How It All Began
When Janet Jackson announced on 15 November 2023 that she would be bringing her Together Again Tour to Hawaii, Manila and Japan for a handful of dates in March 2024, I knew I had to go for it. I had already missed the original US leg of the tour in the summer of 2023 and I didn’t want to miss it again. The question was: which show should I go? Hawaii is too far so it was really down to Manila and Japan.
In terms of ticket prices, the Japan tickets were selling for ¥15,000 (S$134) / ¥18,000 (S$160) / ¥22,000 (S$196) / ¥33,000 (S$294). In comparison, Manila’s tickets were going for 4,800 pesos (S$115) / 9,800 pesos (S$235) / 15,600 pesos (S$374) / 16,800 pesos (S$403) / 18,600 pesos (S$446) / 19,800 pesos (S$475).
Japan had a lot going for it. Japan is one of my favourite countries and I always want to go back. In fact, the last time I watched Janet in concert was her State of the World Tour in Tokyo in February 2019. Another plus point was that TLC would be supporting Janet on the Japan dates, but not for Manila. The Japan tickets were also cheaper than Manila’s.
On the other hand, Manila would be cheaper in terms of flights, accommodation and general expenses (or so I thought!). Furthermore, I have never been to Manila before so I was keen to visit somewhere new. The Manila concert date was also better because it was closer to my birthday so I could use the trip as an excuse to celebrate my birthday. Eventually, I decided to try somewhere new, so Manila it was!
However, I was shocked at how expensive the Manila concert ticket prices were, especially for the top tiers. Even for Singapore, concert tickets very rarely breach the S$400 mark. And even the so-called Category 4 tickets for the Manila show cost S$374. Even for a die-hard Janet fan like me, I couldn’t stomach paying over S$400 for a concert ticket. If the concert was held in Singapore, I might bite the bullet and fork out S$400, but with additional costs associated with flying overseas, I didn’t want to break the bank.
I managed to rope in one of my concert kakis, WY, to come along with me for the concert. She was not a mega fan of Janet but she wanted to watch the legend at least once in her lifetime. In the end, we settled for the second lowest category of tickets (9,800 pesos/S$235) because it was the best compromise in terms of cost versus value. Even then, it was a freaking S$235. Not cheap!
We procrastinated and booked our flights very late – just one month before the concert, on 13 February 2024. By then, the air ticket prices had increased substantially. The flight timings were also very weird, so we settled on a 2:00am outbound flight on Jetstar, which cost S$633, including 20kg checked baggage and a meal. For our inbound flight, we booked Cebu Pacific Air, which cost S$116.60, including 20kg checked baggage. I later found out that the reason why the outbound flight was so expensive was because hordes of Filipino fans were flying home after watching Taylor Swift’s run of six concerts in Singapore. Thus, we spent S$749.60 per person on airfare. Ouch! That would probably be enough to fly to Japan!
For accommodation, I considered staying at a hotel but decided to book an Airbnb apartment instead, because we could have two bedrooms and more space. After doing some research, I found out that Makati is the best area to stay for first-time visitors to Manila, because it is very safe and has good access to malls and other amenities. I found an Airbnb apartment at a condominium called Gramercy Residences, and booked it for S$561.57. Splitting between the two of us, it was S$280.79 per person, or around S$70 per person per night. Quite decent.
We also purchased travel insurance from Income for S$24.87 per person. In all, my fixed expenses for the trip were:
- Concert ticket: S$235
- Air tickets: S$749.60
- Accommodation: S$280.79
- Travel insurance: S$24.87
- TOTAL = S$1,290.26
Exchange rate: 100 pesos = S$2.40
Day 1 – 10 March 2024, Sunday
As our outbound flight to Manila was a red-eye flight at 2:00am, I met up with my buddy IH at Jewel Changi Airport for a late dinner/supper at 9:00pm. We then had a bit of an adventure trying to make our way from Jewel Changi to Terminal 4. The directions for the free shuttle bus to T4 were poor and we ended up waiting at the wrong spot. By the time we made it to T4, it was around 12:15am. I then met up with WY and said goodbye to IH.
