人生の詩: Trip to the Philippines

Took some time off to go on a short trip to the Philippines with my mum.
The main reason I went was because I've never been there before..So yeah, we should experience and explore the world while we still can.

I was all excited to go around and explore the country on my own when I received advice from both friends and bosses at work that it's a very dangerous place to be wandering alone. -_-
So I got kinda scared at first.

Here's a brief recount of the trip.

4th Aug (Mon)
Reached the Philippines at around 5 pm
When we finally cleared the customs (which had an incredibly long queue), we found the company driver and he told us that the typhoon had just arrived. - _ - This means a lot of rain...not good news for me..

Since it was raining continuously, my mum and I went to a Korean restaurant near by our hotel. The hotel on the first day was a different one from those my mum stayed before..and it was smack in the middle of the red light district.. seemed very dangerous so we didn't dare to wander far. Looking at all the dishes, it's hard to imagine it only costs P700 which is about S$20 in total.

Below: My mum and I at the lobby of the dodgy hotel. My hair looks like I cut it really short..but the actual length is below.

Below: Me at the better hotel (My mum requested to change the hotel because the environment was really dodgy)

Oh! I watched Iron Man and a bit of Made of Honour on the flight there. : ) Iron Man's quite okay but I guess it's more fun watching it in the theatre.

Anyway, my mum had to work the next day so I dropped off at a shopping mall. (Correction: Shopping malls.) The malls in the Philippines are all interlinked and very big. One mall is the size of Vivocity and can u imagine Vivocity connected to 3 other Vivocities?
I walked until I nearly died.

The first thing you notice in the Philippines malls are the security checkpoints at every entrance. When I say every entrance, I mean EVERY entrance. There are male and female rows for checking. The police officer will check ur bag and you have to pass through a metal detector.. It's quite troublesome but we have to compromise for our safety. The same with hotels. If you drive to the lobby, they will take this huge mirror and walk around the car to check for bombs. They also have dogs to sniff out potential dangers. And did I mention that all the security officers carry loaded weapons?! From the small hand guns to the huge rifles or AK 47. or something... the bullets were huge!

My first meal I bought when I was wandering about on my own was Jollibee (it's the name of a fast food restaurant in the Philippines). AND it's really cheap. One hotdog meal cost P66 which is about S$2? For a meal, with fries and drink!!

My 1st Starbucks! OMG it's v cheap there! A tall Coffee Jelly Frappucino costs P140 which is about S$4.70 and this is the most expensive one already. And they have white mocha frappucino. Sounds nice!

I also noticed that the journalism in the Philippines is very casual. I remember very strongly the 1st article I read in the papers began like this:
"Straight men would find that Ms XXX is the most beautiful etc etc." And the 'S' of 'Straight' was those fancy fonts.
"There can't be no denying that ... "

Definitely culture shock.

Anyways, the songs in the Philippines are still at Destiny's Child's 'Say My Name' and Beyonce's 'Irreplaceable'. I think I'm kinda addicted to these songs now..Kinda catchy.. haha! If you do have them, pls send me. Thanks.

McDonald's over there is also cheap. A meal costs P88 which is approx S$3 (even less than S$3).

With some twist of fate, my mum and I ended up following her colleague's wife to Bohol Island, off Cebu for a getaway weekend. The trip comprised of me, my mum, her colleague's wife and her colleague's wife's friend from Shanghai who had come to visit and of course, the little son (1.5 years)

He's really cute but he doesn't talk much.

The two main attractions of Bohol are the Chocolate Hills and Tapiers. Tapiers are the world's smallest monkeys but they have the biggest eyes. My mum insists that Master Yoda from Star Wars was derived from Tapiers. You be the judge.

They are nocturnal so they were all lazing around when we went. but they are very agile..haha..

The famous Chocolate Hills. 100% natural. So it's amazing..all in the size of little triangles. Or should I say upside down cones.

I took the following picture from my mum's office building. Can see the entire city of Makati which is Philippines' Business district. Can also see a lot of air pollution.. tsktsk..