As the plane began its landing the butterflies I had been feeling turned into a pack of rabid dogs, I was suddenly having second thoughts about starting in the Philippines. I had heard some scary things about the Philippines and not knowing where we were going to be sleeping suddenly scared me. as soon as the plane unpressurized I could small Manila, the air was hot, and thick, it was like breathing jello. there was also a smell, it wasn't strong. I can only describe it as a combination of mildew and exhaust.
As we disembarked the plane I said to Lisa, we might be spending the night in the airport with a smirk on my face, she didn't look impressed. as soon as we cleared customs we went to the luggage belt grabbed our packs strapped in and went to look for a phone so we could try to find accommodations, I didn't really want to stay at the place the lady in Korea had suggested, mainly because it was far from the city center. when I found a pay phone I discovered I couldn't dial out, GREAT!! we were off to a bad start but still in good spirits. We decided to go to the tourist information center to see if they could tell us how to dial out. the girl was eager to help us find accommodations, I assume she got a kick back from the hotel if we stayed there, but we really wanted to try a place from our lonely planet guide book. so she called around and said that none of them were answering. finally we gave up it was late we were exhausted I really just wanted to sleep. she booked us a room at a hotel that was out of our budget but we submitted I think the room ended up being 26 cdn per night, the young guy at the desk took us outside and helped us get a taxi he told the taxi where we were going they put our bags in the trunk and away we went. as soon as we left the airport I noticed the taxi didnt have his meter on, we asked him to turn it on but he told us that it was 500 pesos from the airport to anywhere in the city, which we found out later from the staff at the hotel was a big fat LIE!! haha they sure saw us coming that night. you learn very quickly that you have to stand up to people in these countries, in the Philippines you have to let them know your no fool. I found that telling them you were going to call the tourist center and ask how much a taxi would be was the best way. another good idea is to ask the hotel to tell you how much it should be to get from one destination to another. when we arrived at the hotel and checked in I was so excited I took a bunch of pics out the window.
I wrote this in my journal at the hotel before I passed out from over exhaustion,
Laying in bed right now, its about 1:30 am, all I hear is construction maybe a jack hammer. there is live music across the street, first impression of Manila for me is big dirty and loud! so I cant wait to get to the beach. anyways time for me to get some sleep, big day tomorrow.
looking back now I realize although we should have planned it better, we did okay for our first night, and the Philippines really did have a certain charm to it. I think I can say it had some of my favorite places in all of South East Asia.
No comments:
Post a Comment