Last Day in Manila

Hello Everyone!

Today is our last day in Manila and I can’t believe our trip is over, time has been flying. We decided to go back to intramuros so that we could visit the churches and buildings we weren’t able to enter during our night tour because they were closed. We started at the Manila cathedral and there was an actual wedding inside but they didn’t stop tourists from coming it. It was so strange! But also really nice to see some of a traditional wedding here. 

You won’t believe it but the cathedral now has a cafe in part of the tower, so we stopped for some fries and coffee with a view. The locals like to joke it’s for a tax break, which may not be too far off lol. This cathedral was built in 1581 and has since been rebuilt multiple times because of a typhoon, fire, earthquakes, and even WWII bombing. Hard to believe that they kept building in the same space, I would have likely give up the second time but this cathedral has been rebuilt eight times!

Afterwards we walked to San Austin’s church where we stumbled upon a local market for food and crafts. They even had a live band so that people could sing karaoke. This church is interesting because it has Chinese lions here in an attempt to convert the immigrated Chinese population to Catholicism. They also have carved pictures of Chinese people on their wooden doors. If you look at the ceiling you’d think that this little church was more opulent than the famous cathedral. However upon second glance you might realize that it’s all paintings! The artists did a great job tricking the eye with their fresco. 

We ended the day at a very special dinner with my Auntie Kristine and her sister. They happened to fly into Manila right before we left so we met up at the famous Shangri-La hotel. Then we all went back to the very first mall of our trip, the Rockwell, for a dessert tour where we got our last taho, halo halo, and the street famous dirty ice cream! Don’t worry, the ice cream isn’t actually dirty, that’s just what they call ice cream in the street carts here. We were all in a total food and sugar coma by the time we said goodbye. And just like that, with our bellies and hearts full, we ended our time here in the Philippines. 

Until my next trip!

Lots of love,

Carolyn 

Shopped Out

Hello Everyone!

Today’s post is going to be short and sweet because it was another mall day. We met up with Uncle Vic’s cousins from Nuvali and went to the Glorietta mall. I realized that going to the mall here isn’t just for shopping, it’s an easy way to beat the heat and go outside for a few hours while still remaining in air conditioning, so it’s really used as a social hub for everyone. Isabel and I are kind of done with Filipino food, so we managed to find Korean for lunch and a salad place for dinner. What we are most looking forward to is coming home to Mexican food, only two more days left!

Miss you all,

Carolyn

Intramuros

Hello Everybody! 

Sorry for the delay in post, I was so tired when I got back last night that I crashed and slept a whole nine hours! We had a really busy day that started at the Mall of Asia. We met up with two of Isabel’s family friends who are way more capable shoppers than me for sure. It took us hours to walk the entire mall, that’s how many shops were inside! Around 5 pm we were shopped out and got to go to the historical part of Manila called Intramuros, which means within the walls. Basically it was the starting place of Spanish colonization in the Philippines.

The best part was we took a calesa tour, which is an old horse and buggy! I was so excited to be around horses. The local horses here are small and feisty, and our tour guide made an awesome joke that he was taking us around in his Ferrari with one horse power lol! 

The whole town is basically a bunch of repurposed churches, monasteries, and convents. Even the jail cells were turned into food stalls! The Spaniards were trying really hard to convert Filipinos to Catholicism which meant they put a church every few blocks in this town, but realizing that it’s now overkill, they buildings are more functional now as schools and government buildings. One crazy thing I learned was that after Spain brought smallpox to the Philippines, everyone was dying in masses. Spain wanted to send the vaccine but it was only good in a vial for 14 days and the boat takes 6 months to get from Spain to PI. So, they injected orphans and used them to carry the vaccine here as human refrigerators!

We ended our tour by going around Fort Santiago which was a mixture of U.S. barracks to prison cells and was basically their main military hub. There’s even old war cannons from WWI and WWII. But now it’s a memorial to their national hero Rizal who was executed for treason against the Spanish government. He was the leader of one of the two revolutionary groups in the country at the time and was an accomplished intellectual, doctor, and writer. We weren’t expecting to see the statue of him in the prison cell and both jumped when we turned the corner! 

