Century Park Manila

Had the pleasure of waking up at 4 am to get ready for my flight. My friend called a taxi for me and I left a little after 4:30; I thanked her for being an incredible host, and we said our goodbyes. Flight was on Jetstar Asia at 6:35am, getting into Manila at 10:10am...first time arriving in Manila when the airport wasn't chaotic. No line at Immigration, my overloaded duffel bag came on the belt ...

... Catholicism mixed with a strong American culture. Religion dominates daily life along with an equal love for basketball, large malls, American style food (pizza, pasta, grills etc) and lots if hi-fives. NBA rules the roast here and the national dress for males is virtually basketball attire and basketball is played ...

... br>
We celebrated by returning to the street bar for a few more beverages (PhP 60 / $1.20 for 2 beers) and became engaged in conversation with Jean, a charismatic 61 year old Frenchman visiting Manila from another province with his 27 year old Filipina girlfriend. He was a great story teller and was very philosophical about his life; a bridge engineer by profession he had been retired for a few years and we assumed he was either divorced or a widower. He moved to ...

... family in some way. In turn she doted on him for the time that they were together, slept with him and made him feel young again. I’m sure that he had a wife waiting for him back in the U.K while he was away on ‘business’ but from his perspective I’m sure that being old and situationally single in the Philippines would be gloriously rejuvenating. I wonder though; did he see himself as a generous benefactor, a white knight or just another ‘john’?

... out later that we could have paid less to get from the airport but at least we were with a legit taxi! When we got off the plane the heat hit Alan like a tonne of bricks! I didn't think it was too bad but later we found out that it was 31 C.....on msn feels like: 36 C! Alan reckons its like being in a sauna.....It may be the hottest place we'll visit but its also probably the cheapest! Our room (apartment) has a living area and a kitchen with fridge and kettle and air con and fans ...

... order of business was to buy a bed since we can't move into the condo if we don't have something to sleep on. We accomplished that last night. We bought a bed and night stands of black wood with wrought iron insets to be delivered on Sat. We decided against a Sealy mattress even though it's a familiar brand we know we like. We settled on a more reasonably priced mattress assembled in the Philippines. It seemed ...

... the new computer arrived the network guys started working on it. There was some frustration because it was my expectation that the whole thing would be a done deal with one help request. Silly me. Nothing is that simple even in the US. After the initial transfer of my files to the new computer, I tried to give it a test run. But wait! How do I log in? I didn't know my domain or user name. Once we got past that important detail the next issue was where ...

... rd so when I'd s*y him in the kitchen he'd shout out 'He re*lly is * prick th*t George...SAS tr*ining, my *rse'. I'm re*lly liking the Filipinos who I've met so f*r (* few *t the hostel now). They *re very outgoing *nd quite cheeky *t times. They *re * n*tion of survivors in my eyes. They const*ntly get hit by n*tur*l dis*sters but just pick up the pieces *nd c*rry on *s norm*l. Then contr*sting th*t, they *re one of the only countries in the world th*t still h*s pir*cy on the ...

... The Pancake House and it was quite a yummy breakfast to say the least. Afterwards, a quick walk back to the flat and we were able to get a hold of a taxi at that point and off we went. After a quick tour and brief introductions, I'm now entrenched in Patrick's corner office and what a nice big office it is, though it does need some stuff on the walls. Very blue. Like sitting in a swimming pool. Stay tuned, more to come later!

... truly elated to be here. Or may be, what makes me happy is the warm welcome I got from my friends, and hearing things like "In JP's Sims, he has 3 girl neighbours and they're all pregnant"! Seeing the shop sorted and deciding that on Thursday night, the Carvestik is getting its first rides, yeah, I'm glad to be back. Thanks for my title of what was it again Vic? "the undisputed surf addict queen in our crew"?? hehe, it was worth the drive after my 12 hour flight!! It's good to be home.