Finally! Our trip has started after all of those months of waiting and working! After saying a tearful goodbye to my parents we kicked off our trip at Heathrow. Three long flights and a McDonalds in Kuwait later we arrived in Manila. Our hotel was nice with air con, a blessing we probably won't be induldging the luxury of for much longer. Located on the manila baywalk it was a good basis to explore the city.
Manila is an extremely hectic city with traffic jams that make Bangkok look tame (having said that we have yet to go to india). The taxi drivers are experts at dodging around and fortunately the meter is charged at distance rather than time. Our few days in Manlia were spent exploring. Intramous the spanish fortress, this was interesting if not a little scary since it is surrounded by a golf driving range so there's always that tiny worry of getting knocked out! Like everywhere in the world there is a china town with bussling streets and plenty of gold. Travelling around the city can be really cheap on a Jeepney, old american vehicles left over from the war that get pimped up.
So far it's been amazing how many people stare or wave at us! I didn't think being western in Manila would be a big deal but apparrently being a white woman with a filipino boyfriend is something of a novelty! Everyone is lovely though calling you sir and ma'm everywhere you go and always willing to help. We had so many children waving during a trip to Rizal park and one came over to do an interview of us for their classroom. Health and safety is somewhat similar to that of Thailand in that it doesn't really exist. Check out the photo of the petrol station pumps hanging from the roof!
Every bar has live music and cheap San Miguel beer (they even have a San Miguel light for those who are calorie conscious) so we ended the days spent in the city the best way possible.
Tomorrow we're off to Boracay island for a holiday before the real backpacking begins!!!
