that David's disappearing act might have been a little trick all along....but alas....HE WAS REALLY GONE. :(( :(( :(( :((

- Oh well....all that's left for me to do is........TO GO TO THE DAVID&DAVID CONCERT THIS SATURDAY WITH MON AND SISTER :D:D:D:D YEY :D:D:D:D

- Please bare with me. FAINTS.

(Speaking of fainting, I think about 1 or 2 people fainted in the area....hope they're doing well.) :D:D:D:D

** By the way....my day became better since there were a lot of Indians in MOA today. Some of them were there as plain civilians....and some of them were there as Die Hard Archie Fans :D:D:D:D

**** I also saw videos of this event from a random David Archuleta fan site (I think it's the site of the Archienoys ??) and guess what?? HE REALLY DID SAY HI TO THE BIG DAVID TARP BEHIND HIM :D:D:D:D Haha. (sorry mejo jogged ang memory ko, confused ako kanina eh. Too good to be true na nasa harap ko na siya. HAHAHAHA)

Monday, May 4, 2009

This Is How We Bug People Having Their OJT....Haha....//The Summer Soiree 2009//




- I guess this makes the third "version" of "This Is How We Bug...."


ANYWAY....This is how it started

- I came back home after a long afternoon walk with my mom in Ongpin to do some errands. Shortly after, Krisan texted me about something. She later told me that she has having her intern at Metro. Thinking if would be a hassle to dress up again and go bug people having their OJT's, I simply replied to her texts without bringing up the OJT topic again.

- After I went online in YM, I asked Monica, Krisan's sister, about her OJT. Monica told me that she'll be fetching her sister in a while and asked if I wanted to meet up. I accepted the invitaton. It was around 4pm.

- In a jiffy, I dashed towards Metropolitan, since it's just directly across my house. I met Monica and decided to eat at the Chinese restaurant there, called Wan Chai. Wan Chai has many many branches around Manila. I'm just not sure about other areas.

- Metropolitan is one of the hospitals that not only serve as a place where people check in when they are ill. It is also a place where people like to hangout. Why?? Metro has Wan Chai, Seattle's Best, a small barber shop, a small internet cafe, and a few random shops (I think Goldilock's also has a small branch there?? Or did it close down already??)

- Mon and I ordered dimsum from the kind lady who took our orders. We took an order or taro balls, 2 orders of hakaw (shrimp balls), an order of shark's fin siomai, sotanghon dumpling (is this right??), and an order of [huge] vegetable dumplings.

- I was quite dismayed because they didn't have hofan today *beef hofan is to die for....* Instead of the beef hofan, we ordered birthday noodles, to celebrate Monica's graduation from UST, as well as being accepted in the UST Med School. Monica insisted on treating me, since we're celebrating everything-Mon. I kindly declined, but she kept on insisting....Well, I lost the fight and ended up accepting her offer. Haha.

- Monica and I talked and ate for about an hour and a half, before her sister punched out from her OJT. Oh yeah, guess what, Mark's with her. :D:D:D:D

- After we left the hospital, Monica told me to go with them to their car. She offered a ride home. I was puzzled since I lived right across the street. She told me that she wanted me to ride with them so I could experience her driving (since I never experienced her driving before). Made sense to me. Teehee. Guess what - she made me get off the car at the Metropolitan entrance, because they were not really headed towards out house. It was quite funny because I only stayed in her car for about 5 minutes or less. Haha, well, at least I experienced her driving a car. Not bad!! Not bad at all. I wish I could drive as well as her. If someone would make my drive right now, God knows what would happen. I do too actually. We would all be dead in less than 5 minutes. YEY. That's how I drive....ergo....NO PUBLIC DRIVING FOR ME YET. Hahahaha.

- It was a pretty fun [late] afternoon.Finally I was also able to give Mon her grad gift. It had been sitting inside the house for quite some time now, but I had no opportunity to meet Mon until today. Haha. AND BY THE WAY *again*....I'M OFFICIALLY GOING TO THE COOKCHULETA CONCERT ON MAY 16. YEY :D:D:D:D (Mon gave me my ticket today....YEY....)

**Mon, thanks for the lovely meal today. I really appreciate it. Thanks also for briging the ticket today. Now I'm jumping up and down. Congrats agian, for graduating on time, and making it to med school. Cheers :D:D:D:D

Sunday, May 3, 2009

GILBERT VISITS DIONE!!!!




