It had been a very hectic week for me. With a blink of an eye, I was already packing and making my way to the Philippines! I had been sleep deprived for days but I was darn looking forward to it.
Irene and I took the Philippine AIrlines to Manila before heading to Boracay. We simply couldn't believe that we were indeed really on our way to Philippines after months of planning and anticipation. The 3 1/2 hour flight was very intolerable with kids on the right of the aisle, kids behind our seat and kids all around the plane whining, crying and kicking the chairs. We suffered our way through the tiresome journey. We peeled opened our eyes upon arrival and we jumped with zest when the plane touched down the grounds of Manila. Mabuhay! It is an expression used by the Filippinos to say 'Welcome' 'Hello' or greetings. It is also used to exclaim 'long live'.
The hotel representative by the name of Edmund from Heritage Hotel picked us up at the airport. We were in desperate need to visit the loo, and it took us about 10 min to look for one! It was half a round outside the airport entrance and we were busy snapping pictures outside the airport while Edmund was waiting. Coincidentally, the driver assigned for our pickup was also called Edmund. Both Edmunds had been nice to us. One thing about Filipino is they are warm and very hospitable. I guess it's their culture.
There was a slight jam on the roads of Manila at 4 in the afternoon. Despite the jam, we reached Heritage Hotel within 20mins. It wasn't very far from the airport actually.
We unloaded our stuff.. took a breather... and took a walk down the streets outside our hotel. Our first bi
te was Kenny Rogers. We were dead hungry! Kenny Rogers being Kenny Rogers, we thought we were in for good tasty food. We ordered a chocolate marshmallow muffin with Roast Chicken Sandwich. The food failed big time. We were so hungry but the sandwich wasn't palatable at all. After we filled our growling tummies, we continued to prowl the streets. There were many picture perfect moments on the streets with children beggars sprawling the streets, dusty roads by the sunset, smoky jeepneys emitting harmful soot, taxis and passerbys. The streets were polluted but that's the way of life in the Philippines! Kids came up to us begging for money when they knew we were tourists. My bulky DSLR didn't help and we seemed like the only 2 tourists around. People were hogging around us. I guess there aren't many tourists in the Philippines. We got stares from everyone in the street who saw us. Friendly stares I mean. The kids and adults alike fight to pose in front of our cameras. They got all posey, cheeky and funny all to get our 
attention. The kids even started to pull my bag, tab my hand and nudge me. The sun set at about 5.30pm and it was challenging to shoot street candids in dim lighting. The streets of Manila were very much like those in Bangkok, with street hawkers selling food and knick knacks. We walked the open air street market for an hour. No time for shopping, just exploring the city and only shooting. We were so captivated by the culture, and the way of life. I think we've been too pampered in Singapore!
We arranged to meet our friend Molly (a friend of Marc, a fellow Filipino in Singapore) in the evening after work. We met Molly at the hotel lobby. No picture no description on how Molly looks like. I was rather amused by the name. He appeared formal and stern in his office wear. The initial meeting was abit tense and apprehensive. but we all lightened up a bit as he drove us around. He brought a friend along who was waiting in the car. Patrick is his name. Patrick seemed young and friendly. Chirpy and energetic. Both Molly and Patrick drove us around the city to visit the Fort Santiago, Philippines Film Center (where it holds Transvestite Shows very much like Thailands Cabarets), Roxas Boulevard and little Spanish Town called Intramuros, where there is still strong Spanish influence in the architecture etc. The sad thing was, it was only 7 in the evening but it was pitch dark. We couldn't see the church nor fort nor the buildings clearly. Manila is interesting and really happening. The restaurants were crowded, there were people everywhere, street lights were colourful and the city is bustling! There's so much to explore and see in Manila.
