mabuhay 3G....

Finally. I’ve paid all my sleep-deprived days during my Manila trip recently. It’s my first overseas trip and it coincides with the SEA Games in Manila. Thus, for my procrastination, I have to be there 8 days 7 nights instead of just 3 days and 2 nights. If it wasn’t because of ASCOPE, I wouldn’t thought of Manila as my holiday destination. Yikes, that’s how low my perception on Manila.
The city is not so bad actually. Days before my trip, I surf the net for halal food in Manila. I saw only one and I don’t know where it is. They also have tight security, checking every vehicle before entering hotel’s compound. I stayed at New World Renaissance hotel together with KT and managed to secure connecting rooms.
During check-in at the hotel, I was confused with the hotel staff’s behaviour. They wanted to take our bags away while they shooing us to check in. Me being overly protective of our belongings, of course refused to let them took our bags away. Until they got exasperated, went off to their security office, fetched their huge dog and walked towards us. Oopss!! They made the dog sniffed and circled our bags twice just to be sure. I think they’re suspicious of us already.
Then, their staff whisked us to executive floor and check us in after that pull and push drama of bags, hahaa ! I nearly kissed SS for booking us in at Renaissance cos I get to collect my hotel points and is situated in front of Greenbelt shopping strip equivalent to KL’s Lot 10, Starhill and BB triangle.
My main problem here in Manila is halal food. Filipinos love pork more than the chinese everywhere in the world. So, I was so down looking at those normal food served at the breakfast buffet table. I saw hash brown but beside it, is fried bacon. I wanted soft-boiled eggs but I don’t like the colour of their eggs. It’s white and not light brown like we used to have here in Malaysia, telur itik kot.. I saw noodles but they have pork bits in their soup. Their salads have crispy bacon bits, aarrgghh !!
In the end, I just took the plainest bread and ate it with canned tuna brought from home. Before that, I already make myself hot maggi cup in the room before going to breakfast buffet just in case.. My favourite drink is their freshly brewed coffee exclusively served at the Executive Lounge and I can even have it take away, yee haa !! Every night; KT, TZ and me will sit in my room, ordered plain steamed rice and ate it with our sambal bilis and rendang.
Once, we went to Hossein’s for an Indian food dinner. 2 nights later, our country office’s head took us to a seafood restaurant. Filipino’s cooking style is quite bland, so we ordered cut bird chillies on the side to spice things up. That’s my first time eating a lobster too. Tapi..tapi..the cook dah cut up the lobster in small pieces. Baru ingat nak ambil gambar lobster as a whole, potoing la itu steam !!
Work-wise, we went to the convention center where the exhibition were to be held almost every day before the opening day to oversee the progress of our contractors. It’s quite big, about 90 sq ft, has 4 wall panels containing company’s info portal, VIP section where there is a small discussion area for visitors to be entertained by our business reps, 2 plasma TV for us to play our corporate video and nice water feature to soothe our senses.. We also offer refreshments to our visitors, mcm best la konon..
Our booth is between PNOC and Technip. Twice daily, PNOC will hold dance show for visitors and that brings cheer to the drab and dry exhibition, certainly it was for me. On the second day, one of the girls slipped from her mate’s grip and suffered some bleeding head. The next day, she was dancing away happily and wore bandanna to conceal her bandaged forehead.
I made lots of friends among exhibitors and received quite few of impressive corporate goodies. Thailand of course had their corporate goodies made by their famed Jim Thompson but I don’t like their elephant prints. Thank god, it’s a memo holder. I also have a calculator in the form of a handphone and leather name card holder. Selamburger gave away Swiss-Army knife but I didn’t get the chance to ask for it. I was quite amazed how did they managed to get those knives inside the convention centre.
Shopping-wise, it’s a 3G experience. Our hotel is in the middle of shopping strip - Greenbelt and Glorietta. They are divided into 4 sections - Greenbelt 1, 2, 3 and 4. Same goes for Glorietta 1, 2, 3 and 4. There is also The Landmark where I bought Phillipines’ banana-fibre top and SM supermall which I don’t have the chance to go. Apart from these, we also went to Greenhills for some cheap pearl and crystal accessories. Greenhills is only 20 mins away but with traffic jam, it becomes 1 hour away. Greenhills is where my trip mates go crazy over pearl and crystal items. I don’t buy much because I know my in-laws in Penang will not be impressed with pearls and crystals. So, I just buy few bracelets and necklaces. Oh, I lost my way there in Greenhills, terasa nak tergugur jantung masa back track from where I started. I also went to Levi’s cooperative shop for their employees and bought my husband Dockers for a song. For chelie, sorry la I tak dpt cari dockers utk laki u, tak ada size laa...
My off mate bought herself a handphone for rm1039 but when I saw the same thing here, it’s cheaper by rm300, hmm not much difference..kalau beza rm900, I will knock my head to the wall. Most US brands are cheaper in Manila like Kenneth Cole, Calvin Klein, Anne Klein and Nine West too but tak byk diff sgt, maybe rm300+ like that. Maybe if it’s on xmas sale, it will go cheaper by the dozen, hahaa !! Surprisingly, Marks & Spencer pun murah.. So I bought one white shirt just to finish my peso on the last day..when I checked out the shirt here, wah tak de la that style, fiuh lega...
I was also impressed with wacoal, those ridiculously priced at rm229 or rm339 is actually rm70 there...aisey man, nasib baik peso tinggal sikit, kalau tidak...memang ku borong semuanya.. Kad pun tak leh pakai cos dah max out my credit limit, hehee..my nicotine addict friends disappointed that I tak ingat nak belikan diaorg marlboro, it’s rm15 per carton... aiyooo sorry la, tak teringat beb !!
Branded goods are much better bought in KL compared to Manila like gucci, prada and burberry.. Tapi I dapat rasakan, Bangkok will be much cheaper.. Other things yg I tak berapa minat pasal Manila is their security paranoia. They broke my luggage lock just to check my luggage yg cuma ada wayar2 notebook and masa nak balik KL, they asked me to open my hand luggage yg juga cuma ada wayar2 notebook dan handphone charger..tapi I ada amik gambar dgn anjing sekuriti cos nampak macho and berbudi bahasa pulak, making me miss my cats back home..