Manila

Wednesday, May 18

Every travel blog recommends spending as little time in Manila as possible. But, given the atrocity that is the Manila airport, we wanted to give as long of a layover as we could before heading to Australia. So we decided to spend two nights and one day, to leave ample time and also maybe experience a little more Filipino culture before we leave.

We got a taxi to our hotel which took forever because of traffic but the driver had impecable English and was so nice. He recommended places to eat and what to order, which greatly influenced the next 24 hours of our lives.

We decided to stay at the Sheraton Manila Bay after having to cancel Red Planet Manila Bay because the hotel was only being used for quarantine. The Sheraton is actually part of Marriott and we were able to use points to pay for the whole stay. Perhaps because of the circumstances (being in the Philippines for three weeks and on a remote island for three days) the Sheraton was the nicest hotel of my life. They upgraded us to an executive suite and when we entered the room we found a hand written welcome note and some apples and dried mangoes.

The shower was incredibly strong (maybe even too strong??) and hot. The bed was so comfortable and the pillows were absolutely perfect. The window shades opened by pressing a button and there was even a phone next to the toilet. Utter luxury.

We rested a bit before heading out to dinner. On our way to dinner we walked by a little street stall where an old man was selling Balut, hard-boiled, partially fertilized eggs, a local delicacy. Our taxi driver had told us to try one, so we did. The taste was like hard boiled egg and chicken. The texture…I’ll spare the details in case any reader is squeamish. The egg cost 20 pesos (40 cents) but the man was so nice and helpful, instructing us how to eat it and laughing along with us, so Carl gave him an extra 20 peso tip.

Then we walked to the restaurant The Aristocrats, the original site of a popular local chain, which the taxi drive had also recommended. The driver recommended Kare-Kare, a peanut based broth with knuckle, tripe and other leftover parts. This dish was weird, and not our favorite. We also got barbecued chicken, which the restaurant is known for, and this was very very good. It was served with garlic rice and a peanut-y bbq sauce.

Stuffed, we walked back to our hotel, cranked the AC, climbed into the big, white, fluffy bed, watched the end of the movie Lady Bird on tv, and fell asleep instantly.

Thursday, May 19

We started the day with French press coffee in our room (Sheraton!) before heading to Robinson’s mall to find breakfast. We found a bakery place that served all kinds of weird Asian pastries (our favorite). We got the spicy chicken floss (a bun with dried chicken shreds plastered on top via mayo), a ‘tuna’ sandwich which ended up being ham, egg, and cheese (and delicious), and a chocolate cream cheese muffin that tasted like it was filled with dark chocolate cheesecake filling (in other words, my favorite thing).

We walked to Intramuros, the old, Spanish style walled city. I don’t think many tourists actually walk to Intramuros and there were about a thousand persistent trike drivers trying to get us to go on a tour with them. It was really annoying, but we pushed on and walked through, surprised how short the walk was despite the trike drivers insisting we couldn’t possibly go on foot.

We checked out the oldest church, San Augustine, then walked straight into the middle of the walled city to the second oldest church, The Minor Basilica. We considered the cool interiors and extra large fans to be a holy blessing and we stood for long periods of time, in appreciation.

Next we walked to the end of the town (not very far at all) to the Fort Santiago. This fort has a history as interesting as the Philippines itself as it was used by every conquering and colonizing presence. It was old and pretty, and nice to walk around in. Most shocking was the dungeon area where American troops had found hundreds of bodies after the Japanese occupation.

We could sense a storm a brewin’ so we started walking back. We passed by a cafe that had IPAs and vegetarian Sisig that we couldn’t resist. Of course, as soon as we were done eating and decided to leave, it immediately started pouring. We were able to flag down a trike and went back to the mall.

I needed to try the Filipino desert, Halo- Halo. We used the fancy, interactive mall directory to locate a few places that sold it. We decided to go to another Filipino chain, Inasal, to get it. Inasal is known for their barbecue chicken so Carl also had to sample that. We sat in the middle of the busy restaurant- Carl eating chicken and me eating a bowl full of ice, candied jellies, beans, and condensed milk, and we reflected on our wonderful time in the Philippines.

Later for dinner we went back to the mall (and could’ve eaten there for another week without getting bored) and went to a place called Manan that seemed like it had escaped from Brooklyn and brought hipster-ism to the Philippines. We couldn’t decide what to order so we got small plates of Sisig, Crispy Pata (fried pork knuckle), and (can’t remember the name) a vinegar soup with braised beef. We also got two shakes: Ube and Mango-Pomelo.

The shakes were meals in themselves but sooo good. The Sisig wasn’t chewy enough for our taste (is there even real pork snout in it if you don’t feel the texture of cartilage?) but still really good.

A series of miracles happened then where we found nail polish remover for me (mine had evaporated, couldn’t find replacement anywhere, and my cheap Cambodian pedicure was atrocious) and a hat for Carl (he had lost his…again).

Just before the mall closed we found the hat kiosk on the fourth floor. There were some plain hats that the lady said were only 100 pesos ($2). We were happy enough with this, but then she said she could embroider the hat with Carl’s name, for free. He didn’t want his name so he tried to think of something else to write, not wanting to bypass this opportunity for a custom made hat. He landed on ‘Sisig’ which made the lady laugh and then she embroidered it using her sewing machine, without any kind of stencil. We were so impressed! I told Carl it was lucky he lost his other two hats so we could experience this magical moment. Also if he lost his Sisig hat, we’d be obligated to return to Manila and get another.