Day Four - 13 February

Like any good Kiwi’s abroad, we began our day with breakfast at McDonald’s. This was actually our first time having Macca’s in a really long time and seeing at they have longer breakfast hours than the hotel restaurant (Puso’s) we figured we’d give it a try. Interestingly, they only have a couple of menu items on their website, so for someone like me who can’t go to ANY restaurant without planning ahead this was a bit of a plot twist. We still got what we originally planned for though - hotcakes, eggdesal (cheese omelette, sausage patty, and a wholemeal ish bun), iced coffee (my first coffee since leaving home), and Bert got a “McDo” which honestly, not sure what it was but it seems popular here. The entire meal was approx $13 NZ.

We came back into the close mall, Ayala Centre, because there was one specific tote bag I wanted to get from the souvenir shop as a gift. I’ll tell the person who they are later as to not spoil the surprise! While we were here (yeah, I’m writing this back at Shakey’s in the same mall) we managed to find a photo shop to print some photos for our sponsored children, and then discovered there were more shops outside on the terraces… one of which was a bookstore that Google assured me sold postcards. It surprised me that for a city with so many souvenir stores, no one has postcards! Thankfully “Fully Booked” pulled through for us though.

After that, we decided to head further afield to SM City Seaside mall. It’s technically not as large as the SM City mall we went to the other day, but it was laid out a bit better which somehow although easier to navigate, made it longer to get from one side to the other. The mall knew this though so there were 3-wheel sit down scooters for hire. We tested this out but returned it pretty quickly because they’re only allowed in one specific elevator, and not allowed in any of the stores. It made it more of a hassle having the scooter than it was worth. I liked the concept though.

One almost-disaster at the mall though, and this one I should have actually remembered from Bert telling me after his last trip - public toilets are NOT as one expects. In the handwashing area there are vending machines which dispense toilet paper etc for 1 php. I didn’t notice this when I went in though so I was standing in the cubicle looking around and reading signs to ensure I was going to pee correctly (you never know, right?). One sign said to “please wipe the seat”… with what? Then it occurred to me, if there’s no paper for wiping seats, there’s no paper for wiping anything else either. Thankfully I didn’t actually need to go, and was really only going because Bert was. I headed back out to where we arranged to meet up, glancing at what appeared to be a urinal in the corner of the ladies room on my way out. I haven’t dared google that one yet. Bert then explained the TP situation but I’m still left wondering what would happen if you misjudge your TP needs and were sitting there with no supplies. I don’t intend to find out the answer to that.

On our way back to the hotel we think we might have got stuck in peak traffic, problem is there doesn’t appear to be a logical time for peak traffic so we’re really unsure on that. The roads are definitely always VERY busy, but afternoons and evenings more so. It did mean more time to take in the scenes outside the window though, and several times came across people walking through traffic selling bottled water, cigarettes, dried foods, peanuts etc. They were actually doing reasonably well too, their main buyers being jeepney drivers.

We decided to go to the hotel restaurant for dinner again and see if they vary what they put out into the buffet (they do for some items, most are staple dishes though). They had already begun setting up for Valentine’s Day so there were some nice decorations around. Turns out Valentines is massive here. Everyone is getting in on it in a huge way and the number of people walking around with flowers is impressive. We decided to make a reservation for Valentine’s dinner too, get in on some of the festivities.

Other than that, not a massive day. Today will be mall-hopping again because we’re looking for something fairly specific. Tomorrow I think we’re gathering our gifts for our sponsored children to see how much space is left in their bags before deciding what else to add (then going and buying said additions). Monday I believe we’re going on a sightseeing tour.