May 18, 2007

Manila (PHILIPPINES)

A Rough Landing in Manila

A little after two o'clock in the afternoon I boarded a plane for the Philippines and my adventure in Borneo came to an end.

However, even my time at the airport wasn't without incident - I ran into the Singaporean couple, Allen and Irene, who I met the morning I climbed Mount Kinabalu. Their flight back to the mainland was delayed several hours, which was a great turn of luck (for me, at least) because it gave us the chance to chat once more. They kindly invited me over for a barbeque the night I return to Singapore.

I hit the Philippine tarmac (a little too literally) at 5pm, and after an hour of waiting around I boarded a two hour bus ride for Manila. I was in a bit of a bind because the airport ATM was "out of service" and I had to spend the few Filipino dollars I had on the bus ride. Making matters worse, by the time I arrived in Manila it was dark out and the streets were swarming with a shady crowd. This is the worst way to arrive in a big city - broke, lost, without any bookings, and being tugged in every direction by "ladies of the night" - so I found the nearest accommodation possible. It turned out to be a place called Winston's, which was an hourly motel designed for one activity. I was beyond caring about such things and I simply holed myself away behind paper-thin walls and waited out the morning.

This was hardly the start I was expecting for the Philippines, but on the bright side things can only get better from here.

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