Adventures with my Cousins - Part I

My cousins from Cebu, Fritz and Nicole, and her boyfriend Eric are in Manila right now for a two-week vacation. And this means only one thing: non-stop gimiks and fun! When I first learned that they were coming for a visit, I was uber excited. I haven't seen Nicole for two years, while my last encounter with Fritz was eight years ago! He was barely in his teens then, and now he's 20! How time flies. . . tumatanda na ako. Haha.

So now that the cousins are reunited (and finally met Eric, who is a nice guy and perfect for my cousin), we made a mad dash to the "tourist spots" of Manila, Cavite and Laguna for that perfect cousin bonding.

First stop: Rizal Park, Rajah Sulayman Park and Baywalk. What better way to start our sight-seeing by paying a visit to our national hero, Jose Rizal? I know, you may think na ang corny ko naman para dalhinsila sa Luneta. But since they haven't been to Luneta and it was Eric's first time to visit Manila, I couldn't pass up the chance to let them experience the real feel of the city. Jologs na kung jologs. Hehe. So, there we had our first photo op with Rizal at the background.

Before going to Baywalk, we made a detour to Rajah Sulayman Park in Remedios St. Took more photos there with Rajah Sulayman's monument in the background.

Finally, we went to Baywalk for some rounds of beer, pulutan and kwentuhan. We stayed at the Anthology Bar area. They had cool native beds, instead of tables and chairs. Very similar to Fuzion in Greenbelt. While drinking beer and eating cheese sticks and nachos, we were able to catch up on each others' lives and reminisce about the times when we would all spend summer together in Cebu or here in Manila. Sigh, it was just great to spend time with them again.






Second stop: Enchanted Kingdom. The next day, we went to Enchanted Kingdom in Sta. Rosa, Laguna (see, we didn't waste any time. ) After weeks of pressure and tons of workload in the office, I was just too happy to kick back, relax and have some kiddie fun for a change. =)

Third stop: Tagaytay. The whole family went to Tagaytay to treat our cousins and Eric to some more sight-seeing (and more photo shoots). It was the perfect afternoon to go to Tagaytay as it was sunny but not too hot at the same time. During the trip, we were all in high spirits. Maybe because it was nice to spend some quality time with the family. Even the grueling Tagaytay traffic could not dampen our mood. Finally arriving in Tagaytay, we decided to go to Leslie's for good food and a good view of the Taal. And us being an "eating family", we ordered their lunch feast for ten persons. . . never mind that it was 4:00 in the afternoon or that we just had lunch before leaving the house. Lafang kung lafang. Haha. So for me, goodbye to my no-rice diet, as we ate crispy pata, calamares, pinakbet, chicken barbecue and of course, Leslie's specialty, bulalo. Take note, I couldn't resist the bone marrow, and had to even ask Jerome for more!Argh!

Fourth stop: Glorietta, Landmark, Greenbelt and Greenhills. Yan ang tinatawag na mall tour. Hehe. Since my tito and tita needed to look at some paintings in Makati for their new home, we decided to go with them. We just walked through the malls of Makati, then after that, headed to Greenhills for some real shopping. We poured over rows and rows of bags, shoes, t-shirts, blouses, jeans, skirts, accessories and other kikay stuff. After hours of walking through the stalls of Greenhills, I only went home with one kikay necklace. Ang hirap talaga ng walang pera. Haha.

To be continued...