Rebecca has been itching to go to a decent bookstore, and so yesterday, we went on an adventure! Not really, but we need to get out of the house. So we hop in the cab heading for Fort Bonifacio, the upper-upper-middle class neighborhood. I say u-u-m class neighborhood because the only truly upper class people in the Philippines are the uber-wealthy families that every country has a handful of. Companies don't really send the high ups to live in the Philippines, so while there are rich expats, there are no wealthy expats. So we are at this giant walking mall. My dad described it as the Galleria turned inside out. But in the Galleria there aren't any designer brands like there are here, although I did spot an American Eagle.
So first we go into the bookstore, right next to both an Audi and Lamborghini dealership, and it's 3 stories high. But then again, I suppose it has to be, since everyone has to build up instead of out. It's a pretty nice bookstore. I got a picture of a piece of wall art that they have made of books. Will be in the next post. But, you know, it's a bookstore so exciting things rarely happen.
We leave and start to wander the walking mall. First, we stop by Penguin, a designer shirt brand with the call sign of a little penguin on the frocket (front pocket). I find a decent shirt and the guy says that it is 390. I think, 'Oh, man, that is a great price!' Then he clarifies and says 3,900. Oh. No nice shirt for me. We leave and start to wander again. I say that I am a little peckish, so Rebecca remembers that a pastry shop just opened. Then I point out a Cold Stone Creamery, just to point it out, and suddenly we are having ice cream. Probably the first ice cream from an ice cream shop that I have had in a good long while. I am not counting pints of Mint Chocolate Chip from HEB. We leave, head one way, then head back the other because Rebecca wants to get Dad some decent wine for the anniversary of his birth and she spotted this place called Wine Story. At least half of the store was a giant fridge for the wine, there in front of that there were displays of all of the odd sized wine bottles, e.g. half-bottles, gigantor bottles, and gigantor champagne bottles. Rebecca wanted to taste some wine. Well they have a special thing for that. There was a case with 9-10 bottles inside, each with a little straw-thing inside. The clerk sticks her special card in the slot, you pick the amount of wine you want, sip, half or full glass, and it comes out of a little nozzle into the glass. We had a 160 peso ($4) sample of a 4000 peso ($100) wine, and I have to say, it was darn good. Very smooth and complex. So, long story short, we decide that this store isn't for us, because we could probably find most of that wine at Specs for half the price, so we would be overpaying egregiously.
Our final store was a soap shop. They had artisanal soaps and shampoos and bath fizzer-uppers, the works. One feature that I did like was giant cylinders of different scented soaps with hunks cut out and laid on top. They were all pretty nice, for example they had Fig and Leaves, Sea Vegetable, Honey, and Porridge. Everything smelled quite nice. I thought that maybe Mom or Grandma would like some fancy soap.
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