Day 27, Summer in Asia, Manila, Philippines
At 5 am on the weekends you don’t get the tuks racing around the neighborhood taking kids to school and people to work, even the fighting cats are sleeping in. All you hear is the local charm: the man calls out to sell fresh bean bars, the sweeping of the streets with rough brooms, the roosters and dogs, the knife sharpener rings his bell. Rural sounds in the heart of 35 million people in the 15 cities included in Metro Manila. For me it’s the perfect mix.
The afternoon in the Mega Mall felt like a lifetime, with its ups and downs. Travel always throws a mix of the bad with the good. You get lots of practice bouncing back, redirecting expectations, and not letting stuff bother you,
Up: Our priority was to get Director’s Club movie tickets for Spiderman. Half the fam was excited to see it, the other half was going for the popcorn.
Down: There were only three tickets left, which meant only the girls could go. The woman said we could go to some corporate office 3 stories up to see if we could sit in the wheelchair accessible seating.
Up: When we all looked totally confused about the impending goose-chase trying to get clearance from who knows who, located who knows where, she made a quick call and got them released.
Up: I got a hair appointment at a place that had decent reviews, so we found our way through the mall maze to David’s Salon.
Down: They thought I was a dummy. No really, they did. I knew their price ranges from their website. But when I confirmed the prices with the woman before she started my hair, she went over for a very long huddle with the manager and 2 other people, and returned with prices 10 times what the website says. Lots of hushed discussion and work on the calculator, and we knew what was coming. You always expect some inflation of prices to foreigners, but they had multiplied it by 10, and had also added on a $70 conditioning treatment. They kept trying to shame me into treatments. Didn’t like the whole feel of it, so we left.
Up: We found our favorite ramen restaurant Ippudo. No downs there!
Up: We found a KFC so Madi could get some chicken and fries.
Down: No fries for her, only a sticky brick of rice.
Up: Went to this mall to go skating but were afraid they wouldn’t have shoes big enough to fit Paul’s feet. But they did!
Down: They were all out of every other size so we couldn’t go.
Up: We decided to go bowling.
Down: The waiting list was an hour and a half and we couldn’t fit it in before our movie.
Up: We found an archery place and Madi was excited!
Down: The wait was even longer, over two hours.
Up: We found laser tag, so we decided to do that.
Down: They only accepted cash and we had just spent all of our pesos.
Up: We found a cool dessert place that had the best chocolate cake Madi has ever had! Then we walked across the mall to get to our movie in fancy lazy boy chairs.
Down: Movie wasn’t at the cinema location, it was back, literally next door to where we had just had dessert.
Up: Great theater, free popcorn in fancy glass bowls.
Down: No popcorn refills? Awww.
Up: Got a Grab quickly, and it was a fast ride home.