- August 27, 2010, Friday
- Jane asked me a few days ago if I would be able to accompany her today to help her out with a project. Her project was a scrapbook with information about her ideal wedding. Now I'm not really which subject this scrapbook was for, but still, I smelled the word ADVENTURE. It's not too obvious that I said "I do." Oh wait, wrong response. I meant "yes."
-Our itinerary today was made up of hotels and (historical) churches. Obviously, the churches that we visited were possible venues for the wedding itself, and the three hotels were for the reception. We really needed to go to the churches and hotels themselves since we, or Jane, needed personal documentation of these places.
- I met Jane today around 2:10pm, and went to Heritage Hotel, the farthest place in our itenerary. We rode the LRT to EDSA, and rode a cab to the hotel. Upon entering the hotel, we immediately inquired for the rates of the function rooms, and if there was someone available to tour us around.
- Fortunately, we were asked to go to the office in the second floor to meet up with someone from the hotel. The kind, young, and tall lady kindly gave us a lot of information about their packages. She even gave us a "grand tour" of two possible function rooms for a wedding. It was also funny because she initially thought that Jane and I were getting married. Hahahaha. (Yes, we told her that we weren't getting married.)
- After we left the hotel, we rode a cab to go to another hotel - The Century Park Hotel. After once again being led to an office in the hotel, we were entertained well by a Chinese lady who we found out was only a batch higher than us, and studied in a neighboring (and purple-loving) Chinese high school during her high school days. It was also a bit easier to talk to her about what we wanted, since she also had the same Chinese background as the both of us. However, we weren't able to tour the main ballroom since there was an event there.
- We left the hotel around 30 minutes later, and rode another cab to the Hyatt Hotel in Malate. We entered the hotel, talked to the concierge, and were told that no one was available to accommodate us; we had to set an appointment if ever we wanted to be accommodated.
- Not wanting to waste our trip (and travel fee) to Hyatt, I asked the concierge about the available function rooms that could accommodate wedding receptions. The concierge promptly gave us a list, and Jane and I sneaked to the ballroom at the sixth floor. Luckily, one of the ballrooms was vacant, well-lit, and person-less. I took a quick snap of the ballroom, and slipped away unnoticed. Haha. Sneaky me/us.
- The last of the hotels was finally covered, and yet we needed to visit two historical churches and inquire about rates, fees, not to mention to take snaps. Luckily, the two churches were both in old Manila, the walled city - Intramuros!! (Just in case you don't know, the two churches I'm referring to are the Manila Cathedral, and the San Agustin Chuch.)
- For the fourth time, Jane and I rode a cab to the Manila Cathedral, and toured around the marvelous church. I was happy to see that tourists were still roaming around happily inside old Manila. (LEZZGO PHILIPPINE TOURISM!!!!) While walking around, Jane and I marveled the big preserved bamboo organ at the second floor, and the astounding stained glass windows. (One was even a stained glass window of the Philippine seal.)
- After the Manila Cathedral, we dashed off to the flesh-colored (yuck, but according to a friend named Patty that it was supposedly the original color) San Agustin Church. Honestly, I prefer the colorless San Agustin Church way back when. I think that by coloring the exterior, the "historical-ness" of the church wasn't too apparent.
- For some reason, a group of Filipinos flocked outside the church and held white balloons. After having their picture taken while holding the balloons, they released all the white balloons. Needless to say, I didn't stop myself from taking a snap of the balloons and the church itself. Heehee. Sadly, we weren't able to go inside since a mass was going on.
- Now that our agenda was formally over, and we still had time, I asked Jane if she wanted to walk around Intramuros (since we were already there.) I was glad to know that Jane was as enthusiastic as me. Of course, when one speaks of Intramuros, the first thing that comes to mind is Fort Santiago.
- Jane and I had a long walk to the tip of the pizza-shaped walled city. After paying 50php each, we were able to explore the historic site. We took pictures of dungeons (and ran away after because of the spookiness,) visited the Rizal Shrine (which was absolutely cool,) and arrived at the banks of the once clean and great Pasig river (wait, the Pasig River is still great....especially the cool ferry ride.) Also, the cute guards in their traditional guardia-civil costume added to the historical-ness of the old city.
- As the sun was about the set, Jane and I stopped over at Greenwich to have our really late merienda. When the sky grew darker, we knew that the old city could not keep us in, despite having a lot more to explore. Jane and I rode a jeep to the underpass near SM Manila, went through the underpass, and rode another jeep to Ongpin. Jane and I parted ways after several meters of walking, but I still felt happy afterwards. Why?
1. It was my first adventure with Jane. This was something we both wanted to happen since 2 to 3 years ago.
2. This is my first real adventure after many many months. (Hurray academics for forcing me to tie myself home. :|:|:|:|)
3. It was a really nice experience to visit a historical site (again.)
4. I was able to wear a casual Filipiniana outfit (something I couldn't pull off nicely before,) in celebration of the Buwan ng Wika ([Filipino] Language Month.)
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