18 December 2008
What a bummer. The ForEx Rate has gotten worse since the US Fed cut a key interest rate to almost 0%. Instead of 48-50PHP per dollar, we're now getting 46. Ay na ko!
After changing money at the Robinson's near the hotel, we walked to the National Art Museum where I took some contraband photos of the interior. Hey, at least I didn't touch any of the paintings, unlike one of the other museum patrons! Mom thinks the guy was trying to scratch the eyes from the painting because he thought the subject of the painting was watching him. Crazy dude. We saw Juan Luna's great masterpiece, "Spoliarium", and Felix Hidalgo's "Assassination of Gov. Bustamante and His Son."
We had lunch at the SM City Hall Mall. Mom and I had a great merrienda meal for 50PHP. What an awesome deal! I had a bowl of arroz caldo, a lumpia shanghai, turon, and a bottle of water for a little over a $1. Leah splurged a bit, but still spent less than $4 on her larger meal. We also had to buy another pair of shoes for me, since my shoes became too uncomfortable to wear. *Darn!*
By the time we walked to the Intramuros ("Walled City"), most of the exhibits had closed. However, we were still able to see San Agustin and the Manila Cathedral, the Church of the Immaculate Conception. San Agustin is the oldest church in the Philippines, having first been built in 1571. The current structure is actually the third church built on the site and was completed in 1607. There was a wedding about to start there, so we didn't linger long. The Cathedral is where my cousin Anselmo Ferdinand got married. While it was also grand, San Agustin felt more ornate and had a greater sense of history.
We had a really excellent dinner at Philippine Classic Cuisine (C2) that consisted of laing (a Bicolano dish of gabi leaves in coconut milk), crispy tilapia with pineapple salsa and coconut emulsion, aligue rice (rice with crabfat...yummmm), garlicky pinakbet, and pancit malabon. It was a lot of food, but we had earned it with all the walking we'd done! I also had a fantastic drink made from lime soda and salabat (brown sugar and ginger syrup that were frozen into ice cubes). We thanked the chef for the wonderful meal and walked back to the hotel, during which mom sprained her ankle. :(
We'll see more of the Intramuros tomorrow if her ankle feels better.
