#RPintheRP: A Travelogue

Day 17: History, Culture, and the Arts

Given that most of my experiences so far were limited to malls and other capitalist ventures, I decided to spend a cultural day with Doumeki. On the itinerary — the National Museum and the Walled City of Intramuros!

I love the National Museum. I’ve been here multiple times before and each time it always astonishes me. Below are some of my favorite pieces.

 

One of my favorite exhibits this time around was an exhibit on the Noli. An artist recreate almost every chapter in the form of a painting and it was very illuminating for me. I have made no secret that I am a big fan of the Noli and I am actually working towards creating my own stage adaptation so this was the perfect hit of inspiration.

Oh, and while we’re at it, of course, the Spoilarium:

Fun fact: Apparently, it’s against the rules to “pose like the figures in the painting.” Huh. Who knew?

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We had a quick dinner at Yellow Cab in SM City Manila and then we went to explore Intramuros. Again, this was one of my favorite places in Manila and it is always a blast to take a quick peak into what is known as “old Manila”.

I had a picture, a few years ago, at the fountain outside the Cathedral. I was fortunate enough to be able to recreate it below:

Left shirt is a gay shirt, right shirt is an Aquarius shirt. Both things that define me. Of course, I am just a little bit bigger in the picture on the right, but, hey, we win some, we lose some.

We also went to the San Agustin Church. I wanted to recreate some photos here but most of my photos from years ago were rather…sacrilegious. Just like the first time, the caretaker originally refused us entry and we had to please that we will just take a few photos. (I was this close to claiming SANCTUARY!)

After a long day, we went back to Trinoma to our favorite karaoke place to sing our hearts out. Doumeki also helped me plan the farewell party.

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Six and I were supposed to meet up again that night and, well, we were supposed to but he wasn’t responding to me. Later on, I would find out that he had no load. In that moment though (perhaps driven by jealousy and aggression), I decided to finish my perfect week and find Seven.

Seven was very…uneventful. He just came from the gym and he was toned and he was cute but, dear god, was he boring as all hell.

“You know,” he began. “when you said you were asexual, I didn’t expect you to invite me upstairs so quickly.”

There was nothing very interesting — there was nothing interesting at all — that happened that night, I wasn’t that into it and I don’t think he was either.

For my purposes, it was just a matter of completing the perfect week. I thought I would end the Perfect Week on a high note and, though fitting, it was a massively underwhelming. Although, deep inside, I knew that it probably meant nothing because Six was deep in my mind.