i was up at 4.30 am, which was not a problem for me at all. i didn't sleep much when i traveled and i would catch up with it when i got home or on the last day of my trip.
i walked downstairs and found out that Siena, Cindy and her mom were already up and they were even ready! i took a quick shower and let Tang in after me. then we gathered at the table having breakfast and talking with Siena's mom. she is a very kind lady who speaks english every well. she used to work in Saudi Arabi for 5 years and even had a Thai friend.
we took couple of pictures with Siena's mom before leaving for the airport.
the ride took 20-30 mins to get to the airport.
the view on the roadside was so spectacular. again, Siena had some stories to tell us about her hometown while we were on the road. i love listening to her. she seems to have loads of things to tell. really, she knows well about her own country and the town she lives in.
Naga City airport is quite small and so is the airport. the good thing is that you don't need to worry that you will get lost like when you are in a gigantic airport. it sometimes confuses and scares me when walking into such a big airport looking for a counter to check in.. but here, in Naga City, we found the check-in counter right after we stepped inside the building.. and here the passengers have to weigh in too, due to the small sized-airplane.
having breakfast inside the airport
checking and loading our bags
saying goodbye to Naga City
not this plane
but this one that we are going to fly..
views from my seat
BB riding Cebu air for the first time
and now we are arriving Manila
what is she pointing at? Siena is telling us that after the whole trip, we had made it. gauging from our bigger hips, rounder cheeks, more bulging tummies, we'd enjoyed our trip loads!
right after getting out of the airport, we saw this view.
we took a medium-sized air-con bus from the airport to get into town and then looked for a way to the mrt station. there were too many people, beyond my imagination, queueing up to buy the tickets and there is only one ticket machine. but it seemed like people prefered lining up to buy tickets from the counter.
inside the moving tube, i couldn't think of a reason why there were so many people packing like sardines. it was already late in the morning and the people who went to work should be in the office already.. but why still so many people going in and out like they were rushing to their offices?
we got off the tube at the station in another side of the Manila, where hundreds of malls lining next to one another. but before moving anywhere, i had to dig out paracetamol for Tang to cure her terrible headache. then we looked for a place to have lunch and get Tang to rest..
here, in a mall not far from the tube station, we got into a restaurant (sorry i didn't take note its name) and ordered big lunch (like the first day we arrived here but the foods were totally different.) Tang felt a bit better but not absolutely healed.
while waiting for the foods, we used the crayons provided by the restaurant to draw pictures and wrote something on the paper spreading on the table.
BB enjoyed milk and pizza.
(when we were full, we started to play with food!)
after big meal, we ordered tea (or it was only me.. i can't remember.) and then chatted some more. we didn't need to hurry anywhere so we just chilled there talking about our previous days of our trip. while leaving Naga City this morning, i fished out my guide book and made some plans with siena and cindy for where we were going to visit in Manila but when we were right there, we wanted to forget all the plans and just chill..
and then our yummy sweet dessert came..
and we talked some more after the meal but Tang told me that we should move on to the hotel as she was not so okay and needed a rest very soon. so we left the restaurant and hailed a taxi downstairs to the hotel.
we got a suite room with 2 big bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. arriving the room, tang immediately vanished inside to sleep while i walked around checking the room and the outside views.
settling with everything, Siena and i sat head to head looking at our photos from the trip in her laptop, while Cindy and Tang were napping. an hour later, Siena retreated to her room, while i was still looking at the photos. Tang emerged from the room again in the afternoon feeling much better but still not completely remedied. then she went back inside the room again. at 5 pm, she pronounced herself completely fine! yay!!
the sun was setting but the town was still buzzing. we decided to leave the hotel and take a walk around.
as i told you, there were hundreds of malls to window-shop. we walked from mall to mall looking at things and people. we saw a few starbucks along the way. we picked one and told each other that we would come back and unwind there.
Tang wanted to try a new famous & pricey donut chain here. she educated me that this brand was just opened a chain in bkk. it was from england and way too expensive. she said we must try. i said 'okay'..
we paid with the coins we left first before using the banknotes.
okay, it was sweet, delicious, soft and overpriced. it would be much better with a hot tea. i should have ordered tea.. it would be heavenly yum!
then we walked from mall to mall again.
...twilight in manila...
and we walked inside a supermarket at a mall, just to look around and take photos.
getting lost taking so many photos, i was shooed loudly by a security guard. he yelled at me 'no photo, no photo!!'
see? i was not just window-shopped. i bought something too! but they were not for me but for Cindy and Siena.
seeing this colorful truck, Tang wanted to take photo with it. so she crossed the road and stood next to it and pulled the widest grin. right after i pressed the botton, the truck speeded off.
night life at some corners of manila
our dinner on the roadside. we could sit and listen to a live band there too.
our last stop before heading back to the hotel
while walking back, i still stopped to take photos of jeepneys. they looked dashingly colorful at night.
here, i made my 2 dreams come true.. to ride a jeepney and to swim with whalesharks.
and now it's time to rest our ichy feet before flying home tomorrow.
night views from our suite room
getting back to the room, we found out that Cindy and Siena were already in the room. we gave them the gifts we bought for them. they were surprised and liked what we gave them a lot. it made Tang and me happy. we couldn't not pay back for what you guys had done to us while we were travelling together. but at least, we liked to give something in return and we are waiting for you to come to see us and travel with us in Thailand. it's our turn to take care of you guys.
Siena also bought gifts for Phun and Py which highly impressed me. and thank you again for those gifts. Py likes them loads and couldn't make up her mind which one she wanted to take. (acutally, she wanted both!) as for Phun, he could take any bc he still didn't know how to choose yet. after gift exchanging, we sat talking for a while. until it passed midnight, we said goodnight and retreated to our rooms. .. good night Manila!
