Slug's brother, who had the Dept of Foreign Affairs pass, was able to escort us all the way to the flight gate. He was so kind to buy us some sandwiches to eat on board should we get hungry. I must say, his hospitality is unparalleled!
As if my popcorn had not been harrassed enough in the Philippines, back in Singapore, I had another customs officer asking me "So you like sweet things?" WTF! What the hell is wrong with buying popcorn!
Till our next trip again.
In the guest bedroom
View from the bedroom
We reached the airport just to discover a long queue of people and luggage snaking out of the airport from the luggage scanners. As Slug and I were queueing up, a customs officer managing the crowd saw the conspicuous tubs of popcorn and could not help but commented, "So you like popcorn?" I just smiled sheepishly, but he even signalled for his colleague to come over, and the two of them just stood there pointing at the popcorn, whispering and grinning. What's the big deal about buying popcorn? When we finally reached the scanner, the officer there also asked, "So you like popcorn?" Now, I was starting to feel uneasy.
What happened next was probably the biggest joke of our lives. After all that waiting and queueing, we arrived at the suspiciously empty check-in counter at 10.12am. However, it had closed at 10.10am! Just as I was about to burst into tears, another airport officer suggested I seek help from the airline office (not before asking if I liked popcorn). Panicking, we fled to the airline office and pleaded for them to let us into the plane. They adamantly refused, but luckily we had the option of buying the next day's tickets at SGD80 each. What a waste of money! All because of the 2 minutes!
Of all blessings, luckily we had accommodation ready for us. If it had been other countries, we would be spending the night on the cold tiled floor of the airport. We quickly called up Slug's brother and explained our predicament, who spent the next minute hooting in amusement into the phone. It was simply unbelievable - to the airport and back to Slug's brother's place again! Moral of the story - you can be late for anything except catching a flight.
Slug sulking away because we missed our flight
Hugging the popcorn which had already received enough attention for the day
The overcrowded and old Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 1
So we followed Slug's brother around, whose usual daytime activities were mainly sending and fetching his two daughters to tuition classes. After the two of them were dropped off at the tuition centre, the three of us went for a coffee session at Starbucks. To console us (who were still feeling sore about the mishap earlier in the morning), Slug's brother suggested we return to the Seaside Seafood & Wet Market again for dinner, yay!
Their mouthwatering chilli crab will be on our minds for years to come
I just had to post another pic of the giant fluffy tempura prawns again!
Stir-fried broccoli
Steamed red snapper Hong Kong style
Grilled squid au naturel (which was a disaster)
Back to our accommodation to pack our bags and set our alarm clocks ... ... no more mistakes tomorrow, we had to go home.
Clark was a two-hour drive away, and we reached a small town where various fireworks, firearms and local snacks are sold. The peak season is usually December, where the locals will be celebrating Christmas and New Year with fireworks, and therefore, all fireworks shops will be open and selling them at slashed prices. From what we could see, only two or three fireworks shops were open today.
We approached one and swept all kinds of sparklers and dynamite-like fireworks off the shelves. His brother's bargaining skills once again helped us save a lot on our purchase, which seriously does not come cheap. We had to listen to instructions really carefully because playing with fireworks is life-threatening.
Town in Clark that sells fireworks
Approaching the fireworks store
Nicely-wrapped fireworks
That's more dangerous
We browsed around the snack shops and bought an unique snack - deep fried pig skin. It is something like the deep fried lard used in soup noodles, except that this comes without the oil. First few bites were okay, in fact, rather fragrant and crispy, but soon after I felt like retching because of the lingering porky aftertaste. How can this be a tidbit?
Deep fried chicken skin, deep fried pig skin ... ...
... ... and deep fried chicken gizzards, chicken hearts, chicken intestines
After dinner, Slug's brother drove us to a part of the Pasig River where we unloaded all our tools of crime. We started off playing with the sparklers, those whizzing ones that could fly a distance and combust with a loud pop. A couple relaxing by the river nearby could not help but come up to us and ask if there was any special occasion for setting the fireworks. After explaining to him we were just tourists and we were just playing for fun, he still could not understand and kept asking if it was a public holiday or if it was anyone's birthday. I could not be bothered to explain so I handed him some sparklers to shut him up.
