The Biggest Mall in the whole of Asia

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We just had one night to kill in Puerto Princesa before our flight back to Manila the following day. After spending the afternoon resting we headed out for dinner at a pizza place which looked like a restaurant from the outside, but ended up churning out the same fastfood stuff as everywhere else seemed to within our budget.

The following morning our flight with Zest Airlines was at 9am so had to be up early. We were both feeling exhausted so tried to cheer ourselves up with a pot noodle breakfast at the airport. The flight went really smoothly and before we knew it we were back in Manila with 11 hours to kill before our flight to Indonesia. One passenger had immensely amused us by colour coding her wardrobe to match Zest Airlines (see pics).

There was somewhere very important on Luke's wishlist that we had yet to see; The Mall of Asia- the actual biggest mall in the whole of Asia. We realised that the terminal we had landed at was situated very conveniently at less than a £1 taxi ride away, so we headed straight there. Luke was in wonderment as he announced 'I'm salavating' and we were both impressed that they had a baggage storage area, where we could leave our packs for the day (for free) whilst we browsed.

We spent the rest of the morning wandering around trying to decide where to lunch, and unfortuately ended up in Burger King as this seemed the cheapest place. In the afternoon we went to see a film at one of the two cinemas, although we have forgotten what it was called. After the film we wandered around a supermarket where every fifteen minutes an announcement came over the loudspeaker and all of the staff stopped what they were doing and clapped, whilst chanting 'HERE TO HELP' which Luke was mesmerised by. We had to stay to watch it over and over again. It was time to go by early evening, yet we had seen hardly any of the mall, you could easily spend a whole week exploring the place. However, we were excited to be on our way to a place which we had heard so much about...Bali, but that was still a long journey ahead.

Here are a few more observations we have not mentioned:

Tagalog

This is the national language spoken in the Philippines and seems to be a mixture of Spanish, English and something else. It is really strange to see it written as there are some words we don't recognise, then a random English word.

Filipino Nurses

We have never noticed a huge number of these at home in the UK, but then again we don't frequent hospitals. However, everywhere in the Philippines we have been told about the phenomena of everybody wanting to train as a nurse so that they can work abroad, and lots of people we have met have said 'oh my friend/ brother/ daughter is currently working as a nurse in America/ England'. When we visited the Mall of Asia we realised just how true this must be, as practically every customer was wearing a white pinafore; apparently one of the colleges is nearby. We have never seen so many nurses in one place.

Cockerels

During our time in the Philippines, aside from Manila, no morning passed without the hearty calls from a cockerel. Cockerels are kept seemingly everywhere and it is not uncommon to see them wandering around on the roads, with a flurry of chicks in tow. They have no fear of humans and will walk right on up to you and squark. Cock-fighting is one of the biggest national sports in the Philippines even today, accompanied by lots of gambling. Our guide back in Banaue told us that a cock is only allowed to fight three times, and if he is still alive he is used as a stud and is allowed to spend his adult years in peace. Some of the fighting cocks are pretty scary; they are often kept in cages though thankfully!

'Sorry, don't have mam'

We have noticed this in a lot of touristy places we have been on our travels, but more so here than anywhere else. Restaurants will advertise foods outside (often Western foods) to encourage customers through the door, but when you get sat down you come to realise there are only two things available on the whole menu. We have actually seen establishments calling themselves 'pizzeria' but not actually having pizza available. In Sagada we experienced this the worst, where we finally had to ask what in fact they did have after being told 'no' to around seven dishes. However, we did end up getting two free smoothies after being told 'don't have mam' then they mysteriously arrived on our table. The funniest situation was in Port Barton which used to be a fishing village but now seems to import a lot of it's fish from Puerto Princesa. When we asked what 'catch of the day' was, we were told by the straight faced waitress 'chicken or pork'. This made us giggle, and after further questioning we were told that in fact it wasnt 'the right season' for fish.

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