Day Five - 14th February

Not a massive day today which was nice, I like getting out and doing things but it was also nice to slow it down a little (something Bert and I are not very good at).

We started by coming to our “usual” mall for our Shakey’s brunch and to pre-pay for the photos due to how many we’re having printed. The first thing when we stepped out of the hotel though was this super cute little boy came RUNNING up to us and try sell us some cloths. They were actually pretty good looking cloths, but it’s generally not the best plan to buy things in that manner so we said no. It makes you feel bad saying no to everyone when they’re asking for help or to sell things in effort to make ends meet - especially seeing as such a large reason we’re here is due to our nature to want to help - but it can make things worse and more dangerous if you agree to it. This morning on our way out, I wondered if we’d meet the same little boy but instead we met the couple who we previously saw sleeping by the intersection. The lady said hi to Bert, asked him if I were his wife, then asked him to bring them food when we come back. Whether we do or not is our current conundrum. Anyway, I digress.

We then got a Grab to Ayala Central Bloc (I struggle to spell it without the “k” but that was its name!). This mall… not my fave. It was much less cleaner than the other malls we’ve visited and the stores weren’t as good. We were there to try find Warhammer items for Nathan but the store that Google said had Warhammer sadly didn’t have any other than paint and I’m not keen on transporting paint in my luggage. We had a Japanese Soufflé pancake for a quick snack (she wouldn’t let us eat it until she set it on fire though). We also had a really nice Grab driver on the way to this mall - he was happy to chat which we appreciated. Turns out the drivers do actually get to keep a reasonable percentage of the ride fares but he rents the car from someone to do this job so that has to come out of his earnings too.

Getting back to the hotel was an unexpected challenge - Saturday night plus Valentine’s Day… we really should have been expecting the difficulty actually. Bert eventually managed to get a Grab ride accepted with a 17 minute wait for the driver. Out of curiosity, we signed me up to the app to see if I could get one sooner. It took quite a bit of time to get signed up but once I was in, I was able to get a driver who was 4 minutes away - a relief, seeing as we had a 6pm dinner reservation!

Once back at the hotel we went up, dumped our bags, then quickly headed back downstairs to the restaurant. They really went all out for Valentines! The restaurant was packed, everything was love-themed with heart cakes etc. At one point we realised a waiter was dressed as Cupid, but it took us a little bit too long to realise he was Cupid and not a Roman soldier. Same thing, I’m sure.

After dinner we watched a bit more TV. Then suddenly Bert turned it off and suggested we go to bed because I had “fallen asleep”. Maybe I was just concentrating REALLY hard on what the brides were saying on Married at First Sight?! Definitely wasn’t asleep though. I would never…