All the activities attracted a few street kids nearby who came to watch, and they really resembled detestable BLACK SOCIETY kids. They tried to lay their hands on our fireworks, they imitated the way we talked ... ... they were practically a useless bunch of nuisance.
Playing with huge sparklers
Their annoying voices evident here
For the next 30 minutes, we continued to set off the fireworks. They were nothing like those National Day ones, but nevertheless still spectacular. And then there was always the danger of fireworks taking such a long time to set off that you do not know if it was still active or dead. There was one that was absolutely silent for 3 minutes after lighting it, and just when we were about to walk over and collect it back, it suddenly exploded.
Slug holding an egg-shaped one happily
Guess who turned up soon and spoilt the party? The police. They said that fireworks were not allowed to be set off in the city, but actually, setting off fireworks along Pasig River is a common sight during December. No matter how much we reasoned with the policemen saying that we were just tourists / we did not know about this law / we just wanted to see the beauty of Manila etc, he still wanted to confiscate our fireworks and also wanted us to follow them back to the police station. Eventually, Slug's brother stuffed 300 pesos into their hands, and they just huffed, "Pack up and go" and drove off. Conclusion: Police here is cheap as dirt.
So we lugged all the unused fireworks back to Slug's brother's home, and hopefully we would be able to light them again when we return in December. Spent the night packing our luggage (and pineapples) as we would be returning home the next day.
Slug's sister-in-law hired a driver to take us to visit the Taal Volcano in Tagaytay, a two-hour drive from Manila, but before that we were taken to Sunday Legazpi Market in Makati for breakfast. It seemed more like a food bazaar than a market, selling a smorgasbord of food products never seen before (including the foul-tasting grilled au naturel fish). Feasted on ukoy (deep-fried vegetable and baby shrimp fritters), Vietnamese rice rolls, black forest cheesecake etc.
At the Legazpi Market
The ukoy was yummy
Selling pieces of lechon baboy (roast pig)
Vietnamese rice rolls look good but taste weird
Chorizo rice, sisig, callos ... ... what are these!
Roasting a cow ... ... whole
Large fresh prawns
After breakfast, it was on to Tagaytay to visit the Taal Volcano and also to buy pineapples and local delicacies. The Taal Volcano is small but very active, and unique in the sense that it is a volcano within a volcano. Taal Volcano lies within a huge caldera (Tagaytay Ridge), formed when the top of the original larger volcano was blown off during a violent eruption in the past. When the top was blown off, Lake Taal was formed within the caldera and subsequent eruptions formed the smaller Taal Volcano in the middle of the lake. Taal Volcano still remains active, but today it was disappointingly peaceful.
At one of the many viewing points
Volcano within a volcano
Taal Lake (where you can hire a boat to take you to the volcano itself and then a donkey to hike up to the peak for some rumbling action)
I like the darkness cast by the massive low-hanging cloud above
At the viewing deck of Taal Vista Hotel
It became unbearably hot at 11am, so we sought refuge at an air-conditioned Italian restaurant and had lunch. After lunch, we went for some horse-riding activities.
Seafood pasta ... Mmmmmmmm!!!
Horse-riding
After that, it was on to the People's Park in the Sky, the unfinished mansion of former President Ferdinand Marcos. Spent the afternoon there playing around, browsing through the shops, and roasting under the sun.
At the entrance of the park
Taking the jeepney up to the peak
Tagaytay - well-known for its fresh and sweet pineapples
View from the top
Viewing Taal Volcano from another angle
Some candid shots taken at the peak
Slug looked silly in that ariba ariba hat
Xinmei with the ultra-glaring chrome jeepney
Taken by the hidden horticulturist in Slug
Another view of Taal Volcano
The driver then proceeded to take us back to Makati, but not before we bought some local produce and fresh pineapples from the roadside stalls and confectioneries store. The pineapples are huge and are sold really cheaply. Slug's brother recommended us to buy the buko (coconut) pie, which is basically a huge flan filled with coconut custard and slices of coconut flesh.
Roadside stall selling pineapples and other fruits
At the confectioneries store
Finally, after such a long tiring day out, we headed back to the city where we spent the night watching cable TV and having the saccharine pineapples for dinner. Slug was grinning happily because he finally had the chance to buy his favourite Chef Tony's almost-spherical and evenly-coated popcorn.
Chef Tony's popcorn comes in many flavours, but nothing beats the classic caramel flavour
