After a year, Luna has finally come back! This time she decided to visit Manila instead of going back to Cebu. Once again, I became "Philippines Most Wanted Tourist Guide".
It was such a challenge to make a day trip as fun as possible. There are limited places you could see in Manila. Malls everywhere and that's it. I believe that malls should not be a tourist destination. Travelers surely have malls back home. Anyways, there's the ever famous Intramuros, where I told her to follow Rizal's footprints and take pictures of the calesa. Speaking of calesa, I had Luna try riding the calesa and go around Intramuros. I failed to bring her to Luneta since it was getting unbearably hot and we were both hungry so we went straight to Harbour Square where we had a sumptuous Filipino traditional lunch (Harbour Square is right across the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) and is less than ten minutes away from Intramuros). I wanted Luna to try authentic Filipino dishes so I brought her to Dencio's Grill. She liked the food, especially the sago't gulaman. After lunch, we met Carmelle at the Mall of Asia. Luna has seen SM Cebu and was overwhelmed when she finally saw how huge this mall along Diosdado Macapagal highway was. I introduced Carmelle to Luna a few months ago when Luna and I started tweeting each other. It was, indeed, a good idea to bring Carmelle along since she loves K-Pop so much that she sounds Korean already. They endlessly talked about Korean male singers, actors, and many more over coffee and crepes at Cafe Breton. That meant more quiet hours for me. Heavy rain poured while we were having dessert so we opted to stay a little bit longer and take more photos.
It has become a tradition for me to bring guests to Bonifacio High Street. I love the place and I'm more than sure that my guests would feel the same way. As expected, Luna loved it. Brought her to my favorite bookstore, where we played "Kokology".
Kokology is the study of kokoro (Japanese: 心) which in aforementioned language means "mind" or "spirit". The series of Kokology books were created by Tadahiko Nagao and Isamu Saito,[1] a professor at Rissho and Waseda Universities in Japan and an author of a number of bestselling books regarding psychology and relationships.
The main focus is the analysis of the deep psyche. Using theories from Freud and Jung. Kokology Questions typically are "guided" Day Dreams or Submodalities
The books present a series of psychological and hypotheticals[2] that are designed to reveal one's hidden attitudes about sex, family, love, work, and other elements of one's life. It is essentially a game of self-discovery that can provide interesting, and often hilarious insight by answering questions to seemingly innocent topics.(www.wikipedia.org)
It was such an interesting game that our conversations went deeper and we all got the chance to know each other a little bit better (Might as well try this game with my other friends soon). Fresh from the very personal game we played, we struggled thinking where to have dinner. Eventually, we chose Chelsea Market and Cafe to have salad, pasta and the weird-looking pea soup. Over dinner, Luna kept on complaining about a terrible headache so we decided to head back to her hotel so she could take her meds. After an hour or two, we decided to bring her to Greenbelt. Dropped by Bizu to buy some French macarons and had beer at Nuvo, stayed there until the wee hours of the morning, talked about K-POP, and other girl stuff.
The next day, Carmelle and I picked Luna up at the hotel and had breakfast at UCC Park Cafe 6750. We endlessly took photos and talked about cosmetics, importance of wearing make-up, and photographyyyyyyyyy. Luna finally got the chance to explore the features of her newly bought camera and I was able to check out what mirrorless cameras can offer. Personally, if you are a digital SLR owner, buying a mirrorless camera would be like a downgrade, unless you buy one just for fun. The camera does everything for the photographer. It sets the aperture and shutter speed automatically, has a great picture resolution, and serves as a camcorder. Great for beginners who are into film making. Everything is effortless though that's why for serious photographers, this is a total bore. For Lumix (specify the model), the lens can't be zoomed in and out manually. No manual focus even. Nonetheless, it's worth the money.
The next day, Carmelle and I picked Luna up at the hotel and had breakfast at UCC Park Cafe 6750. We endlessly took photos and talked about cosmetics, importance of wearing make-up, and photographyyyyyyyyy. Luna finally got the chance to explore the features of her newly bought camera and I was able to check out what mirrorless cameras can offer. Personally, if you are a digital SLR owner, buying a mirrorless camera would be like a downgrade, unless you buy one just for fun. The camera does everything for the photographer. It sets the aperture and shutter speed automatically, has a great picture resolution, and serves as a camcorder. Great for beginners who are into film making. Everything is effortless though that's why for serious photographers, this is a total bore. For Lumix (specify the model), the lens can't be zoomed in and out manually. No manual focus even. Nonetheless, it's worth the money.
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Intramuros
- Entrance Fee (Fort Santiago) - P75 for Adults
- Calesa Ride (A tour around Intramuros) - w/o guide P250, with guide P300
- Located right across CCP and is less than ten minutes away from Intramuros. Taxi fare: P65
- Lunch good for 3-4 people at Dencio's Grill ranges from P1000 to P2000.
- Try their "Lost Paradise" crepe, which has rum in it and a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top.
I had Cafe Legoise or Lejoise. Darn it! I forgot how to spell it. Anyways, it's such a sweet treat for coffee lovers.
*Luna wanted to bring some dried mangoes back to Korea.
- Dried Mangoes - 3pcs. for P100 (small), 3pcs. for P200 (big)
- Played "Kokology" at Fully Booked. Bought the book for a discounted price due to the damaged cover, which I believe was not that damaged at all.
- Ate dinner at Chelsea Market and Cafe. Dinner good for 3 ranges from P1,900 up.
- Bought some French macarons at Bizu.
- Had beer at Nuvo until 1:30 in the morning.
Sunday, October 17, 2010
UCC Park Cafe 6750
Carmelle and Luna had brunch while discussing "Make-up 101."
