More Manila

Okay, so I've finally got some time and the inspiration for more blogging!

I spent the next few days in Manila and once I got over my initial shock and ignorance, it started to grow on me.  The people are lovely and many of them say hello to me on the street and I always get a huge grin back when I return the greeting.  They seem to find me a bit odd and I had a lot people ask if I was traveling alone and a few ask, a little skeptically, whether I like it.  Everyone calls me ma'am, which took some getting used to.

One day I checked out the historical Spanish fort area called Intramuros and nearby Rizal Park (had my first pedicab ride to get out there!).  It wasn't nearly as beautiful as the historical buildings you'd see in Europe, but still interesting.  Just to add to the feeling of being a bit of a spectacle, this is where I had my first encounter with people wanting to take my photo.  A group of Filipino kids approached me and I thought they were asking me to take a group photo of them.  Before I knew it I was surrounded by Filipino teenagers having my own picture taken!

Bird house for the park pigeons

The ceiling and much of the walls are actually painted in 3D relief rather than using carved stone.  Very sneaky!

Entrance to Fort Santiago in Intramuros

This little walk made it pretty clear that the Filipinos are very into Christmas.  This was the beginning of November and they were already putting up Christmas decorations in the park and playing Christmas music everywhere.  Just to hit the point home, when I went out for a Filipino dinner that night, there was a live band playing...you guessed it, Christmas music.  Although it was at least a jazzed up tropical twist on the classics.  Not that I don't LOVE Christmas.  I do, very much.  I just wasn't quite prepared for it.  And there's something a little frustrating in getting into the Christmas spirit and not being able to do anything about it (can't decorate, wrap gifts, bake cookies).

The next day I joined forces with this Spanish girl staying in my room to do some more of Manila.  At first I was glad to have company, but she unfortunately turned out to be quite the sourpuss.  She hated Manila, got grouchy when she couldn't understand her guidebook and was quite curt and bossy with the cab drivers.  We ended up checking out the National Filipino Museum which was quite good and heading over to The Fort which was not.  The Fort is an area in Manila that from what I saw has been completely Westernized.  The main strip (High Street) was full of shops from Europe and North America, and restaurants serving Western food.  Not sure why you would even bother coming to the Philippines if you were going to stay in that area as you could be anywhere in the world.  But it seemed busy, so what do I know?

My last day in Manila was a bit of a pampered one.  I treated myself to a foot massage (only $6) and went to see Social Network at the movie theatre in the mall before grabbing the overnight bus up to Banaue.

Despite a bit of a rough start, I did end up enjoying Manila and kind of wished I had a bit more time there.  I was just getting used to things by the time I had to leave.  But I definitely wasn't going to miss the karaoke music blaring into my room from the street every night until the wee hours! :P

Checking in

I know, I know, I've been promising updates for awhile.  But I haven't had much internet access lately and at the present moment I'm very tired.  I will write all about the Philippines as soon as I can.  In the meantime, hi, I'm still alive.  Bangkok tomorrow!

Shan

Onto the Philippines!

While it was sad to leave Australia, particularly Jon, Kieran and Emma (I had gotten quite used to my simple little life in Brisbane), the prospect of the Philippines was enough to keep me moving onward.  My flight to Manila was a bit of a long haul - 16 hour trip with the layover in Kuala Lumpur.  Luckily I didn't have anyone in the seat next to me for either flight, so I was able to get comfy and sleep for most of it.

I flew with Malaysia Airlines, which is about ten years behind the times in terms of the flight travel experience.  No personal tvs, but they actually feed you a meal on a 4 hour flight, which was much more important to me on this flight.  We were served a traditional Malaysian breakfast on the first flight - rendang chicken!  Probably not the best rendang chicken out there, but definitely better than most airplane food options.  Of course, I suspect a truly traditional Malaysian breakfast of rendang chicken probably doesn't come with OJ, a croissant, a yogurt cup and a mini Muesli bar, but I'll take what I can get.  Lunch was some other delicious Malaysian chicken dish.

Immigration and customs at the Manila airport was easy as pie.  The immigration officer didn't question me at all.  In fact, she didn't speak a single word to me.  Neither did the customs officer.  Certainly made it easy for me.  Most of the people off my flight were in the "visitor" lineups and not the "Philippine passport" lineups, but the vast majority of even the visitors were Asian.  It was quite clear from the get go that I would stick out like a sore thumb.  A sore thumb wearing a red wig.

Outside, the humidity hit me like a tonne of bricks.  It's not that it's all that hot, just really, really sticky.  I had my first experience with having a driver waiting for me with my name written on a sign.  Kind of cool, I'm not going to lie.  Having a driver from the hostel/hotel pick me up at the airport was definitely more money than I needed to spend, but it made my arrival nice and relaxed and easy.  Totally worth the whopping $11.

