After far too much confusion about how long the flight was (paperwork said 15 hours, google said 14 and it was actually 13 hours) I've arrived in Manila.
I'll start of with the flight. If you are lucky enough to win free flights with Philippine Airlines, say no thanks! They were useless!
I won't bore you with the details but from being told at check in to not bother upgrading my ticket to Business Class as it isn't worth the money, I didn't have much hope.
The plane didn't even have TVs on the back of the seats(WTF #firstworldproblems). They do give you a iPad but such limited selection.
Luckily I managed to sleep most of the way (which is why I couldn't sleep when I tried to last night) and I was chatting to a lovely Filipino lady called Raia.
I heard all about her Italian/Fipino fiancé and how she's a nurse in a private hospital in Surrey. It was really nice to hear about someone else's life.
Once landed it took quite some time to collect my luggage and get the yellow taxi (I did my research yellow good, white bad). Once on the road, it was about 8:30pm and the roads were still crazy busy.
Most Asian city's are all the same. No rules for drivers, multiple people (and chickens) on one moped and lots of traffic lights. I'd never drive here but it's such a buzz to watch these drivers navigate so well.
The Red Planet Aseana hotel is your basic 3 star hotel. It's clean and thankfully fairly quiet (unlike the prostitues in Vietnam).
After dumping my bag it was time to head out for a late dinner. The hotel recommended I go to Manila Bay Area as there are ample restaurants and it's safe to walk around.
The area was a social hub with lots of locals gathering to have a chat and share a beer.
I found a standard western restaurant to ease myself in and thought I'd ordered mini burgers and fries. It was huge! Clearly they don't do small here.
As I said at the beginning, I didn't sleep so well. I was so tired (and grumpy) by 11:30pm that I went to sleep however I must have been still on UK time (4:30pm) as I couldn't dose off. Finally I did fall asleep but each time I stay in a hotel, I have this nightmare that there's someone coming into my room. It feels so real!
I managed to get some sleep and rose at 7am. I wanted to go for a jog to explore the area. Wrong move... there's nothing close by. I jogged along a very busy road. The fumes were awful and so was the heat. Even at that time in the morning.
I saw a dog tied up and asleep in the shade. I noticed he had a water bowl but no water. I decided to pour some of my water into the bowl. You know what the little sod did, nearly bite me!! Last time I try to help.
Manila City is very spread out. I wanted to visit Fort Santiago so I got a taxi to the fort. The journey took about 15 mins and cost me PHP200. That's about £3.25. And that included a 20% tip.
The fort was very interesting to see. A lot of destruction took place with the wars and a huge earthquake in the 16th century.
As much as it's good to read and learn, I'm more of a look and take it in type of traveller. It's so peaceful to simple take a seat and watch the World go by.
As always there are lots of tour guides around these places. I wasn't sure where to go next so after I visited the stunning Manila Cathedral (and walked in on a beautiful wedding) I decided to entrust Rual with my life on his little bicycle tour of Intramurso (meaning inside the walls).
I spent an hour with Rual as he took me to lots of different places and explained the history. He showed me pictures of each President and I asked what he thought of Rodrigo Duterte? He explained he is a good man and he's trying to make the Philippines pure again.
Whilst I don't agree with his killing of people associated with drugs, I can understand his passion to make his country great again.
After my lovely tour with Raul (although he did try to charge me double the original quoted price) I decided to go to a nice hotel we passed for lunch.
The Bayleaf has a penthouse restaurant and bar. The views over the city are incredible. I had a lovely Asian chicken salad (something light after last nights carb overload) and a strange mojito- they just don't seem to know how to make a mojito in these places.
Something I've noticed about the Filipinos is how friendly they are. Everyone says hi. When I was jogging this morning, everyone said hello and even when I was on my tour everyone says hello. It's nice and it seems quite genuine.
Just one odd thing I've found is, they want to take selfies with you. It's not just the guys but also the girl. I've literally had a guy jump infront of me to take one (my face will be priceless- classic resting bitch face). If they ask, I do say no thanks. I don't want strangers having pictures of me.
I'm going to head to the mall now to walk around in some air conditioning place. I love the heat but it's crazy hot.
I meet the tour group tonight. I really hope everyone is lovely and we all get along. Fellow traveller are usually so laid back so it shouldn't be an issue but there's always an apprehension.
Here's a couple of standard selfies. I do love the timer function on my phone.
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