the first of may
May started out exceedingly well. A week ago, I invited my cousin to go to Greenhills to try Chicha Sanchen, the newly opened milk tea place from Taiwan that looked real scrumptious on Instagram ads. It was originally planned as a girls’ day out for the two of us, another cousin, and my SIL. By the end of the day, our milk tea pilgrimage turned out to be a historic cousin bonding day, with ten more cousins plus my 5-year-old nephew joining the mix. It was Labor Day so everyone was free.
We arrived starving at around 4 pm and decided to eat at Le Ching, a Chinese institution nestled deep in the burrows of Greenhills shopping arcade. It was my first time to eat there and it definitely won’t be the last. I ordered chicken noodle soup that, while warm and comforting, needed a little kick. I decided to put chili garlic on my noodles with every slurp and before I knew it, my third eye was wide open.
The girls and I headed to the tiangge for a bit of shopping. We stopped by a jewelry stall with four-leaf clover pendants on display. I stared dumbly at the array of fake Van Cleef & Arpels jewelry, my fashion days far behind me. I had never bought jewelry for anything other than my pierced nose for a while (thanks, Shopee) but somehow I was compelled to buy fake Bottega Veneta earrings from the stall. In true Raia fashion, I got both silver and gold variations. My greed knows no bounds and my wallet weeps.
After buying two more shirts at the tiangge, we headed for milk tea. The place was surprisingly cute and cozy, and I cursed at the thought of leaving my film camera behind. I ordered their regular bubble milk tea which was top-tier (not in the pearls category though – OneZo still can’t be beat).
We sipped our milk tea on the way to Timezone where the rest of our cousins were. I stopped by Henry’s Cameras first to inquire about the Nikon Zf, a possible replacement for my DSLR. It’s good to know that I still couldn’t afford it.
We learned that day that Timezone was having a B1T1 Labor Day promo. My cousin loaded 500 pesos on her card which gave her 1,000 pesos worth of games. She was desperate for a stress-reliever and I was more than happy to join her. Before leaving, we stopped by a photobooth and tried to fit 4 people in one frame. The photos sucked so we headed to Life Four Cuts to take better ones. We managed to fit 11 people in one frame this time, and the photos were marginally better.
Dinner at the food court was chicken tikka for me, Korean food and Popeye’s for the others. My wide back couldn’t resist having a froyo for dessert either. Our cousin who lives in Spain was on video call the entire time. We all said our goodbyes at around 10 pm.
It was a fun day, to say the least. Memorable enough for me to chronicle it. And to think I nearly skipped it because I was pretty miserable the night before. It was a strong reminder that nothing good comes out of being a flake. Dragging yourself out of bed, going outside and being with people is hardly a panacea but it makes for a cute little band-aid.
