Our first stop was at the Iloilo Grand Hotel, where I was booked in a room smaller than my dormroom back in Beijing. Next stop was at 'Sen store AM Trading, where 'Sen gave me use of one of their drivers. Wally(?) took me to see the city's famous churches, whose names escape me at the moment, not having the benefit of research assistants from the Department of Tourism or Lonely Planet. 
I took this opportunity to take a few pix for my "clone" collection, though mostly mundane as I didn't want to make a spectacle of myself. We visited about 4 before I switched to Christian's ride and met his fiancée Ayen, whose resemblance to Nancy Castiglione is something I don't mention to her 'til much, much later. She introduced me to my first bite of bibingka. Ever.
We had bulalo for lunch, then went shopping for butterscotch (and other assorted snacks) to bring back home w/ me. Few more church visits, each one w/a distinct feature that helps you remember its look, if not its name (a technique I've used on my acquaintances). The church w/ the mosaic design. The church w/ the sandstone look (actually terracotta). The church w/ the fabled "growing" Sto. Nino statue. The church w/ the funky tree and a statue of St. Lorenzo Ruiz underneath its twisting branches. The church w/ Jesus half-hanging on the crucifix. During all this I was keeping in touch w/ Jorn Wong, who was arranging my trip to Ibaras for the nature hike up to one of their famous waterfalls.I also got a tour of the city, seeing Spanish-era houses and buildings still being used and looking livable (as opposed to the firetraps here in Manila), as well the both SM and Robinson's Malls. Caught a brief glimpse of the "Pink Mansion," w/c gave a figurative and literal meaning to the term "gay-ass house." Man, if I hadn't accidentally bent the battery latch of my digicam (or wasn't in a moving vehicle) I would've taken pictures of both the pink house and van.
Christ and Ayen dropped me off at the hotel so I could rest up before we meet up again for dinner. Who am I kidding-- about an hour later I was already doing exercises and deleting unwanted channels on the cable TV (ooh, an episode of Bibleman...). Aw, no 24-hour PBB channel like in Boracay? How would I follow the banality of those quasi-celebrities?
(Wendy's a looker, but girls got issues. For someone who keeps screaming hysterically at a housemate dressed like Sadako from Ringu even though you already know it's a fellow housemate, God knows how you kept your wits about you in your reign as Miss Tourism) I managed to catch Law & Order before they picked me up and we had dinner at one the few hotel restaurants that were actually open. Met 'Sen's girlfriend Rondstadt ("As in Linda?" I asked). No pork for Holy Thursday, so no sisig. Still, we had seafood, w/c is Iloilo's specialty, anyway.More select pix below:
