2012 Kick-Off Vacay in Manila

2-4th  March 2012

Ok, it has been more than 1 month, and only now I am posting the entry about my holiday trip to Manila city. A brief description about Manila, the country has zero time difference with Malaysia. Philipines is a tropical country, thus the day is extraordinarily hotter and brighter than Malaysia. 

It was mid-day when we arrived at the Tivoli Residence. After we got ourselves refreshed, we decided to spend the day by strolling around Mall of Asia, the country's largest shopping mall. Oh well, to get there, we were forced to hail the taxis on the road in the sunny and hot day. Even though the taxis and minivan were seen back and forth, it wasn`t easy for us to stop even one! We finally gave up hailing and requested the security guards of Tivoli Residence to get it for us.

On the other hand, jeepney is a commonly used transportation by the locals, unfortunately we missed the chance to hop on it, due to the time constraint. Pretty bad~

The status of third largest shopping mall in Asia made us optimistic that finding the halal food was easy peasy, but then we were wrong! When all of us were almost starving, the hunting for food all around the mall was a complete nightmare!  Of all many many food restaurants available, we only found one kebab stall for our first meal for the day. Ok,for my eating capasity, and kebab for the meal of the day, I swore I would be hungry again after a few walks from the stall. Huhu.

I have made some researches earlier about Manila,  and the famous attraction besides the mall is Marina Bay.Ok actually there is nothing interesting about Marina Bay per se, but the attraction is best viewed at the bay, which is sunset scenery.

we missed the best scenery at this moment

And after having outdoor stroll, we came back in the mall to do the shopping at Kultura.

Another shopping for groceries before hunting for our dinner meals.

We finally spotted the one and only halal indonesian restaurant in the mall, and there we ate like nobody's business. And just a note, we travelled all the way from our drop-point to the mall everyday in Manila for the sake of having the heavy meal. hoho!

 On the next day, we were brought to a full-day tour by the local guide such as Rizal Park, Intramuros, National Museum, and many more.

Luneta Park

Interesting part about this park is that they imortalized the history of how Jose Rizal was killed by formation of this (can I call it ) monuments.The formation portrays that Jose Rizal was shot by an array of local soldiers, and the local soldiers' life were at stake, as there were another lines of Spanish soldiers who were ready to shoot them if they refused to shoot Jose Rizal. Very meaningful depiction indeed.(Monument tragedi but we pose riang ria plak)

Intramuros

After having the tour, we were also brougth to the souvenir shops.Again, I purchased a few more items even though I planned not to do so after damaging my pocket the other night at Kultura. Well, women~ simply  cannot walk away from shop without bringing anything in hand, especially when it is on a holiday trip.Dont you think so?:p

I was done shopping and suddenly found myself PANCIT :P

SanAgustin church

The next attractions has switched us to an environmentalist , that is Manila Ocean Park where we could see variations of aqualife in one spot.

formation of shark baby-interesting exhibit

It is more or less like our Aquaria, if it is not exactly the same.

And as the day is almost dark, we boarded to the river cruise for sunset cruise. All passengers were entitled for a set of meal, but seeing that the pork was served, we didn`t dare to take the chance of eating anything cooked onboard even though the servants insisted us to take the meals. Thus, to save the uneasiness felt by the staff, we tried to appear jovial throughout the cruise by ordering some drinks and have some laugh over silly talks(and gossiping about matsalih nearby) during the cruise while waiting for the sunset. Hihi.

And after we disembarked, they still insisted us to have the meal by giving us the packed meal. Well,I guess it was  a great day for our local guide, wasnt' it? All five packed delicious dinners were given to him. hehe


It was time that we called it a day, this is the best picture that we snapped before we hopped on to the van. Yippii!~