We'll be back!

Kuya Mike and Ate Jaymie took us out for dinner on Saturnday night and also to the English meeting on Sunday which was nice since I could understand what was happening :) Later on we had a get together with with almost everyone which was nice. It was a pleasure to finally meet the rest of the uncles, aunties and cousins. Thanks to everyone for all the fun, company, rides, time, expense and best of all...food! Yumm.

We had an awesome time with everyone and unfortunately we could only stay for 2 weeks this time...but we'll be back. Hopefully I wont need as many fillings next time. 18 will do me for a while I think.

Final note....

...flight back....Singapore Airlines A380 flight from Singapore to Sydney. I love this plane. We were seated on the top deck and you can freely walk between decks up and down the stair case. Also got to board into the top deck which was cool walking past all the nice business class seats. It was half empty so it would've been nice of them to offer us business class...oh well.

Great thing about this plane besides how enormous it is, is that its brand new, which means the entertainment system is brand new. Sweet 5-6 inch screen. Also there is additional storage if you are in a window seat between you and the window in a cool closing compartment just large enough for your camera or hand bag.

Go for a walk.

Business class.

What a waste.

Latest consoles.

If you're in Changi Airport with a spare hour. Go check out the Butterfly Garden in Terminal 3. Butterflys everywhere. Pretty cool.

Tagaytay

Some of the family came with us to Tagaytay about an hour out of Manila. We had lunch overlooking Taal volcano which was a spectacular view. The lake is situated in the caldera of the volcano exposing just the tip of the land mass. The volcano is still active and apparently 6000 people have been killed by activity over the years.

One corner of the tip exposed out of the water.

Lots of fresh local fruit on the side of the road. Multiply this stall by about 30 or 40 and thats how many stalls we went past.

Fore!!

We visited the Calsos at their place just out of Manila and even managed to fit in a round of golf. Very nice. Thanks for having us and taking us around (and for the huge breakfasts)!

Loved the houses...and the sound system :)

Me hitting the ball into the rough. Looks a lot better than it goes.

Nice view from the club house. Nice lunch too. Mmmm.

Very jealous. One of these days Im gonna get me one of these....

CockadoodleDOOO!!!

The people next door to us in Pasay had roosters. Hence we got used to waking up to a cock-a-doodle-doooo! Kind of like on a farm....except for all the cars and people :P

Bethel and Assembly Hall

The Philippine Branch has undergone alot of change since the buildings were first built in the 40's. Now it has facilities for over 400. Of course the grounds are immaculately kept, the gardens are well manicured, buildings still look new and pathways and roads are clear of any rubbish.

During our tour we ran into many who had been there for over 30 years and knew Love's parents from when her dad was at the branch.

Guess who the one on the right is...

Our room.

We enjoyed staying for a couple of nights and even got to work in the laundry for a few hours. We had a great time with Kuya Dennis and Ate Susan who gave took us around and took us out to the Assembly Hall as well.

The Assembly Hall is a covered open air ampitheatre that seats 10,000 and can accomodate upto 15,000 including the overflow. There are great big fans in the top of the roof to suck out all the hot air. Considering the hot weather, I think you'd do whatever you can to get here early enough to get a seat under the shade.

We also paid a visit to Ate Susan's family just out of Manila and got a first hand account of some of the incredible water during the floods in September. Water flashed in and got as high as 6ft in the house for many hours. Just enough time to climb onto the roof!

Apparently cats cant swim very well.

Shopping in the Philippines

We discovered 2 types of shopping:

1. Fancy Malls

To illustrate: The second largest shopping mall in the world, SM Mall of Asia, has more shops than you could run past in a single day. The place is decked out with all the usuals: cinema, expensive labels, highly waxed floors, etc as well as some things that shopping centres rarely have: an ice skating rink, weekly fireworks display, a digital video ball, a broadwalk and play area along the bay. Pretty cool. While some things are cheap here (compared to prices in Australia), other things are just as or more expensive. Its a nice way to spend a nice hot day (inside the nice air conditioned shopping mall). An experience we are all used to in Australia.

2. Markets

These places are awesome. A bit crazy and busy but I reckon you could buy just about anything here. Everything at the local supermarket is noticably cheaper but the real bargains are at the markets. Crowded, noisy shops and stalls will offer you anything under the sun. Rest assured that the shop keepers will do just about anything to get your business. They will drop the price 10-20% within the first 1-3 seconds.

New Teeth (partly)

Finally got our teeth all done.

I had....wait for it......18 fillings. My teeth were sensitive for days afterwards. Lots of soup and noodles. But our dentist Ate Rowena did an excellent job with all our teeth (even though there was lots of drilling!)

Proof you can put anything on a tricycle...

Food Watch (Part 1): Coke - 200ml - 17c!