After printing our boarding passes and luggage tags, we went to the automated immigration clearance lanes but an error message popped up on the screen and asked us to go to the Jetstar counter for a document check. The Jetstar staff then asked us to submit an electronic travel declaration using the eGovPH app. The QR code that they asked us to scan led us not to the app but to a website, and it couldn’t load properly. The Jetstar staff were also not very helpful and they seemed unsure about the eTravel requirements. Feeling frustrated, we proceeded with immigration and went about submitting the electronic travel declaration after we went in.
For the record, anyone arriving in and departing from the Philippines will need to register in eTravel within 72 hours (3 days) prior to your arrival or departure from the Philippines. eTravel registration is FREE and should be done via the Philippine Travel Information System website here.
Our Jetstar flight 3K763 was quite punctual and we took off at 2:12am. Pre-departure, the plane played Taylor Swift songs as background music. Many passengers were wearing their Eras Tour jumpers and T-shirts. The captain also acknowledged the Swifties on the flight. It was all a bit too much.
I didn’t sleep very much during the flight, perhaps half an hour at most, because the lady sitting behind me pressed her knees against the back of my seat, and I could feel the pressure of her knees poking against my back. It was a massage I didn’t need, and it was very annoying. At 4:05am, our meal was served. The meal was included in the bundle with the 20kg checked baggage; otherwise we wouldn’t have ordered it. I had sweet and sour fish with egg fried rice, and it also came with a can of Ice Mountain still water and a small cup of Udders ice-cream.
We touched down at Manila’s Ninoy Aquino International Airport at 5:17am, way ahead of the scheduled 5:55am time. As we were so early, our parking bay was occupied by another aircraft so we had to wait till 5:46am before we finally parked in our rightful slot. Immigration clearance and luggage retrieval were very swift (not a Taytay reference!) and we were on our way out of the airport at 6:24am.
The Grab car ride from the airport to Gramercy Residences, our Airbnb apartment in Makati, cost 335 pesos (S$8.04) and we arrived at around 6:40am. The ride was very smooth because it was Sunday morning and there wasn’t much traffic. We saw many cyclists and some sections of the roads were closed. I thought there was a race going on, but I just found out that it is part of Car-Free Sundays, where Ayala Avenue will be car-free every Sunday morning in 2024 from 6:00am to 10:00am.
The objective is to let Manila residents enjoy the freedom of open streets, foster healthier lifestyles and unite the community of runners, walkers, bikers, pet owners and furbabies, and skaters every Sunday. Singapore also recently reintroduced Car-Free Sundays at our Civic District area after a hiatus of four years because of Covid-19, and lots of people thronged the streets. It’s a great initiative, and more cities should do it.
Official check-in time was 2:00pm so we couldn’t access our Airbnb apartment yet. Hence, we deposited our luggage at the store room. Storage was free for the first three hours, and a flat 500 pesos (S$12) thereafter. After a quick freshening up, we booked a Grab car to take us to Legazpi Sunday Market. The ride cost 156 pesos (S$3.75) and took 15 minutes, and we arrived at 7:36am.
Legazpi Sunday Market is one of the two weekend markets in Makati. The other one is Salcedo Weekend Market and it is open only on Saturdays from 7:00am to 2:00pm. As its name implies, Legazpi Sunday Market is open only on Sundays. Google Maps indicates that the opening hours are from 7:30am to 2:00pm, but a banner onsite states that the opening hours are from 7:00am to 2:00pm. No wonder it was already buzzing with lots of locals when we arrived just after 7:30am. Some of the stalls were in the midst of setting up but most of them were ready for business.
The tagline for Legazpi Sunday Markets is “Eat, Shop, Mingle” and it was exactly that. As soon as we entered, we were surrounded by stalls selling a wide range of international cuisines. There was not only Filipino food, but also Chinese, Italian, Indian, Thai, Spanish, French, American food. And what made it great was that every stall sold something unique; there was no repeat.
We looked at all the food and had a hard time deciding what to eat, so we went to the small farmer’s market section where fruits, vegetables and seafood were sold. The mussels and clams were still alive, and the other fish, squids and prawns all looked very fresh.
