DC Photos: Manila #3

Exsel, my Son, Comes to Visit from the U.S.

Apr 03, 2026

It’s Spring Break at UNM (the University of New Mexico), for freshman Exsel, my almost 19-year-old son, and I’m flying him over from Albuquerque to Manila, for the trip of his life.

After a 24-hour flight leaving at 6 a.m. on Friday, the 13th of March, and arriving at 9 p.m. on Saturday night, he’ll be losing over 12 hours by crossing the international dateline, while gaining a bit of jet lag.

I’ve navigated Manila’s International Aquino Airport before, and I have the routine pretty much down: Take a Grab (Manila’s Uber) to the right terminal (#2), wait for Exsel in the “Grab Lounge, and Grab it back to Ric Reaper’s condo in Makati City by 10:30 pm, just enough time to grab a couple of drinks and some fried calamari at Pablo’s, a tasty and trendy restaurant right around the corner.

Exsel is surprised and delighted that he can drink alcohol here at his age, since the Philippines seems pretty indifferent to age requirements about this kind of thing.

So it’s a standard gin and tonic for me, and some kind of sugary tequila confection for him.

Cheers! Welcome to Manila, Little Man.

“Hey! Isn’t that MY Hawaiian shirt you’re wearing?”

Jet lag or not, Exsel is up Sunday morning at the crack of dawn, waking me up for some Filipino pesos so he can take a walk around the neighborhood by himself, to find his bearings and get a cup of coffee, just like he does when he visits his birth family in Sumatra.

He runs into the nearby Makati Triangle, which is cordoned off to auto traffic on Sundays so that Manilans can jog and eat to their hearts’ content.

Having just gotten his first American passport more than ten years after his arrival in 2015, it’s not like Exsel is unaware of the deranged and diminished state of his recently adopted country. He’s been to UNM protests and to the last two No Kings protests. And although he appreciates his good luck in having been brought here from Indonesian poverty, he also knows that there’s something radically wrong with our “Narcissist-in-Chief” and his incompetent Goon Squad. Plus, being brown-skinned himself and even now, a full American citizen, he’ll, no doubt, be carrying around his shiny new passport - to simply protect himself from US Customs Enforcement and the ever-present deportation brigade of gun-toting, poorly-trained ICE agents.

When Ric and I, creaky from age, are finally ready, the three of us grab another Grab - to take us to old-world Intramuros, home to 16th-century Spanish-era landmarks like Fort Santiago, with a large stone gate and a shrine to national hero José Rizal. The ornate Manila Cathedral houses bronze carvings and stained glass windows, while the San Agustin Church museum has religious artwork and statues. Spanish colonial furniture and art fill Casa Manila museum, and horse-drawn carriages (kalesa) ply the area’s cobblestone streets, the oldest and most historical part of the city.

We hire a terrific guide, who knows Filipino and Manila history like the back of his hand, and after he walks us around the pedestrian-only Fort Santiago area, he gets us onto a kalesa to trot us around the rest of the walled city and see the local sites, including a wedding in the Cathedral.

Ric has saved the classy Manila Hotel for me until this part of my visit, so we Grab over to this old beauty of a Hotel, where General MacArthur and his bigwig soldiers stayed during WW2, while the grunts and infantrymen fought and died out in the far-less-fashionable and unprotected fort area.

In the last photo, you can see the classy, traditional barong Exsel is sporting, which I bought him at the traditional folkart store, “Kultura”, in one of the upscale malls in central Manila. A barong is an embroidered long-sleeved formal shirt for men and a traditional style of the Philippines, which combines elements from both the precolonial native Filipino and colonial Spanish clothing styles. It is traditionally made with sheer textiles (nipis) and woven from piña (pineapple leaves).

CUT TO: a bright blue sky on a sunny-clean Filipino beach - with delicious, fine white sand.

With the strong blessings and encouragement of both Ric and his all-knowing son-in-law, Jing, I decide to splurge for my boy, quite a bit past my habitual frugality, and fly us both to Boracay Island, the best-known and most popular beach island in the Philippines.

We pack in two incredible days, staying at the upscale Hennan Beach Prime, as I say, far beyond my retiree pay scale, in the area known as “Station 1”, far away from the tourist-crowded and backpacker-friendly “D-Mall” of Station 2 and the budget fare of Station 3. We eat and drink from morning til midnight, finding the best restaurants at reasonable prices, all with Jing’s expert guidance. Meanwhile, Exsel continues to take advantage of the no-age-drinking custom, joining his Dad, downing local Red Horse beers, pina coladas, Cuba libres, and mango smoothies laced with rum.

On our second and “last” day, Jing has once again twisted my parsimonious arm and convinced me to take a sunset paraw, a “must-do” 30-minute Boracay boat ride, featuring traditional Filipino outrigger boats with large sails.

Very coool, Daddios and Mommios.

On Thursday evening, we fly back to Manila, where Ric and Jing take us to a traditional Filipino restaurant nearby in Makati, and Exsel nearly passes out in food bliss and ecstasy.

The classic Filipino menu characteristically combines savory, sour, and garlicky flavors, often served with white rice. Some of the most well-known dishes include Adobo (soy-vinegar stew), Sinigang (sour soup), Lechon (roast pig), Bistek (beef steak), and Kare-Kare, a stew featuring oxtail, tripe, and vegetables in a thick, peanut-based sauce, traditionally paired with a fermented shrimp paste (bagoong). All of them are celebrated for their comforting, bold, and distinct tastes.

On our last night, trying to cram everything we can into Exsel’s single week of non-academia and costume classes, we double dip: taking him to an almost Soho, New York-style, “Filipino fusion” restaurant with high bare-duct ceilings and delicious food.

Here we are enjoying “the good life”, including the second “dip” to the fancy “Shangri-La Hotel” and lounge.

Once again, Exsel is rocking his new Filipino barong.

Then… bright and early on Saturday morning, less than seven full days after his arrival, Exsel Grabs it back to Acquino International Airport to fly another 24 grueling hours, back to his Albuquerque dorm room. With an 11-hour layover in San Francisco! At least this time, Ric gives him, at Exsel’s request, two well-timed sleeping pills - to cover his dead air time.

He arrives back “home” only to find his 2007 Toyota Matrix’ car battery dead to the world - because - he left on some new video plug-in/add-on which he bought before leaving. Fortunately, Lana, his first girlfriend ever, has jumped the car’s battery, and is waiting there at the ABQ airport to pick up the newly-crowned “Indonesian Prince of Manila”!

I haven’t heard from him in the last few days, but I’m sure he’s been catching up on his sleep and…. is back to “doing his homework”.

Such is life.

Best Regards,

from Luzon Island in the Philippines.

By the time you read this, I’ll be….. in Japan.

xo,

Trules

Eric Trules' Substack

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