Anyway, when they announced it i decided i HAD to watch it and contemplating on which stop i should go. Both Manila and Japan were okay to me, considering i have went to osaka to watch concert alone before and i almost went to Japan to catch UMO before they announced Jakarta date (I already bought the concert ticket but yet the flight, phew). So I tried to lay down some pros and cons:
Manila
Pros
+ Most likely similar to Jakarta
+ I have friends that i could visit
+ cheaper flight ticket
+ shorter flight distance
Cons
- vague mode of transportation
- weird flight schedule
Tokyo
Pros
+ im kinda familiar
+ great transportation
Cons
- long flight haul
- more expensive flight ticket
In the end the most important factor to me is the flight duration, so manila won as i couldnt be bothered with 7 hours flight.
Fast forward, after i purchased the concert ticket the time they started selling (it was 7,800 PHP or around 300 USD yikes) it's D-7 to the concert time and it still hadn't booked the plane ticket and accommodation yet. I even considered of cancelling because the weird flight schedule! for CGK to MNL most of the cheaper options were midnight flight with the arrival time around 5am and i was not so sure where i could go to waste my time till check in time with my luggage.
Then there's another problem which is the accommodation. I was thinking about renting an apartment room nearby the venue but it was kinda expensive (IDR700,000+ pernight / USD50-ish). I also considered staying nearby the transportation hub in Taft area but the accommodations there are a bit sketchy in the perspective of solo female traveler.
After some convincing from my friend that i was about to meet there, Angie, I chose this podhostel (PODHOSTEL IS THE BEST) called Lub D Phillippines that is situated in Makati, one of Manila's hip place. Out of podhostels i've tried (and i tried a lot), this one is definitely topped the list in terms of facility, interior etc. I stayed there for two nights and paid only approx 30USD! that's mad cheap tbh. But for this cost.. I had to pay for a lot of gr*ab trips sobs.
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| Lub D Philippines' colorful main reception area |
For the flight I ended up choosing jet star and airasia. I could have chosen a direct flight instead but when i thought about the arrival time.. nah no thanks.
Flight breakdown:
Jet Star
CGK - SIN 21:35 - 00:25
SIN - MNL 02:50 - 06:25
Fare : IDR 2,051,100
AirAsia
MNL - CGK 08:00 - 11:00
Fare : IDR 2,034,298
Getting Around Manila
Summarizing my visit, i mostly went about manila using Gr*abcar. The main reason being my hostel is kinda far away from every destinations that i planned to visit, including the concert venue (Should have rented that airbnb room sobs). There are few instances that i tried to utilize their public transportation; e.g Bus, Jeepneys, and MRT but their bus and jeepney system is kinda abstract (reminded me of Kopaja and Metromini buses of Jakarta) that you really have to 1) speak the language; because even my friend had to ask the driver about the routes upon hopping in, 2) be fully aware of the area to use it because the lack of information on the internet. And their usage of routes really confused me. I tried hopping on the bus that has 'Ayala' written on it (its nearby where I stayed) but when the conductor asked for the money, apparently bus would only go through the highway in Ayala and i wouldn't be able to make a stop there (I mean.. why would you state that on your bus then?). So I eventually hopped off and booked another Gr*ab.
We are Boarding!
So it's thursday, the D-day. I planned to take a leave all day but because I have to finish some stuff at work I ended up reporting anyway till around 3pm (cheap labor live.. boss just wouldn't let me go). Fortunately there was no terrible traffic jam and I didn't run late to the airport.
After I arrived in Manila I took Grab and went straight to my accommodation. True to their schedule, i couldnt just check in and had to wait till check in time. (But i think i took a shower first.. it was hazy i cant remember).
After I put my luggage at the reception i went to meet my ex team mate from previous cross country project in Grand Venice Mall. We had our lunch together and I tried Jollibee (aka my fascination with the way they eat their fried chicken with mushroom sauce.. It was good though!)
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| A Mini Venice in Grand Venice Mall |
After saying goodbye to my friends, I hopped on another gr*ab going back to Makati. Angie picked me up at the hostel and for the first time I tried Jeepneys! It is similar to Angkot from Indonesia but with much more space. I forgot how much we paid for a single trip (I think it was less than 10 PHP) but we went to Glorietta Mall to take their MRT. My first impression was that it was a little bit old and unkempt, I wish they maintained it more.
