This week was relatively eventful for me, although considering my basis for comparison, I don't think it's really that much. Honestly we spent more time on the road than anything else.
Earlier in the week we had a double birthday celebration, so of course we ate at Vikings. The Marikina branch is still the best one, and small changes has made it cooler than all the others. I haven't eaten here in a while so the doughnut wall was a surprise to me. My only regret is that I completely forgot to try at least one of the doughnuts! Why?!!
Manaoag is a place I've heard of a lot but never been to before. I'm not a religious person at all, but I am perfectly capable of admiring church aesthetics independent of my Catholic upbringing. So when my mother said they were going, I said I'll come too.
It was a really hot day and the front of the church had absolutely no shade to hide at so it was quite painful. The lighting was really good, though. The bright sky being nice and blue and cloudless lent to a fitting background to a church dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary.
As far as churches go, the Minor Basilica of Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary of Manaoag isn't anything breathtaking. There was a cool Virgin Mary statue thing carved directly out of a tree that I couldn't take a photo of, and there was a line to touch the back of Our Lady of Manaoag (I was told you're supposed to "make a wish" when you touch her). However, I think this place's best feature is this basin thing where you float your candles on.
I don't know what it's like for other religions, so here's the thing about Catholic churches: there's usually an area where you can light candles at. Some churches have a particular prayer you say to ask for help with your needs, but since people don't say it out loud, I'm assuming I'm not the only one who doesn't actually read or say the prayer at all when lighting candles.
Anyway I think this one in Manaoag is special because of its shape and color. Look at it! Doesn't it remind you of something? I hope this was on purpose because the symbolism is genius! Unfortunately my mother does not agree. She thinks I'm being lewd...
Since Manaoag was pretty close to Baguio, my aunt suggested we head there right after lunch. In theory it wasn't such a bad idea and I don't really regret it or anything. Since we went on a weekday and before the main festivities of the Panagbenga Festival, we were able to avoid the worst of the traffic. The thing about this impromptu trip is that while Manaoag to Baguio was only an hour or so, the trip back home from Baguio was a lot more hours than I was really prepared to deal with that day.
Also, since it was Panagbenga Festival, I thought they'd have a lot more flowers. But there were very few, if any.... Maybe they already picked all of them for the floats and mall decorations or something. There was this huge sunflower at the strawberry farm, although it was already.... like this...
We did get to bring home lots of cheap but good quality broccoli and really red and sweet strawberries. I also finally figured out that the flower my aunts call the "million dollar" is actually hydrangea! All this time it was the exact same thing and I only found this out now!
Later in the week we found ourselves at BGC again. We had no particular place in mind, so we just walked around until we ended up at Sweet Ecstasy. Their cheeseburger was okay and I think my mom and my aunt enjoyed their chicken wings. But honestly it's nothing super special. My tastes are too simple for these fancy Manila burgers. I've tried a few expensive ones and nothing has yet to defeat a simple cheap Spaceburger for me.
With that said, Sweet Ecstasy is a nice place. The other stuff in their menu look interesting too, so maybe they're worth checking out!
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