Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Coast to coast

A typhoon hit Manila in the late evening that caused a midweek holiday due to widespread blackout that we maximized to the hilt.

We hit the metro coast to coast checking out the huge waves at the Manila Bay walking beside the seawall and enjoyed the sea water drenching our clothes. The strong wind blowing from the open seas cleared out our lungs and gave us that refreshing beach-y feeling in the middle of Metro Manila. There were amateur photographers waiting for Andres and Ponso’s reactions to the waves for that perfect shot making me smile. We ate junk food while in the area.

From the seawalls, we went to Silahis Arts Gallery in Intramuros. It is a curio shop of sort with books and paintings and sculptures and shit. It is one of our favorite stores in Intramuros because it is like a museum. There are huge Maranao drums, reprints of old Manila pictures, a painting of HR Ocampo worth P250,000, and collector item books for 35 pesos per piece. Outside the shop is the Ilustrado Restaurant with its wide garden where Andres, Ponso, and Paco ran and explored its nooks and crannies.

We then went to Robinsons’ Otis for our grocery while the boys rode arcade rides then a late lunch at a Chinese restaurant before heading home. There was still no electric power when we arrived so we again hopped in the car and headed to UP for another outdoor trip. Andres and Ponso ran around the UP Oval with their Tita Hana while Thelma and I with the sleeping Paco searched for a BBQ stall published in the newspaper as a must taste in UP. Yes, we found it with a long line of people from all walks of life trying that must taste meat and innards on a stick.


We bought two of each kind and it did not meet our expectation. I guess it’s just a UP thing. I’ve heard of people romanticizing even the fish and squid balls inside the UP Campus proclaiming to high heavens that it is the best shit in the world, or maybe, it’s just a UP thing.

Then we checked out Ayala Technohub along Commonwealth Avenue. It looked Techno alright with big techno looking light balls encircling the techno fountain and with lights, different colored lights exploding. Even the typical Kebab tasted techno. We enjoyed it just the same as every new experience should always be appreciated.

After that Technohub experience, we went home in techno-less fashion with darkness still enveloping our neighborhood. Andres said that the stars are clearer without the electric lamp posts.

Friday, July 2, 2010

June 30, 2010

June 30, 2010. Inauguration Day of Benigno Simeon C. Aquino III as the 15th President of the Republic of the Philippines. It was a good holiday with all of us going to the wet market to buy good sirloin beef for a beefsteak lunch then to Jollibee for some junk food bingeing in the morning. A couple of hot chocolate splatter, running around the restaurant, some normal stuff for Paco, Andres, and Ponso to dirty up themselves. We even planned to ride the train to Divisoria but the 9:51 am trip was cancelled as it was a holiday. So we just proceeded to a community supermarket to hang out and check out books and the arcade and the grocery and shit.

We were home just in time to watch Kris Aquino’s brother take his oath and it was 11:35 when Ponso decided to take a dump that took him some 10 minutes before calling out for a wash out. It was 11:50 and I was wiping Ponso’s sorry ass as Noynoy Aquino raised his right hand pledging his commitment to serve the Filipino people. The oath was finished in a flash as Ponso’s poop flushed down the toilet.

Was it merely a coincidence or a portent of things to come?