Chinese Temple and Family Dinner

The remainder of the day we explored more of the city. One of the very beautiful places we stopped at was the Chinese Temple. It is very old and very peaceful in the midst of this bustling city.

Following our visit to the temple we decided Mickey need a little entertaining. On our way to the arcade we stopped off at Razon's where you can get a "homeburger" and fries along with the best halo halo. We skipped the burger and fries and homed in on the halo halo. The name means mix mix in Tagalog and there are many different recipes. This one is Rommel's favorite because of its simplicity.The drink comes layered with tapioca, jellies, shaved iced, condensed milk and topped with two slices of leche flan. (I never said lo-cal.) 

You mix mix your drink till all of the layers have disappeared and then grab a spoon and enjoy. Following this break we continued on to the arcade. Mickey enjoyed the taxi ride while Rommel had some fans join him on the dance machine. A little basketball was in order and the rest of us played a game or two as well. It was a fun break.

Evening plans included (what else?) a great family dinner. The chef genes run deep in the Ong family. Ronald, the oldest brother, manages a restaurant at a resort and steps in as a chef when needed. Roman Jr., the youngest, also has worked in the restaurant industry and helped prepare our meal. Rommel says he is also a great cook, but since his apartment has no formal kitchen the jury is still out on that claim. He will just have to cook in mine one of these days.


As we pulled up to the family home, we saw a family of kittens being taken care of by Rommel's dad. They are strays and he is caring for them until they are old enough to fend for themselves. Then they will be taken to an area of markets where the food is plentiful and there is less chance of being hit by a car. I guess this is a habit of his whenever he finds stray kittens.

All of the homemade dishes were wonderful and the company even better. It was a great evening filled with good food, good friends and great memories being made.

Our stay in Manilla was made special by the friendliness and generosity of all the people we met. The sights were interesting and beautiful, but the real treasure from this visit was the people we met whom we now call friends.