Dream as if you will live forever: Beautiful Manila & Boracay

Hello! Back and sort of recovered from jet lag from the Philippines trip.

I went away for two weeks with the boyfriend. The plane ride was super long; thank goodness for the stopover at Narita. That marked my first time in Japan! I got so excited that we tried to stuff as much Japanese food as we could in our stomach. The ramen wasn't too good, and the omurice was blah ): BUT at one of the shops in terminal 2 (not the main terminal), we found the oh so yummy Haagen Dazs Green tea classic Crispy Sandwich. It's basically a green tea ice cream sandwich. Upon purchase, I thought that the wafer would be soggy or stale, but it was most definitely not.

Wafer
green tea chocolate layer
green tea ice cream
green tea chocolate layer
wafer

The thin green tea chocolate layer between the wafer and ice cream keeps the wafer from getting moist and stale. Brilliant, I say. Oh, the cashiers take credit card, btw, so no need to convert your $ for the single sandwich. Bought green tea ice cream in a cup too, just because I could.

Ok so back to the main trip. Upon arrival at the airport, I noticed a very big difference in humidity in the air. It reminded me very much of Hong Kong in July. Deja vu moment there. Don't let the swarm of people scare you; they're nice. I think it's just a relatively small airport for a lot of people. After going through customs and all that jazz, we tried to move outside to find the boyfriend's cousin who came to pick us up. It was a disaster. SO many people with big parcels waiting to get picked up so we couldn't get near the side of the street. It took about an hour to move to the edge, and finally spot the cousin.

During the ride to our hotel (New World hotel in Makati - our version of Yaletown), few things I noticed:

palm trees! <3
no seat belts required... !?
um.. where are the street lane lines... oh people don't follow them? what, drive where there's room? I see..

The hotel lobby was so nice~ and very tight security too; All the bags are checked, and you are screened every time you walk through the entrance. The service was excellent, and everyone greeted you with "sir" and "ma'am."
Our room was nice. It was equipped with a safe. It was the first time I had to lock my stuff away... according to the boyfriend, so we don't tempt the people cleaning our room. We went to Lorenzo's Way for dinner (Greenbelt 5), just outside of our hotel. Boyfriend ordered the palabok (vermicelli noodles with pork rind bits and other veggies mixed together) and didn't like it because they made it WAY too salty. I ordered ribs and chips (lol), but at least it was good. Had a fresh buko (coconut) juice, and green mango shake.

The next few days was basically going shopping and eating delectable (but oily and unhealthy) foods. We hit up Greenbelt 1, 2, 3, 4, 5; Landmark, SM (<- ShoeMart... best department store ever), all of which were in walkable distance from the hotel. Ok let me say something about SM. For optimal efficiency in service in finding your shoe size or shirt size, find the person in charge of the brand you are inquiring. Each worker there has a tag of the brand name on their chest. The store basically works like gigantic rented space for different brands.

Can I say that everything is soo inexpensive?? A "fancy" meal for two can cost less than $20 CAD. Needless to say, I did quite the damage... bought five pairs of shoes, some clothes, some bags. Then went to the supermarket to buy some mangoes because the boyfriend missed them.

Other restaurants we tried at Greenbelt was:

Mesa - highly recommend; modern filipino cuisine
Kitchen - meh. The spoons and plates are as big as the price tag, but substance was lacking. Skip this place, if you can

For a day, we took the taxi ($2-3 CAD rides....) to Las Pinas, where the boyfriend grew up in. Got to ride the tricycle :D

tricycle

It's a motorized bike with a carriage box thing attached to it. For maximum comfort, I'd say two adults fit in the box. Sometimes during the ride, someone would randomly hop onto the back of the driver to catch a ride. I don't know how they deal with that...

Tried street food #1: fish balls. First impression: uhhh those are the the round fish balls I'm used to! They're more like.. discs. Fish discs. They should start calling it that. So misleading! Haha. You get a choice of topping it off with sweet sauce, or a spicy sauce. We got the sweet one. After getting over the shape of them, we enjoyed them. On a side note, they're pretty popular among the students in the neighborhood.

The street the boyfriend lived one during childhood. I could tell it was all very nostalgic for him. Apparently it was a relatively safe area because it is a "gated community" where there are security guards at the entrance.
Spotted some parols hanging in the trees. So pretty (:

The last day in the city, we went to the boyfriend's friend's wedding in Greenhills. It was the first time experiencing a Filipino/Catholic wedding; I wasn't too sure what it was, but it was beautiful nonetheless. The reception was even more awesome. Live butterflies were let out during the second ... what do you call it.. procession?
And hey, check out their cake:

Then we hopped on the plane to Boracay <3

It took an hour flight, then another 2 hours busing, boating, and busing again before we got to the resort. We stayed at the Boracay Beach Resort (BBR). It's important to know which resort you stay in should you want to try the water activities. I'll add a photo bomb after this blurb.
Advice when going to Boracay:

have lots of cash at hand; don't be surprised if the ATMs run out of money... and the ATMs are stationed sooo far away from each other. There ARE three in a row at d*mall though.
if you're thinking of trying more than one water activity (snorkeling, helmet diving, parasailing, island hopping, sailboating, diving etc), walk around and hear the prices offered for them and then stick to one guide. By sticking to one guide, you will have higher chances of getting better deals. I think they are commissioned. However, in general, the cost is pretty low, and as the boyfriend puts it, "they work for peanuts."
here at the beach, you get what you pay for (seafood-wise)
it is possible to haggle, but I find stuff are usually inexpensive, so I give them a break. Plus, did I mention EXCELLENT service??
don't be rude; do unto others. If the activities people come up to you asking if you wanna go diving, just say "salamat" (thank you) and walk away.

Do try:

Smoke - crispy bulalo
Paradiso Grill - sizzling squid
Cafe del Mar - Filipino breakfast
street food! the weird ones like chicken intestines, pork intestines, pork ears- taste better than they sound, I guarantee (: Most tourists are afraid to try these things because they're not sure if it's safe to eat. I ate them all and am very much still alive and well!
in a strip called d*mall: Atlanta Crazy Crepes - anything with mango in it

That is all! Share your Philippines experiences too! It is a beautiful country, and I cannot wait to go back... once I've recovered from the damages this time around ^_~