Philippines
Day1 - Makati
Arrived at NAIA terminal 3 in the afternoon and took the authorized taxi(~200p). Fortunately, the traffic jam was not that bad.
Arrived at NAIA terminal 3 in the afternoon and took the authorized taxi(~200p). Fortunately, the traffic jam was not that bad.
The hotel is right at the heart of Makati Ayala Centre, with malls such as Glorietta, Greenbelt and department stores - Landmark, and SM, etc. Thanks to (TP1)-Jenny who had already planned and created a Must-Eat list (so very important!), we headed to Sentro 1771 for a Filipino dinner.
Having worked in Manila many years ago, I did not have a good recollection of the local fare except that Kare Kare has peanut and not curry sauce and I enjoyed their Bakchoy and garlic rice. I don't have much of a memory of other local food.
The food that we ordered was tasty! <Has the local cuisine improved in taste or did I simply eat at the wrong restaurants previously?!>
We walked through the interlinked shopping malls to orientate ourselves.
Although we were not hungry, we had a cheese roll for supper(to strike it off the Must-Eat list) before going back to the hotel.
<TPs like to discuss 'philosophically' between themselves if 6x3 is 3x6 or not...>
Day 2
Started the next day with a morning swim and breakfast in the hotel. We spent our day eating, relaxing and shopping in Ayala Centre.
The hair cut was decent, the foot spa+manicure/pedicure(1550p) were great. The scrub+body massage(2420p) was very relaxing and we booked another session for the next day :).
Since Philippines has a strong Spanish influence, we ate at a Spanish restaurant, Tapella. The Gambas-Al-Ajillos is outstanding.
In between meals, we had Jollibee as a mid-morning bite ( it is the FAST FOOD of The Philippines); churros for a mid-afternoon snack (I had my FIRST churros in Philippines), and a slice of mango crepe cake at PaperMoon for supper (mango is the FRUIT of The Philippines). We spun more and more creative excuses to eat all these foods, while most defaulting to the fact that they were on the MUST-EAT list. ;)
We walked amongst the shops to increase our calorie 'burn-rate' to prepare ourselves for dinner.
We had suckling pig (being served peking duck style), Fried Tilapia and vegetable for dinner (1/6 crspchn2way-1160p, Tilapia Boneless 425p, Sigarillas 225p); and a slice of Mango crepe cake before calling it a day.
We also shopped and bought some apparel in SM Mall.
It was a 'FOODFILING' day!
Thanks to TP2-Lily quite excellent sense of direction, we saved much time expertly traversing and crisscrossing amongst Glorietta, Greenbelt, Landmark, SM and the hotel.
Bonifacio Global City(BGC) - Day3 Afternoon
We visited BGC after our visit to Manila Chinatown. BGC used to be part of the main Philiipines Army camp. It was re-developed as a financial and lifestyle district from 2003. We Grabbed a car (~200p) from Manila Chinatown and it was such a contrast between the two as the car passed through the older district into BGC.
We had a bite at Raging Bull Burger. We strolled through some rows of buildings, and then had udon for lunch at Marugame.
Although there were many shops, we shopped mainly at the local stores and gave international brands a pass as we could find those back home.
The Ayala Malls was very crowded and we bought a few T-shirts along the way.
We chanced upon a stall selling different types of Chicharron and bought 2 different types (The minimum amount is 50g. The weighing scale has been fixed to end with either '50' or '00'?). We were tired from the walking and took a break at a open cafe selling Subing (called Hobing by the shop) for teabreak.
There is a Fiesta Market outside the Ayala Mall.
We walked through the market before Grabbing a car back to the hotel.
Last Evening(Day3) and Morning(Day4) in Makati
We had another delicious Filipino dinner, and ordered local dishes such as Kara Kara and Sisig that we had missed in our previous meals.
We walked after our dinner, and then have an hour of massage (1320p/hr) before heading back to the hotel. Total food stops:- Day2 : 6, Day 3 : 7 !!!
IT was a record breaking ''FOODFILING' day!
Last day - Day 4
On the last day, we had a early breakfast and did some quick shopping in the supermarket before heading off to the airport. I managed to strike the last 'MUST EAT' off the list after having a 'BakChoy' at the food court in the airport. YEAH!
Thoughts
I had not visited Manila since the '90 when I worked in Manila for about 9 months. Much has changed since then and it does feel like things have developed for the better.
Although it was a short 4 days trip, I felt like I'd rediscovered Manila as a worthwhile destination for good food, reasonably-priced relaxing activities and potentially a good shopping destination (maybe if I were to venture beyond the usual shopping area?). I will return :).
On the same trip : Manila Chinatown
Others:
Currency exchange: 100peso ~ $2.50
Hotel : Fairmont Makati