It turned out all the things that I thought would result in a Twin Peaks dwarf speaking in reverse kind of experience, were just great experiences.
My son’s spring break came three weeks after my daughter’s, so, to be fair, he was due an adventure of his own. He had no idea where we were off to, and I strongly suggested that he was going to Siberia, where he would defend himself in the forest with a fingernail clipper and turn-out file. But, that wasn’t the real plan. What I had in store instead, I hoped, would be much more Felliniesque.
I wanted to hit the ground running, so after dropping our bags off with the hotel concierge, we went to the historic area of Manila called Intramuros. It is a beautiful part of the city, located within the old fort walls, with narrow cobblestone streets, churches, and parks that are a must-see for history buffs. We chose a slightly different, but informative, kind of tour. White Knight E-Chariot Tours (General Luna Street corner, Urdaneta St, Intramuros) offers historic tours of Intramuros on either Segways or ATVs. We opted for the one-hour Segway tour, which turned out to be an excellent choice.
The next day, Monday, started with laser tag at the Market Market mall (McKinley Pkwy, Taguig) in Fort Bonifacio. LaserXtreme has a large game arena with lots of obstructions and hiding places to wage battle, and we did. But the extreme adventure of the day came later with our ghost hunter tour. You read correctly – we were going ghost hunting.
I am a fan of ghost-hunting television shows, which I watch mostly when I’m traveling. So my interest was piqued when I learned that there are ghost investigators who offer tours in the Philippines. The fact that my son hates these kinds of television shows, (which would make the tour that much more interesting) made it a top priority for his “Dad’s trying to mess up my spring break" trip. Holy week made arrangements a bit complicated, but Anton from Profilers of the Unknown managed to schedule an evening of excitement and intrigue. The tour, with travel time, took about three hours, and my son and I had an absolute blast. Well, I had a blast and he summed his experience up with, “what have you gotten me into?” I don’t think we saw any spirits, although my EMF meter spiked a couple of times, but the tour was awesomely spooky!
Tuesday night brought us to the site that one travel program announced was one of ten places every traveler needed to visit before they died; the Hobbit House (1212 Arquiza Trade Center M. H. Del Pilar St, Ermita ) in Manila. And so we did. I had no idea what to expect, but was pretty confident that the experience of dinner and entertainment with dwarfs would be uncomfortable for my son; but I was completely wrong. We were greeted by a "little person" (their reference, not mine) in the parking lot who invited us into the establishment, which we entered through a round-shaped door. The restaurant was decorated with JR Tolken’s Hobbit/Lord of the Rings-inspired artwork. Our waiter, Ron Ron, was not only an excellent waiter but a really nice guy to talk with. The live music, covers of 70s folk songs, was excellent and to my great surprise, so was the food. In the end, the experience turned out to be all-around very good and one of my son’s favorite of the trip. Two thumbs up, I’d say.
Wednesday took us back to the Market Market mall where we had yet more laser tag, which included our driver this time. I had the chance to climb the Camp Sandugo rock wall. The wall is about four or five stories high, and the experience is quite inexpensive and a lot of fun.
Then, after dinner with friends at one of my favorite Spanish food restaurants in metro Manila, La Tienda (43 Polaris St., Bel-Air), we headed back to Fort Bonifacio to the Fort. More specifically, the Imperial Ice Bar (5th Avenue Corner 26th Street, Taguig) at the Fort. Within the upscale bar is a bar constructed entirely of ice; chairs, bar, shot glasses, etc. The bar provided heavy coats, but they weren’t enough to keep us in the freezer for more than five minutes. I guess my son and I are tropical boys to the core. Still, the ice bar was cool (sorry, that was too easy) and a nice reprieve from the heat of Manila.
My son and I had a most excellent spring break adventure in Manila. It turned out all the things that I thought would result in a Twin Peaks dwarf speaking in reverse kind of experience, were just great experiences. And, my son appreciated that.
Travel notes: the currency exchangers at the airport in Manila offer pretty good rates; certainly better than the hotels do. Also, while you’ll have a number of taxis to choose from, I have had the best luck with the metered taxis at the metered taxi stand right out front of each airport terminal. And always write down, or take a photo with your phone, the taxi cab information painted on the doors inside the cab, in case you run into trouble with the taxi, or forget something in it. On a different note, if you, like me, tip when you've received great service, you should be aware that in the Philippines tips in the bill folder generally go to the house. So if you would like to reward your server give them the tip directly. For more on tipping point your browser here.
(The photo of me on the Segway was taken by my son; all copyrights to the photo are reserved.)
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