Manila, Manila, The Philippines

19th May – 21st May 2018

On the plane, it was quite empty. It didn’t take either of us long to fall asleep, which was good. We napped for the whole journey, even when the man at the window climbed over us to get out. What we didn’t realise was that he had moved seats, so we could have spread out, but we didn’t.

We landed in Manila a few minutes ahead of schedule, but it took us that long to get off the plane and through immigration, we weren’t too early in the end. As there was a driver waiting for us (from Joe’s old work in England), we didn’t have to worry about sorting taxis and transport to our accommodation. We were met by the driver as soon as we stepped outside and got into a gorgeous car with reclining, comfy seats and plenty of leg room. We were also given a cold drink and could just relax – it was a shame the airport was so close to where we were staying.

It wasn’t too bad though, as not only did we get picked up in a fancy car, but we got taken to a fancy hotel, where they had booked us into for three nights (including the night we were in, as it was only 5am). It was a really kind treat from them, as apparently the hostel that we had booked wasn’t in a very nice area.

When we arrived at the hotel, I felt like I didn’t know what was going on anymore, I was that tired. Our bags were taken off us at the door to be inspected and we were taken up to level 6, where the lobby was. We checked in and were allowed straight up to the room (as it was technically booked for the night before). This was very much appreciated, as it meant that we could go and get some sleep and we didn’t have to wait until that afternoon.

After checking in, we went up to the ninth floor where our room was. We went in, to find a full apartment with a kitchen and a living/ dining room – it was definitely luxury that we weren’t used to. We had a quick look around, before I facetimed home, as I hadn’t spoken to them for over a month! We sat a chatted for a while, before finally climbing into bed.

We managed to get a few hours sleep, before we got up again. We had set an alarm for 9.30, as we had breakfast included, and we didn’t want to miss that! We got up and dressed and made our way downstairs.

For breakfast, we had every option under the sun. We filled up on almost a bit of everything, to keep us going for the rest of the day.

After breakfast, we went out to have a look at the pool, and have a little lie down on a sun bed. This didn’t last too long though, as we needed to do some laundry, and we wanted to look at some markets which were a little walk away.

Once we had gathered our bits together, we set out towards a launderette which was just by the markets. It was extremely humid outside, so the walk was a sweaty one, but we made it to the launderette in about twenty minutes.

Annoyingly, the launderette was quite pricey, and they couldn’t get our clothes back for a few days, so we couldn’t get our washing done there. It was more annoying for Joe, as he had carried the bag the whole way there, and it was heavy.

While we were in the area, we had a look around the markets, but they weren’t the kind of stalls we were expecting. It was all food stalls and drink stalls, and we were still very full from breakfast.  We did get a fresh lemonade each, to try and cool us down, but I was really looking for a patch, and that wasn’t successful.

With our lemonades, we made our way back to the hotel. As the hotel was by a shopping mall, we decided to have a look in there, to see if they had a launderette. They did, and it was much cheaper than the other one, even for express, so we dropped our clothes off there.

When we got back to the hotel, it was straight to the pool, to cool off and relax. We got in and out of the pool, trying the jacuzzi too, but that was so hot, I couldn’t stay in for very long. I went for a lie down on the sun bed and before I knew it, I was having a little snooze. This was pretty short lived though, as the rain started to come down, so we decided to go inside.

Back in the room, we had a proper look around, as we were too tired when we first arrived. In one of the cupboards by the door, Joe found a washing machine! This was frustrating, as we always have a proper look round when we first arrive but we just didn’t this time and we had already spent money at the launderette.

As it hadn’t been too long, we thought we would go down to the mall to try and get it back, as it might not have been put in yet. When we got down to the shop, it was shut, so we had a wander around the mall, waiting for it to open. We ended up grabbing a slice of pizza to keep us going, as it was still a few hours until we were going out for dinner.

After the pizza, we went back down the launderette and it was open again. Joe went down to see if we could get it back, but she has already taken it out, as it gets washed off site. This was annoying, as it was a waste of money for us, but there was nothing that we could do anymore.

It was still raining when we got back to the hotel, so we went back to the room. I went to bed for a nap because I knew I wouldn’t make it through the evening otherwise. Joe sat in the lounge area and watched some of the Royal Wedding build up.

Just after 6, Joe woke me up, as it was time to start getting ready, as we were going out for dinner with Gary (the owner of the company Joe used to work for). It was a struggle for me to get up as the overtiredness was making me feel quite sick.

When I got up, I gave Joe a quick haircut, before getting myself ready. I watched some of the wedding build up, before having a super quick shower, as I wanted to see Meghan when she got out of the car. I finished getting ready in front of the TV, while Joe had his shower.

At 7.30, we went down to the lobby to meet Gary. We walked to the restaurant through the shopping malls, which was a very good way to keep cool – a tip that we didn’t know about earlier in the day. It’s also something that you cant really do if you don’t know where you’re going and none of the malls seemed to have maps! Walking through the malls is a different experience in The Philippines, as there is security on every door who search bags on the way in – some entrances even have body scanners to walk through.

