"Mabuhay" said Manila. And I said "Salamat" back. - Prem

Next Stop: Philippines

Congrats JB and Frances!

As Justina Chen says, "Getting lost is just another way of saying 'going exploring.'"

And what better "excuse" to go exploring halfway around the world than to celebrate friends getting married? After all, this amazing event is what triggered the whole trip in the first place. Thanks guys! 

(Check out their amazing video if you want to see more! It's quite extraordinary what their team put together in a few hours and since the bride and groom are gorgeous, it looked like a commercial for cars, watches, wedding dresses...)

I helped plan the Hong Kong leg, so I had no idea what we were going to do in the Philippines aside from the wedding. 

Intramuros

I must say, mis amigos didn't disappoint! First stop was Intramuros, a walled city that was once used as a fort. Now it is a historic center and Manila's oldest district.  One thing that seemed to be a reoccurring theme was that many of the cities churches and buildings were rebuilt because there were many earthquakes that made previous structures tumble down. And if it wasn't an earthquake, it was another natural disaster. 

View from Taal Volcano

Taking a break from the lovely city of Alabang (the Philippines Bel Air), we headed to Taal Volcano in Batangas. According to wikipedia, "the crater lake on Volcano island is the largest lake on an island in a lake on an island in the world." [I'm sure you can see why I didn't try to paraphrase that description...] I kind of think of it like a turducken, but in this case, I've dubbed it #volakano. 

Taal Lake

After a 25 ish minute boat ride across the fresh water lake to the volcano, we took a 45 minute hike to the top. It was a clear, hot day and we took our time, stopping to take pictures and enjoy the beautiful views. It's an active volcano and it has been designated a Decade Volcano because of its destruction potential. (It's active and near a large population.) Currently, only 15 other volcanoes have that designation.

 View from Leslie's

Aside from the wedding, this was my favorite part of visiting the Philippines. I don't know if I'll ever see anything like it again, and since it was when it really hit me that I was on a real vacation!

After we were had taken in the volcano and its beauty, we headed back into town for lunch. Our driver was a very nice gentleman, by the name of Rommel if I remember right. We knew we wanted to have lunch but didn't know where. He recommended Leslie's, along with their a Filipino special Bulalo.

Bulalo

This beef shank soup was delicious! It was the first time many of my friends had tried bone marrow, which I'm a huge fan of. Yum! We had some garlic rice and some tempura like veggies as well.

The weather here wasn't quite what I expected. Considering its location, I expected heat and humidity and to be sweating most of the time. Definitely not the case. It was quite mild and after our Taal Volcano excursion, we even got a little chilly. It's all relative, of course.

Manila American Cemetery and Memorial

As we landed into Manila, my friend and I saw the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial from the plane. More than 17,000 World War II soldiers rest here.

It is humbling to stand in front of the walls that list thousands of names of soldiers that fought for our country.

To end our time in Manila, we all decided to splurge and get hour + long massages. It's ridiculous how inexpensive massages are here. $10USD got me an hour long deep tissue massage! Since it was at a pretty nice spa, that included some piping hot ginger tea as well. If I knew it was SO affordable, I would have done it everyday!

Can't really complain though. It was great and it was the perfect way to relax before heading over to Bali.