May 17, 2012.
I had just woken up from
five hours sleep when the plane started to land. I looked through the window,
excited to see NAIA again. A bright morning it was! The flight attendant
welcomed us in Filipino and the only word I understood was mabuhay. I shared a high-five with my best friend Annisa as we
stepped outside.
Philippines, here we come!
It was our second time
there. We both came to Philippines in November last year; on a different
day, though. Annisa was there by herself while I came two weeks later
with a friend. My previous trip to Philippines was AWESOME, not only
because I won a quiz to go there by The Kitchen Musical, but also because I met wonderful friends there.
NAIA that morning was not busy.
Annisa and I passed the Immigration Checkpoint practically in no time. We took
pictures, mostly with It’s More Fun in
Philippines banners as the background. Right after that, we looked for a
cab to take us to Fersal Hotel.
This trip was meant to be a
surprise. It was a sudden plan, too. We planned to tell our Filipino friends –
Angel, Chloe, and Shiela – on the day we arrived, but we could not keep the
secret for we were too excited. Few days before the day, we told them about our
visit. Unfortunately, it seemed like not only us who had a plan, they had one,
too. Angel had archaeology field trip in Batangas while Shiela wanted to spend
the weekend with her dad who had just arrived from South Korea. I was glad that
Chloe said she could meet both of us.
I made it for fun :)
We took an airport cab to
Fersal. Later we realized it costed three times regular price. Too expensive!
It was worse that the driver didn’t know where Fersal was. We kept repeating
the address to him, and he still didn’t know the place. He asked people, but
didn’t get the right answer. We got lost instead. As we knew, Fersal was near
Eurotel Cubao Hotel, so we ended up there. Eurotel was familiar for me since I
stayed in that hotel in my previous visit. Asked for direction from a right
person, we walked to Fersal for about fifteen minutes. Tiring, especially with
heavy backpack I carried.
I always throw a tantrum
everytime I’m hungry. In the afternoon that day, I went to Gateway Mall to have
lunch, left Annisa that was prefer sleep to eat. Gateway is in a same area with
Eurotel, I could reach it on foot.
After having lunch, I
wandered around Gateway before I spent my time in FullyBooked – my favorite
bookstore there. Then I saw them, Annisa and Chloe. They already knew I was in
FullyBooked. I waved my hand, smiled, and walked to their way.
I remembered the first time
I met Chloe. It was awkward. Now that I met her again, I could be more
relaxed. Moreover, I had Annisa with me. There would be no awkward silence.
She’s fluent in English. She could translate whatever I wanted to say. I would
never get lost with her.
As I expected, I didn’t talk
much. The only question I asked to Chloe was silly I was surprised with her
answer.
The three of us went to a
cafe to have some drinks. I had hot chocolate with me. And oh, I finally took a
picture with Chloe! We had not had a chance to take a photo together in our
first meeting. I had a picture with Angel, Shiela, and now it’s complete with
me with Chloe.
From the cafe, we went to TimeZone.
We played basketball and I just could put one
shoot into the ring. Not my fault, the ring was too high *poker face*. Chloe ruled
with the most points. When Annisa knew I got two points only, she kindly
suggested me to try basketball for kids.
I just gave her a polite smile with ‘thanks but no thanks’ look.
It was not only basketball,
we played many games I didn’t know the name. We once had karaoke too, and I chose
a random song by accident. That was the only awkward moment so far. It was
getting more awkward when Annisa and I tried to sing the lyric, adjusted it
with the music. It failed. Neither of us knew the song, so we finally gave up
and waited until it finished. But hey, we got our spirit back by shooting
enemies with a big black gun (in a game, of course). We played quiz too with
two other people. It was fun!
We had a great time that
evening!
Starbucks became our next
stop. We talked while people-watching. I was tired but happy.
Annisa's enjoying her Strawberry Frappuccino at Starbucks
“Why do you always have good words to tweet? I really like following your tweets.”
That was my second question
to Chloe. She really has the ability to play with words. She could make a tweet
about waking up in the early morning became more interesting by putting ‘zombie’
in it. She could use a weird yet smart metaphor when talking about a simple
common thing like headache.
“Because I read books.”
That was her answer. Lovely!
Before went home, Chloe gave
us a quick warm hug. She insisted to accompany us for a while longer though I
knew she was a bit unwell. The end of this first day reminded me why I liked
Philippines. I felt the same feeling like when I met Angel or Shiela and the
other HardCorrFans friends. And if I have to resume that feeling into a word, I
would choose warm for the answer.
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