The area where we were eating, was a really nice area. It was a strip full of restaurants and bars which were all nicely lit at night. We ate in a Thai restaurant called People’s Palace. Gary ordered some prawn cakes to share, for starters, which were really tasty. For main, I had a aromatic chicken curry and Joe ordered a pork dish. They were both really tasty and to top his kindness off, Gary wouldn’t let us pay.

From the restaurant, we went further down the street to Café Havana, where we shared a jug of mojito. It’s apparently usually a really good bar for dancing and people watching but it wasn’t overly busy, even though it was a Saturday night. We bought this round, before we moved onto a third place for another drink.

In the second bar, we all had a sangria each, and had a chat, before Gary had to leave. It was a really nice night and I was glad to be have been able to meet him, so that we could thank him personally for his kindness.

Once Gary had left, I finished my drink, before we went back to the hotel. Even though I had had a few naps, it had still been a really long day and we were both very tired.

When we got back, I tried to do some research for the next day, as we had a driver coming to pick us up to take us out for the day! I didn’t last very long before I had to get in bed though. We both fell asleep around midnight, meaning that Joe missed the first half of the football, but he managed to get up for the second half, although it wasn’t worth it as United lost.

As we had the driver, Greg, coming at 8am to collect us, the alarm went off at 6.30, so that we had enough time to get ready and get some breakfast before we left. We struggled to get up at first, but we got there in the end. We had another big breakfast, to set us up for the day, before heading back to the room to get our bag ready for the day out.

We met Greg outside the hotel and got into another fancy car. He had said that he would take us wherever we wanted, so we had sent a list of things we wanted to see the day before but didn’t expect to see it all.

Our first stop was to Legazpi Sunday Market, as it was another place I thought that I might find a patch. Greg got a little confused at first and we started off at the Saturday Market area, but we found it in the end. Disappointingly, it was another market which was mainly food and drink stalls, so not what we wanted. While we were out of the car, we tried to get some cash out, but the ATMs didn’t accept my card, so we couldn’t.

From the market, we got back into the car, and went to San Agustin Church. It was one of the few things to see in Manila. Gary had mentioned the night before that there isn’t much culture in Manila and this was becoming apparent. We had a look at the outside of the church, but as it was Sunday morning, there was a mass going on, so we didn’t go inside, but from what we could see, it looked beautiful.

Next, we drove by the Cathedral, but didn’t stop to take photos, on the way to Fort Santiago. When we got to the fort, we got out to have a look. We went inside and wandered around, and to our delight, it was free entry on a Sunday, so that was a bonus. Inside the grounds, there wasn’t much about the fort itself, it was all mainly focused on the life and death of the Filipino’s hero Jose Rizal.

In the fort, there was a museum dedicated to Rizal, so we wandered around, learning about this man they love so much. Rizal was a mason, who was born into a country which had been ruled by the Spanish for centuries.

Although he had done nothing wrong, one day he was arrested and put on trial. Rizal didn’t fight this, which is what they expected. He was imprisoned for a few months, before he was sentenced to death. In the museum, we could see the room where he was kept: he had a private room, which was different to the other prisoners in the fort.

The night before he was killed, he was taken to the chapel. In the fort, they have mapped out his final journey, from the chapel, to the fort entrance, which we walked along. While he was in his cell, Rizal wrote letters to his loved ones, explaining how sorry he was that this was happening, but that he was doing it for his country. Rizal’s sacrifice was seen as an act of heroism and was the catalyst for the Filipinos to become independent.

Also in the fort grounds, we walked up to look over the river but it was very dirty and smelly, so we didn’t stay there long. We looked in the different sections of the fort grounds, before heading back out to find Greg.

From Fort Santiago, we went to Rizal Park. We got out of the car and looked at the Rizal monument, before having a walk around the park. It was sad to see that there were so many poor people living in the park, sleeping under trees on bits of cardboard.

Across the road from the park, there was lots of singing going on, so we had a walk over to have a look. It looked like an outdoor church celebration, where there were lots of people all dressed in white singing and dancing. We’re not sure of the exact reason it was there, or if it happens every week, but they looked like they were enjoying themselves. We watched them for a little while before we got too hot and had to head back to the car.

When we got back to the car, the AC had been running, so that was a nice welcome for us. As we had seen everything that we had wanted to see, in the centre of Manila, we started to make our way to Pagsanjan Falls. This was something that Joe had researched and liked the look of, but was a little bit of a drive away, so we didn’t know if we would have time. Greg seemed to think we would though, so we set off there, stopping off at the hotel to pick up a new SD card for the GoPro, as the other one was full.

A few naps, and almost two hours later, we arrived at the falls, kind of. We had asked Greg to stop off at an ATM, as we still had no cash and knew we would need it to get into the falls. Before we knew it, we were driving down a little side street, and we were at an office.

After explaining multiple times that we had no cash to pay for the trip, Greg ended up paying for us and we agreed to pay him back on the way home. We hadn’t completely agreed on a price anyway, as I had seen cheaper online, but they did a lot of talking in Tagalog (the Filipino language) before we had a chance to have our say.

