When I got to the East coast for the first time, I wondered why do people even live there. It's just tooo colllld. I mean your life revolves around trying to cope with the biting cold weather.
Same thing goes for the Philippines.... how the heck do people manage to live there !!!! wow its freaking hot!!!
Same thing goes for the Philippines.... how the heck do people manage to live there !!!! wow its freaking hot!!!
Then I spend the day at the Fort and Greenbelt.
EVEN THE ARMY HEADQUARTERS LOOKS COOLWOW. Now this is great. I guess this is why people live in the Philippines or the world for that matter. This place is beautiful....no spectacular!!!
Getting out of BF, to get to Greenbelt, we hail a cab. And this is where we meet Allan. This dude is the nicest guy I have ever met.
HOME SWEET HOME
Again, he restores your faith in humankind. He is nice, honest, respectful. He is genuine. For all the bad rap taxi drivers in the Philippines get, he brings it back ten fold. As I write this I realized I forgot to take a picture of the dude, but if someone needs somebody to transport you all over Manila let me know and I'll give you his number. To illustrate how nice this guy was, at one point in my 8 days in Manila, he actually refused to take a tip as he said "sobra sobra na po ang binibigay nyong tip sa akin, metro na lang po ang bayaran nyo." I mean who does that?
HOME SWEET HOME
I'LL TRADE A BAY AREA APARTMENT FOR A UNIT HERE ANYTIME, ANYDAY
He takes us from Paranaque to the Fort. Never been or seen the Fort ever, except when I was in elementary when we had a field trip to Fort Bonifacio. He said we need to see the Fort and boy was he right. Taguig is the shit. If Taguig was literally the shit, as in a piece of shit 15 years ago, now its the shit. It gives any modern city in the world a run for their money. Allan points out that the part of the development of the Fort should be attributed to the leadership of Jojo Binay. I really did not argue since I do not know for sure if it is true but if it is, Binay should be seriously considered for the Presidency.
LOOK AT WHAT I'VE MISSED
We go through Forbes Park (where I saw a lady driving the Philippine version of what I drive here in the states) and then after a few minutes, Greenbelt.
PINOY VERSION OF MY CAR (IN RED) IN FORBES PARK
Again. WOW.
It makes you wonder why can't this be replicated in most parts of the country. If they can do it here, you can certainly argue this can be done anywhere else. It's not even as massive as MOA. Greenbelt is just well designed and classy.
Seems like 80 percent of people there looked like they have the capacity to buy whatever is there and not merely enjoying the airconditioning. Proves to you that bigger is not always better.
Got a haircut at Piandre, pedicure at Tips and Toes, (where I snored my ass away) services at Let's Face It, (where I again snored myself to embarrassment) oh and in the middle of all of this I got to mention, had halo halo at Razon's.
When I was planning my trip to the Philippines, one of my plans was to go drive to Cavite and go to Digman's. I mean Digman's was the ultimate in Halo halo for me growing up. Until I had Razon's.
Razon's halo halo is like an experiment in chemistry. While I was enjoying every spoonful of refreshing goodness, I couldnt help but wonder WTF did they put in that glass. How can a halo halo which seems to lack in ingredients be that good. I ddnt see anything in it. But goddamn it it was good. Was it the ice? the milk? the leche flan? Razon's secret recipe is up there with KFC's 11 herbs and spices, and the recipe for Coca Cola.
After all of that, night falls and we go to where all the restaurants were at. It was a cavalcade of restaurants that every foodie must go. The possibilities are endless. From mediterranean, american, italian, it was like a United Nations restaurant trade show. Every food from every part of the globe was represented. After going up and down the area at least three times, we settled at Sentro, a restaurant whose house special was Sinigang Corned Beef!!!!
No, I wasnt feeling that adventurous so I skipped the Sinigang Corned Beef. Sinigang is my all time favorite dish and I just would not patronize any attempt of its bastardation. I'm sure its pretty good, but I'm gonna pass. Probably next time. Anyway, Sentro was pretty cool, the noise level was ok, you can still have a decent conversation while having your meal, although the group next to us were talking, err screaming at the top of their lungs making sure everyone would hear what they were talking about. (No, lady you do look like your 40 years old thank you very much.)
After dinner, walked around some more then decided to cap the night away at my favorite hang out in Makati 10 years ago, Hard Rock Cafe.
What a shocker. No one told me no one hung around Hard Rock anymore except for old white dudes with their prostitute girlfriends! If I was not too tired of walking around and if the band Freestyle was not there, I would've ran out of there as fast as I could. Was it the wrong day to chill there or has Hard Rock really gone downhill?
Allan like clockwork, gets to Makati 20 minutes after my text. This dude just amazed me really. I ask him to take me to one last stop on my way home, the PAGCOR casino in Paranaque.
All I got to say about PAGCOR is it is old and dilapidated. A shame, beacuse all their slot machines are awesome! I mean who really wants to carry 3,000 pesos in PAGCOR coins around? have they ever heard of coinless playing? or cash tickets? The carpets smelled horrible. Probably the one in Paranaque are one of their older ones? Still if you do win, you forget all of that and all your concerned about is how to haul all your coins to the cage while maneuvering through the hangers on who wants balato!
