Great Eastern Hotel Manila

... Cathy and I got out and walked. It is law by the way for them to put the meter on !! The Great Eastern hotel is a very old hotel by Manila standards which means it was cheap for downtown Manila. Yes it was a little rundown but it was certainly comfortable ...

... upset.  I head downstairs and bump into two hipster African-American dudes who say they are studying philosophy here in Manila.  I scratch my head wondering what a strange experience that would be.  Female attention is never far away in ...

... . The small part I saw can probably best be described as the "armpit" of the country. Huge, stinky, polluted, overpopulated Manila is hardly representative of the rice terraces and white sand beaches that dot the rest of the archipelago. That said, we do ...

... until they explode. Interestingly, the one thing that doesn’t quite fit behind the veil of hiya is the street population. Manila is the first place where I’ve seen a pronounced homeless population – not just beggars or buskers, but ...

... was the most).  The inhabitants are the cheap labor throughout Asia, Much like the Mexicans are in North America, the Ukrainians in Eastern Europe and the Turks and  Moroccans in Western Europe.  In fact our maid in Taipei is a Pino.  ...

... the ABL game being played on telly. The Asean (yes, for some reason it is spelt that way?!) Basketball League is the Eastern equivalent to America's NBA. Except after watching ten minutes of one of their playoff final games, I come to realize why ...

... hands on the anonymous animal, I silently made a secret wish. A few minutes later, we went to the Seven Star Park on the Eastern side of the Li River. Our guide said the park took its name from its seven peaks, which, according to my research, resembled ...

... lake in an island.     Go straight to a taxi, and have a quick trip into town to our five star hotel, Pan Pacific Manila in Malate.  We usually avoid five star hotels, partly on cost, but also because we don’t like the stilted, ...

... across from an American couple who have been teaching in Chiang Mai, heading for Saudi. A group of 4 appear to be Russian or Eastern European, and keep to themselves.    When we leave the weather is promising, with some blue patches, but also ...

... the end of the day we pretty much covered all the western part of Shanghai's center. The day after we spent exploring the eastern part (and trying to find a internet cafe proved a bit of a challenge). There was Nanjing Rd, the Bahnhofstrasse of Shanghai, ...

From Manila it took Mum and I all day to get to Boracay. We stayed at the Red Coconut Beach Hotel and got a great room overlooking the beach. The hotel room was fairly big and had a decent sized balcony to sit out on. The first day at Boracay we went and ...

... the Philippines from KL. But the two Malaysian guys we were with up in Inle told us it was monsoon at this time for eastern peninsula Malaysia. We needed another plan. I remembered that we still had a ticket to fly from Phnom Penh to KL the day ...

... , crafts, music and history. We learned about Hawaii, Samoa, Aotearoa (New Zealand), Fiji, Tahiti, Tonga, Polynesian Triangle, Eastern Island, ... . For many hours. Then, there was food time: fun for me! Poi, the traditional Hawaiian staple. It is ...

... trip to Sapa, a small town found high in remote mountains, and also to Ha Long Bay, located along the eastern coastline.  In Sapa, we trekked alongside villagers who guided us through dirt trails to their communities scattered throughout a ...

... ! Without doubt the most difficult piece I have written and the most time consuming. If it wasn't for the fact that my hotel in Manila has a very good internet connection I don't know if I could have ever got the photos and videos uploaded. Well the next ...

... locals are eternally grateful. Anyway, this time we were supposed to go to Changi Naval Base which is on the South Eastern side of the island to take part in IMDEX 2001. IMDEX stands for the International Maritime Defence Exhibition and involves nearly ...

... along the shoreline, and the potash factories were taking full advantage of this. Eventually we came to a public resort on the north-eastern edge of the lake, which as well as swimming pools and cafes, offered access to the Dead Sea. Angela and I wasted ...

... on the Island of Catanduanes. It's off the North East coast, and sticks out into the Pacific Ocean. The South Eastern side is known for great surfing and snorkeling. It takes just half an hour from Legaspi, despite a little detour, to get to Tobaco ...