We woke up in the morning with a hunger for a traditional Filipino breakfast. Where better to find it than at Aristocrat's. A Philippine restaurant that has been serving Filipino favorites since the 1930's. After breakfast we went to go do some sight seeing. We walked from the Malate district to Rizal Park to view the Rizal monument and gardens. The Rizal Monument is a dedication to Dr. Jose Rizal. The person responsible for igniting the spark which launched a Philippine revolution against Spain who controlled the Philippines for nearly 3 centuries. It was at that spot that he was executed by Spanish soldiers. The monument contains the remains of the Philippine hero. Nearly every city and town in the country has a street dedicated in his name. We spent nearly 2 hours exploring the grounds and then decided to head to the Intramuros district, which was established in the mid 1500's.
That particular day seemed to be extremely hot and after walking the 3km to Intramuros, we (Lori especially) were dripping with sweat and weak with dehydration. We took shelter and basked in the air conditioning at a local convenience store and drank as much water as we could stand. The Intramuros district was originally a Spanish stronghold and neighborhood to the ruling classes. We walked the streets toward Fort Santiago, the seat of Spanish military power in The Philippines. We walked the grounds of the Fort and checked out the old military barracks and dungeon where prisoners were slowly drowned from water seeping in through the walls. It is also the place where Jose Rizal was put on trail and imprisoned the days before his execution.
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Afterwards, Galen flagged and negotiated a couple tricycles to take us to a 7-Eleven nearby to chill out and grab a snack. Since Greg and I were a bit heavier customers we were sort of left behind in the other tricycle driver's dust.
Once there, we filled up on 32 ounce fountain Gatorades and tried their Sho bao. Sho bao is a sticky bread bun with barbequed pork or chicken inside. They had a giant air conditioner which we enjoyed standing directly in front of to gain the full effect.
We headed to the Intramuros city garrison and watched the famous Manila sunset sitting on top of the one walls. As day was turning into night we realized all the walking around was making us hungry, so we headed to back to Robinson's Mall and had dinner at a Shabu-Shabu restaurant that we were eyeing the day before.
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We were seated at Table 11 - a special number for us if you don't already know. The Shabu Shabu was good and basically what we had expected. Meat and veggies are served raw and there is a pot of boiling water that you personally cook everything in for about 10-15 seconds with sauce provided for dipping. After dinner we stopped in the local supermarket to purchase snacks for the trip and toiletries, most importantly toilet paper! We realized pretty quick that we had to bring TP where ever we went. The hostels and occasionally some public restrooms do not provide toilet paper. We never valued it so much until our trip!
Back at Malate Pensionne we went to use their showers and killed some time before heading to the bus station. It was so convenient to have a Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf in the same building as the Pensionne where the coffee was great and the AC plentiful. Lori took a nap in the comfy chair in the lobby. Afterwards we headed to the Victory Liner Bus terminal around 10pm to catch our bus to Baguio City at 11:55. We boarded the bus and slept nearly the whole way until the bus driver began picking up hitchhikers! Every half hour or so the bus came to a sudden halt to let on folks trying to get a ride to Baguio City. Needless to say the sleep we did manage to get was pretty restless. Baguio City is the gateway to the high mountain provinces of The Philippines, and as we began to gain altitude the sun was rising. We were rewarded with a some great panoramic scenery of the mountains, which was just a tiny taste of some of the amazing views that we were going to encounter later in our trip as we headed further north from Baguio.
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