I was scared. My heart was really pounding. I know what it is. The mere fact that they said they have a challenge for us; I know it is something I never did before. I first thought of a challenge that involves the night market. A challenge that would test our haggling capabilities would be a sure challenge. Hey look it was Tutuban Night Market everybody were there to get something the cheapest price possible. Maybe they will give us money and buy something we could use while on the road. Hello they invited travel bloggers and they knew for sure that we travel extensively. So maybe, I though they will incorporate the night market and traveling on the challenge. And remember this is the battle of cheapest shopping experience in Tutuban Night Market.
Before we went on shopping Orion Hotel see to it that were full by preparing some of the best dishes that can be found at the Tutuban Night Market Food Court.
I was right and wrong.
Yeah I was right. We do shop and haggled in Tutuban Night Market. But I was wrong in the incorporation of the night market and travelling.
Kuya Jaycee of Orion Hotel handed each one of us an invitation for a fashion night. What!!! Fashion Night! I was at point of wanting to melt down. Arrggg… If the shopping thing scares me already, how much more is the fashion night! Although I knew nothing about being “fashionable” I had to do it on my own. Take note “On My Own” I feel like I am the male version of Ephonine singing in the rain. Of course I had to do it on my own because it’s actually a competition among us!
They were generous actually I should say. They gave us each Php1,000.00 to shop for set of clothes. That was a relief actually. It would be so hard for us to look for clothes while trying to squish in the budget. It was big enough I thought prompting some to ask about the change if ever you won’t spend it all. And they said it’s ours. Wow!
The lights in the Night Market
I had to do it alone but Kenneth and I decided to go on together trying to give support to each other. We walk towards the front of Tutuban Center but found nothing. Haha… we were looking for pants. And because we can’t find nice stylish pants at the vicinity of Tutuban Night Market, we sneak out a little bit of the vicinity and went to the CM Recto where there are more “Tiange” or shops on the streets. Although kuya Jaycee waned us not to go beyond the area of Tutuban Mall because of the “safety of our camera” (yeah not or safety joke) we still did it! We dared Divisoria!!! Grrr… After scouting and haggling for the pants that we wanted we rushed back to the Tutuban area to buy tops and some accessories. This time Kenneth and I separated for some thrill in the end 😉
My feet was tired because there was a plentiful of choices in the night market. You can buy one if you got tired feet too!
I roamed around myself for maybe 30-40 minutes crying out to the gods of fashion to spare me the night! After bumping each of the group members happily walking with their plastic bag, there I was nothing on my hand except the pants that I bought outside. I was spared. I had an idea. I actually had an idea from the start but its just I don’t know if it will match!
There was nobody on my side to cheer me up. Nobody but me =( huhuhu… Then I decided to go back at the hotel to fix myself. My heart was pumping blood so fast. I stand on the rain shower of the chic bathroom of Orion Hotel. I made some sophisticated though that could make me crazy! What if that and that happen? What are they gonna say? All of this was because of my wardrobe dilemma! Lol…
Look at my masterpiece. Winter clothes in summer =) Pants: Php450, Shirt: Php200, Hat: Php100 and Scarf: Php75. The shoes is mine =) Total: Php825 The phone rang. Now its time. Time to show to the world what I got. “I got nothing” nothing. The receptionist instructed me to go out in 10 minutes and wear my outfit of the night. So I faced the door, pulled the card key and took a deep breath. I said to myself I had to walk confidently and erase all spots of comfortableness and shyness. Walk like a star walk as if you are in a cat walk. And I did! Thank God!
Photos compiled by Kaiye of The Two Broke Girls Wonder why the picture above didn’t showed our face? haha… we had an internal agreement that we will not divulge in the public how we look that night. Lol. Of-course you can spot me there cause I showed my outfit on the foregoing pictures. After that night, I was really proud of my self that i made it =) hehe…. (arte lang) The Orion Hotel staff has a little program/competition for us where fashion and affordability are the criteria. But for me its the fun and experience than to win is what matters more. Should I say the winner here? I think I can now =) Third Place was Kenneth Lagana in his classy spring look. The Second Places was Angel Caronongan with her gala outfit. And the most fashionable of all was Claire Madarang in her summer outfit. Later I realize why Claire won the night. Its summer hello!!! It was a fun experience experiencing the hospitality of Orion Hotel and the buzzling night Market of Tutuban. The next morning we headed to one of the temples in Manila. Seng Guan Temple is one of the biggest if not the biggest Buddhist temple in the Philippines. We spent an hour here roaming around taking pictures and talked about history and religion.
Thanks to Orion Hotel and its staff for making this experience a great one. I also would like to thank my new friends and travel buddies Angel Caronongan, Claire Madarang, Dong Ho, Endetth Mendoza, Kaiye Pellarco, Kat Torres, Kenneth Lagana, Nathelle Lumabad and Rem Tanauan. =) Happy Travels =)