Besides cooked and uncooked food, there was also a flea market section with some stalls selling vintage clothes, records, bags and cute ling-ling-long-long items. I came across as stall selling laptop stickers and bought one depicting the Great Wave Off Kanagawa, the famous woodblock print created by Japanese artist Hokusai. I really love that artwork.
In the end, we settled on a cup of latte from TonG Coffee (120 pesos/S$2.88) and a croissant (180 pesos/S$4.32) each because we were not that hungry yet. We also bought a large piece of garlic and cheese pita bread (250 pesos/S$6) to take home for our breakfast tomorrow. We sat at one of the tables to eat and drink. I liked that the entire market was very orderly, spacious, clean and well-organised with lots of tables and seats. It was indeed a good place to eat, shop and mingle.
Next to Legazpi Sunday Market was Washington SyCip Park, a privately owned public park named after Filipino accountant and banker Washington SyCip. He was the founder of SGV & Company, the largest accounting firm in the Philippines. The park was named in his honour on his 85th birthday in June 2006.
The park wasn’t very big but it was very nice, with many mature trees providing lots of shade and creating a green lung in the city. We especially liked the tall Eucalyptus deglupta trees, more commonly known as the rainbow eucalyptus because of its beautiful, multi-coloured bark.
Across the road from Washington SyCip Park was Legazpi Active Park, another privately-owned public space. The park was small but it was well-utilised by many locals engaging in various forms of exercise – brisk walking, jogging, calisthenics and a casual game of badminton. Green spaces like these are rare in Metro Manila so they are very cherished by the locals.
After a short walk, we turned back to Legazpi Sunday Market for another look. Some of the stalls that were not open earlier were now ready for business. I found a stall selling used vinyl records and did some crate digging, but there was nothing of interest (read: MJ or Janet) that I didn’t already have so I left empty-handed. I bought a cheese-flavoured ice-cream on a cone and it was really yummy. Loved it.
We continued browsing the stalls and my attention was caught by a stall called Siklo Pilipinas (click here), which sold upcycled tyre inner tube bags. I have a thing for bags and I usually come back from my overseas trips with at least one new bag. But this was very interesting because all their bags and products are made from the rubber inner tubes of bicycles.
Siklo is the Filipino word for “cycle”, and it is especially appropriate because the “cycle” here can take on two meanings. Firstly, the company advocates an eco-ethical lifestyle by upcycling – taking old materials and transforming them into something new. Secondly, they use discarded tyre inner tubes from bicycles and upcycle them into Siklo bags. Since 2012, over 20 tonnes of such materials have been saved from the landfill and given a new lease of life. Each Siklo bag is made by hand and no two bags are identical due to the incidental attributes of the tyre rubber material resulting from its previous use. I loved everything about the concept so I decided to buy a bag from them, as a birthday gift for myself.
I already have a few backpacks so I picked the Mensahero, a 14-litre capacity messenger bag. The price was rather steep – 2,700 pesos (S$64.80), so I tried to bargain a little. I told the lady it was my birthday today. She wouldn’t give me a discount but threw in a small coin/card pouch for free. Actually, I don’t like to bargain so much. For an item that is handcrafted, unique and meaningful, I will gladly pay what it’s worth. My wallet got much lighter after this, but I was very happy with my purchase.
From Legazpi Sunday Market, we walked east along Legazpi Street and soon arrived at Greenbelt, a collection of five shopping mall buildings clustered around a central 2.8-hectare garden. It was clear why it was called Greenbelt, because the garden was full of large, mature Rain Trees, as well as palm trees, ferns and other plants that are also found in Singapore. There was even a cute little Catholic church, Sto. Nino de Paz Greenbelt Chapel, located in the middle of the small lake.
When we arrived at 10am, most of the retail shops were not open yet, so we decided to sit down at a café for some breakfast and rest. We picked Café Breton Armorica and requested for an indoor table so that we could enjoy the air-conditioning. It was getting humid outside. We each ordered the Hearty Breakfast Plate (325 pesos) and a cup of Flat White coffee (150 pesos). After tax, the meal cost 1,017.86 pesos, or S$12.22 per person. Pretty decent price, but I thought that the bacon was a little overcooked and tough.
