Manila's Chinatown

I've had a brochure for Old Manila Walks since we arrived in 2011, but just finally got around to taking a tour last week - The Big Binondo Food Wok. The tour was about P1,200 per person ($30) and lasted 3 hours. When I first hear three hours of walking in Manila I spazzed a bit - the pollution, the traffic, the heat! But January was an awesome time to do it, as was a Saturday morning. The three hours flew by as we walked and ate with our fabulous Chinoy guide, Ivan. Highly recommended (even for vegetarians-just let them know in advance)!

Veggie Lumpia

Best dumplings ever.

Managed to squeeze in some shopping

Wet Lunch

On the recommendation of a friend, we braved Monday traffic and headed down to Hacienda Escudero, just past San Pablo City.  It took almost 2 hours to get there, but only about 90 minutes on the way home.  A day visit includes a tour of the museum, a carabao ride, lunch at the waterfalls and a bamboo raft tour (I think).  

The museum was not air conditioned and lots of the artifacts - religious, stuffed animals, old clothes and weapons - were looking a little rough.  One chimp was degrading so badly that his foot was all bones (they did not allow pictures or this part would have been well photo documented).  The carabao ride was fun.  A guitar player and singer serenaded us for the 3 minute ride to the resort.  We checked out the swimming pools, but they were not clean, so we headed to lunch. 

At the awesome waterfall restaurant.

It had been described to me as a "floating restaurant," but turned out to be tables in a river.  We started out sitting at the table, then Toto wanted to dip her toes in, then we peeled her down to her undies and she was full out swimming in a couple feet of water.   

The food wasn't amazing, but Toto loved it - chicken, fish, pork, and her favorite, WHITE RICE. She's a Filipina.  The total price for 2 adults and a 2-year old was P2,500 ($58).  While the rafting looked fun, Toto was ready for a car nap. 

No reservations in advance, just showed up around 9:30am.

Villa Escudero Plantations and Resort

San Pablo City, Philippines
(632) 521-0830
(632) 523-0392
(632) 523-2944

E-mail: info@villaescudero.com

Take the South superhighway and exit at 50A (Lucena, Legaspi, Batangas exit).  Turn left at the Sto. Tomas junction. Head straight down, by-passing the town of Alaminos and San Pablo City proper. Slow down upon seeing Quezon arch and turn left immediately after.

Cebu City

Although I was in Cebu for a work trip, I managed to squeeze in a little sight seeing. Side note: we stayed at the Parklane instead of the Marriott to save money. If money is not a concern for you, avoid the Parklane. There was nothing special.  And on to the sights.

Magellan's Cross is worth a stop. Wikipedia says it is cased in a protective layer because people were chopping off pieces of the wood. But my local guide said rumor had it the cross is not inside. Who knows? For a fee you can buy a candle and someone does a special dance with it to make your wish come true. I passed.  Just next store is a huge church--Basilica del Santo Niño (Church of the Holy Child)--which I did not photograph, but you can see pics and read more here. Apparently the feast every January draws more than a million and the pilgrims sleep in a park. I also heard things get a bit wild with some non-Christian type activities.

The San Diego-Yap House is an interesting place to visit, despite the lack if parking or sidewalk. For $1 a guide lets you touch all the fading antiques, but gives a good tour. Apparently the current owner still sleeps there on the weekend. And put an a/c unit in. Also the street is old. Is that why there are no sidewalks?

And non-history related, Tablea, a chocolate cage with 7 branches in Cebu is amazing. Apparently it is traditional breakfast drink and the owners are bringing back as a gourmet snack and also preserving tradition. Please come to Manila.

Japan: Kyoto

We spent 10 days in Japan. Lovely, crazy, cold, and oh so foreign Japan. It was tough to decide where to go, but we narrowed it down to Kyoto, Yudanaka, and Osaka. First stop, Kyoto.

After a quick 3 hour flight from Manila, we landed in Osaka. Getting our JR (train) passes was a major pain. It took over an hour. And this was after we pre-paid for them online. We missed our train, so grabbed some soba and beer. Which Toto loved--the soba, not the beer. And Yaya got to try chop sticks for the first time. I have to say that surprised me as she lives in the ASIA. And has travelled all over the world. But she got the hang of it pretty quick. Once we started riding trains, we fell in love. They were clean, on time, and spacious. And had vending machines. The best part was that Toto didn't have to sit if she didn't want to, which she never does.