All of us then went to a very touristy but entertaining dinner where we watched some of the national Filipino dances. The first was binasuan, I was so impressed when they spun around with the juice on their head but didn’t drop anything. The other dance is called tinikling where they dance between the bamboo as it’s snapped open and closed. When they asked for audience volunteers you can bet I was the first to try! It was so much fun and reminded me of the folk dance I used to do back in high school. 

Sending you lots of love, 

Aisha 

14 Hours in the Car

Hi Everybody!

Today is another short post because as you can probably guess by the title, the majority of my day was spent sitting in a car. The road trip back to and around Manila was filled with traffic, even though we left earlier in the morning. Coming down the mountain was beautiful and we even saw monkeys on the road! But that’s about the extent of excitement from our day. Once we hit the outskirts we were bumper to bumper all day. And I mean the second worst traffic I’ve ever seen, the only city worse was Dhaka, Bangladesh. Today took us 2 hours to go 5 miles this evening! On a Wednesday! 

We did make a few stops during our day at the dupe market and at the popular Bonificio High Street mall. I was too overwhelmed to shop but it was entertaining to watch everyone else haggle. The best part of the day was when we finally made it back to the hotel at 11 pm and I got to rest in a nice fluffy bed with chocolates! 

Stay tuned for tomorrow, I promise it’ll be more exciting as we’re going to the famous Mall of Asia and Intramuros which is the historical section of Manila.

Lots of Love,

Carolyn 

A Hot Day in Batangas

 Hi Everyone! 

Today started off great as we went off to explore the resort grounds. We walked the lagoon, around the pool, even made it to the small beach. However, we quickly learned that we were pretty trapped and there really wasn’t much to do. The beach had warnings for jellyfish and urchins, and I don’t know about you, but I for one was not going to mess with that kind of marine life. 

The grounds were beautiful but by midday we had explored it all. With not much else to do, we decided to go bowling and I got second place in the first game! Not too shabby for someone who frequently struggles with hand eye coordination. Also my very first try was a strike! Although it kinda went downhill from there lol.

After bowling I wasn’t feeling so well and realized a bit too late that I had forgotten to drink enough water and gave myself a lovely case of heat stroke. Especially because nothing indoors was properly air conditioned either, I must have overheated between the mid morning walk and bowling. I’m doing much better now as I’m writing this post!! And I have subsequently hydrated appropriately. Everyone was super awesome and hung out with me in our room trying to make me feel better and keep me company. I guess it’s good there wasn’t much to do anyways since all I missed out on was the evening walk. Issa and Auntie Weng took nice pictures of the grounds at sunset to share! If anything, I’m definitely dedicated to my favorite fans ;)

By the end of the day I was feeling much better and called it an early night to rest and recover. As a group we decided to cut our time here in Batangas short and are going back to Manila tomorrow so we can make the most  our last few days here. 

Sending you lots of love,

Carolyn 

Travel to Batangas

Hello Everybody! 

Today was our last morning in Boracay and we woke up early to soak up every moment before our flight. We walked on the beach and had fruit shakes and enjoyed the ocean from afar. I thought I could get in a sneaky morning swim but the wind was wild, so it wasn’t really ideal ocean weather. Nevertheless we enjoyed ourselves and laughed so hard all the neighboring loungers turned to see what was so funny. Honestly, even I can’t remember! But all I know is between me, Isabel, and Auntie Weng, one of us is always making some quip or joke and getting the other two to giggle. I think I’m going to come home with abs of steel from all this laughter.!

The journey back to Manila went smoothly, but took a while as we had to get on a boat to the airport and then had to be bussed to the tarmac. I wish I could say our traveling ended there but we actually met Isabel’s cousin (Ate Hasel) at the airport and then proceeded to embark on a four hour drive to Batangas. It was fun to get to know each other on the road. It was less ideal that the latter part of the drive was winding roads all the way up and down the mountain. Since Auntie Weng, Isabel, and I all get car sick, it became pretty quiet. 

After finally making it to the hotel we went for a quick walk around the grounds, even though it was 9 pm, just to stretch our legs. The walk rejuvenated us and we all piled in one room sharing stories and giggling until midnight! Good thing we don’t have an early wake up call tomorrow, but I have a sneaky suspicion we’ll be up early anyways. 

Love you all! 

Aisha