We weren’t in a hurry to eat because it was still too early for checking in to our Airbnb. After sitting and resting for about an hour, we left at 11:25am and window-shopped at the Greenbelt malls. There were some high-end brands and some more mid-range brands like Onitsuka Tiger and H&M. We then crossed Makati Avenue to The Landmark, an older, large department store that is catered more to the budget-conscious shopper.
After browsing the department store, we went to the huge supermarket located at the basement for some grocery shopping. We each bought 10 packets of 100g 7D dried mangoes at 127.75 pesos (S$3) per packet. Dried mangoes are one of the best food souvenir items so we decided to get it out of the way and buy them first. The same packet of 7D dried mangoes costs S$4.44 at our local Fairprice supermarket in Singapore, almost 50% more expensive.
Buying groceries at the Landmark supermarket was quite an experience. There was a cashier whose job was to scan the items and collect payment, and there was another packer whose job was to help bag the items. When we told the packer that we were going to take a Grab car, he pushed our trolley to the street level and then helped us load our shopping bags into the boot of our Grab car. Of course, I gave him a little tip for his efforts. I guess this kind of concierge service would be useful for the elderly, and it also creates jobs for the locals.
We left The Landmark at 1:34pm and arrived at Gramercy Residences about 10 minutes later. The ride cost 139 pesos (S$3.34). We retrieved our luggage from the store room and waited for the Airbnb coordinator Ernie to arrive to check us in. He arrived just after 2:00pm, passed us the keys and access card, and led us to our apartment on the 8th floor.
The apartment was nicely furnished and comfortable, with a large living room and dining area, as well as two bedrooms and two bathrooms. The kitchen was fully equipped with lots of utensils, plates, cups, dishwashing liquid and even a new sponge for washing dishes. However, the washing machine was not working, which was a pity. The air-con units in the bedrooms were a bit noisy especially when turned up. And the window blinds in the rooms were not thick enough so they didn’t keep the light out when the sun rises at 6:00am each day.
Over the next four nights, we would also encounter four small cockroaches scurrying about in the apartment. I read reviews from other Airbnb listings in the same building mentioning about cockroaches, so it seems to be a common issue for the building and not limited to this apartment. But other than these quibbles, we enjoyed our stay at Gramercy Residences.
After checking in, we took a shower and a nap, because we were really feeling the exhaustion from our red-eye flight by then. After a short lie-in, we woke up at 5:00pm and headed out again at 5:20pm. We couldn’t nap longer because we wanted to catch the sunset, which was around 6:00pm in Manila. By the way, almost everywhere else in Asia, the sun rises at 6:00am and sets at 6:00pm, but in Singapore and Malaysia, the sun rises and sets an hour later (7:00am and 7:00pm respectively). This is because of our two countries’ peculiarity of being in the GMT +8:00 time zone instead of GMT +7:00 due to historical reasons.
The Grab car ride to SM Mall of Asia took 32 minutes and cost 342 pesos (S$8.21). Traffic was much heavier now compared to the morning. Along the way, we saw many of the Philippines’ iconic jeepneys plying the streets. These public utility vehicles are a legacy from World War II, when the Americans left behind their military jeeps after they left the Philippines. The locals then modified the vehicles by adding a metal roof for shade and reconfigured the back part with two long parallel benches, with passengers facing each other to accommodate more passengers.
According to a CNN article dated 16 January 2024 (click here), there are around 200,000 jeepneys in the Philippines and they ferry around 40% of commuters everywhere. However, the government is trying to replace jeepneys with modern, air-conditioned minibuses that are more environmentally friendly. The plan is facing resistance because most jeepneys are privately-owned and the drivers are not part of a cooperative. Hence, it will be an uphill task to persuade the drivers to take up hefty loans to purchase the newer and more expensive vehicles, when their profit margins are already so low. I don’t know what will happen in the future, but for now, I enjoyed the sight of the noisy and colourful jeepneys rumbling down the streets of Manila.
