5 days in Manila
Finally got a chance to go to Manila for a much needed break from programming. Met up with some old friends and some of the guys from [Fuse Media Group][fuse].
Day 1 – Departure and Arrival
26 March 2006
Woke up really early in the morning just so I could get to the airport on time for checkin. The damn plane was 30 minutes late. So instead of arriving in Manila at 7:30 AM I got there at around 8:00 AM. Good thing it was on a Sunday, otherwise I would have been stuck in traffic all day going to my Aunt’s place in Pasig City.
Time to celebrate…
Day 2 – Meeting at Fuse
27 March 2006
Went to the [Fuse Media Group][fuse] office for a quick meeting. Getting to their office was a bit of an adventure in itself. I’ve never been to that part of Ortigas where their office was. I had to walk all the way from EDSA Crossing to the PSE Center under a blistering hot afternoon sun.
The meeting took longer than I expected and I had to come back to their office the next day to finish up on some work that I was doing for them. Then I had to walk all the way to SM Megamall to hook up with my friends.
After a several minutes waiting at the taxi stand, we were finally on our way to Nipa Hut (near Valle Verde and Baga Berde). I had initially planned to meet up with Berg to discuss business but he had other plans and invited our high school friends over (Lito, Chiaki and his wife).
The place was pretty cool and it was a nice night to be dining under the sky. Food was good, and it was even better when Berg paid for everything 
I just wish Chiaki would shut the hell up with his stories about our high school shenanigans. The man is a freak! I mean, he remembers every single detail of every single thing we did over ten years ago. I guess people will always find a good use for all that grey stuff between their ears.
Day 3 – Back To Fuse
28 March 2006
Went back to [Fuse Media Group][fuse] to finish up on some work that I was doing for them. Went in at around 9:00 AM and went out at around 5:00 PM. It was crunch time because I had to get work done so that it could be burned to a master CD and be sent to press before the afternoon was over. Then I had to meet up with the project leaders to discuss our upcoming projects.
I was too lazy to go down to have lunch. The good restaurants are a long walk away from the PSE Center. By the time I got out, I was so hungry and I felt like my brain was about to shut down on me. Time for a sugar fix…
Went around SM Megamall to go to my favorite book shops and I was surprised to find that they were gone. The one book shop that was still there had some remodelling done and it was chaos. I had a really hard time finding the books I wanted. Tired and feeling a bit miffed that my old hangouts were either gone or ruined, I decided to call it a day and go home.
Day 4 – Shopping
29 March 2006
Went to Robinson’s Galleria to do some shopping. Earlier, I had to wait for an hour to get my boat ticket for the next day’s trip back home. Bought a book for my daughter and a teether for my cousin’s baby. I also met up with one of my former students, and we had coffee and cinnamon rolls. She told me she had to leave for Bulacan by 3:00 PM so I had to drop her off at the bus stop. It was still a few hours away so we went around the mall for a bit.
Then I found this guy…
After dropping off my former student at the bus stop, I went to SM Megamall to go look for my book. Berg told me they were not gone completely and that they had just relocated to another area in the mall. I found the place and set out to look for a book to buy. It took me a while before I finally decided to buy “PHP and MySQL Web Development”.
Went back home early and I found this thing on the dinner table…
My sister told me to try it, so I did. It was the strangest thing that I had ever tasted. That yellow stuff on the left side of the plate seems to be vegetable stew of some sort. It’s salty and had a strong coconut oil taste to it. That white stuff on the right side of the plate is sticky rice paste. It’s sweet, sticky, and mushy all at the same time. You’re supposed to combine these two things together and eat them. If Anthony Bourdain tried this stuff, I bet he would think (and probably say) the same thing I did: “What the f*ck was that?!?”
Only one word can describe it: Craptastic!
After that unpleasant experience with that strange stuff, I sat down and had some real food. My cousin’s husband, on his day off as a security guard, bought two liters of beer. Half a liter of beer later…
Day 5 – Rainy Day
30 March 2006
It was a rainy Thursday. It had to rain on the day I was leaving with my heavy bags. I almost didn’t make it on time to port because of the heavy traffic. They were loading a lot of stuff into the cargo bay and the result was a one hour delay in our departure.
Might as well enjoy the ride…
Day 6 – Home
31 March 2006
I took this one from the tricycle I was on when I was heading home. Berg, look closely at the picture… 
Break’s over… Back to work…
[fuse]: http://www.fusemediagroup.net/ “Fuse Media Group”