The weather and mood are at their peak from the morning on the second day in Manila, 2019/8/18【60】

It's my first morning in Manila.

Yesterday, the roads were filled with cars, but this morning is very quiet. Is it because it's morning? Or because it's Sunday? Above all, it's safe to walk.

I was able to sleep well on a more comfortable bed than I thought, and it was a pleasant morning with good weather.

I decided to have breakfast at a nearby Starbucks. I entered about 30 minutes after opening, but there was only one customer. All three staff members were friendly, I liked the stylish interior, and decided to have my morning meals here during my stay.

I received my order and went to the second floor seating. The menu was American coffee and French toast. The coffee was satisfying as usual. The French toast seemed to come in a set of two slices. It came with jam, butter, and honey, and I was very satisfied with both the quantity and taste. (I brought my own water.)

After finishing eating, I was thinking about the plans for the day while drinking coffee. I could see the entrance from the second floor, but no customers were coming in. Instead, I enjoyed listening to the lively conversation of the staff.

I left Starbucks, returned to the guesthouse once to get ready, and went out again.

I used Grab from the guesthouse to go to "Market! Market!" It's a huge shopping mall.

Outside the shopping mall, there was an area selling fruits. It's full of tropical fruits.

This shopping mall has 4-5 floors with fashion, electronics, restaurants, cinemas, and more.

I walked around to see everything, and it took about an hour just for that.

I didn't feel like shopping in particular, so I left the mall without buying anything and decided to stroll around nearby.

This area is known as Bonifacio Global City, commonly referred to as BGC, and it's very clean and organized. It seems to have better security compared to Makati.

It was around noon, but there were hardly any people walking around. I walked on clean roads after a long time and realized again that it was a great morning.

I was thinking of taking a break with some coffee, but Starbucks was closed...

Here's the translation of the provided Japanese text into English: ---

Although there are many shops and a modern cityscape, there are parks and nature everywhere, which made me think it would be a comfortable place to live.

Having walked around since morning, I decided to have lunch. I remembered a recommendation from a Filipino acquaintance, the Halo-Halo at "Chowking", and headed to a nearby shop. However, it was closed that day. Although there were other various shops, I really wanted to try it, so I decided to walk to another branch, which I think took about 20 minutes.

I ordered a set menu of fried chicken, Pancit Canton (Filipino-style fried noodles), and Halo-Halo.

The fried chicken was oily and tasted average. It's probably the chicken anyone would imagine. The Pancit Canton was neither particularly delicious nor bad.

And then the recommended Halo-Halo. It was delicious. It wasn't overly sweet as is common with overseas desserts, it felt like a mix of shaved ice with ice cream, pudding, and jelly. However, thinking about it now, it might have been average. The Halo-Halo I had at another shop was much tastier.

After finishing lunch, I walked back to the city center.

I was looking for Wifi to call a Grab to return to the guesthouse, but couldn't find any, so I took a break at a stylish cafe.

It's a coffee shop called "Arabica" with a prominent % logo. The coffee was simply delicious.

While drinking coffee inside, I asked the staff for the Wifi password and connected, but the connection speed was too slow to be usable. The shop was always full of customers, so maybe everyone was connected? I gave up on Grab and caught a passing taxi instead.

As a result, I was able to ride for about half the price of the trip there. I was scared of being overcharged by local taxis, but depending on how you use them, they can be cost-effective, which I came to appreciate. This would come into play later...

I had them drop me off at Greenbelt, which I had visited the previous day. Even though I had only been there once, strangely, I felt at ease in the familiar place.

I entered a cafe again to think about where to go next. It's a chain called "Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf". Since I couldn't use the internet, I was looking at Google Map and decided to head to a place that caught my eye.

I headed to "Little Tokyo", about a 20-minute walk from Greenbelt. It's an area lined with Japanese restaurants.

I went to a famous massage shop in this area. It was a budget foot massage for about 1000 yen per hour, but it was refreshing and felt good.

After finishing the massage and stepping outside, it had gotten dark. I walked from Little Tokyo towards Greenbelt, and while heading back to the guesthouse, I decided to buy dinner.

First, I bought some potato chips and an apple at FamilyMart.

I felt a vitamin deficiency, so I ate the apple first. It was the first time I saw it sold cut like this. I chose a popular brand of potato chips in the Philippines that I had researched beforehand. They were tasty.

There was also a night market near the guesthouse. There were skewers and seafood available, and they would grill it in front of you. I didn't dare to try due to questionable quality control, but it was bustling with locals at night.

Next, I bought a green smoothie, some Mister Donut donuts, and a meat bun at 7-Eleven. It's nice that the paper bag is eco-friendly.

The purple cream is taro. (In the Philippines, there's a Mister Donut corner inside convenience stores.)

The filling of the meat bun is Adobo, which is sweetly seasoned pork.

Everything tasted as expected.

Lastly, I bought some fried shumai at Ministop. I didn't intend to, but they also gave me a rice ball. The amount of rice was quite a lot, and I couldn't finish it. The shumai was oily, and the taste was just average.

I was indeed full, and as soon as I returned to the guesthouse and took a shower, I went to bed.