Palm Plaza Manila

The title of this is taken from a Marx Brothers movie. Groucho Marx must have been an expat because it sums up expat life pretty well. People come and go rather quickly and you're constantly meeting new people while saying good-bye to others. Most people come here with a contract for a set period of time although that doesn't always mean anything. Business plans change based on the economy and opportunities. During the recent economic ...

... money so we went to the exchange rate. They couldn’t exchange New Zealand money. So we had to get money out of our visa card. I wasn’t feeling good when I had lunch. Then we went back to the hotel in a taxi because it was raining. We came back. Our hotel room was like an apartment. We had dinner at Exchange Restaurant it was part of the hotel. Dad, I and Michelle had a swim and went to bed.

... whilst on the road, literally, on buses and planes. At my convenience and not just when there's a spare computer in an internet café. I did some enquiries on line and amongst my more technology minded friends and decided the Asus EEE net book would be mine. In an incredibly complicated series of actions I managed to get it purchased online, sent to my friend Bony in America and he then forwarded it to my dad in the Philippines. It was a long and straggled route but it saved me ...

... far, I have been luckier. I took an offer of a horse and buggy ride for 20 pesos agreed upon beforehand (50 cents) When they let me off they asked, in unison, for 20,000 pesos! I was expecting a skirmish, but none ensued. In the end I gave them 150.00 pesos and more than a few angry words....everyone seemed to be happy. My Malay Friends haven't been as lucky. We went for a ride yesterday to visit the local church and take some pictures. The local transport is called a ...

... I shouldn't complain about the food). We did have a fiesta ham and queso de bola (holiday cheese ball) for our Christmas Eve Noche Buena meal at midnight in order to incorporate some Filipino tradition into the holiday. Of course, coming off being sick for a week didn't help me get into the holiday spirit. Up until Christmas Day I was still not recovered fully so Christmas kind of became the forgotten holiday. No presents were purchased or shipped ...

... or in twos, no buying a 6 cans of green beans or tomatoes. The lines at checkout were small and they had every register open, try to find that in the warehouse stores in the US. Even saw brands from the warehouse clubs in the states. Since membership was a bargain and we did find items that we hadn't seen elsewhere we joined. We had gone a couple of times buying items for the apartment we needed when low and behold, they were having a membership ...

Week 50 July 11th Well, thankfully I haven't developed what I thought was going to be some kind of flu (yet) and as I headed to the Cebu Pacific office near the airport I had the look of a man with serious intent. The reason for this visit was the $240 refund for a flight ticket I won't be using. It all started off badly when I was asked to sit down in reception until someone was ready. Nearly 2 hours later and my bottom lip was nearly bleeding and my tongue ...

... lock the bedroom door at night. Of course, I locked myself out of it one day and had to call maintenance. I could do something to make the apartment look more homey but what's the point if it's only temporary? I've already been out to see some condos. I saw about 15 the first time out. I was hot and dragging by the end and I had a blister on my foot. Ouch! But I saw a lot of good choices. There's still some questions about the exact budget I'm ...

... ja aseita poliisit kantaa mukanaan. En haluis hankaluuksiin niitten kaa ;) Raffi kavas viela vikana iltana pelaamassa pokeria siina naapurirakennuksessa ja ma katoin hotellissa Prison Breakin kolmannen tuotantokauden vikan jakson...kaaaak, se jatkuu viela!!! Ja nyt ma tiedan miks mun Filipina kolleega Nokialla laulo niin paljon! Filippiinit on niin kova-aanisia ja kaikki tykkaa laulaa! hahaha.. Terkut Bonda ;) Neljan yon jalkeen jatkettiin matkaa Tagaytay:n. Siita lisaa ...

... fish and rice.<br><br> The boys told me we could just walk around the area and see whats on. I asked them about Manila. They told me they there are just so many places in Manila, cities within cities. Javi lived in a part of Quezon city, with his dad. And Juan lived in a nice area of Antipolo. Both places i would visit and subsequently stay.<br><br> So as we wandered around Malate. A bunch of girls came running out of a karaoke bar. Around 6 of them were all ...