We settled for dinner by the bay near Roxas Boulevard. Molly and Patrick ordered local food which we wanted to try. We had fried lard! Sizzling Fried Lard in hot plate! Gosh. I don't eat fried lard here. Just a bite was enough. Good experience. Wouldn't qualify myself for Fear Factor. Well at least we tried. We also had Fried Kang Kong, Soup with Tuna Belly and Roast Pork. Well, we were tired so we didn't have much appetite. I must say food in the Philippines is affordable. Had a long chat with the guys.. about volcano, bomb, storms in Philippines, jobs etc etc etc..... we only left at 11+.
Day 2
On day 2, we met the guys again to make our way to Tagaytay City at about 8am in the morning. It was about 2 hour drive. We were heading to visit the Taal Volcano, which was surrounded by another volcano. How amazing! And there was a lake within a lake. Taal Volcano is located about 60 km SSE of Metro Manila. It is a complex volcanic system composed of a small volcanic island (Volcano Island), located within a lake-filled complex caldera. The ridges around Tagaytay and surrounding towns are in fact believed to be part of the crater of the old volcano. Today, these ridges form part of the border of the 18-mile-diameter Taal Lake and stretch 32 kilometers from Mount Batulao to Mount Sungay. I couldn't quite picture it, so I had to see it for myself. I had to google it when I come back. And I heard it's still active. And we are going right to the top to view the crater. Along the way, we stopped at the Mabini shrine - national hero of Philippines. We continued the journey to a resort, where we had a quick lunch and took a boat to the village of Taal. The little village was simple and life was so peaceful and ordinary. People stayed together in the village, with dogs and cats in the household. They had about 100 over donkeys to bring tourists up the volcano everyday. It was a hot afternoon. We got onto our donkeys and started our journey up the volcano (we were actually in fact already on a volcano, remember a volcano within a volcan
o, and the lake where we took a boat was already a lake in a volcano) I had never ridden on a donkey before so this was a truly memorable experience for me, what's more going up an active volcano. It was difficult for me to balance on the saddle, one hand holding the reign, one hand holding my camera and overall body balacing on the donkey. I took out the cover of my lens and just shot at whatever I saw. I was so worried the donkey might miss a step and trip! The lady guiding the donkey was very kind, and she chatted with me. She was 3 months pregnant, and her husband was sick. She had to do this everyday despite the sun. Donkey riding is fun I must say. The sun was scorching and burning every inch on my skin and scalp. It was about 30min donkey ride up the volcano. There were many 
tourists along the way. Many thought I was a Korean and they went 'Hello' in Korean. The route was all rocky and unpaved. I was already 80% burnt. We finally reached the top. The view is magnificent! Priceless and awesome! We could see the whole crater, within a larger crater surrounded by the outer volcano. Now I began to understand what it meant by volcano within a volcano. It was worth the ride and burn. We stayed for about 30min or so and I badly needed a loo. The loo on top didn't look very inviting so I endured..... all the way down again. It was another 30min ride down. Took the boat back to the resort and made our way to another stop - Palace in the Sky. Without a doubt this offers the most speculator view of Taal Volcano. According to the Filipinos, Palace in the Sky was the unfinished mansion during the term of f
ormer President Ferdinand Marcos. It had since been converted and renamed the People's Park in the Sky. The Palace in the Sky was built for the official state visit of the former US President Ronald Reagan. The Reagan's cancelled their trip due to the general unrest and Marcos' problems at the time. And the mansion was never completed. The spot can be reached after traversing a long winding road uphill. At the gate of the complex, visitors are greeted by the vista of the vast expanse and the cool mountain breeze coming from different directions. I didn't manage to have any time to buy anything from the small souvenir shop downstairs. Thought I could try my luck again elsewhere.....It was almost 5pm and the sun was setting.
