CHARMAINE'S MINIVENTURE: East Asian Tour In Manila

- July 24, 2009, Friday

- I picked up Charmaine from her house at around 12:30pm (she lives in the floor above ours. Haha)

- We rode the LRT until the Pedro Gil Station and searched for Adriatico Street, since I was told that this is where Manila's Koreatown can be found.

- After we found the Adriatico Street, we stumbled upon a small Korean Grocery named Da Mul Korean Grocery. We were so happy, since it was the first Korean thing we saw after a long walk. We went inside and bought Korean Ice Cream. Yey!!

- While leisurely walking along the large large street, we saw a Japanese grocery that sold some local products and a lot of Japanese goods. We weren't able to buy anything from the store simply because they were toooo expensive!!!!

- After leaving, we journeyed through the long street, and saw a massive Buddhist Temple. How random could that be?? We were sure if we were allowed to go in or not. The guard was unresponsive when we went in the small gate, but again, we were in doubt. A kind Chinese lady came in the gate and spoke to us in Mandarin. She asked who we were looking for. I replied, in Mandarin, that we were just there to look around. For some reason, it feels nice to know that I still know Mandarin after 3 years of non-Chinese-school-education. Hahahaha. (I think my family will disown me if ever I forgot my Mandarin. Hahahaha!!!!)

- Charmaine and I went in and explored the place. It wasn't as large as it looked from outside (Seng Guan Si is still better. Haha)

- We went out the temple after a few shots, and walked on. We accidentally passed through the Korean Village restaurant. For many many weeks now, I've been trying to find out how to get there without a car. Well, now I know. Lucky me, lucky us!! :) :) :) :)

- Charmaine and I ordered an assorted platter of Korean barbecue worth 200php, and 2 bowls of rice worth 40 per bowl for each of us. The kingly appetizers were free, and I guess the appetizers would weigh more than the main course if placed on a scale. Hahahaha. In the end....we only spent 140php per person (200 + 40(2) = 280 / 2 = 120php) Not bad right??

- After leaving the restaurant, we walked for a few minutes and realized that the street wasn't as "Korean" as we thought it would (Makati's Koreatown is still better). We went to a store named Walnut Cookies and bought something for ourselves, and a common friend named Angela Ong. The store sells walnut-shaped cookies with walnuts and walnut paste. The cookies are really really soft ones, almost similar to the texture of a waffle. Each dozen is worth 80php (but not boxed), and a box of 2 dozen is worth 190php. Charmaine and I bought a dozen each. One dozen would be for us and the other dozen for Angela. Haha.

- Finally, we passed by Robinson's Place Ermita to get to the LRT Station faster. We got on the train and got off at the Doroteo Jose Station. Charmaine went to the Recto Station via the overpass from D. Jose, since she needed to go to Ateneo for her JTA Talk. On the other hand, I went home. Today's trip was really unpredictable, since we weren't really sure what we were looking for. In the end, we realized that we got a bit of China, Japan, and Korea in one afternoon. :) :) :) :)