Museum Visit!
After a little bit of hustle and bustle, (we ended up taking gr*ab, suprise surprise) we arrived at the National Museum of Natural History! It was a very grand building which have roman style exterior and quite contemporary interior. The admission is free! Just walk in, register your name and you will be welcomed with a very grand centerpiece (I read that its structured as a tree of life). In this museum information about the origins of The Philippines are displayed nicely. They have wide collection of all kinds of flora and fauna that used to inhabit The Old Philippines.
After some museum hopping we walked to the nearby Park which is Rizal Park. It was a very nice afternoon spent walking around with a nice breeze accompanying us. Around the park there are some historical site about Jose Rizal, Philippines national hero and we ended up going into one because my friend was really into history with a little bit of patriotism. We went to the place where Mr Rizal was executed by Colonials and there were life size figures to illustrate his dramatic last moment. The admission here was P10 but i think there's also audio tour but it was closed when we visited.
After some times hanging around the park (and being in Manila 0 km) we concluded our visit and went back to the downtown. We had dinner in Greenbelt mall area in restaurant called Manam and I tried Fish Sisig (finally some real food). The waiter welcomed me with 'Assalamualaikum' which is cute :) Sisig is a traditional Filipino dish containes shredded protein on a sizzling hot plate in short. It was good but for me it needed more heat (yes i can't leave without spices and chilies) so I asked for some chilies and the gave me just one whole uncut chili lmao. I also tried the infamous halo halo! it has ube ice cream on it and the dessert was very pretty. (cue to brain freeze)
After dinner Angie dropped me back to my hostel and we had to say goodbye :) Thank you and see you again whenever!
Went back to sleep all giddy because the next day is the D-Day!
Intramurros
The next day after lying on my bed for some times i thought to myself, "Do I really want to go straight to the venue? It would be a waste if I dont go somewhere else first" so I decided to make time for another tourist visit. I planned to go to the venue early afternoon so I had the first half of the day to go check out Intramurros. In a hindsight, it's similar to Kota Tua area in Jakarta because Intramurros is a city build by Colonisers behid the wall as a central of administration of old Manila.
Upon arriving there, I was welcomed by a lot of tourguides in a rickshaw that offered me an hourly tour around Intramurros. I originally planned to visit on my own but getting some historical explanation would be nice too so I chose one. It was P70 perhour but the thing is, they made up the time so i would be charged as much as possible. I counted myself that the tour was only two hours but charged for three :) They also shamelessly asked for tip so i ran out of cash right there lmaooo
After a very persistent request of ending the tour, i went to get my P!ATD ticket at the nearby SM ticket box. I had to walk because forreal i was out of money yikesss.
Pray for The Wicked
Finally at the venue in Mall of Asia! With the ticket in my hand i lined up into the venue. The excitement was real because the it was 2016 in Singapore when i saw them last time! I tried lining up for merch but unfortunately they ran outof the design i wanted the most :(
There's an opening act before P!ATD and it was a local band. I guess they're famous because everyone seemed to know their songs. But their performance really worth the applause. We are put in waiting again and suddenly a timer starts counting down! The chill i felt...
Brendon came and officially started the show with Fuck A Silver Lining. Everyone was still at their 100percent the enthusiasm.. almost killed me LMAO forreal everyone tried to push towards the stage violently.. I couldnt enjoy the first half of the show and my body floated following the crowd khgsdjf, at some point i was almost lying down (around 75deg of inclination) because of the crowd and stood back because of the other crowd.
It was tragic skdfhs
But I guess at some point people were starting to tire down that the crowd went much calmer... at thAT exact moment i could finally enjoy the concert T-T Brendon's voice was really perfect throughout the show and his very extremely wide range... fuckin blew my hijab off (this happened; but by the crowd of course) that i considered to take off my hijab completely but my will prevailed yeehaw it stayed on my head albeit i looked like shit.
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| His energy was unreal |
The fact the they have the whole string and brass band with them... Combined with PTFW album sounds it was so perfect and it remains as the best concert Ive watched my whole life to this date. T-TT
It was truly a chaotic evil experience.
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| Bden preaching about how we are all victories because we won first race between billion sperms LMAO |
I wish they had another SEA stop.. A year later I still haven't moved on.
