Blisters, Manila Bay, and Red Horse

On Friday night, "date night", in the Philippines, we ate A TON of traditional Pinoy food with Marvin, his sister Milka, and a few other friends.  We had originally planned on eating at a large asian-style buffet but when we arrived, they were closing in an hour and Filipinos prefer having hours and hours to eat a lot and enjoy.  They even tried to haggle with an employee to keep the restaurant open later just for us.

When we arrived at the other Filipino restaurant, I glanced over the menu and decided what I was going to have.  Apparently, that's not the way it's done here.  Our friends proceeded to order soups, appetizers, meats, seafood, salad, and drinks so that we could all share.  I really enjoyed this style of eating and I wish it were more prevalent in America.  My favorites were the small, whole crabs dipped in vinegar, and a prawn soup with a clean, citrus flavor.  Lucian and I were so full, we could barely enjoy the Halo Halo (pronounced Hollow) dessert, a specialty of the Philippines.  Marvin told Lucian and I to try the Red Horse beer which we did.  We noticed that they do not post their alcohol content on the bottle.  Salut!

We were at the restaurant well into 1:30 AM and there seemed to be more people pouring in as we left.  I couldn't help but notice the stream of emaciated cats, people selling cigarettes, and impoverished children making their way through the outside terrace we were sitting in.  Nary, a girl we ate with, scooped some rice onto a plate for one of the children and he ate quietly at a nearby table.  It still hasn't hit me yet, the immense amount of wealth and poverty that is here.

The next day, we were greeted by ANOTHER wonderful meal, prepared by Laila.  We called Gloria again and planned to meet up with her for a tour of the city later on.  We were chauffeured around in a large Mercedes van with Gloria and her friend, a former first lady of a provence in the Philippines.  We saw a number of the cities on our way to Manila Bay.  We arrived in a historical area of the bay and climbed into a private horse-drawn cart with a tour guide.  We got out and explored the area that was devastated by the many wars that the Philippines endured. My favorite part was the tour through the life of Dr. Jose Rizal, considered the hero of the Philippines.

Gloria and her friend treated us to dinner at the most expensive hotel in the Philippines, a short tour through the Mall of Asia (the largest in all of Asia), dessert music, and drinks on the boardwalk, and eventually took us home to Quezon.

Lucian and I leave for Palawan on Monday morning, which is considered to be a far less crowded version of the Caribbean.  I am excited for some relaxation, sun, and to see a different side of the Philippines.  I'm supposed to get another camera today, so we'll see how it turns out.  Okay, there's a Filipino pop group lip syncing to MMMBop, see you later!