We made our way down to have our dinner. It was another 2 hour drive. We settled for local burgers - Jollibee. No, not Jollibean like what we we have here. It's Jollibee, the Filipino version of McDonalds. They have a huge chain of outlets just like McDonalds, if not more. We had to try it. After a hot and sunny morning, it began to pour heavily as we stepped into Jollibee. We had burgers and fries. The Sarsi tasted different. Not sure what's the difference, but it sure was different from our local Sarsi and Root Beer. Their burgers are tasty! Juicy and tasty. Molly drove us to visit his place in Alabang. According to Marc, Alabang is the 2nd top most expensive estate in the Philippines. (I only realised that when we were back in Singapore!) It was like a landed property and he had 2 domestic helpers. I met his wife Janice, and his 3 adorable kids. China, Amanda and Sean. They were such lovely kids! Amanda was very hyperactive when she saw us. We took the chance to download our wonderful photographs onto Molly's PC and we also viewed their pictures taken in Boracay in 2006. Janice ordered pizza and we were told to bring a box back to our hotel in case we were hungry. Gosh we've been pigging out alot ever since we came to the Philippines. We headed back to our hotel at 10+ and it was late for both Molly and Patrick as they needed an hour drive home from our hotel. We felt really bad..
Day 3
We had to wake up early to
make our way to the airport to Kalibo. To get to Boracay, we had to take a domestic flight from Manila to Kalibo Airport, take a 2hr ride van to Caticlan ferry terminal (like our Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal) which was near the Caticlan Airport then a 10min boat ride to Boracay terminal. From Boracay terminal, it was another 10 min van ride to our hotel. It was tiring!!! To our surprise, it was very touristy in Boracay. There were many other fellow Filipinos, Koreans, Asians and what have you on the island. I thought it was not as commercialised and touristy as Cebu, but I guess I was wrong. There were many shops on the island and the cluster of shops was called D'Mall. It was an area where they have a minimart, surf shops, spas and lots of F&B outlets. You will be spoilt for choice. The van stopped by the road and the porter had to carry our luggage and walked us on the sand for another 5min to our Sun Village Resort. It was a very small resort which could be easily missed anytime. We were abit disappointed at the room. It was small and had only one queen size bed for both of us. There was not much walking space. No dressing table. No tables. The bathroom was small and 
limited on facilities. We began to appreciate our Heritage Hotel. Thank god we were only there for 2 nights. We unpacked our stuff and walked to the beach. It was heavenly! Pristine white beach with clean sand. The sand was very fine and the water was very clear. The island was very crowded. The long stretch of island was dotted with many F&B outlets, outdoor massage areas, shops and tourists. It was really very commercialised and not quite what I expected. But I enjoyed the waters and spectacular beach. We wanted to book our water sports activities but there was very strong competition from each sea sport shop. The sea sport coordinators all followed us up and down the beach trying to sell their package to us in their not-so-perfect and difficult-to-understand English. We tried to bargain and get the best price with alot of haggling done. We finally settled for 1800 peso ($60) Jet skii for 2 of us, 2400 peso ($80) beginner diving each, ATV and Parasailing. We did Jet skii and Parasailing on our first day at Boracay. The sun was setting and it was a perfect moment to do Parasailing. I felt like I was flying in the sky. It was very 
peaceful, tranquil and quiet in the air, where the sun was setting by the horizon. The sky was orange and beautiful. No words could better describe it. I looked down at the waters and it was darn scary! What if I fall???? The ride took about 20min while Irene waited on the boat. As it came to an end, the boat driver slowed down and let me take a dip in the waters with my parachute still on. It was fun. Next was the Jet skii. As it was already dark, it was a bit difficult to Jet skii at that hour. I didn't have a good sense of balance so Irene took charge of the Jet skii. We sped like there was no tomorrow! At night, we had dinner at Cafe Del Mar. The grilled chicken meal only cost me about $8! It was nice to dine by the beach, on the sand. We also invited the island boys for a drink - the boat driver and Aman who sold us the package after the 30min negotation.
