Dusit Thani Manila

First, let me explain just what a Lucky Bugger is. The Lucky Buggers are a group of men whose wife or girlfriend works here in the Philippines; so as long as they are working and you aren't you can be a member. We try to stay out of trouble by keeping ourselves busy with anything we like really, and sometimes volunteer our time to charity or social projects. But mostly we meet for lunch and ...

Although some of the Philippines' islands are literally within a stone throw from Borneo, I headed directly to the capital. Two hours, first time with Cebu Pacific, Philippine low cost king and I found myself although still in SE Asia, but in a bit distinct part of it. The very first impression acquired at the airport was that Filipinos are efficient and conform to the rules, which was in contrary with my ...

... nightmare. On either side of the road were many buildings, and the traffic was endless. Although I didn't travel more than about 20mph, I had to keep my wits about me as people just crossed whenever they felt like it, and you could easily be bashed into the numerous jeepneys that would be starting and stopping. I had a manual car, so my leg muscles got quite the workout maintaining movement of the vehicle and it was physically exhausting. I decided after a ...

... and after missing Manila went to the north were it made some roads impossible to cross and cracked a bridge, forcing a change of plans. After checking some alternative options travelers at the guesthouse told me that Friday nights is barbecue night so you bring something and they cooked for you, and you have a great party with a lot of fun people. Saturday was cheese and wine night,, free ...

... mountains first for some trekking so my plan was to rest my feet and start some antibiotics to sort them out. Thankfully I found a great place to stay in the heart of the city. Unfortunately a typhoon was a couple of days off the coast and meant to be quite serious. It was due to hit north Luzon and the tail end of it was meant ...

... there such as a motel advertising "theme" rooms and a sign advertising a pair of handcuffs for sale at a good price. Hmmm.... We finally located Johan's down a dusty road along the beach that was lined with lots of small motels and places to eat and hang out. The whole area seemed like the type of place you would go to disappear from the world for a while and Johan's is no exception. It is a combination of motel, dive operation, restaurant and bar ...

... several floors of a high-rise office building, there was a lot of time spent waiting for documents and the final check to be delivered. It finally all came together and it was all legal. The keys would be handed over on Friday afternoon. Just one more day and the place would be ours. After the contract signing we had to go to the medical clinic to pick up the results of our driver's exam. We were told he passed. Russ texted ...

Just a quick stopover in Manila before heading on to Palawan. Didn't really do too much except for some shopping and t'internet. I did however make to the famous Chinese graveyard. 15% of the population of Manila are Chinese and so there is a real history there. They have a huge plot in the north of the city and due to fact that many of the mausoleums are larger than mansions it makes ...

... HK ID cards, to apply for a visitor's visa from their country of origin. And despite Beijing's statement that multiple-entry visas are still issued, travel agents say only single-entry visas are now available. The new rules are believed to have been imposed ahead of the Summer Olympics later this year. Among those who had hoped to get into Shenzhen a few days after the tighter rules were imposed was Harvi, who works at a call center in Manila and sells clothes and fashion ...

... since we last wrote about Borocay, we've been keeping pretty low key. We've had a few more day trips, but on the whole, been hanging around the house studying, and spending the day's at the near by market (mall), which is one of the Philippines newest modern developments. The area is called "Bonifacio Global City" It's made up of a number of new apartments and condo buildings, surrounding a man made community walking street, lined with shops and restaurants ...