It's Like A Rollercoaster, But I'm Only Going Up

So for the first time during my stay in Asia, I decided not to write a blog yesterday, mainly because it wouldn't have been terribly interesting to read. It was my last day in Cebu City, and I flew back to Manila (for the third and final time) at around 12:45pm, eventually landing at around 2:10pm. The short flight was a darn sight better than getting on a coach for an unenjoyable amount of hours, but that was only half of the job as I had to then make it back to my hotel, fighting through the chaos that is trying to catch a taxi in this city.

On my way from the hotel in Cebu City to Mactan-Cebu international airport, I almost had to jump out of the taxi after about ten seconds because the driver initially refused to use the meter, instead trying to make a deal with me. I'm never usually one to haggle over prices, but considering me he offered me the taxi for the price of 350 pesos, and I flatly refused, I felt pretty vindicated when it actually came to about 130 Pesos when I arrived at the airport.

Several flights arrived into Ninoy Aquino airport at the same time so it was more chaotic than usual trying to hitch a lift. I joined the line for the Airport Metered Taxis - special yellow cabs put on by the airport to protect 'foreigners' from being ripped off, but after ten minutes a queue of about thirty people and with only a single taxi having showed up, I decided to take my chances and catch a regular cab.

It took three attempts to find someone who would offer me a lift as after getting in the first two taxis, and asking them to take me to my hotel using the meter, they refused claiming that there was too much traffic - basically they didn't want to lose out on money by not being able to charge me an over-inflated price for their services. The third guy I asked was more than willing to take me, and I offered him a tip at the end of the journey if he could manage to successfully navigate to the right place (and not over-charge me).

On my second stay in Manila I am based a little closer to the centre of the metro in an area called Makati which is about three districts away from the airport, and seems to be in a prime location to visit all the sights. Once again my hotel was pretty difficult to find, but the driver eventually navigated the busy streets of Manila and we arrived at the 24H Apartment hotel about twenty-five minutes after leaving the airport. My hotel this time around is pretty similar to the one I stayed in when initially arriving in the capital. With there being seemingly plenty going on in the area, and a wide range of facilities available within the hotel itself it looked as though I had made a good choice.
I was hoping for the relief that the Internet connection might be slightly speedier here than in Cebu, and thankfully it appears that they have routers on every floor so it works reasonably well - fingers crossed that stays true for the duration of my stay!

After checking in and depositing my bags in my room I decided to head out for a quick walk, first going right out of my hotel to find the easiest way to access the main streets of Manila (this would come in useful today), I then headed back in the opposite direction to grab myself a snack from a local shop. When it comes to travelling from once place to another, I often overlook eating in the middle of the day which my stomach usually then reminds me about 3-4 pm when I feel it's folding in on itself.

I spent the rest of the evening working out what I was going to do the following day (today) to make the most of the many sights that there are to see in Manila. Being the capital of the country, there are, as you would expect plenty of things to do here in the city. Due to how large it is, I attempted to make it as easy as possible for myself by prioritising first the things that I feel like I HAD to see, and then following that up with anything else that might be good to get a look at or to visit along the way.

After grabbing some breakfast this morning I headed out of my hotel in a northbound direction towards the main hub of the city centre. I had a lot on the agenda, and wasn't sure if I'd given myself too much to cover, but figured that if I didn't manage to get to everything in one day, then I would also have the following day to try to get through the rest. Most things revolved around the western coast of Manila which is a street known as Roxas Boulevard, and is the main access point to quite a lot of things here in the city.

Being a Saturday it was quite busy with people milling about on the streets and a lot of traffic on the road - but in this country, I've not actually found a time when there isn't a massive amount of congestion. The first major site I encounter (if you can call it that) was the Philippine national stadium which is located about twenty minutes walk away from my hotel. I'm not saying that their games will garner a massive audience, but I really can't imagine it not being an absolute nightmare to get to and from the stadium on a matchday, considering that it is basically located in a residential district just off the main highway. The equivalent would be a bit like putting Wembley Stadium on the banks of the River Thames just down the road from the London Eye.

On my way to Roxas Blvd, I was also looking for the Zoo, but somehow I managed to walk past the street that it was on and not notice until I returned to my room, and looked on Google Maps to assess where I had gone wrong. Once I got to where I was going, I somehow managed to get across the highway without being run down by any one of the cars, busses and Jeepneys that were lining the streets, and I walked right down what is known as the Manila Bay Walk which has some great views of boats currently docked in the harbour of the capital.

I had seen what I thought were pictures of the Bay area itself, but I soon realised that these must have been artists' impressions or what it used to look like as currently it equates to something like a live building sight. It seems as though they are building another path, because the one which was originally designed has been filled with vendors, and people selling things so it is very hard to actually walk down without having to zig-zag in and out of them.

