okay, this entry will meet the same fate as the brunei entry a.k.a short and hazy since it was written a year later! hehe, so sorry for the delay.. this time the destination in manila and the travelers remained the same, miss a and i..
1 april 2016 (friday)
since our flight was an early flight, we arrived at the airport early and had breakfast at the mcdonald there. on the flight, we were lucky enough to be seated with an airasia flight attendant that was on leave named AJ. he turned out to be a filipino and very friendly. he gave a lot of tips on vacationing in philippines. once arrived at the airport, we parted ways. miss a and i went outside and looked for the most convenient transport to our hotel. our first option was the taxi but the far are too expensive. so, we took a bus. the traffic in manila was crazy, way crazier than kuala lumpur. it took us one hour eventhough the distance from the airport to our hotel is only around 7km.
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| our usual view in flight, wings!! :) that guy is AJ by the way.. |
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| hotel room, crazy traffic and philippines' signature vehicle, jeepney! |
our hotel was small and cozy. the staffs were friendly and helpful. at the hotel, we freshened up and rest for a while. we then proceed to our next destination,
star city! to get there, we asked our hotel receptionist to call for a taxi since the fare was fixed. we didn't ate lunch since we already ate during flight. we already bought the star city tickets online and it costs PHP450 (around RM38). star city is an amusement park and i think it is worth the money! don't expect something like sunway lagoon. it is more similar to berjaya times square theme park. we rode almost all the rides there. we were planning on riding the ferris wheel during sunset.
so, to kill some time, we played mini golf. we managed to ride the ferris wheel as planned and the view was breathtaking. we could see the whole city bathed in the sunset. we then said farewell to star city and went dinner hunting. we took a taxi to SM Mall. the thing i found interesting here in manila is that, the guards will check your bag before you entered the shopping mall. we ate at a halal restaurant that served indo-malay. honestly, the food was expensive and bland. but, searching for a halal restaurant in manila is a little hard. done with dinner, we continued our hunt for the next day breakfast. we bought breads and canned drinks at the hypermarket. again we went back to the hotel by taxi. we slept early for we had to start very very early the next day, 5am!!!
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| star city, yay!!! |
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| mini golf and sunset view on ferris wheel |
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| dinner at SM Mall |
2 april 2016 (saturday)
on this second day, we booked a tour from
yolo travel philippines. actually we knew about this tour agency through tripadvisor. it has a very good review and we were also hugely satisfied by their service. their guides (RJ, gerald & ryan) are friendly and very knowledgeable. they knew all the information on the place we visited. we requested for a combo tour (taal volcano - intramuros) and the itinerary is as shown below. the price was PHP11,550 (around RM980) for two persons. it may seem expensive, but believe me, you won't be disappointed! furthermore, the price was expensive because there are only the two of us. the more people in a group, the cheaper the price (but, most of you knew this already, right?! hehe..)
as per the itinerary, RJ and gerald picked us up around 5am. we stopped at a petrol pump once to refill and also to buy breakfast. we also visited the morning market (a little bit like
pasar tani in malaysia) for a while before continuing our journey to the boat terminal. the boat terminal was only about 10 minutes ride from the morning market. at the terminal, we were joined by another group guided by ryan. so, there were five of us (all women; 2 american and one taiwanese) climbing the volcano. to get to the volcano, you have to ride a boat. it is a short trip, maybe 10 - 15 minutes.
you could ride a horse (more to a pony actually) up the hill for PHP500. we chose to be adventurous and climbed with our own strengths with we regret a little bit halfway through, haha.. the climb was hard because of the volcanic ashes. the ashes provided friction just like when you walk in a desert. once at top, all our tiredness seemed to fade away because of the amazing views! we drank coconut water (there are stalls that sell them) while enjoying the view. we also went to red lava view point (extra PHP50). after almost 40 minutes up there, we began our descend. as usual, descending is much more easier than climbing up.
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| morning market and boat ride |
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| taal volcano |
we then had lunch (lunch is included on the tour so we requested halal food), which was delicious compared to our dinner last night. after lunch we visited fruit stalls (since malaysia and philippnes has the same weather, the fruits are the same as back home). we even taught our guides that the spot at the bottom of mangosteen indicates the slices it had inside! our next activity was feeding hungry fish. the activity is actually called
feeding frenzy. and sure enough the fish are crazy for the food. we then went back to the heart of the city, manila to start our intramuros tour.
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| lunch, fruit stalls, feeding fish |
we went first to paco park. paco park is a recreational garden and was once manila's municipal cemetery built by the dominicans during the spanish colonial period. there was a wedding taking place while we were there. next is baluarte de san diego. it is a bastion in intramuros, part of the Ssanish colonial fortification in the walled city of manila in the philippines. each place got its own historical view which the guides explained in details to us. we continued to visit other famous landmarks such as rizal park, san agustin church (another wedding!!!) and casa manila. before sending us back to our hotel, we requested to stop by hard rock cafe so that i could add another bear to my collection, hehe! the hard rock cafe in located in makati. we thanked RJ and gerald for their excellence service and called it a night. i couldn't even remember what we had for dinner, haha..
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| paco park |
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| Baluarte de San Diego |
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| rizal park and other famous attractions |
3 april 2016 (sunday)
on our last day in manila, we bought souvenirs at greenhill shopping centre. we went there by train (there's a train station 200m from our hotel). one thing that really caught my attention here was the separation from women and men passengers. it was determined even before entering the coach, it was separated at the entrance. so, women will be waiting with women and men with men. since, we started our day early that morning, we had to wait for the shopping mall to be open. the souvenirs' prices are reasonable and don't forget to bargain.
from the shopping mall, we took a taxi to our next and last destination (not considering the hotel and airport) in manila,
manila ocean park. again, we already bought the tickets online. the ticket's price is according to package. if i'm not mistaken, we bought the package with antarctica trail that cost PHP600 (around RM50). we took a lot of pictures as always and i also lost my sunglasses here.. it felt under a stair. it was unreachable, huhu.. but luckily, now i already owned a new one, birthday gift from my sister! we bid our farewell to the park for we need to pack our luggage, check-out and catch our flight home. we rode a taxi back to the hotel, did our packing and took a taxi to the airport.
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| shop til' you drop!!! |
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| manila ocean park |
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| auf widersehen, manila... |
ps: i know that the entry is written in haste.. i left a lot of information out.. but i did insert links here and there that i knew would help you to get the missing information.. i do hope that this entry might help you even just a little, hehe.. my next destination entry would be laos. hopefully this entry will be written soon or i would again write a lousy one like this..