The nightlife is beautiful at Boracay. It was a total transformation from day to night. At night, colourful lights illuminated the beach. Lanterns hung from the trees and the colours from the pubs brought the beach to life! It was vibrant. After Cafe Del Mar, the island boys brought us to CocoManga. It was a hip discotheque on the island. There were many Filipinos. I tried San Mig Light (San Miguel). We were dead tired by 11 so we hea
ded back to the hotel.
Day 4
The itinerary for next morning was diving! I've always had fear for the unknown in the deep waters. But I decided to try it since I was in Boracay and I've always wanted to try something different in my life. Life is short, so do whatever you can while you are still able to. I plucke
d up the courage and went for it. There was a 20min video session followed by a thorough lesson by the Dutch instructor, Angela. I felt like worms were crawling in me as I was still eefy about the dive. We put on our dive suit which took us 10min! It was thick and heavy. We had already burnt enough calories while putting it on. We then carried our oxygen tank, flippers, mask with the dive jacket worn on and walked to the beach - beginner on shallow waters. It weighed a ton! I was so afraid I would fall backward and hurt myself. It was really heavy. Then, I tried my first dive in the shallow waters. I had alot of difficulty inhaling and exhaling. Angela told me I was anxious and I was hyperventilating. I tried to calm down and took regular breaths. I tried to equalize my ears and went a bit deeper. I felt giddy and faintish. Maybe it was motion sickness. I gave myself several chances and went down again to prove myself wrong. I couldn't take it. I left midway and headed back to the shores. It was a torture for me, and I will never dive again. Or attempt to dive! I took off the jacket and the ever-so-heavy oxygen tank and sat by the beach to wait for Irene. She went deeper and deeper into the waters. She had to give up halfway too because she got panicky in the waters that made Angela worried for a deeper water dive. In her frantic moment during equalizing, she pulled away her regulator! That was the last straw for Angela. Angela had been very kind and patient to both of us so we decided to pay the full amount for the dive though we didn't finish it. What a waste for us. Anyway I'm proud to say that at least I attempted diving! As Irene went back up for a shower, I took a dip and swam at the beach. It was hot, but I didn't manage to get a good tan. Again, time wasn't on my side.
After lunch we did a bit of shopping around. We didn't have much time to shop so I grabbed whatever souvenirs I could see along the beach and went for our ATV session. It was actually driving a rugged vehicle on the off beaten track in Boracay. It was all sandy and full of rocks in the treacherous dirty road. It was fun, but tiring as the roads were all bumpy. The whole ride took us 1 hr but to our surprise (which Aman didn't inform us) the instructor took us to Mt Luho. The highest point on Boracay, Mount Luho rises to an altitude of about 
100 meters above sea level. The panoramic view from the top makes the demanding climb (or ATV ride) worthwhile, though travelers are well advised to exercise caution in undertaking the ascent. On top of Mt Luho, there was a wooden viewing deck (that was a bit dangerous) where we would see the ENTIRE BORACAY ISLAND! It was magnicent. We realised we were only walking up and down a small tiny portion of our beach when we saw the entire island right beneath our feet. This view was fantastic. Simply breathtaking.... and it was a view to die for.
When we reached the beach, Irene wanted to do a 2nd round of jet skii. It was late and all the drivers were off work. There wasn't any Jet skii available but one driver took advantage of the situation to charge us 2000 peso. Of course Irene didn't take it. In the evening we tried the Choco Banana Milkshake at Jonah's. It's a must try for all tourists on Boracay island. hmmmm yum. We ended the night early as we had to head back to Manila rather early the next day. We were truly exhausted.
