BIYAK 2

I am the rockstar of food crawls and train trips, a direct descendant of the Witcher 2 who searched the bike trails of Munoz for The Lost City of Machu Picchu from Monday until Thursday.

But the city was gone forever so we covertly took off from Bakal 2 in the early hours of Friday with two sacks of rice and three luggages for the train from Quezon Avenue to Boni and from there, found a phone in the car seat during our Grab ride to Hop Inn-Makati where the taxi that picked us made a wrong turn before finding our way to the ancient treasures of the Ayala Museum and a close up audience with Juan Luna who can only utter "Hymen, oh Hymenee" upon seeing us. 

But no, Barbecue Showdown 2 will not be at Japan Town because Ramen Nagi and the sui gyoza is served with soup, the chicken karage and pork tonkatsu must be fried, and the Sesame Q should be fresh, unlike in Poblacion where Hott Asia had the meat burned and the beer chilled.

We had a meeting with Atty. Rowena Ramos the next day who opined that our pricey coffee and ham sandwich breakfast at the Salcedo Saturday Market is not An Affair to Forget, neither is our Quezon Avenue-Quezon Avenue train experience via Taft, Central Station, Carriedo, Roosevelt and North Avenue.

The same applies for the electric bike ride to Binondo from the National Museum of Anthropology where the Ciencia Gallery is currently on display, the late lunch of Ang Tunay Beef House's pancit canton and lechong kawali in lieu of the long line at the Toho Panciteria Antigua, and a bus carousel experience to Trinoma.  

With that, we've got to stay at the Luxent Hotel that is many times more luxurious than Hop Inn and we've got Home Service although no one responded to our request for assistance in using the TV remote so Balong worked the gym instead to disturb the Stillwater of the Vertigo Roof Deck Pool while wrestling with a giant platter of beef tacos.  

Finally, the igado, lechon cebu and pinapaitang kambing beckoned from the food stalls of the SIDCOR Monday Market before we parted ways: me to to NAIA Terminal 1, Nanay and Balong to the Five Star bus station, and Bulan to his shared room at Pioneer Woodlands.

Almost 8 hours later, PR 736 touched down at the Suvarnabhumi International Airport for another train ride to Phaya Thai and Asoke.

Ganyan namin biniyak ang nagdaang linggo --- probinsiya at lungsod, Hop Inn at Luxent, Salcedo at SIDCOR, Manila at Bangkok ayon sa talambuhay ng magkapatid na Samantha at Violet.