Rachel’s Birthday

This post was written 2/5 in Manila and posted 2/6 in Singapore.

Rachel’s birthday came while we were still up in Banaue.  At this point, we had spent more of our Pesos than anticipated and since we had read that there were no money changers or ATMs there we were on severe ration mode.  We figured that if we could eat the last of our pistachios, fruit snacks and yogurt covered raisins for breakfast, we had enough money to pick up some plain buns from the local bakery and use a package of Rachel’s peanut butter powder, that would work for lunch, and then we would still have enough for one dinner that we could share before taking the long bus back to Manila where we would be able to exchange more dollars for pesos. Not exactly a birthday feast, but it would still be a celebration with the tikoy we’d brought along from Manila – a cake made of sweet sticky rice that everyone was buying to celebrate the Chinese New Year and that we had saved for Rachel’s birthday.

Colin took his anti-malarial pill after our “breakfast” and quickly regretted it.  Soon he was leaning against a wall to leave his breakfast in the gutter – something that seemed to mildly amuse the locals across the street who probably thought he’d had too much to drink the night before or was getting sick from the betel nut.  We bumped lunch up a bit and were pleased to find some buns for less than we’d thought allowing us to each get a couple.  Then we headed back to the hotel lobby for cake. The tikoy was AWFUL. It had the taste and texture of rubbery plastic.  We actually re-examined it to make sure there wasn’t another wrapper that should have come off first. At this point we decided to just ask if there was any place around that we could exchange dollars. We were embarrassed and amused to realize that there had been a money changer in the main square that we’d passed several times with a big yellow sign reading, “Money Changer.” Doh!

We exchanged $20 and suddenly felt like kings. We immediately returned to the bakery to buy more rolls and then hit the dry goods store to buy a small bottle of local wine and some guyabano juice pouches. (Guyabano is a slimy white fleshed fruit that is both sweet and tart…sort of tastes like fake watermelon flavoring mixed with lime. The juice was better since you avoided the texture.)  Before leaving town we had some amazing chicken pineapple curry with purple rice and while waiting for our bus, realized there was a karaoke bar right across the street (one of at least 3 in this VERY small town).  We decided to get a few songs in before hopping on the bus. Very ready to move along in the trip, Rachel sang John Denver’s “Take Me Home Country Roads.” At the end of the song a note popped up saying “94. You are set to be the best singer ever.” As we laughed at the screens commentary, we were told by the bartender that, “No, really! That is the top score we have ever had here!”  It seems the computer is set to score your performance much like the Wii Rockband and Rachel blew the competition out of the water with the average scores coming in the mid 60s.  Nice work, Rachel. She says she wants a sash that says, “Best Singer in all of Banaue.”

The bus back to Manila was a bit more comfortable than the one up. Still very crowded, but the seats were more our size and could recline a bit. We both got some sleep this time and our aggressive driver had us in to Manila an hour early – 4am. We sat for a bit before making our way to a local restaurant, Uncle Cheffy’s, that was open 24 hours and had a nice outdoor seating area. (Even at 5am, it was 72 degrees out.) We ordered pineapple mango smoothies (Rachel’s favorite thing so far) and Colin mentioned to the server that it was her birthday (in the US, it still was).  After our breakfast of fried noodles and beef, the server came out carrying a large plate with a big piece of cake and the words “Happy Birthday Rachel” written in chocolate on it. She sang Happy Birthday and laughed as Rachel repeatedly blew out the “magic candle.”

As we ate, another guest was a few tables away quite inebriated and ordering bottle after bottle of beer.  At one point he had 8 of them on the table. He kept getting up to dance with himself to the slow music playing from the restaurant and was dramatically mouthing along to some of the songs.  Then he’d make his way back to his table where he would take a long time to organize everything he had laid out. It was an entertaining show for us, but perhaps even more fun was watching the reactions of the locals walking by as they looked up from their morning commute to see this man, at a somewhat fancy restaurant, swaying by himself on stage. He continued for the entire 3 1/2 hours that we were there before he started to take off his clothes and the restaurant staff had to step in.

By now the city is bustling again. In a few hours, we’ll make our way to the airport for Singapore. We hope that every country we visit is as friendly and polite as the people have been in the Philippines.  It has been a great trip so far and we suspect it will only get better from here.