- May 3, 2009

- Earlier today, I asked Dorenett if I could come over to visit her niece, since she told me before that her baby niece would come over.

- I went around 2:30 in the afternoon to their house that happens to be nearby.

- After I arrived, Dorenett excitedly led me to Daniel's room (her younger bro) where the baby was. Luckily, the baby was awake. She was smaller than I imagined, since she looked larger in the pictures Dorenett posted on her Multiply.

- I hurried to the baby, and said "HI DIONE" in a very high pitched whisper. Guess what, DIONE CRIED. To think that I wasn't even near her. HAHAHAHA.

- After quite some time, Dione got used to me, so I was able to play "lightly" with her. I was even able to carry her without the baby crying. YEY ME!!

- Dorenett also gave me 2 scoops of strawberry ice cream. Well this really has nothing to be with the baby, but still....who doesn't want ice cream, right?? **Thanks Dor, really needed my dose of ice cream :D:D:D:D** Aside from that, we also talked about random things, especially food. YEY :D:D:D:D

- Later this afternoon, Dor's sister (the mom) and her bro-in-law arrived. They stayed for about an hour (I guess) before going home.

- I went home shortly after Dione and her direct family left. :D:D:D:D

Saturday, May 2, 2009

A NEW ANGLE: Manila Summer Adventure 2009 - Cruise, Little India, Quiapo, Chinatown




- May 2, 2009 -> THE LONG AWAITED ADVENTURE DAY


CHAPTER 1: PASIG RIVER FERRY (and the breakfast before)

- Met Tina at around 8:30am at her house. We left around 9am (??)

- After walking a few minutes to Escolta, we found out that the next boat would leave at 11:30am. With more or less 2 hours to spare, we walked back to Chinatown and walked straight to Cafe Mezzanine (LITERALLY straight....via E.T. Yuchengco street, locally known as Nueva St., the old name). Cafe Mezzanine is located above the Chuan Kee restaurant in Ongpin. Is is in front of the San Lorenzo Ruiz Academy/Church.

- After we took our seats, we texted Marc (Tina's BF) that he would be able to join us after all in the boat ride since he would be arriving at Manila from Cavite at around 11am.

- Tina and I ate and talked about random things in the restaurant. Since we were at the mezzanine level with a pretty window seat in the restaurant, we saw Ongpin from a butterfly's eye view (hindi bird....masyadong mataas yun). We even saw Nellie and her mom catching a pedicab from the opposite corner of the street. I called Nellie up instantly and she told us that she saw us too after all. YEY.

- At one point, a group of mixed tourists (Filipino and foreign tourists) were led by his greatness Ivan Dy. Ivan Dy is one of the famous walking-tours tourist guides here in Manila. Mr. Chua, fondly called as Mr. Ube, also accompanied Ivan Dy in welcoming the group. Mr. Chua, a volunteer fireman, is also the owner of Chuan Kee, Cafe Mezzanine, Eng Bee Tin and some other food establishments of the same nature.

- My breakfast and Tina's each cost 130php. They're the typical breakfast meals served at Cafe Mezzanine. Our orders consists of the main meal, garlic rice, a sunny side egg, a nice fat banana and an all-you-can-drink coffee (I had 4 round or coffee this morning, which explains why I am still hyper as I am typing this travel blog)

- After eavesdropping at what Ivan and Mr. Chua were telling the group, Tina and I both gave up since we couldn't hear a thing clearly. Ivan's mic was a bit off. Hehe.

- After Marc arrived by car, we ran to the Escolta dock (right beside Jones Bridge) and caught the 11:30 Pasig River boat ride. We bought tickets to Guadalupe station. The trip costs 45php/person for a single journey trip from Escolta to Guadalupe.

- The Pasig River Ferries can be related to the "water" versions of the LRT/MRT. The white boats stops at every station where people obviously get on or off the boat. The prices of the single-journey boat ride are based on the distance of the drop off station. The farther the drop off station, the more expensive it is. We took the more expensive one since we could see more landmarks.

- The boats can seat up to about a hundred people. They are airconditioned with television screens inside. People can also go out the deck for a good view of the landmarks that can be seen from the boat. Restrooms are also present on the boats. The boats are also equipped with life vests under or behind every chair *so we could be safe* as Dora or her cousin Diego would say in their respective or crossover shows.

- As the trip went on, we noticed that the river's stench was unnoticeable, if not "gone", and the river itself was not as dirty as before. The Pasig River is alive and does support life. We might not have seen fish, but various river plants float freely on the river, and a lot of doves and "river birds" fly along the river. Once in a while, the birds swoop down, assuming that they're catching tiny fish to eat.

