Philippines

I wasn’t looking forward to that 4:30 a.m. wake up call, so I got up on my own at 4:20 a.m. I’d do it on my own terms. The taxi was waiting for me (prearranged) by 4:50, and I was off for the LCCT (Low Cost Carrier Terminal outside K.L.)

My Air Asia flight was at 7:20 a.m. on October 2 (Tuesday). With no traffic, we made it in less than 1 hour...plenty of time to navigate through the 1000’s of other people at the airport that were also up way too early.

I got a good window seat near the front on a brand new airplane (seats aren’t assigned on Air Asia…you stand in line, and grab what you can). For how low budget Air Asia is ($80 round trip between K.L, Malaysia and Manila, Philippines), they sure have a lot of new planes. This one looked like it had never been used before.

I arrived in the Philippines to discover I was in Clark, not Manila. It’s north of Manila, and there isn’t much around it. The airport is small…so small that our plane was the only one there. I inquired about a taxi but the cost was $68. How about a bus? $6.80. I’ll take that, thank you. Actually, 3000 pesos and 300 pesos, respectively. The lone money changer got my $100 U.S. bill for a lousy rate of 44.1 pesos per $1. I just had to wait for all the passengers from my plane to clear immigration and baggage before we could leave. No problem.

It turns out Manila was flooded from 2 days of rain. Thus, it took a couple of hours to reach the bus terminal (Genesis’ bus terminal) through the bad traffic and water. From there I had to take a taxi to Malate, the area in Manila where I would be staying. The cost is normally 150 pesos ($3.40) but I paid 250 pesos ($5.67) due to the circumstances, and I had to bargain for that. Lots of people were looking for taxis.

Manila, what can I say? I really haven't seen much. I have been staying in Malate, an older part of Metro Manila. This area has character, but also crime and poverty. In fact, within an hour after checking into my hotel (Malate Pensionne), a guy tried to steal my money. I was walking along Adriatic Rd in the rain, and stopped to get cover under an overhang. While there, a guy grabbed my money. He actually got the money from my front pocket (I use a money clip for bills; separate wallet for credit cards, license, etc). What did I do? I grabbed it back, and took off into the rain again.

Not a good start in the Philippines.

It has since improved. Manila holds some interest. It has an intriguing past (Philippines were colonized by the Spanish and U.S., and then taken by the Japanese in WWII). It does have its share of problems though. The poverty in Manila is well documented, and there is that crime and pollution typical with most large cities.

Day #2 in Manila (Wednesday) was mostly sunny, and enabled some better exterior photos. I walked to Manila Bay (fairly close to my hotel). I also ate a very good dinner at Bistro Remedios, part of a chain of restaurants here. All for a bit over $10.

Ok, it's getting late...really late. 2:30 a.m. Thursday morning.

Tomorrow (umm, ok later today) I'm off to the island of Boracay. I got a flight for about $37 that leaves @ 3:15 p.m.

Signing out...

There goes Dave!

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