A Tiring Yet Fulfilled Day

(“Chopsticks and Spoon”)

February 16, 2008
Saturday, I woke up late at around 10 pm because of a good Friday night I had with some of my officemates and friends. We ate and had a videoke session at Music 21 that night. That day, Judy and I had an arrangement that I would accompany her to get the souvenir items that she would bring come her flight to Legazpi to attend the 1st birthday party of her boyfriend’s niece. Her boyfriend is a very good friend of mine, his name is Joey. I was also informed by Judy that we would go to Divisoria to buy some stuffs for the birthday party that she is to organize partly. Part of our itinerary was SM Manila because I was told by my officemate that the charger for the very rare PDA phone I won a week ago in the bingo social that the ALT Cladding staged in connection with the Chinese New Year, is available. The phone is a Palm Treo model 750. Lucky me!

I didn’t know that Jack is to join us in our journey. I learned that he was coming because he was answering the text messages I sent to Judy. So then we met at Robinson’s Galleria, where I was quite lost. Still not familiar with the place because it is the most unorganized mall here in Manila. Do you agree with me?

Our first stop was Caritas Manila in Pandacan where “Binhi ng Pag-asa” is located, a shop of souvenir items made by orphans. The idea was to buy the souvenirs for the birthday party at the same time helping the makers of the souvenir items. In this place you could buy beautiful decorated candles. I don’t know if those candles are scented but I guess so. Next stop is SM Manila,the reason for this stop is to buy the charger but without success. We only learned in this mall that the Palm Treo charger is available at CD-R king but is out of stock. Imagine we kept on searching on different cell phone shops but we were not expecting to find it at that shop. The sad part is, as I’ve said, its out of stock.

After an unsuccessful search at SM Manila, our next stop was Tutuban Center where Judy bought party stuffs. I will not enumerate what are those. We were still expecting to find a charger in that place but still with no success. Next we went to 168 Shopping Mall to buy chocolates and candies still for the party. After buying those that I mentioned, we still searched for the charger but just like before, we still didn’t find one. When we were already tired walking, we decided to eat at the food court of 168 and Judy suggested “Chopsticks and Spoons” because she said the servings are big. I opted for the “chicken lomi” which I thought is just good for one but as Jack was ordering, the attendant ask him how many of us would eat and he said we were three and the attendant responded that it is already good for three persons. But it was not, it was actually good for six. We had 2 servings each. Our side this was a very different squid ball. It was really a squid ball because of the presence of the squid. Majority of which are squid not flour. We really had the treat of our lives. We were very full. The taste was very satisfying. I told Judy that I will keep coming there for that food and I will. What was my name? I think I forgot. Would you believe, the “Lomi” was just at P90 pesos. Very cheap yet very delicious and the ingredients are more than complete if there is such a thing. So don’t forget it’s “Chopsticks and Spoons” Divisoria people. Go there and eat, and you’ll really have a treat of your lives.

After that we were about to go home already but I remember another mall which have plenty of computer and electronic goods. So I told Judy that I remember some stalls which sells phones and chargers there. So there we went in that mall hoping for our last shot of that damned charger. My attention was caught by a bag which I thought would be a very good bag for my laptop. So I bought it. Judy also bought some stuffs there. Jack also bought some stuff there. The foreigner owner who is I guess, a Taiwanese, gave us some lucky charm which is for love and money. She also told us that we could find chargers next to the building were in and that building is the Center Mall. There are lots of stalls there and after looking and asking some of them we finally found a stall and the attendant was the one who looked for the charger to the other stalls and at last the charger was found. There our search has ended.
We arrived at Judy’s place at about 9 pm had a rest for a while then went home and arrived at 10 pm. My housemates asked us if we want to go with them to party in Malate. The mind is willing but the body is weak so we therefore opted to stay at the apartment and after a while slept.

So this ended our adventure. It was tiring but we did found what we were looking for. If you want to buy stuffs in Divisoria, though the goods are already cheap there, you can still make it cheaper by bringing Judy with you. Its not her charm. Ask her why.