We went to our hostel for breakfast but discovered that "breakfast" consisted of a small closet with rolls and water. We opted out and decided to find our own morning nourishment. We decided on Hotel Braska because they had a buffet in addition to a la carte ordering- now that was breakfast! We went for the buffet and filled our plates with fruits, rolls and jam and even each took a bowl of macaroni soup (which was VERY tasty!) Then, the waiter came to our table with a menu, asking us if we would like the American, Japanese or Filipino breakfast. Oh no thanks we said. We ordered the buffet. Our waiter explained that these breakfasts come with the buffet. WHAT?! so much food! now this was really breakfast! So Mark and I ordered one American breakfast and one Filipino breakfast (that way we could be adventurous and safe-- best of both worlds!) There were pancakes, eggs and bacon along with Tocino, which is glazed pork belly atop rice with vinegar and eggs. I really enjoyed the pork belly (minus the vinegar). After gorging ourselves on way too much food- oops! we sat on the outdoor terrace and sipped tea while reading our Philippines edition of lonely planet. We headed back to our room to get ready for the day and then went out to explore the neighborhood around us. But first, check out these views from our hotel balcony!
Our initial route was blocked by a closed bridge so we took a self created detour and ended up wandering up and down the slum blocks. It's truly humbling to see people living in different classes of society and it makes me incredibly grateful for the privileges I've been afforded during my life. After, we headed to the bay and wandered along Roxas Blvd, which was the street that ran parallel to the ocean. The water was really, really polluted which was disappointing because it tainted the potential beauty of the city along the bay. While walking, we kept getting stopped by horse and carriage drivers asking if we wanted a ride. No thanks, bruh. We continued to wander and ended up in Rizal Park, one of the main sights to see in Manila. There were TONS of people and they were all sitting on these aluminum blankets so that their bottoms weren't in direct contact with the ground. Not us. We sat right down on that ground and damn were people looking at us funny. Aluminum Blanket Sellers kept approaching us because surely we wanted one of those things. Imagine their surprise and confusion when our answer was no. While sitting directly on the ground, Mark had his first bengbeng-- a candy bar I came to know in Asia-- to hold him over before lunch. He liked it just fine.
We decided to wander Intramuros Square to find a lunch spot. The area is beautiful. There are tons of old buildings that have been restored and preserved from the 1700s. We chose to eat at Ilustrado, a high end restaurant hidden behind a quaint garden area.
We tried ox tongue- it was delicious and very tender.
After cooling off in the air conditioning our next activity was to explore Intramuros, a huge fort built by the Spanish in the 16th century. Much of it is rubble thanks to US bombing, but it's still amazing to wander around. I mean, it would have been, had I not gotten horribly, horribly sunburnt the day before which caused me being in direct sunlight to be almost unbearable. Our Intramuros exploration turned into Jaclyn running from shady spot to shady spot while Mark leisurely walked and took in the sights, full sunlight beating down. One of our indoor stops, which I quite enjoyed, was heading into a cathedral. There was a group singing and inside there was an opportunity to light a prayer candle so we did.
Once back outside, Mark came across a massive artillery battery, something he was really impressed by and glad we stumbled upon. I needed some shade so we headed back to explore more of Rizal Park's 150 acres. We chose to sit in a Japanese Garden and while there had a lovely interaction with a local girl, Malen. She approached us and asked if she could talk to us about her fundraising campaign aimed at helping local youth conquer their vices and become more pure individuals. She told us a lot about her time in college, because that was her time especially tied to this organization. The conversation turned and we ended up talking about her culture and heritage, in addition to her family and where she's lived and traveled within the Philippines. She shared with me something about the Filipino school system that I found very interesting. She told us that Filipino children learn Tagalog and English side by side at school starting when they are very young and continue all of the way up. This made so much sense to me because nearly everyone we'd encountered, from vendors on the street to taxi drivers had spoken with us in English. I was amazed and impressed! I really enjoyed speaking with Malen and hearing her story and I think she enjoyed talking with us as well because after she gave us a handmade beaded filipino flag keychain from her organization as a memento. After sitting for awhile we decided to stretch our legs and wander in the park. We had some children come up to us begging (something incredibly common on the streets of Manila) and we were ready. I was able to give them the beaded flag keychain to play with and they were so happy. We continued on walking to the site of Jose Rizal's execution. Rizal was a Filipino academic who advocated for the his people to rebel against the Spanish rule. Because of this, he was executed by the Spanish. Not far from his execution site is a huge monument dedicated to him that is guarded full time by two uniformed guards.
Among the other things we saw in the park were an art gallery, families having picnics, and vendors selling balloons and other toys. As lovely as the park was, we couldn't stay there all night so Mark suggested going to a rooftop bar called Skydeck at the Bayleaf Hotel to watch the sunset. It was a beautiful 360 view. We had a drink and enjoyed the breeze as the sun went down.
At this point my sunburnt arms had endured all they could so we went back to the hotel in search of some after sun. While I doused my arms Mark went to 7/11 to get dinner. Little did he know that I don't drink gatorade, nor do I eat pre-made 7/11 sammys, especially the spiced ham and cheese or chicken salad ones. Thank god he got me a bueno bar. One out of three ain't so bad :)
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