Pamper Sunday Surprise: No Other Word But "Wow"

- January 29, 2012, Sunday.

- I don't like going out on Sundays. Sunday is supposed to be my "lazy day" of the week, so I can fully rest my body when the weekday comes up again. Today's adventure, however, was supposed to be a Saturday-night dinner that didn't push through; Crizeel, my close friend Cristina's sister, was busy doing her thesis photoshoot last night, and was too tired to have dinner near our area.

- Both of us decided to have a short afternoon out, so both of us can unwind from our own busy schedule. I fetched Crizeel at her house at around 2 in the afternoon, and walked all the way to Escolta. Crizeel hasn't seen the wonders of Escolta on foot, and I wanted to expose her to one of Chinatown's hidden treasures. Most stores and buildings were closed, as it was a Sunday, so our Escolta walk didn't last too long.

- Aside from showing Crizeel the usual must-sees in Escolta, we were able to come across Po Chuan An Temple near Escolta. The guard allowed us to see the temple, so Crizeel and I both rode the elevator to the 9th floor, and went around the Buddhist temple. The design of the temple was a bit Vajrayana-like (Vajrayana = Tibetan Buddhist,) although the Buddhist gods/statues present didn't look a lot like Vajrayana gods. We took a few photos before continuing our Escolta walk.

- While walking in the quieter streets of Sunday Escolta, Cristina called Crizeel, asking where we were. She apparently wanted to join us, even though she just came from - a bit tired- from an overnight trip with her best girl buddies. I told Cristina to meet us in front of Shopper's Mart.

- Crizeel and I didn't take long before we reached Shopper's Mart, and met Cristina. Before going to our favorite dimsum place, we stopped by, again, at The Tea Life, to satisfy our milk tea craving. Apart from ordering my favorite green-tea milk tea, I also tried their pudding ice cream. Just as expected, the giant pudding ice cream (I ordered a strawberry-flavored one) exceeded my expectations. It wasn't too sweet, and the matcha-ice-cream base added a "milk-tea" scent to the whole mix. The pudding had a mild fruity flavor, and the strawberry syrup added the little sweet kick. Crizeel had one too, after seeing how much I enjoyed mine.

- The three of us walked towards Golden Fortune Soler, dropping by at our friend Shirby's store along the way, taking photos and chatting with her a little bit, before going on.

- At Golden Fortune, we had a lot of dimsum (and air conditioning) to pamper us with, especially after the hot sun pinching our skin. I gave Crizeel an angpao, since she's been working too hard for her thesis; I told her to share the golden-wrapped candy coins with Cristina.

- While eating and sharing a book of stories each, I encountered college friends Anne and Samuel. I met Anne earlier this afternoon, and Samuel arrived with his family later in the afternoon.

- Cristina, Crizeel, and I decided to leave at around 6pm, noticing that the ground was wet from an apparent short drizzle that feel earlier. I stopped by at Cristina and Crizeel's house before going home, since they wanted me to lend me their external hard drive, containing episodes from the show, Running Man. I invited them to come to my house, so we could hang our more while the files were transferring.

- The files took longer to transfer than expected, since I didn't know that there were "that much" episodes. I just entertained Cristina and Crizeel, now with their younger sister Kimberly, by showing them photos, videos, and some of my cultural collections at home. I think it took an hour before the transfer was finished.

- The last agenda for the night was supposed to be a coffee/latte session at the nearby Seattle's Best, although we found out that it already closed for the day; it was past 8pm. We just decided to stay in Cafe France, right across Seattle's, to end the night. Since Cristina and Kimberly were too tired and sleepy, they went ahead, while Crizeel and I chatted while sipping our tall-glassed lattes, and slowly finishing our (light) food.

- We both went home at quarter past 9, Nearly - or more than- 5 hours later than the time I thought I'd be able to reach home and rest. I am still a bit tired from today's trip, but I'm glad I was able to brush some of last week's stress away. We all have had too much surprises today, and hopefully the coming week will have good surprises for us as well.