After an hour and a few thousand pesos richer (which i did not mind after all the dough I threw at Greenbelt) Allan was back to take us home. It was 4am then and goddamn there was still traffic. Unfreakingbelievable. Hunger pangs sets in and asks driver to pull up at a Shakey's.
Ohhh how I miss Shakey's. Their Chick and Chips just brought back memories of lunch time in UST. Chick and Chips got me through my UST days, and it is still as good as ever. Did'nt care about the pizza, Chick and Chips was awesome! Best fastfood fried chicken in the world bar none. Popeye's is a close second though.
Got home at 5-6 something and was ready to call it a night. Or a day. Or whatever. Pretty productive day I must say. Makes me wonder how I managed to let 10 or so years pass and not be back.
It makes you wonder why can't this be replicated in most parts of the country. If they can do it here, you can certainly argue this can be done anywhere else. It's not even as massive as MOA. Greenbelt is just well designed and classy.
MAKES YOU WANNA SPEND MORE
Seems like 80 percent of people there looked like they have the capacity to buy whatever is there and not merely enjoying the airconditioning. Proves to you that bigger is not always better.
MY SEVEN JEANS AND PRADAS LIKE GREENBELT :)
Got a haircut at Piandre, pedicure at Tips and Toes, (where I snored my ass away) services at Let's Face It, (where I again snored myself to embarrassment) oh and in the middle of all of this I got to mention, had halo halo at Razon's.
When I was planning my trip to the Philippines, one of my plans was to go drive to Cavite and go to Digman's. I mean Digman's was the ultimate in Halo halo for me growing up. Until I had Razon's.
Razon's halo halo is like an experiment in chemistry. While I was enjoying every spoonful of refreshing goodness, I couldnt help but wonder WTF did they put in that glass. How can a halo halo which seems to lack in ingredients be that good. I ddnt see anything in it. But goddamn it it was good. Was it the ice? the milk? the leche flan? Razon's secret recipe is up there with KFC's 11 herbs and spices, and the recipe for Coca Cola.
After all of that, night falls and we go to where all the restaurants were at. It was a cavalcade of restaurants that every foodie must go. The possibilities are endless. From mediterranean, american, italian, it was like a United Nations restaurant trade show. Every food from every part of the globe was represented. After going up and down the area at least three times, we settled at Sentro, a restaurant whose house special was Sinigang Corned Beef!!!!
No, I wasnt feeling that adventurous so I skipped the Sinigang Corned Beef. Sinigang is my all time favorite dish and I just would not patronize any attempt of its bastardation. I'm sure its pretty good, but I'm gonna pass. Probably next time. Anyway, Sentro was pretty cool, the noise level was ok, you can still have a decent conversation while having your meal, although the group next to us were talking, err screaming at the top of their lungs making sure everyone would hear what they were talking about. (No, lady you do look like your 40 years old thank you very much.)
After dinner, walked around some more then decided to cap the night away at my favorite hang out in Makati 10 years ago, Hard Rock Cafe.
WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED HERE?
What a shocker. No one told me no one hung around Hard Rock anymore except for old white dudes with their prostitute girlfriends! If I was not too tired of walking around and if the band Freestyle was not there, I would've ran out of there as fast as I could. Was it the wrong day to chill there or has Hard Rock really gone downhill?
FREESTYLE: HARD ROCK'S SAVING GRACE
After Freestyle's first set and after I have downed my third beer, I had to call it a night. I just could not stand looking at these girls with these pervs anymore. Besides it was around 3am already. Time to text Allan.Allan like clockwork, gets to Makati 20 minutes after my text. This dude just amazed me really. I ask him to take me to one last stop on my way home, the PAGCOR casino in Paranaque.
All I got to say about PAGCOR is it is old and dilapidated. A shame, beacuse all their slot machines are awesome! I mean who really wants to carry 3,000 pesos in PAGCOR coins around? have they ever heard of coinless playing? or cash tickets? The carpets smelled horrible. Probably the one in Paranaque are one of their older ones? Still if you do win, you forget all of that and all your concerned about is how to haul all your coins to the cage while maneuvering through the hangers on who wants balato!
After an hour and a few thousand pesos richer (which i did not mind after all the dough I threw at Greenbelt) Allan was back to take us home. It was 4am then and goddamn there was still traffic. Unfreakingbelievable. Hunger pangs sets in and asks driver to pull up at a Shakey's.
Ohhh how I miss Shakey's. Their Chick and Chips just brought back memories of lunch time in UST. Chick and Chips got me through my UST days, and it is still as good as ever. Did'nt care about the pizza, Chick and Chips was awesome! Best fastfood fried chicken in the world bar none. Popeye's is a close second though.
Got home at 5-6 something and was ready to call it a night. Or a day. Or whatever. Pretty productive day I must say. Makes me wonder how I managed to let 10 or so years pass and not be back.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment