I have bad news for European visitors and Filipinos who travel to and from Europe and the Philippines.  We have lost our last direct flight service to Europe: the  Manila Amsterdam KLM direct flight will end by April, 2012.

The main reason for KLM’s decision is the high taxes and exorbitant fees imposed on them to operate in the Philippines.  Among these are the 2.5 percent common carriers tax (CCT) and 3 percent gross Philippine billings (GBP), which is being charged on all foreign airlines.

This is definitely not going to help boost our tourism.  Our kababayans from Europe who go back to the Philippines for a vacation certainly need to find a new airline.  I am pretty sure this would mean paying higher prices for tickets.

So what would be our options now? The top 3 choices in my quick search revealed the following carriers: Cathay Pacific, Malaysian Airlines and Singapore Airlines with option of using our local carriers PAL and Cebu Pacific to go to the hub cities such as Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore.

There have been some  unpleasant experiences I’ve had with flying KLM but still we continue using it all the time because of their unbeatable prices and a 12 hour flight is still better than having a stop over, inspite of the bad food, dirty toilets and brusque flight attendants we occasionally have to endure with KLM.  I just hope KLM will reconsider their decision. Nothing beats the convenience of a direct flight of only 12 hours to Europe.

December: We had customized cabinets done by skilled carpenters care of our local partner. The dining set and living room set we bought from Market Market also arrived. A small company Christmas dinner was held at Harborview with drinks later at a Dutch Bar in Ermita. We spent our Christmas in Baguio and New Year’s Eve in Tagaytay with my aunt’s family and MrC’s Dad.

January: We had our company outing/team building trip in Boracay At the same time we also welcomed guests from the Netherlands. MrC’s business partner decorated the office with new blinds, and a new coffee machine.

February: one member of the team had to go. It was quite difficult for MrC to let him go but it was not working out well between him and the group and he was not performing well.

March: We visited Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam and toured the region with MrC’s Dutch friend who is also an IT enterpreneur. This month marked our Manila IT Team’s first anniversary — and our meeting room now has a door. Now, interviews and meetings don’t have to take place at the nearest coffee shop. We tried searching for an iPhone developer but was not fortunate to get one. We did hire one but he backed out after working for a few days because he was overwhelmed with the work while the other one had a counteroffer from his employer. We also experienced our first earthquake at the office.

April: we went to the Province to attend the funeral of my uncle. We celebrated our team’s 1st year anniversary with a dinner at BananaLeaf and drinks at the Watering hole. We hired an 18 year old receptionist for our office who is a distant relative of mine.

May: We experienced our first all-night power outage in our house.. so HOT!! We spent the last few days of the month relaxing in a Resort in Subic. One member of the team stopped showing up and communicating so MrC had to give him an ultimatum.

June: Another programmer suddenly resigned. MrC interviewed a lot of candidates for the position he left as well as for the guy we lost last month. We started preparing for our trip to NL and my trip to the US and Canada.

July: Spent the most part of this month and June in Amsterdam, Toronto, New York (July 4 fireworks!) and Philadelphia visiting family and old friends. I also thought I could do a job hunting experiment but nothing came out of it… well, not exactly .. I brought home an iPad

August: the Receptionist is not very punctual and started missing a lot of days or taking sick leaves.. I found out from her mother that she is just being irresponsible with money and therefore did not have money for transportation to work — she also comes home late at night after partying with friends.. To say the least I told her if she doesn’t show up then she loses her job. She mistook it as me firing her so she never showed up anymore. No more receptionist then. The replacement for our Linux Admin started working for us and immediately had to deal with a server hacking situation! We renewed our lease for the house for one more year (no increase)! We like the neighborhood, and the house except for the bells that rang every 4am and 8pm and occasional morning noises. We are getting used to it though.

September: Several members of the team were promoted! We celebrated our 4 years of marriage at Sofitel’s Spiral. We renewed the lease for the office also with no rent increase!

October: Visitors from the Netherlands are here again. This time it’s someone from our client’s office, and MrC’s business partner. The talks with the business partner was cut short suddenly by a personal issue back in the NL so MrC had to travel to NL to continue his talks regarding the future of the company and also to attend to important meetings with the client.

November: More interviews taking place in the office. Good news: the developer that backed out last March — the one who had the counteroffer, expressed interest in reapplying. After a few days he signed a contract and is scheduled to start in January. MrC’s sister and his husband, brother and father are arriving in a few days. Bookings have been done for our upcoming trips to Banaue, Sagada and an R&R trip to a beach house in Batangas and a day in a nice hotel in Tagaytay. We decided to just use our one year old SUV since we will all fit anyways and just installed a roof rack for it for our luggage. No need to rent a van! We are also scheduled to have a Christmas Party at our house on the 20th of December! A big first for me and MrC!

I attended an oath taking ceremony for an old friend of mine in Philadelphia.

She, like several others here regained their Filipino citizenship back. I saw several familiar faces from my old life in the 90′s. They asked me if I was getting my dual citizenship. I told them I did it a few years ago already. The whole process of waiting took a day to finish. It’s good that we were close to Penang, my favorite Malaysian restaurant in Chinatown so we had a nice lunch there. This trip to the Center City Brings back old memories of my first job in the US. Oh well.

The following are picture of the Manhattan skyline close to sunset and
Manhattan skyline at sunset.

Crashed Attended a July 4 Party in Weehawken

and watched the Independence Fireworks. Met some really interesting folks. Parking was really difficult we even had to take a bus back to the parking garage where we parked the car. I am not really a New York type of person. My cousin loves New York City. I don’t. In the end, I thought the whole trip was tiring to me inspite of it all. New York is just too overwhelming for me. We went there a second time, to watch Rock of Ages the Musical and was able to watch it for $20 — only thing we needed to do was enter the raffle and wait there at the box office for around half an hour . It was quite easy to win because many people came in pairs or groups. If your name is called you get two tickets. My cousin won. Going home was a nightmare for me. To make the long story short, I got lost trying to find my way to my station and to my parked car. My cousin and I parted ways after watching the musical so that’s why I had to look for it alone. At first I felt ok with it since I’ve done things alone before but after this I swear I won’t try to do this thing again .. even go back to New York.. never liked it really that much…and also going to a big city alone however, if I would do it again it’s gotta be London and no driving. OK I might be dodging some stones now from the readers who love New York.

Here’s a video of the fireworks: Video of New York City July 4 Fireworks

The itinerary I chose is also somewhat wacky.  My hubby and I flew from the Philippines to Amsterdam and I stayed there for a week to attend the wedding of my sister in law.  After 5 days I knew I could only stand living there for one more day.  It seems that everytime I visit Amsterdam, I feel more and more of a stranger to the country.  What with all the stares I get and all the awkward conversations I had with both Dutch people and fellow foreigners (allochtonen) like me.  At some instance, I even had a fellow foreigner bully me into listening to her strange stories and crazy comments about me and my hubby.

When I was called for second interview right at the port of entry (and a thorough luggage search) I wasn’t surprised after telling them my weird but true story and the fact that I flew to North America by way of Amsterdam.  I knew I might trigger red flags. However,  after also spending a week with my family in Canada whom I really missed I also felt out of place and couldn’t find a quiet place to do anything worthwhile. The kids were all over the place (and all over me). I needed room to breathe.

That is why now I continued my sojourn into my past.  I found myself an affordable but comfy place right in South Jersey where I used to live.  The flight yesterday was quite painless.  The only trouble is that traveling alone without my hubby is such a chore with 2 pcs of luggage I had to roll around by myself across the Philadelphia airport towards the rental car shuttle and on towards the rental car office.    I was pretty sure my reservation said Prius or any midsize car but for some reason the agent said that is 10$ extra per day.  Are they scamming me or what?  I was too tired to argue so I just said fine whatever.  It turns out they didn’t even have a Prius. Oh well, nevermind then.  I ended up with a cute Kia Soul which I am not even sure counts as midsize.  With the insurance added, the total cost doubled.  Grr.  Can I downgrade? They said no.  Ok fine here’s my card.

Driving was so easy.  I didn’t even have to use my phone’s GPS which suddenly lost it’s voice.  It bailed out on me.  I’m just so glad I still remember the area (in general).   I used to live there back in 2002 anyways.    I arrived in the hotel without getting lost.

The (stupid)/(careless) concierge told me my name was not found in the computer.  I told her it was prepaid.  She said maybe I booked in the other branch. Duh!  I was about to show her the documents when she suddenly said she found my record.  She was looking at another date.

The room I got was fine although the TV was quite outdated and the remote not working right: every button was just adding -1 to the channel and there is no working power off button.  I decided to keep my dinner simple by buying something I like from the supermarket.  After all, I have a nice little fridge here.

I didn’t have a nice long sleep but I felt rested nevertheless.  I had free breakfast downstairs.  The breakfast was of course not remarkable.  The eggs had a weird smell to it so I kinda skipped it. They had canadian bacon though which I gladly put in between 2 slices of brown bread.  Fresh juices on the vending machine and cereals. They also had muffins too.  After that, I asked the concierge (new shift) if I could change to another room that is not adjoined (has door that opens to other room).  Creepy especially for someone alone like me.   Luckily she allowed me to move to another room.  The TV was the same, remote was the same but this time the channels can go forward and backwards.  Don’t get me wrong.  This hotel isn’t a scary bates motellish motor inn.  It’s kinda even +1 in luxury compared to Best Western: the beds were comfy, everything was also very clean and a high rise with elevators.  A plus for a security conscious and half scared / half brave adventurer like me.

I have talked to my cousin today who is currently in North Jersey and had received an invitation from a friend from the Philly suburbs for a stay this weekend.  As of now, I am still not sure whether I should go with my cousin on the 4th of July to watch the Manhattan skyline fireworks with her friends or attend a July 4 party in the suburbs.  I am partial to the fireworks but my cousin said if it’s possible I should do both.  There is another friend I contacted by email (who has a baby) but has not answered my phone calls.

I also received a short but thoughtful email from my nephew back in Canada. Today, I revisited my favorite PHO restaurant for lunchwhich MrC also liked.  The small bowl of pho was still $6.  I also tried to visit an Apple store but there was no Ipad with 3g available.  I got myself a phone mount.

Types of Resorts your would find in the Philippines

• Family resorts – these resorts should have a decent sized swimming pool for both adults and kids, sometimes they have water slides or wave pools too.  Couples or matured vacationers should learn to avoid these places if they want a quiet, leisurely holiday without any rowdy kids screaming.
• Sleazy resorts, which I sometimes  call “Rated R” resorts.  These resorts cater to what we call “sex tourists” or plainly said, dirty old men looking for cheap girls willing to do anything for them. Enough said.  Most of the time, these resorts employ pretty young ladies that wear minimal clothing as uniform.  Expect girls to be extremely friendly to foreigner guys.  Wives — you’ve been warned!
• Diving/aqua sports resorts -  a lot of these resorts are around the southern part of Batangas and all across the islands.  They usually provide formal instructions too.
• Party-goer resorts – these resorts are usually  where company or school outings take place.  20 somethings and teenagers come here to get drunk all night and sing karaoke.  Usually there are live bands and/or dancing taking place at night.
• People’s Resort – resorts that cater to the masses.  Extremely budget-friendly but expect basic no frills accommodations and of course, karaoke all day and all night!
• Luxury Resorts – Marriott , Shangri-La, and places with names that have the words “country club”  in it.   Prices per night is around 200 USD and above. Boracay and Cebu have  many luxury resorts.  They usually have all of the above — except the karaoke machines.  Staff are always dressed appropriately and treat you with utmost courtesy.

Important questions to ask :

• Price of the room per night. Is it per person or per room?
• Is the room you are booking airconditioned?
• Do you have a restaurant in your resort? What kind of food is served in your restaurant? What is the average price?.. (Average price for a meal in a middleclass resort is around 300 PHP per meal). Believe me, some resorts charge so much on food yet provide so much less. If you can checkout their menu please do so.
• Do you have a lifeguard? I noticed that not all resorts have one.
• Do you have backup power? Brownouts happen all the time.
• What kind of transportation is available from the resort?
• Do you have free wireless internet. Is it available from all rooms?

If you need to know about specific names of resorts mentioned above feel free to send me a comment (with your email address)  and I’ll answer you by email.

How has it been the past few days? We gave our staff a nice Christmas dinner treat at Harborview by the Bay after a toast in the office for a job well done the past few months. During the weekend, we were able to finally buy the curtains for my home office, the living room and entrance windows.  After a few days, we drove off to Baguio via Marcos Highway.  It is really so much easier now than decades ago thanks to the construction of the NLEX and SCTEX.  We bought a city map of Baguio and also a Luzon Atlas along the way at one of the rest stops.  My, these rest stop convenience stores at NLEX and SCTEX are really well stocked.  Almost everything you need is there!

We arrived before sundown in our hotel (weather was really cold for us now) and had our driver come home to his family by bus.  He will be back for us in a few days to drive us home.  Meanwhile , we spent our Christmas Dinner in the Other Hotel where we were supposed to stay but was fully booked (Manor) in decorated tents and an “ok” buffet with live orchestra playing next to us!  We were there together with our Dutch-Filipino business associates and their well behaved but very sleepy 6 kids.

The next few days was spent visiting our Dutch-Filipino business associate’s house on the West Side of Baguio and visiting places such as Mines View Park and also next to it (walking distance) was the Good Shepherd Convent where we bought the usual sweet pasalubong (goodies to take home) such as Peanut Brittle, Cashew Brittle for my father in law, Ube Jam and Strawberry Jam.  We also visited the ever so lively Burnham Park and ate afternoon “merienda” at the famous but unassuming Star Cafe which is actually a Chinese restaurant that dates back to 1976.  We also tried to find the  Silver Shop of St.Louis University but could not find it.  On Sunday, our driver arrived at around past 12 noon.  We then dropped by the Public Market to buy some vegetables.  We also stopped by a small store at Marcos Highway to buy brooms — both Tambo (indoor sweeper)  and the TingTing (for street sweeping).  Next time, I have to remind myself to just buy veggies from the stores along Marcos Highway instead of the Public Market.  It’s a lot less stressful to buy there.

There was aweful traffic from Rosario, Tarlac all the way to the exit of SCTEX so all in all it took as around 7 hours I think travel time.  Once we got to the first rest stop at NLEX I ran immediately to the ladies room.  After that we had our evening meal at Jollibee.  We arrived at around 9pm.

Here’s a month by month rundown of what happened to us.

December: We arrived at the airport in the morning and was picked up by my Mom and uncle. Since we had an apartment ready for us we were able to move in same day. Later on, we got in touch again with the Dutch IT business guy we met last September. We then met other Dutch expats on several occasions. We spent some days also in a beach resort in La Union and attended his company’s Christmas party. Christmas and New Year was just spent quietly at home with my Mom.

January: Our stuff arrived and I took care of handling the government paperwork involved with tax and duty free exemption. We spent a weekend in Baguio and stayed at The Manor.

February: We started employing part time live out househelp. Possible contract with Dutch client shows up in the horizon. We started scouting for office space and ended up renting one next to our apartment building.

March: The Manila Offshoring Office opens with 5 new people on the team! Work commenced immediately after furniture and all pc’s arrived. MrC’s Dad and business partner visits from the Netherlands and is there for the Office Blessing. MrC becomes a godfather (ninong) for the first time! We also spent 4 days in Kyoto in celebration of both our birthdays this month.

April: Visited The Netherlands for 3 Weeks at the height of spring. We stayed in a house near the Keukenhof. It’s very beautiful out there but we realized driving back and forth to the place takes too much time! We were so happy to be back home — in the Philippines where it is warm, sunny and never boring!

May: Started looking for a .Net developer. Interviewed several good candidates but with no luck in hiring. Took a short but relaxing break in a resort in Subic. After coming back from that trip, we bought a new car, (a gorgeous red SUV) after a few days and suffered from buyer’s remorse shortly after that (the remorseful feeling lasted only a few minutes).

Life here has been quite good and we are thankful for our blessings. We were also able to hire a driver through MrC’s Dutch local business associate.

June: I registered as a voter in Mandaluyong. Then, we decided that it’s finally time to leave our “very convenient” but small and smoky nest near EDSA for a more spacious house a bit farther from the noise and pollution of the the CBD’s. We started house hunting once again. Another reason also is that the Office has had so many issues / problems that we could not anymore overlook. We also realized that the Building Management is hard to work with.

July: We continued looking for places but had no luck in finding one. We kept ourselves positive in spite of the frustrations. MrC also had to go back to the Netherlands for a few weeks and I chose to stay here (bad idea for me).

August: Just as soon as we were almost giving up we found the house that we wanted finally! Also, our newly found .Net Developer started working for us. He was actually applying for Linux Admin position and we were just lucky to find out he is also a good .NET developer as well. Indeed we are lucky! Or should we say it was all meant to be Also, we started applying for MrC’s permanent residency.

September: We moved to our new place! Later on, we endured days of storm and flood (Ondoy). We are so thankful that our house was not flooded. We were so glad we didn’t end up renting some of the houses we saw in Pasig which were all now flooded. Our Pioneer office was damaged by this storm but this allowed us to discontinue our lease. We then started looking for a new office (again!). Total number of people in our team is now 8 not including me and MrC.

October : Our ties at Pioneer is totally severed as I turned over the keys to our landlord and also moved all our office belongings to our new office in Ortigas. We had another trip again out of the country but this time it was different for me. I first went to Amsterdam and stayed for 5 days then took another flight to Newark and stayed there also for 5 days. There I stayed at my old friends place in NJ and Pennsylvania. I also went there primarily to keep my drivers license current. After that I spent 7 happy days with my family in Canada. I left Canada with tears in my eyes

November to present: I spent a few weeks away from the office also to recover from the trip and get myself back in the current time zone. I spent the past few days being responsible for furnishing the house. That involves a lot of painful visits to the mall, a hardship I tried to endure I also by the way, completed a SQLServer Analytical Services training course somewhere in Makati. In the next few days I hope to be busy with my usual IT Work again and have a more organized home before the New Year starts. Our house now has a beautiful Christmas Lantern which I bought near our place. It costs 900 pesos.

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Day 1-5 : Spent each day visiting our friends. One couple with a small daughter in Haarlem, another new couple who just moved to a 2 floor apartment in the suburb of Almere and finally, another couple who just moved in to a nice spacious duplex house.  In between visits, we spent quality time with MrC’s family.  Of course one would not forget the typical sumptuous vegetarian dinners, and almost unlimited cups of tea with the “compulsory” cake or cookie.  We even went home with a “care package” bag composed of cheese  sandwiches, chocolate, and oranges. Thanks to MrC’s mom and his business partner! We stayed in our usual Best Western hotel which was very near MrC’s parents house — highly recommended by his Mom of course!

Day 6: I flew to Newark. I’m glad it was a direct flight. It only took around 9 hours +.  It wasn’t so easy carrying all the heavy stuff by myself though.   I was carrying a lot of winter clothes that I am going to leave to my mom and sister.  With a rented car and a GPS I was all set to see NJ and PA! Oh man, I just didn’t know how great the feeling was to be back again.  America did feel like home to me!  I stopped over a Ruby Tuesdays to have my first meal in the US of A.   I couldn’t help but grin after hearing this from the waitress: “Hi my Name is Janine (not her real name) and I am your server for today” .  Welcome to America!

At around 6:00pm I arrived safely at my friend’s place.  This is where I would be staying 3 days out of the 5 days I stayed in the US.  The rest of the 2 days was spent in my other old friend’s big house in Pennsylvania.

I’ve read somewhere that most of the time if a Filipino-expat mixed couple moves back to the Philippines it’s usually the Filipino spouse that has a hard time.  I think in a way this applies to me.  When I was abroad I missed things Filipino but somehow part of me has also embraced the American way of life, otherwise I wouldn’t have applied for naturalization.  I am proud to be both Filipino and American but now after going back there I feel as if I am slightly a bit more “at home” in the US.  Not all people are the same.   My friend still subscribes to ABS CBN and GMA channels and watches Filipino shows more than ever.  On the other hand, I was secretly indulging in all the American shows that I missed watching most of my free time. Thanks to having a really high speed Internet  connection (40mpbs) I can watch them there on-demand.  AAhh! I miss 40MBPS!  Right here back at home, my “high speed” Bayantel goes up to only 1MBPS (cry).

As part of my intended re-immersion into American culture here are the things I did: (1) watched friend’s kid’s school Halloween Parade (2) Visited and shopped in a factory outlet (3) Ate Chicken Wings while watching championship baseball match in a a sports bar (4) Ate Philly Cheesesteaks in a small pizza joint in South Philly (Italian Market) while listening local folks banter about the last baseball game. (5) Drive in the Pennsylvania and New Jersey Turnpike for at least 1.5 hours!  Seeing the old places, and quaint autumn vistas along the hilly suburbs West of Philadelphia, I can’t really find any more words to describe my feelings but it felt like meeting an old flame, and was uncontrollably smitten.  Enough said.

In Canada, I saw my sister’s family (husband, 3 kids) and mom.  I haven’t seen them for at least a year!  I missed them a lot.  I spent a whole week attending Hockey practices and matches, sending off nephews to their school bus, helping out at my sister’s Kumon business, being interviewed by a 4 year old “Oprah style”, having breakfast in a Canadian diner, attending church with family, having a birthday dinner with family, going to the mall (of course) and eating at the Chinese food court (yummy and cheap).  And having a relaxing time overall.  When I was leaving the airport, my family gave me a group hug. I was touched.  I held off my tears until it was time to board the plane (that long hehe!).

I went back to Amsterdam filled with fond memories, a renewed drivers license and a balikbayan box to boot which I filled up in New Jersey and will be sent via LBC thanks to my dear friend!

The next morning MrC and I took the next flight back to the Philippines.

First, we took a cab to the Guadalupe Ferry station which was about a 15 minute ride. We were lucky that we made it to the 11 am trip. I asked one of the guards where we should go and he asked me to take a seat in the waiting area. After a few minutes of waiting, the boat arrived. It was pretty easy to get in and we were assisted by the staff while getting in.
It was a full boat. We were able to get seats with tables sharing with a young lady.
The white boat seemed quite easy to navigate. It almost felt like being just in a bus. The driver of the ferry can easily maneuver back, front, and diagonally. It was impressive.

The river had of course the odor but I noticed that the color is now more like green instead of the coffee light brown color that I read from another blog entry posted a few years or months ago. This is quite a good sign indeed.
It was really a nice and very interesting ride seeing Metro Manila from the river. We saw the houses, buildings, old factories, children playing under the bridge. I really recommend this trip. We are planning to use this again when our other guest from Holland arrives next week.

We got off at the last stop, which is Intramuros (Plaza Mexico). Walking a bit we saw that we were actually at the back of the Bureau of Immigration building. We were there a few months ago but never realized how close we were to the Ferry station. We were clueless how to get to Fort Santiago so after failing to get a cab for a few tries we decided to ask the friendly lady guards of the Plaza Mexico station how to get there.

They urged us to take any of the jeepneys as it may be inconvenient to walk. I believed them so I brought my two guests and called a jeep and asked the driver to stop for us at Fort Santiago, exactly as what the lady guards suggested. I hit my head on the ceiling of the jeepney, as expected my father in law also did . Anyways, it was easier than we expected. We were got off just in front of the sign that says “Fort Santiago”.

It was already noontime so we decided to find a place to drink and eat. After walking a few minutes we stopped at a busy corner with a Chowking. Looking to the left I saw a sign for a restaurant — Marso. My instinct told me we should try that restaurant. I am glad we did. It was not a big place but it was quiet and the waiters were responsive. MrC and I got bottomless iced tea which they promptly refilled even before we emptied our glasses. My father in law ordered calamansi juice, it was his first time to try it. He liked it. For our meal, I first ordered a bangus fillet breakfast but they were ran out of it so I had corned beef breakfast instead. My father in law, who only eats fish and vegetables ordered the sauteed bean sprouts and mushroom omelet. MrC ordered a club house sandwich and shared the sauteed bean sprouts with his Dad. After that we went straight to the entrance of Fort Santiago.

Before we even reached the entrance, calesa ride owners have already started offering their services. We first went to the entrance. The ride included a tour guide as well and includes also a tour of the walled city. The fee was 1000. We then paid the entrance fee and accepted their offer. We went through the Rizal Shrine and then afterwards a short tour of the Walled City and the different buildings there such as the Manila Cathedral, Palacio Gobernador, the nuns convent, and ended up in a craft store. By the time we were at the nuns convent, going down I didn’t feel well so we took a rest and I asked one of the old Spanish uniformed guards to buy me bottled water before I really faint. I was a bit scared of that. The tour guide, to our surprise also had other talents. He could also play the piano! Two songs after, we took photos with the guard and gave him a tip. After this, we were taken to the craft store that was in front of Fort Santiago. My father in law found a nice bottle of Coconut oil food supplement which he was mentioning a day before so I am glad he found it there. The tag price was 300 pesos but the lady gave it to him for 150. After this, we asked for their assistance to get us a taxi cab. The ride home from there was also very nice as we saw places like Mendiola, Malacanang, Ayala Bridge and part of Shaw Boulevard which we rarely ever get to see.

Overall, I totally recommend this trip!