Food Watch (Part 2): On the McDonald's menu...rice and spaghetti...

Living in the Streets

We stayed at Mommy La and Daddy Lo's place in Pasay. They have a cool house out the back of a multi storey hotel on a busy road. The house is actually quite big and has several units attached to it. The Kingdom Hall used to be here as well but apparently was unusable after the hotel was built as the foundations got badly damaged.

While there are many middle class people (someone must be spending their money in all the mega malls and did someone say its the texting capital of the world?), mixed in amongst all you see some pretty poor people living as squatters on the sides of buildings or on the streets. I saw one person washing themselves on the street and you see some building fires to cook their food on the side of the road. These people seem to live in very basic houses which are cramped and have basic facilities.The population density in Manila is very high. BUT! I must add at the same time as Jaymie informs me some living in these areas have many mod cons, i.e. cell phones, etc. So I guess it can be a little confusing as to much little/much people have here materially. I saw a guy coming out of one of these areas dressed like a million dollars so who knows....maybe he spends all his money on clothes ;)

By no means does this represent a majority of the people here but I guess the poor ones just stand out.

However, people here are very industrious in the way they earn money. People will do just about anything on any scale to earn money. As an example, you will find corner shops everywhere. Little stores which in effect are tiny shop fronts who will sell a small number of goods. Chips, drinks and a few other items accessible and displayed only by a small window at the bottom of a small unit where the family lives. In other examples you will find walking down the streets, are people selling fruit in a wheel barrow or cooked food almost like what you would find at a carnival. Pretty cool though. Means you dont have to walk more than 100m to get an ice cold Coke :)

You're never far from a paper or a cigarette while waiting in traffic.

Getting Around

There are lots of ways to get around Manila.

Walk - cheapest and most interesting way. People will look at you if you look lost or foreign (like me). Be careful but assertive when crossing the road. Noone really stops for you, they'll just swerve not to hit you :)

Tricycle - You can get around in a bicycle/motorbike attached to a side car of sorts. These are good because they can get around the gaps in the traffic and the drivers quite confidently push and squeeze through the traffic. Ive seen upto 5 people fit onto one of these.

Jeepney - Perhaps the most unique mode of transport. Originally made up of old US Army Jeeps left over from the war, these are somewhat like buses but smaller, fitting between 10-15 people. These really stand out they normally have a shiny chrome exterior and are decorated to stand out. You'll see Jeepneys with various themes from Ferraris to Horoscope star signs. Very colourful to say the least.

This one's designed to go faster.

Taxi - Just like any other taxi in the world.

Of course theres lots of cars and heaps of bikes and mopeds running around.

Food watch: You can get McDonald's delivered!

Manila: First impressions...

Manila is different to anywhere I had ever been before. From the air you can immediately see some of the shantys people live in. Tito Ed and Sheryn kindly came to pick us up from the airport and I had my first taste of Manila traffic. Within the first 10 minutes we picked up a traffic fine for not being in the correct lane. I couldnt really make out any lanes to be honest but the fine was about P150 or about $4 so I guess it isnt too bad.

I guess you would describe traffic here as more or less a free for all. Just drive where ever you fit really. Of course there are two sides to a street and lanes but as for how much you decide to obey these "guidelines" is your call. Its not such a bad system actually. People drive carefully expecting the worst so they are quite skilled at avoiding cars, bikes, tricycles and pedestrians. Noone really gets too annoyed at eachother since most people are cutting at some point.

Flying to Manila

I love flying on Singapore Airlines. Theyre not that different to most other full service airlines but I love how they give you hot face towels every four hours or so. Something so simple and perhaps easily cut out in these financial times, makes such a difference when you feel nice and (relatively) refreshed after pasting a smouldering hot wet towel on to your face. Mmm...steamy.

I had never flown over Singapore during the day so this in itself was an interesting experience. Thousands boats, fishing boats and oil tankers mostly, led the way into the harbor which surrounds thousands of high rise apartment buildings. As far as you can see, the whole place is full of apratments. Apparently theres no space to build any houses here??

Upon closer inspection, the immediate area around the airport is immaculately kept. The streets are kept clean and very neatly presented. We landed in Terminal 3 this time and this terminal seems to be newer than the others and the nicest of them all.

A quick skytrain to Terminal 2 and we were on our way to the second leg to Manila.

Next stop: Philipines

Named after King Philip of Spain, 7107 islands and a total land area a bit larger than Victoria somehow holds 92 million inhabitants. I think its gonna be a little crowded...

People keep telling me that is a 'poor' country and I've never been to a 'poor' country before so this will be interesting. But I'm sure it will be an enlightening experience!

Anyways we are flying the A380!!! Yay! Woohoo! Very exciting.