Hong Kong Or Bust (Post Intramuros)
Well, we made it. To Manila. At 4:20am. We were on a bus for 13 hours. Overnight.
Look, it was better than the bus up to Banaue, but it was still an overnight bus. And it stopped a lot. And it was thirteen hours long. But we made it.
Noooowwww....what to do in Manila until we head to the airport at 11am? Well, we jumped in a taxi and asked him to take us to Intramuros, the old Spanish-era district of Manila. The top hit on things to do in Manila on pretty much any list.
But at 5am?
We walked the night streets and still found people winding their nights down. We walked in a few circles probably. Saw the city starting to come back to life. Not so much on the sights and we were getting tired, so we did what any good tourist would do - found the nearest Starbucks. And sat outside it for an hour until it opened at 7am.
Then, after a coffee (or two), it was time to see what this area looked like in daylight.
There really is some beautiful, old Spanish architecture here. We had a good brekkie at Ilustrado which came highly recommended - our final batch of Filipino power! And then wandered some more. We were constantly being bombarded by guys wanting to show us around the area and see all the sights on bike. They were relentless actually. After a meal and a few sights, and our exhaustion was kicking in, so off to the airport.
We got to the airport about four hours before our flight, but fine with us and we checked ourselves into the Pacific Club Lounge (thank you Priority Pass!) and chilled out, showered, had some nibbles and a few drinks. We need this after the overnight bus ride.
Then we finally boarded our Air Asia flight (yes we're on a budget!) to Hong Kong.
We got in quite late after some delays out of Manila, so we headed to our AirBnb, unpacked a bit and hit up a few spots for some dumplings, fish balls and then some noodles - all courtesy of Where Chefs Eat. If you don't have this book, get it now - chefs recommend where they eat in cities around the world - it's been my obsession for years and a go to gift for ages. They have an app too which is great when traveling when you don't want to carry around the large book. But the book is a must have for any coffee table or collection.
Anyways, Where Chefs Eat took us to Ada and Wing Wah and we couldn't be more thrilled with the recommendations - and all around the corner from our Wan Chai AirBnb.
With our bellies full and our hearts content, it's time to get some sleep so we can conquer Hong Kong tomorrow! Night night HK.