- We also saw the Malacanang Palace at one point. Sadly, we did not take any pictures of the palace, since it was not allowed. IF EVER I took a steal shot of the palace and posted it here, I would not really know what would happen to me. *dan-dan-dan daaaaaaaann* Haha. Other travel blogs would suggest that the Malacanang at the back of the 20-peso bill resembled the real one. Well, it's true. HAHA. OR....googling the picture of the palace would help....BUT OF COURSE....seeing the real one is still amazing. :D:D:D:D

- After getting off at Guadalupe, we waited around 30 minutes for the boat going back to Escolta (yes, we just had a roundtrip cruise, and yes, that's another 45php).

- After we got on the boat back to Escolta, we decided to go out to the deck for a more "adventurous" ambience. The coolest about going out the deck were the times when the boat would go under big bridges. No one really saw the "under side" of big bridges before....unless the were the ones who made the bridges....or the fishies....or the birds....or Dyesabel (sorry we had this inside joke about Dyesabel going to the river to lay roe....and going back to the sea.)

- We also saw the children (some of them nude) bathing at various riverbanks. They shouted hello as we passed through. Since some of them were nude, I "comforted" my 2 companions that the children were nude for the "sake of art" (that's the effect of being hyper. You won't know what you're saying....)

- After we arrived at the Escolta station, it was already around 2pm. ERGO, each trip lasted around 1 hour, more or less. HAHA. :D:D:D:D



CHAPTER 2: ROBINSON'S PLACE ERMITA

- After arriving at Chinatown, Marc drove us to RP Ermita. He was supposed to get an x-ray from the dental place there.



CHAPTER 3: LITTLE INDIA

- We had lunch at Little India, since Tina kept on telling me (almost every time we talked on YM) that she missed Indian food....Well I missed Indian food too....YEY

- As always, we ate at our favorite Assad Cafe. We ordered Chicken Masala, Kashmiri Fish Curry and 6 chapaatis (chapaati -> a type of Indian flat bread; a relative of the tortilla and pita). Marc ordered an additional fried rice for himself since he was very VERY hungry. We all ordered mango lassis to drink. Lassis are yoghurt drinks (therefore, a teeeeny bit sour).

- We also dropped by to check on some things at Assad, Talwar's and Simron's. Man I missed the place so much. It meant a lot of me to go there today. Sobs; tears of joy. *sorry, random emotional outburst....my fingers have a mind of their own whilst I type....*



CHAPTER 4: QUIAPO (Mosque, Quiapo Church)

- Sadly, we do not have much pictures of Quiapo, since it's a bit dangerous to put out my camera because of all the people.

- Marc parked somewhere near his uncle's house (I think), which I later found out was near the mosque.

- We were able to walk from the car to the mosque in less than 5 minutes.

- Before we went inside, the lady in front told us to cover Tina's head, since Muslim women are not allowed to show their hair, especially in the mosque. Tina's not a Muslim, but of course, we had to follow their rules. I pulled out my glittery pearl cloth and carefully wrapped it about Tina's head like a Muslim woman would do so with her hijab/jilbab (cloth wrapped around the head)

- Like one of my previous trips, we strolled around the mosque and of course, admired the beauty of the mosaic walls that gave color to the mosque facade.

- Before we went out of the mosque, we checked out the shop inside the moque grounds near the entrance. The shop sold Muslim items such as men's prayer caps called taqiyah, songkok, topi and other names (depending on where you're from), hijabs, prayer beads, prayer books and such. The kind stall owner, who was heavily covered with her eyes being the only visible part of her body, noticed us looking around her stall. She immediately explained some of the items she sold. I really appreciate her doing that since I learned some bits of information about the Muslim culture.

We went out of the mosque, removed Tina's "alternative" hijab, and walked to the Quiapo Church (no pictures). Along the way, I showed arrays of shops selling Muslim clothing to my 2 companions. Hey, you don't see these kinds of shops everyday. Hehe.

- After arriving at the Quiapo Church, I showed them the anting-antings (charms) sold directly in front of the church. The charms were somewhat a mixture of Catholic beliefs and Filipino folk beliefs. These chams contained saints, like St. Benedict, or some with the "third eye", etc. Aside from the charms, wish candles of different colors were all over the place. A person is supposed to buy a candle, have it lit, and make a wish. Each color or form of candle represents a specific type of wish (example, green candles are used for wishes relating to money).

