Tri-Place Hotel Pasay

... This time the traditional check. Shoes off and baggage on the conveyor. As I crossed through the metal detectors flashbacks of my last time in 2007 flashed. They make you stand on a box and frisk you. But I was cleared without being asked for a souvenir. Once through security I walked through and got a bottle of water, after all that happen I was just parched. It was 50 pesos, a bit expensive, but I really needed it. I walked over to the gate, which of ...

... to see that it didn't go to waste. It is pretty normal to have the street kids in Melate ask you for money or some of whatever you are drinking or eating at the time. It hasn't happened to me with water yet, but any time I have a large bottle of iced tea, I haven't got to finish it. I don't mind sharing what I have as far as food and drinks go but I hate parting with my money, so this has been a very successful strategy for them with me. After watching a movie like ...

... playing it for money but it was easily worth it - only the 2nd time I have been properly beaten since the begining of my travels. So I have another day of chess here, then a morning and then out to Palawan. 1/4/09 Well, I went back, played chess for 5 hours with the same guy and lost the same amount of money but I won 4 games, drew about 10 and he won 9 - it was close and I was getting better and better - winning 3 on the trot but then I got tired and he ...

... crisp air also had the smell and taste of a freezer that hadn't been defrosted in a long time. But it felt good anyway. Mark didn't want to leave. When we finally passed through the door to go out we found that he had slipped back in instead. One more round on the slide I guess. It was nice to feel the cold again but, unlike winter, when we had enough we could escape to the tropical air again to warm up.

... rien. Il file alors prendre une recharge pour 50 pesos. J'obtiens la Seair en ligne, on commence la resa, ca prend du temps, et puis paf, le mobile est decharge. Arghhh. L'employe retourne acheter de la recharge. On rappelle, on reprend la resa, et rebelote, ca couic. Cette fois-ci, je lui dit d'en prendre pour 100 pesos. C'est reparti, et au moment fatidique du paiement, ma carte ne passe pas non plus. Ils vont m'entendre a la banque !!! Donc pas de resa possible. Mon plan sera donc ...

... forgiveable. Housed in a block of apartments, its squirreled away on the fourth floor behind an innocuous front door with a tiny sign. This block is like something out of the 50's, with a touch of the 'Shining' about it. But the rooms are clean, the showers are warm and we never get cold at night, mainly because the 'double bed' we have to share is a double only to those under the age of 7. If you invest in finding out about it, its ...

... that's great. If he looks at it and decides it's just a bunch of junk he can throw it all away. We don't care as long as it's not laying around here. After living with very little for 4 months, we've realized we really don't need that much in order to live a normal life. Being a minimalist was kind of nice. It was easy to decide what to wear because we didn't have that much to choose from. It was easy to ...

... medicine store, we went to a delicacy shop where my companions really went wild buying Chinese cookies, spices, snack foods, and almost anything edible. They bought so much that we had to go back to the store after our boat trip to get their boxes of goodies. Our tour guide kept on wincing every time she saw our baggage multiplying by the hours. "When you first came here, you carried with you 23 suitcases, " she said in Chinese. "Now you're going back with 28!" But hey, whose ...

... olds included). Then to lighten things up a bit they pulled out their home made Karaoke machine and started belting out some tunes (mostly of the sad local 'Pinoy' variety). There followed a scattered procession of neighbours visiting and saying hi to this weird English fellah in their neighbourhood and also asking if I knew any illegible bachelors back home (nahh, all my mates are settled...I lied). The house itself was tiny and in a slightly ropey area but...the place was ...

... food is everywhere you go here, and it is noticeable that the people here are on average larger in size than the other countries we have visited. On the whole it is very modern - but it is a very American sort of modernity, as soon as you enter a shop or restaurant you are greeted by the sound of "Hi Sir, Hi Maam", like you would in the US. It actually can get a bit too much, to be honest for me it sounds a bit fake and overly cheery. The large amount of malls ...