March 12th

Today we go touring around Metro Manila.

Cousins Lito, Hilda, and Andre are my companions for the day. First stop was Lito’s townhouse in Cavite. We see his cute little boy, Andrew.

Next, we drove about an hour and a half to Tagatay. At a restaurant overlooking Lake Taal, we ate bulalo, which is a beef and bone marrow soup. Tasty.

After lunch, we took a two hour drive to Los Banos, where my dad went to the university. The University of the Philippines at Los Banos is a really big campus. I stopped by the College of Forestry, his major.

The school is also where Andre’s girlfriend studies. We left Andre there so he can study and cuddle.

Last stop of the day was at the Mall of Asia by Manila Bay. Lito says it’s the largest mall in Asia. I did some shopping and we had dinner. By the time we were done, it was night and we left the mall to walk along Manila’s Baywalk. Baywalk’s nice. It’s got a Hooters.

Tomorrow morning, I leave for Chicago. I am definitely coming back. Next time, I think I’ll spend half the time in Pandan and Boracay and the other half at my dad’s province Samar.

March 11th

Began to feel a little insecure about my big toe. I started to wonder if the cut was deep enough to warrant stitches. Only thing was that I didn’t have time to stop by the hospital in Pandan as I had to leave early to go the airport. I decided to go to the hospital after I reach Manila, instead.

Lito picked me up and the both of us went to Alabang (town near Muntinlupa) to have lunch with my Uncle Teddy. I told him about my toe and asked him how much it would cost to go to the hospital. He guessed around 1000 pesos for a consult. After lunch, we went to a nearby mall and I changed some of my dollars to pesos. The mall had a medical clinic inside so we went there.

Doctor prescribed a tetanus shot and the nurse cleaned up and wrapped my toe.

Went to Intramuros in Manila. Wandered around the ruins of Fort Santiago.

Had dinner at a dockside restaurant called Harbor View. Uncle Teddy reminisces about his college days in Manila. How he used to live near the shanty towns. How he used to take the jeepneys to school and how he would jump off when the jeepney conductor came near to collect the fare. haha.

March 10th

Went to 5:30am mass with my mom. No crazy lady. Ah well.

Spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon napping.

Around 4pm, Chuckie took his dad’s motorcycle and we both rode to Malumpati Springs. It is up in the hills near Pandan. The air is cool there and the water is very clear.

After a few minutes we decided to go to the Phaidon Beach resort. The beaches are also white sand like Boracay but considerably less crowded. As we entered the resort, we had a little motorcycle accident. The front wheel of the bike bit into the sand of the driveway which stopped our forward progress and we fell off the bike. Chuckie had some scratches on his foot and I had a cut on my big toe. We rinsed our wounds and bought some bandages. Chuckie called his dad and his dad came to pick us up. Doh.

When I got back home, I opened my first aid kit (glad I packed one) and cleaned the cut, put antibiotic ointment, and then wrapped a gauze around the toe.