As I left McDonalds yesterday in Seoul and boarded the bus a little late, I realized that I had made the wrong choice in airport transportation. Usually I catch the same but in another place, but this time I took it on the other side of town, only to find that it had to go through peak hour traffic on it’s way to my usual spot. The journey, far from being the 1 hour trip I had imagined, took almost 2. On the way, there were an army of emergency vehicles also trying their best to fight their way through the lanes and lanes of stationary cars, but to no avail. Your only hope is a motorbike, and unfortunately I had a suitcase so that was out.
By the time I got to the airport, there was only 20 minutes to go before boarding. I rushed to the desk and told them that I was sorry, but it’s just one of those things. Luckily I didn’t have to check in any baggage and she rewarded my lateness with not only a ticket, but a Business Class ticket. I spent my flight chatting with an American guy called Tony and sipped on champagne and cognac.
I got off the plane in Manila about 4 hour later with a bit of a headache. It’s a tiring thing, flying. It’s mainly because the air inside the cabin is so dry and it makes breathing somewhat uncomfortable. Anyway, here I am complaining about my flight when I flew business. On the whole it was good. My laptop died before I got there, so I only got a little work done and a little West Wing watched.
Tony helped me out with some advice on taxis and where the cool areas were, so I took a cab to my hotel and planned to have a shower and head out. Unfortunately, they did a switch on me. The hotel I had booked online (and had receieved confirmation of) told me that they weren’t able to accommodate me and I was to take the hotel across the street. it wasn’t nearly as nice, unfortunately, but still quite ok. I washed up and went out, but there wasn’t much to see besides a few sad looking bars and so I had an early night.
I must’ve been real tired because I woke up the next afternoon. I didn’t really mean it like that but that’s how it goes I guess. I meant to see something of Manila, but everyone I ask here keeps telling me there’s nothing to see. Ok then, well I decided to shun the taxi service and check out the nearest mall. I discovered a series of high-end boutiques and then what is I guess Manila’s premier shopping destination, Greenbelt. It consisted of shops, restaurants amidst lush, tropical esplanades and was quite nice, although hardly cultural. I’m not so keen on just shops because they’re everywhere and they’re the same. I must’ve counted about 20 Starbucks all over the city as well.
So it’s 6:30pm and that’s where I am now, making use of the only internet cafe I’ve seen throughout the day. I’m really certain that it would’ve been better to go to Cebu for a few days, or Borakai, but it’s too late to wonder that now. I have to do some research to find out some nice places to visit here.
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