Where we slept

Kyoto Royal Park Hotel, nice ambience in the lobby, expensive breakfast, friendly staff, cramped quarters, convenient location. But the best discovery? Heated toilet seat. 

What we did

The Shark booked us two private tours and a group tour through Tours by Locals, and we were impressed. My favorite activity was the private cooking class. We started out by shopping in the Nishiki Market, which was about a ten minute walk from our hotel. Thank god for our guide, or we seriously wouldn't have known what 90% of the food was. Most stalls had samples and I was in heaven when we hit a huge shop of dried fruit. We ended up with some cranberries, strawberries and kiwi. And an awkward encounter when I tried to buy the display items. 

Persimmons 

Then we walked over to our guide's apartment. We tried to act like we weren't staring at everything, but we were. And the toilet seat was heated there too! We had a blast learning how to make sushi rolls, spinach salad, and miso soup. And by the time we finished cooking, we were STARVING and wolfed it down.

Pretty and delicious.

Just like all the Asian tour groups we saw in Washington, DC, we had to reciprocate and joined a huge bus tour to see some palaces and temples.

Stay with your buddy and be back to your bus in 1 hour!

We spent a whole day on a private guided tour of Fushimo-Inari, a Shinto Shrine built up a mountain to honor a huge rock at the top. We walked several flights of stairs and saw smaller shrines along the way. When we came a map, our guide showed us that it is possible to go all the way to the top, and laughed as though we would even consider doing that. Then her eyes bugged out of her head when I said of course I wanted to go to the top and see that rock. So we did. And it was beautiful.

Just a few more steps...

Top o' the mountain

What we ate

As soon as we arrived we found the closest organic store and headed out to stock up on milk for Toto. It was called "Help" for reasons unknown to me and I couldn't read anything, but just felt better knowing it was a natural grocer. We got some fruit, milk, and tons of snacks. Toto ended up loving these rice crackers with seaweed. If I would have known, I would have bought 20 bags.

We had dinner twice on Pontocho, a narrow road near our hotel. Once for the best sushi ever (Kappa Zushi), and the other for an awesome Italian meal to celebrate The Shark's birthday. Yes, Italian. You can only eat so much soba and fish. On the other hand you can never get enough sake.

You'll love the food here. If you can find your restaurant.

What we saw

Kyoto did not disappoint in the blossom department. We were fortunate enough to be there for the end of the plum blossoms and the beginning of the cherry blossoms. 

The we hopped on a train to head for the mountains and meet up with Sister and her Hubby.

Learning about this country

I can count the number of cultural events we have attended in the Philippines on one hand, and I have been here for 17 months. Why? Maybe because I forget to take advantage of the country I am living in. When we are on vacation we love to go to dances, museums, plays, parks, but in Manila it just feels like "home." 

A friend recommended this show, Viva La Vida Imelda, to us last year, and we finally got around to seeing it.  We almost missed it though, it ends March 16 - but thanks to the mommy network I heard it was playing. When we arrived at the gallery, Silverlens, I was a little surprised to see the sparseness, but then I saw they had wine. 

Cheers to arts and culture.

I basically had no idea what to expect. Some Australian guys next to me (who couldn't get a cab because the cabbies refuse to battle the traffic. Um, hi, you work in Manila?) told me it was led by Carlos Celdran, the famous tour guide who gives tour in Intramuros. Which has now been added to our Philippines bucket list (still got 28 months to check those off). The actors were phenomenal and interacted with the crowd. Including The Shark. He loved it.

Better manicure than mine. By a long shot.

But the best part was that I learned a lot about Philippines history. You can read more about Imelda Marcos here. And yes, Imelda was played by a man. He was wonderful.

Somewhere you probably won't go

Have you been to Tacloban? Probably not. I did and fortunately there is a nice hotel. Where they don't know how to pour beer. But they have beer, so I forgave them. I actually spent the day in Eastern Samar. Now that's the bush, folks. Got a little taste of the "real" Philippines. When I had to go to the bathroom, I asked the driver if there was a gas station we could stop at. He just laughed.

Not a bad view. Too bad it rained the whole time I was there. But that did give me a good reason to go to the spa.

Oh, and there is a tourist attraction. The Leyte Landing Memorial, commemorating the landing of General MacArthur and the American Liberation Forces in 1944. It was quite beautiful and conveniently located next to my hotel. 

And I actually learned last night that the "Rose of Tacloban" spent part of her youth here. More to come on that cultural experience.