Days 3 and 4 - Manila, Phillipines

We left Seoul at 8:00 a.m. for our next destination... Manila, Phillipines!  Arriving around noon, we transferred to the Shangri-La hotel.  It is a beautiful place set in a lush tropical oasis in the middle of Manila.

After a brief 2 hour rest, Bill met us with our next list of scavenges.  The afternoon was an absolute nightmare for me.  We had a good bit of trouble figuring out things on a city map, and a local guide book we picked in a nearby book store was of very little help.  As we finally set out I was not feeling very confident that we knew exactly where we should go.  We shared a taxi with another team that was going to the same area, but the traffic in Manila is insane, and it took us an hour to get across town.  David and I set out walking in the general direction of the Tourism Department, but the street signs were not clear, and the area seemed sketchy.  Tired, frustrated and a little nervous, I finally broke and had something of a melt-down.  We eventually found what we were looking for and managed to accomplish a few scavenges.

Hooking back up with that other team, we decided to take a horse drawn carriage (a common mode of transportation here) to a restaurant on our list of things to experience.  This was not at all like I thought it would be.  Instead of a quiet little buggy ride, it turned into a jaunt down the middle of a 4-lane highway surrounded by cars, motorcycles, and big trucks and buses whizzing past.  When we turned off the busy road, our ride went through what had to be the poorest part of town, with shanties everywhere.

We made it to the dumpling restaurant in due time and sampled the dishes there, then it was back into a cab for an hour long ride back to the hotel.  All in all, not the best day.

A good night’s rest made for a brighter outlook the next morning.  David and I began our day by learning the elevated train system of Manila.  It was not nearly as effecient as the metro in Seoul, but it got us where we needed to go pretty quickly, and seemed to be a much better way to get around than the cabs.




We did a number of our scavenges which included visiting a couple of churches, a Chinese cemetery, a flower market, and a replica of the wreckage of the ship San Diego which sank in 1600.  We got to experience another local transportation option... a “tricycle taxi”.  This was a small motorcycle with a side car attached.  

The drivers were friendly and informative and we had a blast getting around this way.  One thing we did not ride was the jeepney.  These decorated buses are everywhere in the city.  At times we would see one with people hanging out all over.  It was quite a sight.

Towards the end of the day, we did one last scavenge.  We tried a “halo halo”.  This is a sweet, ice-cream-like treat very popular in the Phillipines. 

After that we were ready to call it a day.  We got on the train for the final trip back to our hotel.  This train ride turned out to be the one thing I NEVER wanted to do... a ride in a cram packed train with masses of people pressed up against each other.  At every stop, more and more people found a way to cram themselves onto the train.  I was crushed between two Filipino men.  Fortunately there was no bad incident.  

Not a lot of points scored today, but the adventure of the day made it a really fun day.

Back at the hotel, the group gathered for a 9:30 p.m. meeting with Bill.  He handed out our flight info for the next morning.  We have a 5:50 a.m flight to JAVA, INDONESIA!!!!  

More updates to come!!