Manila, Philippines

A prequel to this post, is a short summary of our travels. I left DFW at 6 am, met up with Meredith (Mer) and Kellen in LAX. We flew to Shanghai, 13 ish hours in the air, and landed around 5 ish the NEXT DAY. On our decent down, it was super smoggy, and the sun was only visible for a few minutes before it hid behind the pollution

We only had an hour and 45 minutes for our connection. To our luck, we waited on the runway for 30 minutes. We had to shuttle to the airport because you land a little ways off. We exit the largest plane I’ve been on in my life, and walked to a shuttle. We missed the first one because it was cramped and we were waiting for Kellen, haha, but when we got on the second one, we waited another 20 minutes until we took off. At this point we were running low on time to make our flight. When we stepped out we see a woman and she yells, “Manila?” and we said, “Yes,” and that when it all began. The running. We had to run so far, through so many lines, but we were happily surprised that everyone let us cut them once this worker said “jump the lines!!” We got through security and started a true sprint while also hopping on the speedy walkways. We were the very last section of the airport and when I got to the counter, they said “don’t worry we aren’t even boarding yet.” 🙂

After that we got to Manila, said adios to Kellen and his brother that met him, until June 10th. We waited for Tierney (T) and her family, but it took us a bit of time to realize that they were in a different terminal. Somehow through willpower we found a taxi-type of ride to their terminal and we met up with our buddies. T’s grandparents had two vans waiting for us, and we drove to the hotel we have been staying at for three days now. It is amazing and has a rooftop pool.

Day one in Manila, we just went to a restaurant called XOXO 42, to try traditional food. It was 11/10 fantastic (as I explained, pics are to come later). We had Chicken Adobo, Crispy Pata, and the heritage dish of the month, “Ginataang Santol.” The Santol is stewed in coconut milk with chili and dried shrimps, until both the rind and pulp are soft and juicy. Santol is also known as Sandoricum Koetjape, and it is abundant in the summer months. Then we went to walk around the city to see some gardens we found on the map. We learned that they just mean parks. We got pretty sweaty, and then walked back while everyone else napped haha. While they all napped, we went up to the rooftop pool, where we met miss international Guam. She has invited us to visit whenever we want, and she will help us plan the trip. When everyone woke up, they came trickling upstairs and finally, we all ate dinner on the roof. We tried baby crabs and lots of different fruity cocktails.

Day two in Manila, we went to Intramuros (within the wall). A little background from the internet and my memory from the tour guide. It was the seat of government and political power when the Philippines was part of the Spanish Empire. After the end of the Spanish–American War, Spain surrendered the Philippines and several other territories to the United States as part of the terms of the Treaty of Paris for $20 million. In December 1941, the Imperial Japanese Army invaded the Philippines. During this time, the American and Filipino troops were tortured and killed. We saw the ruins from where this occurred, as well as a view of all of Manila. We rode around the city within the city on little buggies pulled by small horses. All of Ts siblings began getting allergic reactions to the horses and air, but they were okay in the end. We went to lunch in a hotel, where we earlier saw the view of the city, and it was filling. We went back to our hotel in Makati, Manila and just lounged around.

Day three we woke up and worked out in the hotel gym, in our Tevas and Chacos because we didn’t bring any tennis shoes, and that was interesting but worked haha. Then we had he breakfast buffet and let me tell you, this was the best breakfast hotel buffet I’ve ever had. They had a fruit section, cheese section, bread section, egg station, flatbread section, soups, Indian food section, stir fry and sushi section, yogurt section, unknown food origin section, and a Filippino food section. It was amazing and we loaded up about 9 plates! We stopped and got coffee/tea from the happiest workers again and they brightened our day yet again.

T’s Spill Tally:

• 1 – In the airport, at Chowking
• 2 – Coffee in the van
• 3 – herself in the room

Today is a travel day. We headed to Ts grandparents house in Anda, Pangasinan. It’s right off the beach so that’s a plus. The day began with us trying to fit 13 people and luggage into the van. We originally had two vans so this was a game of Tetris. We drove 6 hours, no biggie for me because it was like going to school the past 4 years. We stopped in a town to eat lunch, and then continued on our adventure. Two of Ts siblings have peanut allergies like me, by theirs are not as severe. This is comforting though because I feel safe eating at places with them. Today her little brother accidentally ate a peanut though because I was at McDo (McDonald’s, pronounced Mac dough) and didn’t notice the menu said something had peanuts until he’d already eaten it. He just gets a severe stomach ache when he eats them though which is good, but he was miserable on the ride up. I listened to music and took in the scenery until we drove through rain.

We made it to their home in Anda and it is beautiful. They designed and built the house and it is right on the beach. However we arrived after sunset so we haven’t seen the beach yet 😮but we will tomorrow! We had a delicious meal of fresh caught shrimp that they grilled, fresh caught crab, and fresh mango. As well as green berms with ground beef and grilled pork and rice! So delicious. By the way, there are 13 of us staying here, Ts family and her cousins and aunts and uncles. We ended the night with San Mig Lights and karaoke.

Ts Spill tally: Syrup, Banana ketchup, Absolute water bottle x2, Ice cream pop, Cheese ring