My Very First Bribe

Before my trip started I was worried about the fact I would probably not see a gym for months while eating lots of delicious Asian food. After 7+ hours of walking my first day that worry is pretty much gone I spent nearly 3 hours wandering around Makati and back at the hostel when I was ready to melt into a liquified pool of Christelle I heard there was a great AND free  walking tour so I of course signed up and spent nearly 6 hours around Manila with our awesome guide and some cool people from the hostel.

I learned some filipino history, then learned some geography from the islands at riza park, we watched the harbour view over our bucket of beer at a burrito place, tried adobo chicken for the first time and learned that cheese is an ice cream flavour. Then I promptly learned cheese should never be an I've cream flavour. I'm no history buff but I certainly learned a ton on that tour. I can also understand why there are so many catholics here. In WW2 during the bombing of Manila nearly all the building were destroyed and miraculously one church in Intramuros survived, the sight of that probably would have converted some people seeing it Standing among the rubble.  Plus other surviving building was the brewery which probably would've had me believing in some higher powers too!

The infamous cheese popsicle

The church that somehow survived the  1945 Battle of Manila

Later that evening I went out for drinks with two guys from  the hostel and while walking we opened a beer on our way to our next destination. Now I have so far checked with 6 Filipinos who have all said you are allowed to drink on the street, however that night some opportunistic traffic cop saw two white faces and decided to enforce this unknown rule. Ta da first bribe paid. Now let's check that off the list and avoid from having it ever happen again. At least the 500 php is only around $15 CAD....

The following day I messaged someone about couchsurfing and he responded almost immediately so I found myself spending the day with Jace, a fun guy who even has family in Canada and his current couchsurfer Sabrina who has been travelling and writing some pieces (some I've actually read) for 2 years. We hung out around Makati for a bit and ended up at Jace's house in West Rambos where he made us us a great fish dinner. Safe to say I'm looking forwards to officially couchsurfing with him tomorrow.

At the Riza monument

The Makati night market

Things I can check off my list: Paying off my first cop, eating adobo chicken,  riding in a fx taxi (basically an unmarked white panelled van taxi you jump into and share with strangers), and riding a jeepney ( crowded public transit that was built frankenstein style out of jeeps the american soldiers left behind).

Lessons learned: Manila isn't really a city, if anything it is a bunch of smaller cities (Makati, Intramuros, etc) mashed together