Having never been to Asia or any third world country, the was definitely a fair bit of culture shock.  Especially given that Manila is not the prettiest of cities.  The areas that we drove through looked pretty poor, dirty and rundown.  Even the area I'm staying in, from the street view, is pretty rundown though the business interiors are nice and it gets a bit cleaner and more prosperous looking just a few blocks up.  On my street there aren't even usable sidewalks consistently.  There is a very strong police presence and security at the front doors of some restaurants.  All the taxis honk at me as they drive past.  At first I thought I was in the way, not walking close enough to the side of the road or something.  Turns out that's just how they get your attention to see if you want a ride.  I was pretty overwhelmed the first night, and as much as I hate to admit it, I only saw the inside of my hotel, the Starbucks attached to my hotel and the internet cafe across the street for my first evening.

Despite all that, I managed to remain optimistic about venturing out the next day simply because everyone is so friendly here.  I felt very welcome and knew I could get help if I needed it.

That's it for now.  Adventures in Manila to come!

Brisbane Part 6: Tidbits

• Checked out the museum and art galleries.  Generally all free in Australia, which I think is great.  Did pay to see a special exhibit, the Valentino Retrospective, which was interesting.
• Some crazy dude took over one of the CityCat (river ferry) docks threatening to blow up his boat if the city didn't help him with his family problems.  No idea what sort of family problems the city can fix, but apprently that was the issue.  He claimed he would hold out for up to 2 weeks before he blew up his boat (apparently he truly believed he could stay awake that long), but lasted less than 24 hours before setting his boat on fire, stabbing himself in the gut a couple times and jumping in the water.  From which he was quickly retrieved by the police as the fire was put out by the firefighters on standby.  Not the most successful standoff for him.
• Brisbane can have some crazy downpours.  One afternoon it was so bad that I almost couldn't see the buildings just across the river from Jon and Kieran's and the satellite cut out.  Luckily I had only been about a block away from the apartment when it started so I didn't get too wet.
• Jon and Kieran took me to my first BYO restaurant.  Not sure if I've mentioned this before, but some restaurants in Australia let you bring your own booze.  This seems to typically apply to wine, but some places you can take other booze too.  So strange.
• Southbank has a beautiful pathway along the river covered by vines and flowers:

Brisbane Part 5: Koala Cuddling

One of the biggest things for tourists to do in Australia is hold a koala.  In fact, it's practically a requirement.  And one of the best places to do that (as far as I can tell) is Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary in Brisbane.  Not only do you get your koala cuddle in, but they have over a hundred koalas so you can get in more than your fill of cute koala ogling.



Cuddle, cuddle!

 Okay, so it's not really like cuddling at all.  In order to avoid having the koala freak out and dig its claws into you, you have to "be its tree" as they put it.  So you have to stay as still as possible and then give it back pretty quickly.  I did get to pet him though.  They are as soft as they look.

Other cute koala

There were lots of other animals to see there too: wombats, kangaroos, a platypus, dingos, loads of birds...

Wombats - so cute!





We learned that Kieran is taller than an Eastern grey kangaroo.  I, on the other hand, am not even as tall as the common wallaroo.

We also saw a sheep herding and shearing demonstration.  Sheep dogs are actually quite remarkable.

Sheep dog standing on top of merino sheep

Afterwards we drove up to the top of Mt. Coot-tha.  The view was pretty, if a bit hazy.

Brisbane Part 4: Halloween

My last weekend in Brisbane was Halloween.  While not historically celebrated in Australia, the Aussies to seem to be picking up on the awesomeness of Halloween.  A few stores had decorations up and I managed to scrounge up a cheap packaged costume.  The options were still pretty basic Halloween: ghost, witch, vampire, pirate.  Jon and Kieran's building had even set up trick-or-treating for the kids (you were given a balloon to put on your door if you were participating).  So we had a couple groups stop by (one of which included an apparently confused girl who was wearing moose antlers and claiming she was an antelope) before we headed off to a costume party.

Pirate Shannon and rocker Kieran.

Pirate Shannon and bogan (Aussie term for redneck) Jon.  No, his tattoos aren't real.

Brisbane Part 3: Trip to Straddie

While Brisbane isn't right on the ocean like Melbourne or Sydney, it's still pretty close.  And in that ocean is a little island called North Stradbroke Island a.k.a. Straddie.  It was about 2-2.5 hours each way with the train, bus, ferry, bus trip between Kieran and Jon's and the tourist spot on Straddie, but it was entirely worth it.  First of all, it's just a plain beautiful spot and it was a beautiful day to boot.

On top of that, I totally lucked out in my wildlife spotting.  I knew it was a popular place to do whale watching tours, but I didn't think I'd be able to see whales from shore.  I saw two!  Granted they were quite far away, but it was still cool.  And within an hour of that I saw two large pods of dolphins, a sea turtle and a manta ray!

Okay, so this doesn't look like much in the photo, but it was cool in person!

 I could have left Straddie happy at that point, but instead I went "swimming" at Main Beach which was gorgeous.  Swimming is in quotes because I haven't really been swimming in the ocean here.  The waves are too big and the current too strong.  It's more wading/floundering around in waist/chest high water.  It's very graceful, I swear.


Main Beach