Unfortunately the views of palm trees and boats cannot distort the sight of construction equipment, and the loud noises from holes being drilled. That plus the constant hum and beeping horns of the traffic and it's not quite as scenic as it could be. I guess their plan is to kind of make it look a bit exotic and a bit tropical, but I wouldn't say that it was quite comparable to Venice Beach just yet - I'm sure in a couple of years it will be a sight to behold though.

I continued to walk almost aimlessly for about half an hour or so, with the impressive high rises of Manila on my right, and the loud sound of traffic horns ringing in my ear, before I eventually came upon Rizal Park.
I was actually going to spend time in the park tomorrow, but considering I had managed to walk that far I figured that I might as well take advantage of my opportunity, and chose to spend a bit of time strolling around, and then sitting around the lake listening to some music.
Whilst I was enjoy some people watching, I felt a few splatters of raindrops on my leg - something which I haven't encountered during my stay in the Philippines as yet. It wasn't coming down too hard, and despite not being very sunny, the Manila humidity meant that almost as soon as the rain landed on my shorts, it had evaporated.

Rizal Park is a well-known park in Manila, and one of the largest of it's kind in Asia. It's a popular leisure spot for Filipinos and tourists on the weekend and is named after Jose Rizal, who played a huge role in the Philippine Revolution of 1896.

The park was filled with people enjoying a warm Saturday afternoon, and in the Philippines - like the rest of the world - today saw plenty of couples out celebrating Valentine's Day. The park was holding a special Valentine's concert this evening, and all around there were displays of flowers, and plenty of opportunities for photos to be taken with romantic backdrops all around.
I've never been a big celebrator of Valentine's Day as I see it as a bit of a cynical ploy by marketers to make keep the money rolling in between Christmas and Easter, but I certainly did feel a bit lonely sitting on a park bench without someone to spend the day with.

Sadly for me, the person that I would most like to have spent today, and each and every one on my trip with, is about 7000 miles away, so I wasn't able to follow the Asian tradition of wearing match t-shirts with her (no seriously that's actually a thing here.)
Hopefully she realises despite the fact that we will be apart for such a long time that I was looking on enviously at all the people who get to spend the day with the person they love, and wish that we were able to do the same thing.
I feel very fortunate to be blessed with a loving family and a group of friends who I know are always thinking about me, but I really miss being able to spend time in the company of the person that I wouldn't have been able to make this trip without the support of, and I hope she knows particularly today that I am thinking about her lots. I also really appreciated being able to open a Valentine's Card from her today (even though we exchanged them before I left).

I headed back in the direction of the Bay after my stay in the park, grabbing some food on the way - a ham and cheese sandwich which was basically a cheeseburger - and then spent some time walking towards the Harbour Area I described earlier. It's mostly filled with restaurants but also had a good view of the water against the backdrop of the skyscrapers which tower above the city.

Just next to Harbour Square is a theme park called Star City which was filled with people wearing red queued up in a long line down the road. I was thinking about going in originally, but then saw the size of the line and changed my mind. There were so many people wearing red as part of a Valentine's Day promotion which granted you free access if you and your partner both wore the same colour t-shirts. Originally I thought it was a huge party of people trying to make sure they didn't go missing, but later read the promotion which stated that it was free entry and it all clicked into place.

Whilst I was walking around this area I also went to take some photographs of the Coconut Palace which is a house down by the Harbour. Is it the mansion residence of the Philippine Government in Manila, but looked very deserted with not even a guard on duty.
From here I decided to take another long walk, this time away from the city and back towards the airport heading in the direction of the 'Mall of Asia'. It seems strange that despite stating that I never need to buy anything, I'm always visiting shopping malls. This one I was particularly fascinated by because of it's size, although having read that bit attracts around 200,000 people a day, I wasn't looking forward to having to wade through all those people on a Saturday afternoon.

In fairness when I arrived at the mall after some serious walking, it was quite an impressive sight. I'd imagine you wouldn't want for anything in there, and after circulating both the upper and lower floors I saw a good mixture of Western and Eastern shops - I'd imagine everything you pretty much need is all under that one roof. I had to line up in a huge queue - one which was moving quite quickly - just to enter and get my bag checked, but it turns out this was because I'd gone through the entrance near where the IMAX Cinema and food court was.
Inside the mall there was also an ice rink and arcade, with a concert hall attached to the side of it.

I decided to call it a day after picking up some postcards in a bookshop and head back towards my hotel. After all that walking I felt like taking advantage of the fact that my hotel has a swimming pool, but after looking through my bag I realised I had made the serious error of not bringing any swimming attire with me - seriously, what sort of person does that? I think my last minute bag re-pack somehow convinced me to trade some swimming shorts that I wouldn't be able to wear out in public for a pair of normal shorts which I would be able to. Quickly going into a shop near by, I managed to get hold of some and spent about 40 minutes or so just dangling my feet in the water of the empty swimming pool on the top floor of my building.
It's actually an open air swimming pool, and with the freedom of the place to myself I was also able to appreciate the excellent view out over the city as the sunset on my penultimate night here.


Crazy Stupid Love
Cheryl Cole (2014)