- Random: Tina and I also saw a man selling Dora balloons. It was sort of creepy because we never really imagined tons of Dora clones filled with helium, flew in the air with strings attached to them. YEY DORA!!!! (Dora is my patron *Saint*: She is the saint of exploring and adventures. Plus, she speaks Spanish. YEY SPANISH.)

- After a short visit to the Quiapo Church facade, we headed back to Marc's car.



CHAPTER 5: CHINATOWN PART 1 -> Around Little China

- Marc parked the car near my Grandma's place and went to the dentist to deliver the x-ray document he picked up earlier.

- I decided to visit Shirby's store (my default Chinatown destination). Lucky enough, Shirby was in the "heyaouws" (house) with her little sister. Of course her lovely and kind mom was there managing the store. As always, I chatted with her and talked about random stuff.

- Chabert passed by. I called him just so I could take a snap with him. YEY. Hahahaha. Vain din naman siya. HAHAHAHA. Peace tayo Chabs!!

- Since Marc had another errand to do, we left and headed towards our next destination.

- Before going to the car, I took some pictures of the lovely Binondo Church. I never really noticed how beatiful it was since last year....I have been seeing the church since....well since forever, but never really took interest in it. Yey me!! *Starrrrring London Tipton* (Ok, TOO MUCH DISNEY....)



CHAPTER 6: SM MALL OF ASIA

- On the way to MOA, we passed by a place where Marc usually bought sugar cane juice. Sugar cane juice = heaven in liquid form. :D:D:D:D It was Tina's first time to taste can juice. She enjoyed it....obviously. YEY. I bought myself a glass to drink, and a bottle of cane juice to bring home. YEY!!!!

- After arring at MOA, I foudn out that Marc had to to something with a phone and stuff. I never really understood what was happening. All I knew was that it had to do with a cellphone. HAHA. I did not understand more than half of was he was telling the person in the shop, and vice versa, since I'm not really a gadget person (I'm usually the one who makes gadgets malfunction. HAHA....well not really....it depends....hey, I can use a cellphone and a computer. Haha).



CHAPTER 7: CHINATOWN PART 2 -> Estero

- Since it was already evening, Marc introduced us to an almost hidden restaurant in Chinatown. It's called estero. Why?? Because, it's located at the banks of an estero. YEY!!!! It's located beside the bridge near Salazar Bakery.

- The restaurant had an al fresco ground floor with a shed, and an airconditioned recond floor and third floor. The place served authentic "home cooked" Chinese food. The prices were VERY VERY reasonable, and the servings were LARGE. Each dish is labeled small, medium, and large. A SMALL PLATE of whatever dish can serve up to 2 TO 3 PEOPLE. I guess it really depends on a person's appetite, but 2 to 3 people is a rough estimate. :D:D:D:D

- We decided to eat at the second floor, so we'd have the airconditioned seats. The second floor was a tiny room (roughly the size of my room I guess), with 4 tables. :D:D:D:D Lucky us, we still got seats.

- We ordered oyster balls, bamboo shells and calamares. We also ordered 4 cups or rice, with the last one being divided equally into 3 by yours truly. HAHAHAHA.

- The whole meal only cost 313php, so roughly a bit more than a hundred pesos for each of us. NOT BAD!!!! SERIOUSLY NOT BAD!!!! :D:D:D:D

- The place might be a bid intimidating to go to, but once the food is served....THERE WILL BE NO REGRETS. SERIOUSLY. :D:D:D:D



CHAPTER 8: ENDING THE DAY

- We ended the day happy, not to mention full!! I am so happy because this trip pushed though today, with the weather being nice to us. The weather today was not too sunny, but not raining, despite Typhoon Dante being all over the news.

- I really would like to discover Manila more, and have more adventures in the future. Yikes, I'm turning into Dora's male version or Diego.

- Next time, I would have a magic speaking bag and a map (I do bring maps in some of my adventures....HAHAHAHA) I will sing songs in Spanish and teach Spanish to random children.

- What can I say about this trip?? "LO HICIMOS!!!!" (We did it!!)

- THIS IS AN EFFECT OF WATCHING TOO MUCH DORA :D:D:D:D YEY!!!!

*** Marc, thanks for driving us around, I hope you enjoyed our "way of doing adventures"

****Quote of the day: "Tabi Tina, Tabatina." HAHAHAHA. PEACE TAYO TINA!!!!