Day 5
We took a morning flight back to Manila. The vans and coaches were waiting by the ferry terminal at Boracay (and we almost got into the wrong coach cos I said 'to Caticlan Airport'! luckily Irene corrected me).... it was another 2 hour draining ride to the Kalibo Airport. We reached Manila at about 1pm. Had lunch at Mcdonalds (just had to try the McDonalds in different countries) It wasn't as tasty as ours. But it was a good experience! We visited the Baclaran Church, also known as Our Lady of Perpetual Help. Patrick told us that miracles happen at this church. We prayed and lit the candles. Irene bought some rosaries for her family and got it blessed by the priest there. After that, we took a cab to SM Mall of Asia, the largest mall in the Philippines. We only had 2 hours of shopping before meeting the guys for dinner. We started off with the supermarket where I bought mineral water, sky flakes (one of their local favourite) and gums. We walked around a bit and was pretty surprised by the tight security in and around the mall. When we entered, we had our bags checked. When we stepped into one of the boutque, there was a security guard on duty. I felt safe. I managed to grab a few stuff at very good prices. But after the walking and shopping, we were only at probably one third of the entire mall. I managed to capture some pictures of the Olympic size ice skating rink. It seemed fun! Molly and Janice met us at the boutique Maldita. That was when my credit card could no longer be used. I had overspent! And it was only three times in a day. Okay that meant no more shopping. We had dinner at a Japanese Restaurant at the mall. We chatted till 11pm and we were the last customers of the day. Molly and Pat were so sweet. They gave each of us a gift. We also gave them a packet of dried mangoes and biscuits from Boracay. Pat drove us back to our hotels at 12mn and he joined us at our hotel for a chat. We wanted to check out the casino at Heritage Hotel. The hotel and the streets outside seemed empty, but the casino was different! It was packed! Everyone seemed alive at 1am and energetic at the tables but we were all tired. Pat was nice to offer to bring us around on our last day on Sunday to Makati. It was already 1+ in the morning and he had to go through an hour drive home. He suggested meeting at 8 the next day, but somehow it become 10am :)
Day 6
It was already day 6, which meant it was the end of our trip. We had a 240pm flight to catch so the morning tour was quite rushing for us. Patrick brought his cousin along for the tour to Makati. It is the major financial, commercial and economical hub in the Philippines, often referred to as the financial capital of the Philippines since many global companies have their offices and headquarters in the city. Makati is noted for its highly cosmopolitan culture, also being a major cultural and entertainment hub in Metro Manila. Many expatriates live and work in the city. Makati is also home to many first-class shopping malls, which are located at Ayala Center and Rockwell Center. The city also has many of the country's five-star hotels like The Peninsula, the Shangri-la Hotel Makati and the Intercontinental Hotel Manila. We visited the shopping malls - Glorietta where the bomb took place 2 weeks before our arrival and the shops around. We had lunch at Chowking - a chain managed by the owners of Jollibee - which served express Chinese food. It was interesting. A plate of fried rice cost us 60 peso ($2). The total bill for 4 of us was only 402 peso ($13) and Irene and I each forked out only $6.50 for the guys with drinks! Food is really affordable in the Philippines. After lunch we made our way to the airport. It rained when we were leaving. We bade goodbye to the guys. My heart was filled with sadness as I had to leave this beautiful country and part with the wonderful people I've met during this trip. They made our trip so perfect and fulfilling.
The lady at the check-in counter told us there wasn't any flight back to Singapore anymore! We almost fainted. 
We had to catch our breath. I had to rush for a wedding dinner that evening. After some checking she managed to give us a seat, but separated. I didn't mind as long as we have a seat. We met another fellow Singaporean who was doing videographing and humanitarian work in the Philippines. The plane took off at 330pm and we were soon back home at 645pm.
It was back to reality for me.
Before I end off the chapter on Philippines, here's a few basic conversational Tagalog which are useful to learn:
Hello: Mabuhay
How Are You: Kumusta Ka
Good Morning: Magandang Umaga
Good Afternoon:Magandanghapon
Good Evening: Magandang gabi
Beautiful: Maganda Ka
Expensive: Mahal
How Much: Magkano
Thank You: Salamat
Thank You Very Much: Maraming Maraming Salamat
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