Philippines

Guido and I flew into Manila yesterday morning. We had a momentarily scare with lost luggage. We watched until the last luggage came out and did not see any of our bags. I was in a state of shock thinking what a disaster! Guido is already making plans to go shopping. We went with a few other people who also did not have their luggage. It turned out that because we flew business class they had a special section for priority passengers. How the hell were we supposed to know that?! In the end I was just very relieved that I did not have to deal with lost luggage.

In the planning stage we were told that it was not safe enough in the Philippines to handle our own transportation to our hotel which was about 40 minutes south from Manila airport. The plant here arranged for the hotel to pick us up. I also asked to have a driver while we were here since I was also warned to not even take a taxi on my own. There was danger of kidnapping. Gary was a little concerned when I told him this.

Getting out of the customs area I saw more security personnel than regular people. It was a little intimidating. I suddenly missed the safe feeling I had while traveling in europe. The city of Manila is not too impressive. It looks crowded and a little run down. There were a lot of jeepneys on the road. This is their form of public transportation. Picture an extended jeep with no door in the back where passengers get on. Inside there are two long benches where the people would sit facing each other. The sides of the jeep have open slats for windows so that as they drive by you can see the back and heads of the passengers. They are usually sandwiched in there like sardines. There is a lot of polution some of these passengers are holding hankerchiefs over their nose and mouth. The routes of these jeepneys are painted on the sides of the vehicle. This is definitely a far cry from high tech germany!

Our hotel was really nice. I would rate the Bellevue as a 5 star hotel. The service is incredible. I think there are more staff members than guests! There seems to be multiple people helping us at all times and they are always addressing us as mam or mister. Very polite people. When we ate at the hotel restaurant there seems to be multiple waiters doing different things for us. They even asks "mam, may I please take your plate away?" Funny but all this is also a far cry from non customer service oriented germany!

Guido wanted to set up his stash of cokes and snacks for our late nights of report writing all this week so we took the hotel shuttle to the mall that's about 1/4 mile away. OMG, huge mall that includes dave and busters type of entertainment, tons of restaurants, a supermarket, cinema and I'm not sure what else. There were also a million people in there so I felt a little suffocated. Ofcourse Guido was the only white guy there so we got some stares. Guido was hungry for lunch so we stopped in what looked like an asian fast food restaurant. It was so cheap. Funny set up. As you are waiting in line there's a girls that come around to take your order. Then she gives you the slip to give to the cashier. The cashier then gives you your drink and a number for you to put on your table (picture Sizzler). When I gave her my smallest bill which was 500 Philippine pesos (equivalent of $USD 10) she did not have enough change so she said my change will come later. Then there are these guys that are running around with big platters of food delivering them to the tables. It was fascinating to watch them zip around with a tray of noodle soups and plates of food on the finger tips of one hand. We each had a bowl of noodle soup, some dim sum dumplings, my favorite vegie rau muon, all for less than $2 each. Guido wanted to come here to eat everyday but I put my foot down. I really didn't feel comfortable and we stuck out like sore thumbs. The fact that there were security and police all over the surrounding streets made me feel uncomfortable. Our hotel had several nice restaurants so I didn't feel a need. The shuttle guys from the hotel said we could call and they would come to get us. I did NOT realize my phone did not have network connection so we could not call for the hotel shuttle!! Guido talked me into walking back to the hotel since we had no other choices. Besides, we could literally see our hotel in the distance. I was so nervous the whole way back. Even if there were lots of cops around you never know if they will decide to arrest you for whatever reason. All those warnings made me super paranoid but we got back fine.

There's a spa at the hotel! This time I didnt want to lose the opportunity so I booked a facial and massage, all for $35! Unlike the traumatic experience of my massage in Vietnam this was on par with Scottsdale. My therapist was a very sweet and polite young girl who softly says mam before she starts a sentence! Surprisingly she had a very firm touch which was exactly what I needed. The only scare I had was when she suddenly climbs up on the table to straddle on either side of me so that she can really massage my back. I had a flashback of Lorraine's traumatic massage experience in Vietname so I had to ask her "are you going to walk on my back? Because I don't want that" To my relief she said no, only shiatsu massage does that. I assured her that I definitely did not want a shiatsu massage! Other than that I was so relaxed I nodded off a few minutes. After my massage she took me to another room for my facial. The only weird part was when she gave me a masque she put some kind of cloth over my face and then spread the cream over it. When done she merely peeled off the cloth. After my treatment she brought me a hot cup of tea. It was a perfect end to my spa experience.

Fun time was over and I had to some pre work for our meetings the next day. It was midnight before I forced myself to go to bed. This was my first time as lead for an assignment so I was a little nervous and excited.