PAGI.
Begitu mendarat pagi di Manila, keluar bandara, langsung kena tipu sama taksi yang kasi harga super tinggi padahal jarak yang ditempuh sangat deket. Duh menyebalkan. Udah denger sih kalau musti sangat hati-hati di Manila karena kelakuan orang-orangnya mirip lah sama para calo di bandara Jakarta. Nggak nyangka aja kalo kena. Yasudahlah, waktu terlalu sempit untuk bete karena gue di Manila cuma sehari. Waktunya untuk keliling kota jadi turis! Yuk!
We stopped by in Manila for a day. When we arrived, straight away got scammed by the taxi driver. BAH! Not nice. Just be careful if you find a cab here, so you wont need to experience the same thing. Anyway, in this very short trip in Manila I thought I just needed to do some touristy things like visiting their historical site, see what kind of malls do they have and of course try their food.
Perhentian pertama ialah “Intramuros”, sebuah tempat bersejarah dan daerah tertua di Manila. Gue keliling ngeliat benteng-bentengnya, Fort Santiago, katedral, Gereja San Agustin dan taman-taman yang ada disitu. Disitu ada banyak kereta kuda yang mereka sebut ‘kalesa’, dan bentuknya lucu-lucu, jadi gue pengen nyoba untuk naik.
Supir kalesa-nya bilang harga untuk muterin “Intramuros” ialah Rp.65 ribu. Boleh lah…. Ternyata begitu kita turun, dia bilang “oiya 65 ribu itu untuk satu orang ya…jadi dikaliin aja jumlah orang berapa, jadi harga akhirnya segitu”. OMG, kena tipu lagi!!! Nyebelin banget nih, baru beberapa jam di Manila udah dikerjain dua kali. Huft. Ini jadi pelajaran untuk lebih waspada kalau lain kali ke Manila lagi.
First stop was Intramuros, “The Walled City,” the oldest district in Manila. We walked around the walls and parks, checking out Manila Cathedral, Fort Santiago, and San Agustin Church; and tried to ride on one of its horse carriages (they call it ‘kalesa’). It was fun until we got off and realized that the kalesa driver wanted to rip us off. At first he offered us a tour around Intramuros on a Kalesa ride for a certain price, P250. Then after we’re done, he asked us to pay him the exact price, per PERSON. So, if there’re 4 of us, we needed to pay P1000. Can you imagine that? We were so upset. Couldn’t believe that in just several hours in Manila, we already experienced two times ripping off cases. Arg. But apart from that, I think Intramuros was a good place to take a glimpse of historical wonders as one can walk along Spanish era streets with its 400 years old buildings and ruins; which still remain standing everywhere.
SIANG.
Dari situ kita naik taksi ke tengah kota, ke daerah terminal gitu, khusus berburu makanan pinggir jalan di Manila yang bernama BALUT.
Kapan lagi bisa makan Balut di negara asalnya, Filipina?
Anyway, balut ialah telor rebus (kadang sudah ditepungin dan digoreng). Masalahnya, telor yang dipake ialah yang hampir netas alias sudah 90% jadi anak ayam. Jadi kita makan embrio ayam gitu, lengkap dengan tulang dan bulu-bulunya. Hiyy…..Sehabis nemu balut, gue nyari sebuah resto untuk duduk manis, mesen minuman yang enak, supaya kalo tiba-tiba balutnya rasanya menjijikkan, gue bisa langsung bilas rasanya di lidah gue.
Enough with history, we headed to city center to hunt for the famous BALUT. A balut is a hardboiled egg with an embryo in it! We were really looking forward to try this unusual snack. When we finally found one street vendor who sold it, we went to a good restaurant to sit down nicely, ordered lots of sweet drinks and other food to eat just in case the balut tasted nasty.
Mari kita coba balutnya. Coba segigit… dan bener, GAK ENAK! Hahaha! Yang penting rasa penasaran gue udah ilang tentang si balut ini. ASLI GAK ENAK BANGETTT! Ampunn!!
One bite..and oh gosh, it was nasty as predicted. Haha! Once is enough! I didn’t finish mine.
Dari situ gue lanjut ke mall aja deh biar adem. Dari sekian banyak pilihan mall di Manila, gue memilih untuk makan siang di Resto Meksiko “Baja” di Greenbelt.
MALAM.
Mumpung udah ke mall, gue sekalian aja hang out sore ke malam di mall terbesar di Manila bernama “SM Mall of Asia”. Sebenernya gue paling pantang di negara orang ngabisin waktu di mall. Tapi agak trauma nih di Manila belom kelar sehari udah 2 kali di kerjain. Cari aman aja di mall ah.
Pertama, gue makan disebuah resto bernama “Dennis the Grill Boy”. Ah, enak banget nih ‘Annie’s Lechon Kawali’ di Dennis. Harus gue mention. ‘Lechon Kawali’ adalah babi goreng garing ala Filipina yang super bikin nagih. Kriuk kriuk. Olahan babi di Filipina emang enak! Harus gue akui itu.
Selain makan, kebetulan pas kita dateng di Mall of Asia ini ada cara perlombaan musik yang dilanjutin sama pesta kembang api selama setengah jam penuh~ Keren deh! Jadi kedua, ya gue sibuk nontonin kembang api yang cakep. Ketiga, gue main bowling beberapa ronde sampe capek. Udah lama nggak main bowling jadi seneng bisa main lagi. Keempat, menutup kegiatan 24 jam di Manila, gue nonton film “John Carter” di bioskop layar gede IMAX (kebetulan di Jakarta belom ada). Very nice.
From there we hit the malls. We chose Greenbelt for a good lunch at “Baja” Mexican Restaurant and then enjoyed our Filipino cuisine dinner at “Dennis the Grill Boy” in SM Mall of Asia. Oh man, you should try their ‘Annie’s Lechon Kawali’. It’s crispy and so so good. I like pork dish in the Philippines! Anyways, we were lucky because there was an International Pyromusical Competition and a firework display at the Mall of Asia that night, so we squeezed ourselves in and enjoyed such spectacular fireworks show after dinner. We continued our night with a couple rounds of bowling and ended it with watching Disney’s “John Carter” movie at the mall’s IMAX studio. Thanks Manila for quite an interesting day.
Well, hari yang cukup menarik, 24 jam di Manila. Dikibulin dua kali, makan Balut, dan jadi anak mall. Heheh Sampai ketemu lagi Manila!
a day without a new lesson is a day wasted –
oliveatuputty.com/blog – @shiningliv
