The Philippines

I've had three official "long" vacations since I've been in Korea. The first one was spent in Seoul (I had just gotten to Korea two weeks before). The second, in Dubai. The third, in the Philippines! I was lucky enough to go with a friend from Texas State (Bekah) and two of her awesome co-workers (Sheri and Chris). I was a little nervous of the whole thing at first: vacationing with people I had only met once, going Manila (slightly dangerous?), and having no planned agenda... BUT it turned out to be a fantastic and relaxing vacation and I'm excited to share it with you!

 

Day One

 

Our first view of Manila in the daylight! We had quite the night before, but we made it and we were ready to see what was in store for us!

 

 

 

Exploring the Fort Bonifacia area! It was a very pretty location.

 

A large tree sculpture we ran across.

 

Standing underneath was so pretty!

 

Everyone having a look...

 

 

 

Exploring a mini botanical garden...

 

I spy Sheri :)

 

There were all about their independence here!

 

We found our hotel of the trip! It was cute and quant and they took such good care of us.
I would definitely recommend Orchid Garden Suites!

 

 

 

Day Two

Roomies! Waiting to explore the Intramuros area.

 

Manila Cathedral!

 

It was undergoing some construction, but still very beautiful!

 

Tourist pic!

 

 

 

 

 

Look at those cute, matching tourists! ;) They must be from Korea!

 

Presidents of the past...

 

 

More building ruins...

 

Some were even on the golf course!

 

Nice!

 

We ran across this amazing area called Saluarte De San Diego!

 

 

Some chickens running around!

 

Another tourist pose :)

 

An awesome staircase! Leading to...

 

THIS!

 

Really fantastic!

 

It was designed and built by a Jesuit priest in the 1500s. Then, it served as a fort and then a foundry. It was then destroyed by enemy British forces, damaged in an earthquake, and completely demolished in the Battle of Manila in 1945. It's final restoration took thirteen years to complete.

 

 

 

Bonsai garden!

 

My favorite one :)

 

I wasn't quite sure if these were part of the tree or not...

 

But I decided to play with them anyways...

 

I haven't seen anything like these before!

 

A wedding happening in San Augustine chapel!

 

We got super hungry and went to Chow King for some lunch! We had some halo-halo to start...
 or as I liked to call it haller-haller and hala-hala :)

 

Our little Chow King feast... they served fried chicken in every single restaurant we went to!

 

Then, we went to Fort Santiago.

 

Beautiful location!

 

 

 

 

Fort Santiago.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For an evening escapade, we went to the Mall of Asia! The 11th largest mall in the world!

 

Of course... Asia loves Spam!

WENDY'S! KOREA TAKE NOTE!

 

Glorious! I've missed you so much!

 

Spinning globe...

 

 

 

Mall of Asia!

 

I <3 Mall of Asia

 

Inside the mall...

 

 

 

Guess what Bekah found! Korea, note #2!

 

 

Day Three

We went to Greenhills Shopping Center, best bizarre in the country! It was massive and slightly overwhelming!

 

 

 

 

That evening, we went to a dinner and show called Manila Vanilla at Mabuhay Restop.
 It was a lot of fun... and the food was awesome!

 

Soup in a coconut bowl!

 

San Miguel!

 

My attempt at making halo-halo...not very pretty.

 

The show!

 

They made fun of Filipinos and foreigners alike. Since we were the only foreigners there, we got lots of special attention!

 

Providing a little comical history lesson.

 

Coconut shell dance?

 

 

Day Four

VOLCANO ADVENTURE! Our first stop was to try "cat coffee"... you know... the cat-like creature that eats coffee beans, but can't digest them and poops them out. YUP, I'm drinking those beans that weren't digested... and you know what? It sure was tasty coffee!

 

 

 

Fruit market.

 

There were GIGANTIC durian fruit!

 

There it is! The Taal Volcano and Lake! "The one place in Middle-earth we don't want to see any closer, and the one place we're trying to get to."

 

Closer...

 

CLOSER.

 

Yes, yet another tourist picture :) Reppin' Texas State!

 

We had to go down an intense set of winding roads to get to the lake.

 

There were tilapia "villages" all over the place.

 

Our boat... and our guide that I apparently scared to death. The boat ride was more like a ride at Shlitterbahn... we got SOAKED!

 

Makeshift vendors trying to sell you anything they can. Way to ruin the top of the volcano!

 

Looking down the path we had to take.

 

Beautiful views from all around! It was a wonderful experience.

 

 

 

 

Heat escaping from the volcano.

 

A close up of the heat.

 

Probably my most favorite picture of the trip!

 

 

 

 

Another hole with heat escaping!

 

Our lunch after the volcano: fresh tilapia, chicken adobo, rice, and mixed veggies.

 

That night, we met up with a Korean friend of our group. He took us to a FABULOUS Filipino restaurant. We had this amazing soup which was probably my favorite thing I tasted all trip. It was super sour, but so delicious!

 

We didn't know what this was at first and our Korean friend wasn't going to tell us until after we ate it. It was actually delicious. Almost like crunchy bacon... well, it turned out to be pigs head... I slightly lost my appetite.

 

Red Horse, yum!

 

I loved all of their Christmas decorations!

 

 

Day Five

After treating ourselves to massages and mani/pedis, we went to the War Memorial. This was the most beautiful, peaceful, and pleasant place in the entire city.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I found some Mueller's...

 

 

 

After the memorial, we went to look at some intense Christmas lights! We had to get some holiday drinks in before hand... mmmhh! I love Toffee Nut Lattes!

 

 

 

Turning the corner and seeing this... WOW!

 

Is this real life? The pictures don't do it justice. At least Google tried helping me out :)

 

 

I took only one selfie!

 

 

 A show to top off the night!

 

 

 

Day Six :(

 

 

The next morning, I had a little gingerbread man wish us goodbye!
 ... I felt like I was drinking a snow globe...

Anyways... I'll be back, Philippines!