Catch-up: Manila

About 1 1/2 hour - 2 hours south of Manila, you will hit the town of Tagaytay, Santa Rosa, and Batangas. You see more green, a slower pace of life than the city life. Around these towns, you will encounter Mount Makiling (see above), a volcanic mountain known for its hot springs.  There are many hot spring resorts in the area, but I didn't try it this time. I had a quick lunch from Henlin - a dim sum franchise. I had gulaman drink (sweet jello drink), shrimp & veggie shumai with a little twist of calaminsi (filipino lemon) and a drizzle of chili in soy sauce. I wish I had a few more.

Did I mention, Manila is full of malls? I was in the heart of Manila, specifically Makati City. It is the upscale part of town for dinner. There are plenty of expats, hotels, and infamous shops, and offshore employers, such as the UN office, in the area. Below is the high end Peninsula Hotel. My family & I had dinner at Greenbelt 5 (another extremely huge shopping, restaurant & movie theater complex).

Walking around the complex, you can find a variety of international cuisines - American, Korean, Japanese, Italian, Spanish & at top left, my favorite cuisine, Mediterranean. When I saw the Korean place, I was craving for K-food, but considering the taste palate of my group, I opted out for it. In the middle of this huge complex, there was a waterfall garden area packed with young people - smoking, drinking, and just hanging out. Despite the late night (9pm - late for them), Starbucks never seem to run out of customers.

  For another day, I visited the Alabang Town Center (ATC). Alabang is located in the heart of Muntilupa, the suburbs of Manila. With Spanish-styled architecture, ATC is full of exported products such as keds, Gap and Aerosoles, as well local fares.

Here is the front end of the mall.

At ATC, I always visit - Gerry's Grill, well-known for grilled meats & fish. For lunch, I had grilled fish, calamari and beef and vegetable soup, with calamansi (filipino lemonade) and rice. The grilled meats are awesome. The beef soup was little bit salty, but good enough. You always have to have room for dessert. Family opted for halo-halo (below right). Halo-halo means everything mixed. It's a mixture of white & red beans, green/white/red jello, purple yam ice cream, rice crispy, coconut slivers, and a piece of flan in shaved ice and evaporated milk. It's the perfect treat for the warm weather of the Manila.

I threw in this picture because, in Manila there are barely any street lights in street intersections. The first thing I learned upon arriving in Manila is... when traffic slows down or there's a space, be brave & cross quickly. By the way, vehicles don't stop for pedestrians. In some areas, as a solution, pedestrian overpasses were build. But it sure looks freaky - like someone can jump on you anytime in that overpass. But I got this nice street view of Alabang.

 For the last night before my flight home to New York, I had a family dinner at Tagaytay. This province area is know for it's cool weather, so unlike Manila. It drops down to the 70's & you would actually need a jacket or sweater instead of sweating it out in Manila. It is also known for hills with a view of Taal Lake, a lake that holds an active volcano. Photo credit to Jeff Shea.

Because of traffic and we thought it's an additional parking space, we drove into this little path that brought us down a dark hill and a restaurant at the back end of another restaurant off Tagaytay Highway. Taalena, was what we discovered. We arrived a little late in the evening, but it raves for its view of Taal Lake and the towns around it. All I saw were lights from homes that looked like stars covering the dark expansion. It was COLD and breezy!

This is calamansi, a local fruit and acts as the English version of lemon. In the southern province, it is used as a condiment - a mixture of chili pepper, a squeeze of calamansi and soy sauce. It is used to add flavor to soups and dipping sauces to fish and meats.

For a party of 12, we had orange soda (Royal), calamari, plain rice, java rice (orange rice)....

with local grilled fish...

 and local grilled squid, chicken and pork...

 and yes, this is what happens to good food... Ah!


For someone who had live most of my life in the U.S., this trip enabled me to learn and further discover the culture of my people, and what each "neighborhood" or town offers.  There are more things I wish I could discover about my country and I definitely look forward to the next time I have the opportunity to do so.