My Auntie and Uncle came to pick us up at the hotel and took us around an area of Manila that contains the history of the Philippines. The place is called Intramurous and was a colony of the Spanish empire. This was evident from the style of the buildings as they had more of a European feel than Asian.
We took a Kalesa (horse and carriage) around the area and learned about the Spanish influence on the Philippines. By the way, our horse was called WOW 🙂
We wove in and out of the streets and came across the brass portraits of all Philippine presidents, as seen below. Duterte – the current president – is a bit of a controversial one:
Lunch was at a Filipino restaurant where we ordered Lumpian, Pancit, Adobo, sweet and sour fish, beef, and Puto. There was a LOT of food but I enjoyed every minute as it’s not very often I have all my favourite dishes in front of me.
After this insane feast we headed north towards my grandmas house, but no trip is complete without a stop at my favourite floating restaurant, Isdaan. I love it here because it’s a combination of Thai and Philippine cultures, it’s floating, and there are random Disney characters dotted around the place. Of course we had only just eaten our big lunch so we stopped here only for Halo Halo.
We arrived into the province early evening and met up with my grandma and uncle at a seafood restaurant. We ordered the set meal for 10 people (even though there was only 6 of us) and enjoyed a variety of dishes once again. I was just super happy to be with family that I hadn’t seen in so long.
