Manila Hotels - Reviews and Rates

June 23 up to 30, 2009 - me and a group of Canadian travel agents specializing in the Philippine market were invited by the Department of Tourism of the Philippines and a local travel group - NAITAS on a familiarization tour of different hotel properties and resorts in the Philippines.

Most of us invited were Philippine travel agency owne...

Thanks to 5mg of Valium, the second attempt at an MRI was uneventful. I kept my eyes closed for most of the process but even when I opened them I didn't have any uncomfortable feelings. All was right with world - at least until the drugs wore off. I can see why people get addicted to that stuff. It puts you in a blissful state even though you fe...

The office team took me out for a farewell lunch today. Traditional Filipino food. I told them I liked BBQ meat on a stick so they got me chicken intestines, pork intestines, and pigs ears. The chicken intestines were kind of crunchy and the pig's ears were mostly grilled pork fat which is always tasty. It was actually good. I've come to the con...

On the wall at the office there is a line of clocks showing the time in various cities of the world where we do business. The first time I looked at them I immediately noticed that something was wrong. The time shown on most of the clocks is out of sync by anywhere from 5 to 25 min of each other. The hour hands appear to be correct but the minut...

My bags are packed...and tonight is the night I fly away from the Philippines...for a while as they would say here! The number of varied emotions I am having at this point and over the last week as I slowly said bye to various memories and most importantly people have been overwhelming at times but all good last moments here to treasure! I had a...

Interesting history from way back to the Spanish takeover and naming (after the royal Philip, of course!) and therefore the development of the only Christian country in Asia, which was ceded to the US after the Spanish-American War, followed by horrendous Japanese occupation, massive WW2 battles on and around the islands, General MacArthur's wit...

It was with some trepidation that I set out into the depths on Makati, the Casio feeling light and insubstantial compared to my the usual reassuring bulk of my kodak. The prey posed no threat itself but there are still plenty of other dangers prowling the streets and I hoped speed and subtelty would provide the best chance of success. After an i...

After my 4th "event" at 5 in the morning, I was finally convinced I had Montezuma's Revenge (TD, etc.). So I started my Cipro. I had to skip the trip to the natural springs of an extinct volcano and instead just hung out with my family in Rizal Park. They sipped fresh coconut juice and watched dance lessons being given in the open courtyard. At ...