  1545 hrs : Arrived at NAIA (Ninoy Aquino International Airport) at Metro Manila. I must say that the MAS pilot was really skilled. The landing was hardly bumpy. 1550 hrs : The airport wasn't as big and as modern as I expected it to be. It sort of bears resemblance to the old Subang airport that we have at home. Walking down the aisle towards the baggage claim area, Parames and I were greeted by an Amex rep holding a placard "Mr. Parames & Mr. CH Lee". It had both our sex and my name indicated wrongly. 1600 hrs : Baggage claim was quick and so was the customs. The airport actually had lanes for bussiness related flyers and thus, the line to have my passport stamped was really short, compared to the rest of the crowded ones.
Ratio was approximately 1:10. 1610 hrs : Catherine's pick-up wasn't pre-arranged by her company. She wasn't that pleased I could see. So she decides to join our pick-up and walked towards the car. As Catherine and I was fair, it attracted a lot of stares. We stuck out like sore thumb amidst the crowd of Filipinas. Parames on the other hand, was as light-chocolate-brown as them, so it didn't matter. The one thing that I noticed about NAIA's pick-up waiting area is that it was seperated by family names. They had sign like "Waiting area for family names beginning with A, B, C, D" and a few meters away another sign would have "Waiting area for family names beginning with E, F, G, H", so on, so forth.
1615 hrs : On our way to the hotel in Alabang. The Amex hired car driver (left hand drive) seems to have an ambition to be a F1 driver! He was zipping through the crowded roads and in one two many occasions, almost went head on with an oncoming car. Parames was sitting in front quietly while Catherine who was sitting behind with me cursed quietly.
I observed the town that we were passing through. The rich had their houses built with significant Spanish & Malay influence, while the poor had houses, roads & shophouses similar to any kampung ("siau-di-fang") that we have in Malaysia. The contrast is clearly visible. Catherine and I talked throughout the journey. She's a fun person. 1700 hrs : We checked in to Bellevue Hotel in Alabang, Laguna. The 2nd 5 star hotel in the area.
Catherine was trying to get a king size bed and her registration took quite some time. According to her, she needs a big bed so that she doesn't roll off. Parames and I on the other hand was busy checking for messages from Albert Escusa. Prior to this, I had no idea he was a Filipino. We had the bell-boy send the luggages to our room and tipped him 10pesos. Note: Filipinas practices tipping and their service is one of the best I've encountered so far. There is no question about their courtesy and helpfullness. 1720 hrs : We hit the malls. You can't blame us really, the biggest mall in the area was 5 minutes away and Bellevue had shuttle service. Tried to leave a message for Albert but Parames didn't want to. We were supposed to have a short meeting between Albert, Boyet (whom later I found out his last name was Dioquino while hunting for his room number) on the audit. 1730 hrs : Alabang Festival Mall - First noticeble thing. They had guards at every entrance and bags were subjected to searches. (Also forgot to mention that it is the same at Bellevue entrance). The shopping mall was big and we didn't know where to start.
Much of the stuffs that they sell can be found in KL, so we were just walking in search for something different. I found beed bags and bought 2, while Catherine got her key-chains. We walked about that decided that the supermarket would be a better place, so that we can see how different their food are. At the supermarket, the 3 of us was wondering aloud which was the best brand of dried mangoes we should buy. I remembered 7D brand from the dried mangoes that bro's friend bought for us the last time and Catherine suggested we buy one pack to try. Was also looking for coke bottle for Raj. Too bad, the cans were of different design, but the bottles were the same.
Spent money on the local cookies & junk food to bring home, and then called back to the hotel to have the shuttle bring us back for dinner (we couldn't find any good food around). 1930 hrs : It took us 5 minutes to drop our stuffs in the room and we headed out again for dinner. I wanted to try some local food, but Parames and Catherine was sceptical about it. The receptionist suggested Via Mare restaurant and to order for Crispy Pata, while the shuttle driver suggested Gerry's Grill and to order for the seafood soup & tuna belly.
We followed the latter suggestion. I also mentioned my interest in urlLink Balut ,in which the driver was too excited to get for me. Later I decided to decline the oh-so-good offer. We took at least 15 minutes to search for Gerry's Grill at Alabang Town Centre Mall. After confusing the waiter, we ended up ordering seafood soup, sisiq, tuna belly and local noodles.
Meal was wonderful! By the time we finished, most of the shops were closed. While waiting for the pick-up, I couldn't help notice how beautiful the Filipinas are, and how beautiful the mall is. 2210 hrs : Albert left a message for Parames and I to meet up for breakfast meeting at 0745 hrs tomorrow. I was thinking it would be too late for a meeting but schedule for audit was at 0900 hrs, so we're good. I was secretly hoping that the breakfast can be pushed to later hours, but I learnt in time that Albert wakes up as early as 0600 hrs, despite being jet-lagged. 2300 hrs : All clean and ready to sleep, I switched on the tv just to scroll and ended up watching till past midnight. Before sleeping I read a magazine about Philippines and found out that the sisiq I took for dinner (which I actually ranked as best dish) turned out to be pig's ear with liver. I almost threw up. Decided to switch off the lights and head to bed... 