We arrived SM Mall of Asia at 5:52pm, just as the sun was about to set. We walked towards Seaside Boulevard, where we saw a ferris wheel beside the sea. We wanted to ride the ferris wheel but decided against it when we saw the long queue. The ferris wheel is part of SM By The Bay Amusement Park, which has many other kiddy rides like bumper car, drop tower and carousel.
The atmosphere at SM By the Bay was wonderful, as scores of locals were out here enjoying the last remaining hours of the weekend. The bund overlooking Manila Bay was fully occupied as everyone wanted to chill and watch the sunset with their friends or loved ones. The sun was obscured by the clouds so we didn’t have a spectacular sunset, but it was still magical nonetheless. Everyone was smiling, laughing and relaxed so the vibes were wonderful.
As the sun slowly disappeared over the horizon at 6:20pm, we searched for a place for dinner. We saw a Hard Rock Café at the second floor of S Maison at Conrad hotel so we went to take a look. It was quite empty but the staff told us that there would be a live band performing soon at 7:00pm. Because of the live band, there was a cover charge of 395 pesos (S$9.48), but it included a drink of beer or iced tea. As we both loved listening to live music, we decided to dine right there at Hard Rock Café.
I ordered the BBQ Bacon Cheeseburger and a bottle of Red Horse Beer for the free drink. As we were early, we picked a high table with a good view of the stage – not too near, and not too far. The restaurant began to fill up as time went by. At 7:00pm, the band came on. It was a three-piece band (drums, keyboard and guitar) with a female lead singer. They kept it nice and chill for the first set, which comprised mostly of classic rock ballads.
Before the end of the set, the singer asked if there was anyone in the house celebrating their birthdays tonight. To my surprise, there were five other birthday babies besides me. The band played Happy Birthday to us, and the Hard Rock Café staff even surprised us with a complimentary scoop of vanilla ice-cream each with a candle on top. That was a nice gesture!
The music for the second set was more upbeat and “hot”, as the band upped the tempo and played more contemporary pop songs like Despacito and Hips Don’t Lie. The real surprise came when three guys appeared in front of the stage and started dancing to the music, and they invited the ladies from the audience to join them, and many did. The three guys each took turns to be the lead dancer, and the rest of the gang followed his lead. The moves were like those from line dancing, not too difficult but fun and groovy. And it was amazing how the audience members could pick them up instantly.
The Filipinos really know how to enjoy life and have a good time. It was lovely to see them all dancing together without inhibition or being self-conscious. WY and I said to each other that this would never happen in Singapore, as everyone would be too paiseh (shy) to stand in front of the stage and perform. But to them, it looked like the most natural thing to do.
It was a wonderful way to celebrate my birthday. We thought it would be a simple dinner but it turned out to be a most entertaining one. We left Hard Rock Café at 9:00pm and walked over to SM Mall of Asia to shop a little. Most of the shops seemed to be closing already so we went to The SM Store, which closes at 10pm. This is the department store of SM Supermalls, a chain of shopping malls owned by SM Prime, the largest shopping retail operator in the Philippines.
At a corner on the ground floor of The SM Store was Kultura, a shop for all things Filipino. Kultura showcases local artistry and craftsmanship, selling products and foodstuff made in the Philippines, including dried mangoes, bags, clothes, accessories, jewellery and souvenirs. The prices were reasonable and the products were of high quality. I bought a nice T-shirt and a straw fedora hat here, both priced at 249 pesos (S$5.98). WY bought several souvenirs as well.
After our mini shopping haul, we called a Grab car to take us home. SM Mall of Asia is the largest shopping mall in the Philippines and the sixth largest in the world. We didn’t have time to check out any of the other shops. Besides, we were really tired by then. We left SM Mall of Asia at 10:25pm and arrived at Gramercy Residences 25 minutes later. The ride cost 410 pesos (S$9.84).
It had been an exhausting day with very little sleep during the flight, but a highly productive one as we managed to visit the lovely Legazpi Sunday Market and had a nice dinner at Hard Rock Café. Couldn’t ask for a better way to celebrate my birthday.