Day 22: Catching up with Relatives

They finally found Sec. Robredo's body in the plane crash. It really is a great loss to the nation. Such a great public servant. I am really impressed with the way the Filipino responded to this news. There was a sense of loss. This proves that despite what the traditional politicians (trapos) think, Filipinos are intelligent enough to discern a great man when they see one.

What I find very repulsive are those politicians who try to gain points by using the man's name. Although I believe he was a good man worthy of all the praises he is receiving, I wonder how many of these are really sincere praises. All of a sudden, a lot of these politicians want to be associated with him. What a sorry lot these politicians. These politicians know it is political suicide not to be associated with him.

Another thing I find interesting is the faith of the people. Prayers - and lots of it - were offered for the safety of the secretary and the two pilots. The Filipinos know who to turn to in times of suffering and distress.

In any case, I went to see my auntie, my mother's sister. She lost her husband recently and I also got to see my cousins. Man, we ARE growing old! We had lunch at Robinson's in Pedro Gil. The food was great and quite filling.

In the afternoon, I had merienda with my niece and brother and daughter. We chatted about nothing - just to keep up with where we are.

At night, my wife, sister-in-law, my wife's niece and I went for some massage at Nuat Thai. It was a relaxing end to a tiring day.

Day 1: Rest of the Day

Immediately after haircut

After breakfast, I had a haircut. There were 2 options - haircut in an airconditioned room or not. If it was in the air-conditioned room, the cut was P50. Cut in no air-conditioned room was P30. I choose the to have mine in a non-air-conditioned room.

I noticed my shoes had a rip on the side so I had to buy a new pair. Providentially, my sister called and asked if we wanted to go to the local version of Costco. My wife and son came with us. My mother went also with us. The traffic was horrendous!!! Really, 1.5 hours from La Loma to MOA!

We passed by Quiapo and saw the Church of the Black Nazarene. The Black Nazarene has millions of devotees who come to celebrate the feast in January. Manny Pacquiao,  former 8-title Boxing champion comes here after every fight to offer a mass.

Jollibee Champ

We went to have lunch at Jollibee!!! As in all Jollibees, the place was packed. I had the Champ (equivalent to Big Mac), my wife and son also had the Champ. My mother had chicken and mushroom pasta. My sister had chicken sandwich and the driver had lumpia shamghai lunch. All in all for 7 persons, we spent less than P800 (equivalent of less than CA$20)!!!

The servings were a disappointment except for the Champ - well, maybe for North American consumers it is a disappointment. Except for the Champ which is bigger than the Big Mac and tastes a lot better! (That's the hamburger with a double Yum!)

Panoramic view of Manila Bay

Then we went the Mall of Asia (MOA). It is HUGE! According to Forbes, it is one of the top 10 largest malls in the world. We got lost in it but managed to find our way. It has an arena in it and there's lots of stalls. Lots of food outlets, from Japanese, to Chinese, to regional Filipino restaurants. It even has an ice-skating rink. I was wondering if the Philippines would be able to get a hockey team to play in the Olympics - that would be 'cool'.

We went to look for my shoes but could not find one. So we had to walk around and wait for my sister. We went to the edge of the mall which overlooks the Manila Bay. Although this is in a reclaimed area, the Manila Bay was the scene of historic battles between the Spaniards and Filipinos with the Americans watching at the sidelines - waiting for the Filipinos to fight the Spaniards and then come in and swoop the victory off from the Filipinos. Filipino General Aguinaldo was really fooled that time. (2012-09-07 correction - the Manila Bay was where the Americans fought the Spaniards. The Americans however did sit it out and watched the Filipinos fight the Spaniards just to come in an swoop victory off the Filipinos).

Anyway, the place has the largest Ferris Wheel in the country. Did I mention it is also the largest Mall in the country?

We came home and it was raining very hard. We passed through Sta Cruz and the potholes are these still. It is the worst road in the country - probably. Large potholes every where. Add to that, jeepneys stopping any where to drop off and pick up passengers, you get a whole traffic jam. We went home and rested.

Passemgers getting off the jeepneeys

SM North EDSA

But I needed a new pair of shoes so my wife and I went to SM North EDSA, another one of the top 10 malls in the world. I was able to get a new pair of shoes.

One of the interesting things I saw was in their parkade. All the parking slots have a red and green light above it. Guess what these lights are for?

SM North EDSA Parkade

We came home and had dinner and I started to feel sleepy by 8pm. Took a bath and went to bed.