Rainbow Pacific Suites Hotel Manila

... intellectual enrichment. (Intellectual enrichment?, Jane is questioning just how intellectual this enrichment just might be.)

With all the recent typhoons that have hit the Philippines recently they have been more than staying out of trouble by helping where they can, collecting funds and purchasing much needed supplies for those who have lost everything. They have made several ...

... drove on the right, so after turning on my windscreen instead of indicating about a hundred times, I was away.

The journey began okay. After the first five minutes however it got worse. The driving style here can only really be described as free-for-all melee of cars, lorries, vans, jeepneys and other assorted vehicles and people. A nightmarish moment happened barely minutes after I started driving when I mistook the brake for the gas pedal and I ...

... province. However as we were leaving the mall with our purchase, Makmak suggested checking it out; turns out it was made in China, and the charger was chinese, for chinese plugs. Luckly we checked it out, and exchanged it.

Back to the hotel again, Lunch exhausted us. (and it was a late lunch, by the time we got to the hotel it was 4 pm.

We hung out for an our or so, and we had to head off to Mall of Asia to meet Allan ...

... Spanish 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 ...

Each of our three flights (YYZ-YVR, YVR-NRT, NRT-MNL) were delayed but we eventually did get into Manila and the smouldering humidity. Getting through Immigration was long - apparently, all the jumbo jets come at night, plus we inevitably picked the slowest line to stand in...but I'm here for the first time since Christmas 2004 and will be here for 6 weeks!

... gov.ph/" the first thing we noticed is that it seems to have current information which is not always the case when we've looked at sites for information here in the Philippines in the past. There's even a page of downloads with the license application, in either pdf or excel formats no less so I can fill it out before I go; hey, maybe this won't be such an ordeal after all. First issue, the files are in compressed format (zipfiles) but no big ...

We had a package shipped to us from the states last month, and Jane finally received notification that it had arrived last Friday afternoon just before 5:00 and not having received any packages she had to ask some of the people in the office what to do. Of course, since they don't use the mail often here in the Philippines they didn't know exactly what to do. Luckily the post office is just across the ...

... able to get a seat for a flight to Butuan. I was double-crossed when I found out that the flight was cancelled long after I paid the grease money for my ticket, and the bad guys just disappeared instantly. I hope the law of Karma hits them! I've wined and dined in some of the best hotels, but have also eaten uncooked root crops and salt with farmers inside a shanty made of cardboard boxes. I have taken luxurious baths in Jacuzzis full of herbs, aromatic oils, and ...

... my apartment or venture out only on foot when necessary. I don't know how the rules work and nobody fully explained it to me. If I have a rental car and driver assigned to me 7 days a week does that mean if I wake up at 3am with a craving for Krispy Kremes that he has to take me there? That may be beyond the call of duty but basically he's available to take me wherever, whenever. Being from the US, I'm also not aware of the proper etiquette when ...

... We can leave Cleo inside the house but he might get out and be killed by the big dogs. We'll bring Cleo to the vet this afternoon, about 5:00, Dr. Chico's free time so he can set and cast the leg. Chico could have done that last night but we couldn't buy the general anesthetic to put Cleo to sleep. This p.m., a vet will sedate Cleo then Animal Ortho Chico Coruna will set the bone and plaster cast the leg. After the leg is cast, all the people who love you will sign on it. General ...