Travel Date: August 13, 2026
I checked into Conrad Manila at 3:46 in the afternoon, and instead of unpacking, I went straight to the mall next door. My first trail run is coming up, in Vietnam, and I still didn’t have half of what I needed. Running shorts, a hat, swimming shorts for after. The kind of shopping that makes a trip feel like it’s actually about to happen.
Dinner Was Never a Question
By 5:30, I was at Khao Khai for their Thai fried chicken. I’ve stopped thinking about where to go when I need my fix. This is the place. No deliberation required anymore, which is its own kind of comfort.
I did order something new, though. Toasted corn, the menu called it. When it arrived, it turned out to be kornik with chilies, lemongrass, and green onion. Surprisingly good. But I already know I won’t order it again next time. Some dishes are worth trying once and then leaving alone.
After dinner I wandered the mall a little more, mostly out of habit than interest. Got tired faster than I expected. Ended up sitting with an organic Korean cream milk bread from Paris Baguette, just resting for a bit before heading back to the room.
I used to be able to walk all day and explore without thinking twice. Now everything in that mall feels familiar, and familiar gets boring fast. I don’t know exactly when that shift happened. I just know that by the time I got back to the hotel, all I wanted was to rest, watch whatever was on TV, and call it a night. I guess this is what getting older looks like. Not dramatic. Just quieter.
An Empty Gym on a Rainy Day
I was up by 5:53, down at the gym not long after. Cardio, some strength training, nothing heroic. What I actually like about the Conrad gym is that it’s almost always empty. There’s something about working out alone in a quiet room while it’s raining outside that I don’t get tired of.
The locker room defeated me a little. There were instructions posted for how the lockers worked, and I genuinely could not figure them out. So I did what anyone does in that situation. I found one that opened, put my stuff in, closed it, and left it unlocked. Trusted the hotel, or maybe just trusted that nobody wanted my gym clothes badly enough to look.
The cold shower after was good. Good enough that I let myself drift a little longer than necessary. Then I went to try the sauna.
It was empty, just me. I stepped in and tried to settle into the heat, breathe it in, let my mind go quiet the way it’s supposed to in there. Then I noticed a red button on the wall. Emergency use, obviously. And that was it for relaxing. My brain immediately went to how anyone would even know if I passed out in there alone. I stepped back out before I’d managed to calm down at all. Some safety features work in the opposite direction.
The Last Good Hour
Changed, refreshed, and up at Brasserie on 3 by 7:45 for breakfast. Nothing about the spread was extraordinary. Bacon and eggs, the usual Filipino items foreigners are curious to try, fishballs with sauce, balut. I went for the bacon, some Indian dishes, fruit. Coffee while it rained outside.
I tried to actually be there for it, because in a few hours I’d be back to regular life, back to being needed by people and things. These overnight stays do that for me. Even one night away resets something. No phone calls. No one needing anything from me. No one waking me up in the middle of the night.
