#RPintheRP: A Travelogue

Exploring Naga a little past midnight is definitely something you should do if you have the opportunity. I’ll admit, I’ve rarely done it even when I was living in Naga. But there is so much to see when An Maogmang Lugar turns off her lights.

A little bird told me that a certain type of gentlemen hang out in the Plaza after midnight.  I’m a writer, I like chasing stories, I like interesting characters. So, yes, I walked a little bit around the Plaza, unfortunately, I saw things but I saw nothing that I cared to write and obsess about.

I, however, saw Bigg’s.

I love the taste of Bigg’s. The taste you can’t resist. Bigg’s diner’s the place lalalala…

I can’t rightfully remember what I ordered. To my mind, it was one of those special burgers they had when CWC first launched. It was okay (I wish I just ate at Jollibee!) and then I went back to my hotel to fix my things.

It was here that I discovered that sometimes Alanis is right. I actually have a birth certificate, both a certified one and the original from the hospital. And I had them in my bag the entire time. Oh, well, too late now.

I then stared at the wall until it was time to go the funeral.

***
Again I’m going to gloss over the funeral. Everyone was crying, it was very emotional, and, again, I’m Aquarius, I can’t really express emotion.

 

(I would, however, like to make this an advocacy opportunity. The funeral home gave us a dove to release and, while I did not say anything then, I would like to point out that the use of animals in events like that is a form of animal cruelty, as these poor birds bred in captivity have no chance of surviving in the wild. There are ulterior ways to capture that feeling and I feel bad I said nothing in the moment, but had I known I would’ve spoken up beforehand.)

***

We had lunch at Grissini Ristorante, where our server was this really cute guy who could not stop flirting with me at every possible opportunity. (And if you know me, you know I will flirt back as much as I can!)

“Excuse me, I’m parched. Can I please have something…wet?”

“Here you go, sir. Enjoy…drinking.”

(WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU RILEY)

***

After having a quick dessert at Red Ribbon, my uncle drove me to my hotel and, (dear god, it was hot af, I thought I was going to die), as soon as I got into my room, I fell into the bed and slept til around 8pm.

***

When I woke up, my first thought was, “I’m hungry.”

Knowing that my time in Naga was drawing to a close, I knew I had to eat at my favorite Naga restaurant: Green Plaza. Ah, Green Plaza’s lumpia shanghai, partnered with garlic rice. Mmm. I’m back in Montreal now and I’m craving it soooo bad. I couldn’t even find a Manila restaurant to equal it, what more here?

I arrived as they were about to close and, after some pleading with the owner, they allowed me to put in a take-out order. While waiting for the order, I walked around Plaza Quince Martires, which was very alive. I had some chicken skin, some spicy adobong mani. I regret not eating bolastog though. I felt a pinch of sadness that Maricho, the lady I used to buy my peanuts from, was no longer there and that the peanut stalls which used to face the streets now face the opposite direction. Sigh. As the song says, tingnan mo ang Naga ang laki ng pagbabago.

***

I admit the food I ordered ended up being way too much for me to eat in one meal, even take-out. So I decided to partition some for breakfast, some for lunch, etc. After partitioning, I ate them all anyway. What?

***

As I was unable to really go back to sleep, when the sun rose, I went to my aunt’s place (stopping over at the laundry shop to leave my dirty clothes.) My aunt and uncle live right behind our old house and I used this opportunity to take a peek where I used to live.

Once upon a time, this house was a home where I spent my elementary and high school days in. If I were to be honest (and a little bit selfish), I knew that I was not prepared to enter it. So I simply looked from the outside

***

I decided to walk around Centro — for once, during godly hours. It just so happened that at Plaza Quince Martires, activists have taken centerstage as part of the National Day of Protest against the Duterte dictatorship. Yes, it is a dictatorship and, yes, I am calling it out now.

In solidarity with the masses, I stayed for a few minutes, even spoke to some of the organizers; however, it started to rain and I thought it was time to say goodbye.

I went to Robertson’s Mall (time was — the *only* mall in Naga City) and bought an umbrella. I then went to BDO to inquire about an old bank card (and, by chance, this happened to be the BDO my cousin Trina works in), and sat around McDonald’s while waiting for my friend Andrea who was gonna bring me to CWC.

Andrea came and we went to CWC. She introduced me to her gay friend who was actually kinda hot but apparently has a partner because #StoryOfMyLife. I’ve never actually seen people wakeboard! I’ve been to CWC but almost all the time, there is no one playing in the park.

Apparently, there was a tragedy that happened the day before. One of the men in charge of taking care of the pool was electrocuted while he was doing routine maintenance on a new fixture. How terribly misfortunate.

Unfortunately, there was issues with the weather suddenly giving a full-out deluge (causing me to slightly panic if I can go home). Nothing more of interest happened that day. I got my laundry back, managed to squeeze in dinner with Trina at Chowking in SM City Naga, and finally was on my way to Quezon City.