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One Thursday May 19 - the first day of the rest of my life has arrived. It is 3 freakin o'clock in the morning and I leave for the airport at 4:00am to catch my 6:51am flight. Yow Weee!!!! Everything has gone according to plan. All my flights left on time. No baggage problems or hassles of any kind along the way. I couldn't have asked for a better trip. Continental was great. First class was awesome with constant food service provided all the way to Manila. Friday May 20 - Arrived in Manila right on schedule. Immigration and customs was a breeze. Not a single bag opened. Even better was my luggage was the first down the carousel and I was perhaps the 2nd one out of the area. Went downstairs to the passenger pick-up area where I was to meet the driver of my ex-wife. He was there waiting and we quickly loaded the truck for the ten minute trip to Ramon and Silvana's house. Gave the luggage handler $2.00 for helping me take my luggage down. I have to admit that everything I expected is happening beyond my expectations. Turns out Marco, Ramón's son, just left for Europe to work and I have his room. It has a nice queen size bed and cold Air Con.
Silvana met me at the house and we talked for about an hour about stuff and my plans. She looks great. Ramon showed up about a hour after my arrival and we decided to head to Makati (Manila's business district and home to one thousand malls LOL. I was amazed how much Manila has changed since I was here last. I think the biggest surprise to me aside from more buildings and modern malls is the fact how much taller the people have gotten. Kids here are about the same height as their counterparts in the USA. Must be the influence of McDonalds, milk, and other American things in the new diet. Oh I forgot to mention, Starbucks everywhere, packed and at the same prices as in the states. Tons of restaurants and drinking and music places. Really great. Otherwise the same smiling faces of the beautiful Philippines people. Saturday May 21 - Just had the best freakin sleep of my life. What a great bed. Up at 6:00am and decided to be adventurous by taking a two hour walk around the area I am staying which is called Pasay City. I really did in a way miss all the pollution, noise and honking of the Jeepney trucks that accompanied me every step of the way. However, I am thinking that I may seek a quieter city to base myself other than Manila. Traffic is a real nightmare. Got back around 9:00am and had some fresh Mango and Papaya. Around 10am the driver (Carlin) from my arrival showed up and took me back to Makati to see a couple of my ex sister-n-laws Aurora and Gloria. Spent a few hours with them, seeing their fully grown and tall children and having lots of laughs. Left about 12:30pm and basically toured the city a few hours looking at some potential buildings to rent in. Got back to Ramón's around 5pm and promptly took a nap which took me into the next morning. I must have been totally wiped from the trip and didn't realize it. Sunday
May 22 - I failed to mention that I have been having
a problem with my stomach way before coming to the Philippines.
I think I strained it exercising. Anyway it is killing me whenever
I take a breadth and is taking away some of the excitement I am
feeling being here. Tomorrow, I see a Doctor who can hopefully suggest
a remedy. Well today was another fun day. Had lunch with the ex
n-laws. I think I will refer to them as n-laws and not ex n-laws
as it sounds stupid to say it all the time. After lunch we went
to the mall to have an ice cold mocha drink from one of the millions
of coffee shops. Believe it or not the price of a cup of coffee
in about the same as in the USA. Also wanted to mention that Star
Wars (released here the same time as in the USA) is playing in just
about every movie theater in Manila and every show is sold out in
every theater. The price of a regular movie is about $2.50 but they
raised the price to $3.00 for SW. Still cheap compared to anywhere
else. I have heard that oftentimes you can get the DVD for any movie
before it is released in the theaters. Will be checking that out.
Later in the day, met a friend of Ramon's who has many contacts
in the resort community who hopefully will get me some contacts
to meet on my upcoming journey to the many resort island areas I
shall be visiting. Special Note Even though I am staying with my n-laws and have the benefit of their drivers to take me around and such. The fact remains that everything I am doing can be done by anyone visiting the Philippines who don't have the contacts I have. The difference being, you would stay at a hotel and most likely hire a driver for the day or days. You can find hotels for as litle as $25.00 per day and a driver for about $35.00. I would recommend taxi's as most fares will be no more than $1.50 2005
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