About four months ago, I left Xiamen. It was a happy and a sad day at the same time. Happy coz I’m finally coming home to see my family, friends and enjoy life in Manila once again. Sad coz I’ll be leaving some friends behind and there is no certainty when we will meet again.
November 25, 2007. It was so surreal. Four of them were here waiting for three “late-as-usual” Pinays to fetch them from the airport. It’s obvious that they’re starving coz there’s nothing to eat in a budget flight. We went to Dencio’s @ Harbourview for our first meal together.
November 26, 2007. We went to Jollibee for brunch. (To my college friends, you may laugh your heart out.) Way back in college, I am known to be the girl who hates Jollibee. I remember Betty teasing me to take a picture with Jollibee to show that we have reconciled, but I fiercely refused. Food in Jollibee is still substandard for me, but I can’t refuse when I was asked to take them there. Anyway, it’s only me who has that opinion. Most people I know think Jollibee is ok.
Since Jollibee food is made only to satisfy the Filipino appetite, I need to get them something else to eat. I brought the gang to UP Diliman for bbq and lecheflan at Beachouse. I just turned my back for a minute then I saw one of them dipping the bbq into the lecheflan. Instructions on how to eat the food are important, I realized. They don’t know the food that’s served in front of them.
We had a jeepney joy ride after the food trip. UP Ikot now costs 7 bucks! It used to be 2.25Php when I was a college freshman.
At Trinoma, we had another dessert at Five Cows, as recommended by Mumty. We had a Ferrero Rocher ice cream and their famous flamin’ Alaska. When I tasted the flamin’ Alaska, I realized I’m not supposed to eat it coz it has some wine in it.
They discovered a Korean billiards place along Timog. They dropped by for a game, which is something I was thankful for. I lounged comfortably in a sofa and had a short nap, which is something essential for a sleepyhead like me. While I rested, they played this relatively unique game of billiards with no holes on the table. It’s something like hitting the balls of different colors in order, but I don’t exactly understand how the game is started and how it’s ended.
A few meters from the billiards place is Dampa sa Timog. It’s my first time to try it. Food is good and cheap!
That same night, we went to Manila Pavilion Casino Filipino. It’s my first time to enter such a gambling place. By nature, I’m not a risk taker. I did not spend a single penny except for a cup of coffee at Figaro inside the Casino. I remembered Shewei (my Indonesian friend) telling me and Ivy to shop to our hearts’ content but never play in a casino.
The boys played all night, focusing on the horse race betting game. Technology reached this far nowadays. Horserace is now in computer generated graphics, not like the “jologs” horse race in Sta. Ana. As I stood there waiting for them, I wondered if my mathematician friends will be able to compute the probability of each horse in winning the game. If I bring them there, will they be able to bet on the right horse and win big bucks? Just a thought….
It’s already sunrise when we went home. They all dropped down to bed except for Ivy and me. I set my cellphone alarm to the loudest volume and woke the boys up at about 730am for our beach trip. I told them the driver is already waiting downstairs. In three minutes, one of them is ready to go. In five minutes, all of them are ready! They told me the driver is already waiting downstairs and they all went down, while Tintin, in the shower, is clueless that they’re all ready. Wow! Amazing! Is that what military service training all about?
Maybe it’s only me and the driver who really felt the long travel. They were all asleep on our way. I woke up after an hour of deep sleep in the car then took the lead as the map reader.
Our lunch is quite interesting. The boys discovered the “siling labuyo”, a small but terrible chili. When Kimchi took a bite, he reacted, though he’s used to eating spicy food. Oopa was deceived into taking one. He bit the whole chili and just left the head behind. @#^*$%$^&* is all he can say. We can’t help but laugh out loud. While eating, we were fooling the resort staff in saying that our Korean friends are actors in Korea, particularly the cast of Jumong.
I slept again after lunch. Though they kept on knocking at my door and peeking outside my window, I’m dead asleep. There’s nothing they can do about a sleepyhead sleeping.
Finally I woke up and we took this picture.
The waves are already harsh but we still went on kayaking. One of them fell into the water and kept on swimming. In a while, he realized that the water is so shallow that he can just stand up and walk.
Here is our fabulous merienda… lomi and turon. We discovered Mickey’s fascination to kalamansi. He puts them in everything he eats, including turon. Turon + kalamansi is a newly discovered dish that Filipinos never tried. In our every meal, the resort serves Batangas coffee… the best brewed coffee I’ve tasted!
At night, there is nothing much to do since the weather turned from bad to worse. There’s no other choice but to hang out indoors.
The next morning, we went out to try the transparent kayak. It’s not as stable as the yellow kayaks. But it’s so cool! You can see what’s under the water. My cousin Ivy backed out for fear of the unstable kayak so I stood there waiting for another partner. Minmin suddenly showed up, though he had his last pair of dry pants gotten wet just to accompany me. I was moved that someone pitied a helpless girl wanting to try new things but can’t do it on her own.
The beach. It’s a beautiful place to be. We had our last look before leaving.
It was another long way coming home. Instead of resting upon arrival, three of the boys, for the second time, went to go to the casino. The following day, they went home at 11am.
While the boys are in the casino, me, Ivy, Tintin and Mickey had coffee at Serendra. While waiting for Ivy and Tintin in the parking lot, Mickey and I witnessed something extraordinary. An SUV was driving along the road outside the parking and went up the sidewalk and hit the planters and one of the cars parked in the parking. Oh well, no place is 100% guaranteed safe.
November 29, 2007. When I went down to start up the car, the maid informed me that one of the front wheels is flat. Good thing my cousin Ivy is familiar in the tools and processes on how to change a flat tire. We called up the car mechanic to ask where the tools are located. Another good thing is that Mickey’s there to change the flat tire for us! For the first time in my seven years of driving, I witnessed how a tire is changed.
We went to Greenhills for shopping. They’re all enjoying when we learned that we have to eat dinner as soon as possible coz restaurants are closing at 9pm. Due to the coup attempt at Manila Peninsula, a 12am curfew was imposed. We have to choice but to buy cards, food and drinks and stay at home the whole night.
November 30, 2007. We attempted to go back to Greenhills to continue shopping but we were not successful in doing so due to the traffic. It’s a holiday. We went to St. Francis and Megamall instead. At night, we had dinner with my family at Dad’s. After dinner, let’s not mention where we left the boys while three of us relaxed at Starbucks.
December 1, 2007. We had lunch at a Korean Restaurant somewhere in Malate. The food reminds me the good old days in Xiamen where the most decent food is Korean food. We went to MOA after. As usual, shopping time isn’t enough for a big mall like that.
For the last night together, we had dinner at Binondo. We’re still in the restaurant when we started singing in the karaoke. We went to ktv after. On our way there, I turned left to UN Ave from Roxas Blvd. In less than a hundred meters from the corner, there were policemen and civilians blocking the way. They said there’s a bomb or bomb threat or something like that. Oh well, that’s Manila. I remained calm and told my visitors it’s ok.
For our last meal together, we had breakfast at Banapple with Sally and Jen.
When I got home after sending them off to the airport, I fell asleep. When I woke up, it’s so cold and quiet. For many years, I go to that house to enjoy all the privacy I could ever wanted. For the first time, I felt sad for being alone in that house. I became so eager to leave to meet my college friends just to forget that my “kuyas” just left.
Thanks to Ros for attending the get-together. Without her, I’m one of the boys again.
As I reached home, I’m still sad that they’re not around anymore. I really had fun for a week. They told me they enjoyed their stay as well. Only the fun memories and this little guy in my car remain.
