Atrium Hotel Manila

... and my journey stated in the south. At first the lack of veggie food was a problem and initially the vast amount of beach life did not challenge me but once I returned from the south and started to push ...

... property was waiting for us as well as a delicious lunch courtesy of the hotel as way of welcoming our group.

Afterwards, our group was given a tour of Manila courtesy of the Philippine Tourism Authority under the supervision of Ms. Zeny Pallugna.

Then, we were checked-in at Hotel Intercontinental in Makati City for that much needed rest as the day ended.

... la voiture, mais je pars, c'est sur ! Il y a un bon petit voyage à Bali en perspective avec les élèves bientôt, un voyage à la maison en France, un super mariage à Chypres avant de partir en Californie et en Amérique Centrale... C'est 4 continents en 3 mois... J'ai pas vraiment à me plaindre ! Si vous préférez ne pas suivre mes aventures, envoyez-moi un email et je m'assurerai que vous n'êtes pas sur ma liste. Bisous à tous, je vous aime (si, si, c'est vrai !)

... and a fierce intolerance for men in skirts. Although the Philippines is now more than 90% Christian, apparently the new religion wasn’t initially warmly received. The life expectancy of a Catholic priest sent to the Philippines must have been even shorter than that of a WWI RAF pilot. The maimed missionary montage was interesting if only for it’s ‘Eeeek’ appeal but after a few dozen it too became a bit repetitive and I flaked out on a ...

... old fella with an entirely appropriate name given his circumstances. British through and through, he was slightly apologetic about his much younger girlfriend.

‘Don’t apologize to me mate’ I told him;

‘Your only go ‘round once and far be it from me to judge you’

But you do don’t you?

Even though you don’t mean to or even want to, you look at these ‘Western winter / Asian spring or summer ...

... really expensive, a dive, or booked out. We are hoping to find a nice spot on a beech in Langkawi, if not then maybe Ko Lanta in Thailand. We'll see! We're pretty sick of researching places for now and we've an early flight to Borocay tomorrow morning so we're calling it a night. Looking forward to a few days of R & R! Sun, sea and sand are just what the doc ordered!

... were part of the process of learning how things are handled differently here in the Philippines. Hiring a driver was something completely new but we were able to figure it out. Even going shopping is different here. And now we're going to be learning something else that I'm sure will be different from the US. We had a car accident. It was nothing serious ...

... antibiotics but not taking the proper drugs, the proper dose, or for the required period of time. This gives the bacteria the ability to regroup and mutate into stronger forms instead of being killed off. As a result stronger antibiotics have to keep being developed to keep up with the stronger strains. So while it's convenient to be able to get antibiotics over the counter I guess in the long run it is detrimental. Later in the ...

... there would be * spotless 5 st*r hotel or * gig*ntic shopping m*ll. Robinson's Shopping M*ll is our loc*l m*ll. Although I truly dislike shopping m*lls this pl*ce is * gre*t refuge from the stifling he*t. It's like w*lking into * fridge *nd is hugely popul*r with the loc*ls. They *ll slip in for * cool down. I wonder if *nyone *ctu*lly buys stuff here. W*lking *round M*nil* feels pretty s*fe for me *lthough *fter midnight it c*n become sh*dy. Armed with my nu-needed flight ticket ...

Getting closer to the end of this hop and tonight we went out to do a little bowling. The office today was pretty much a ghost town at the end of the day and tomorrow, our team will be the only ones in the office working. So here are some pictures from the bowling night! Two more days to go.