Me and Manila

Oh how I love going back home. Although I do find a lot of glitches in Manila, the traffic, dirty pavements, undisciplined pedestrians, rowdy drivers, unemployment, corrupt government officials and heaven knows what else, I don’t think I can imagine myself not coming back home. As one blogger puts it, a lot of Manilenos have a love-hate relationship with the metropolis, I definitely think that I am one of them. However, living in a city thousands of miles away with oceans in between, I have become more focused on the splendor of the city, its scenic and historic spots, the warm and hospitable people and the scrumptious food that rivals any cuisine in the world, never mind the loopholes.

After months of waiting, booking and planning, my honey and I finally arrived at the Centennial Airport boarding a Philippine Airline-Flight from Bangkok where we had an hour stop over after a grueling eleven-hour flight from Amsterdam. I already felt at home the moment we stepped out of the plane and I felt a surge of humid warm air brush up on my face and I heard the pouring rain clashing to the roof. It was a pleasant surprise that it’s much easier to pass through immigrations and collect our luggage in the Centennial Airport as opposed to going thorough the long insufferable waiting line at the NAIA immigrations counter, like we normally do. Hmm, I think we made a better choice of flight this time around. Another pleasant surprise was how easy it was to find our families waiting just outside to welcome us and the how easily the car picked up our stuff just in front of the main entrance, pretty sweet this Centennial Airport, maybe because there are less international flights in this port, whatever it was, after fifteen hours of travel, my worn-out, exhausted body appreciated the ease of passage.

With only two and a half weeks, we were bent on making every second count that is why from the airport we went straight to Seaside Market in Macapagal road to meet the rest of the family to have a dinner/get together. Honey and Ate Ven went straight to the market to grab us seafood which the resto later on served as adobong pusit, steamed lapu-lapu, ebi tempura and sautéed shrimp with garlic, we also ordered grilled pork. It was a delightful meal and quite inexpensive, if I may add, and the food was fabulous. Tired or not, honey and I enjoyed every minute of the dinner. This is one of the things that I miss about Manila, restaurants offering unbelievably good food which are very reasonably priced and where the service is excellent are always just around the corner.



This was one hectic vacation with my lasik eye surgery, my mom’s constant trips to the hospital for her check ups/laboratories (which she wouldn’t go to if I wasn’t there to push her), dinners and get-togethers with families and friends, catching as many movies as we can, a wedding of a good friend, a Palawan exploration and of course shopping for all kinds of knick-knacks from the Philippines.

With a very limited time, it was bound to miss meeting up with a couple of well loved friends and families. To all those who are very dear to Junfer and myself whom we were not able to visit/see on this trip, please accept our apologies and we do hope and pray that we’ll be able to do so the next time we’re in Manila, or better yet why not come and visit us here.