The Pilgrimage: The Loooooooooong Chinatown Walk

- March 27, 2010, Saturday

- Today was the first time I met Michael Sang Weon Lee, a Korean from Ateneo who was introduced to me a few weeks ago by me friend Bea. Since I had nothing to do today, it was the perfect time to have an adventure.

- We decided through YM conversations that our first destination (among hopefully future adventures) would be Chinatown.

- Today, I woke up earlier that I should have, so I could eat breakfast at Cafe Mezzanine, and have some peace ad quiet before I meet Bea, Sang, and neighbor Charmaine in the Binondo Church.

- Upon arriving at Cafe Mezzanine, half of the restaurant was packed with Filipino and foreign tourists that belonged to Ivan Dy's walking tours. I didn't even have a place to sit at first, since the other half was occupied by other customers. Gladly, people from one table left, and they called me to occupy their table. (God bless those people.)

- I had a chicken longganisa meal, served with egg, garlic rice, a banana, and bottomless coffee. Aside from that, I had the opportunity of listening to Ivan Dy, while he explained some things to his walking tour group.

- As the morning went on, noise pollution started to build up. Ivan was talking, some tourists were talking amongst themselves, the old men at the nearby table were talking LOUDLY, the middle-aged Chinese couple behind me were talking loudly as well (not as loud as the two old men,) and there was classical music playing in the background. So much for a peaceful morning.

- Ivan's group left moments later, and the noise lessened....sort of. The two old men were still talking loudly...especially since they were seated far from each other. (Why won't they sit closer so they won't disturb other diners? Hay.) At least, I was able to review my Italian notes as I waited for the clock to strike 11.

- Charmaine texted me that she was already in the church at around eleven, so I went ahead after paying my bill. Sang was also nearby, and was looking for a place to park his car. Bea was on her way.

- Charmaine informed me that our friend Willy would be joining us for lunch, and that he suggested to eat at Lanzhou Lamien. Honestly, I'm not really a big fan of Lanzhou Lamien, but I agreed, since I like the restaurant's dumplings.

- Bea came fifteen minutes later, and we all walked towards Lanzhou's San Fernando branch, and met up with Willy.

- After lunch, I decided to drag my companions to a pilgrimage to the Sengguan Temple (Seng Guan Si,) so that they, especially Sang, could see the big Buddha statues, and the other nice things about the majestic Buddhist temple. Since it was a REALLY LONG WALK, I was concerned with Willy, who wasn't used to walking great distances, especially under the hot summer sun.

- We managed to arrive at Sengguan alive, and toured them around the temple. The big Buddhas at the third floor still amazed me, even if I had seen the big statues quite a few times before.

- After the short temple visit, we walked towards Masangkay, and back to Chinatown. In short, we walked a big big circle.

- We proceeded to Sta. Cruz to see the Sta. Cruz Church, and to rest a bit. Just as we were headed to Escolta, Willy told us that he needed to go leave and pick up his mom from somewhere. The four of us however, proceeded to Escolta, and marvel the once high-end area of Manila.

- We stopped by at Shopper's Mart to buy Bea's stuff, and we walked - dragged rather - ourselves to Golden Fortune to my favorite part of the walking tour: DIMSUM!!

- All of us were relieved to take our seats, and rest our tired legs. We....I mean I, ordered a lot of dimsum, so we can feast on a lot while killing time. It was just around 2:30 in the afternoon.

- We ate and talked a lot, exchanging cultural and linguistic backgrounds....as well as corny jokes. We even had the idea of going to Koreatown and have a noraebang (karaoke) session soon. :D:D:D:D

- Sang was nice enough to pay the dimsum bill, although he really didn't have to. The most important thing is that we all had fun, despite tired legs and such. I hope this is just the start of many adventures for the last "real" summer "vacation" of my undergraduate life. Hahahaha. :D:D:D:D