Once everything was settled, we made our way to the river, where we were met by two men on a wooden canoe. We were very sceptical about the whole thing to begin with and didn’t know what we had let ourselves in for, but there was no turning back at this point.

We were the only two on the boat, which was definitely a good thing. We had our life jackets and helmets on, and off we went.

The first part of the journey was easy for the boatmen, as we were pulled along by a motorised boat, to the start of the park area. Once we were released from the motorised boat, the boatmen really got to work. They had to get us up the river, going upstream, over rocks and boulders and through rapids and narrow gaps. It looked like incredibly hard work and even though they were in water, they were still so hot. It was very impressive to watch and the scenery around us was beautiful.

After about half an hour and a lot of hard work from the boatmen, we made it to the waterfall. We walked up and over some rocks, to the plunge pool of the waterfall.

It was there, where we got onto a raft made from bamboo, and were taken into the waterfall. We were pulled along the plunge pool, under the falls, where the pressure was intense. We got off the raft and had a look into the cave and got some photos under the falls themselves.

When we were ready to get back on, we were given a ‘water massage’ from the water, but it was far from relaxing! It only got the backs of our legs but it was incredibly painful! It was still good fun though!

Back on the other side of the plunge pool, we tipped the raft men the only cash we had, before making our way back to the canoe. We got back in the boat and we were taken back down the stream. It was much quicker and, I imagine, much easier for the men.

When we got back to the bottom, near the entrance of the park, we were hooked back onto a motorised boat, and the boatmen could relax. We got back to the office place and had to ask Greg to borrow come money to tip the boatmen as they had worked so hard! We felt really bad for asking and Greg didn’t give as much as we would have liked but there was nothing that we could do about that.

After having a few minutes to dry off, we got back in the car (still a little soggy) and made our way back to Manila.

On the way back, there was so much traffic! We were sat still for such a long period of time, before the outside lane coming towards us, became the third lane on our side of the road and people moved into that. I’m not sure it was allowed, or legal, or safe but it happened. It didn’t make a massive difference though, as a bit further down the road, we were stuck again. At times, when there was nothing coming towards us, cars on our side of the road took up the whole road and just tried their luck.

Four and a half hours after leaving the falls, we arrived back at the hotel! We stopped along the way at an ATM to get some cash to repay Greg, but he wouldn’t accept it. We think it probably went on the work’s bill, as we think he got a receipt, but either way, it was very kind, again!

When we got back, we had a super quick toilet stop, before heading to the mall to collect our laundry and get something for tea – we hadn’t eaten since breakfast, twelve hours ago! While Joe got the laundry, I looked in the shops for food, as we were running out of time before the mall closed. I had planned on cooking as we had a kitchen and we thought it would be cheaper, but the only food supermarket we could find was Marks and Spencer and it was very expensive – probably because it was imported.

After a quick discussion, we decided it would be cheaper and easier to eat out, based on the prices of the food we had in People’s Palace the night before. Neither of us could be bothered venturing too far, so we found a food court in the huge shopping mall we were in, and both got a burger. We got them to take out, so that we could eat in our room, and we grabbed a donut each from Krispy Kreme on the way out of the mall.

We got back to the room and ate our tea, which was very average, but edible. Once we had finished, we cleaned up and booked somewhere for the following night in Palawan. While we were researching, we got our use out of the washing machine, as we washed our wet clothes from the day and the clothes that we always think can manage until the next wash, so that we had a fully clean set of clothes, for at least a night. Once the washer was finished, Joe hung it up to dry, before we eventually crawled into bed at about midnight.

On our final morning in the luxury of our Manila hotel, we got up just after 9. We had set an alarm again, so that we didn’t miss breakfast – we needed to stock up for the day. It was nice to have a lie in and just relax in our nice room.

Once we were ready, we went down for breakfast, and filled up so much, we could barely move. We made our way back up to the room, where we packed our bags and got ourselves organised. We both had laundry to put away and the washing we had hung up, needed finishing off in the dryer.

When we had finished packing, we went to the mall on a final ‘Manila’ patch hunt. It was difficult to even find the shop I had googled at first, but we found it eventually. We searched around the shop, with Joe wrecking a display, when I was about to give up and buy a purse to cut up. There were that many members of staff watching us, probably because Joe was causing havoc, that I hadn’t checked one corner, so decided to go there. To my delight, there were some there!

After I had bought my patch, it was straight back to the pool, for some chill out time before we had to check out. Luckily, Joe had somehow managed to get us a later, 2pm, check out, when he went to ask if we could stay by the pool until our driver arrived.

After a cool down and a sunbathe, we went back up to complete our packing at 1.30. We took our bags down and checked out, before heading back to the mall to buy some snack for the airport. This took a lot longer than we thought it would, as I couldn’t decide what I wanted, as I was still so full from breakfast.

Back at the hotel for the final time, we picked up our bags and waited in the lobby for Greg to come and collect us to take us to the airport.

Manila isn’t a culturally orientated place at all. Staying in the business district of Makati was a nice treat for us both and we are so grateful for all of the generosity we have been shown. It was good to have a look at the old part of town, but the highlight of the Manila stop, was definitely our trip to Pagsanjan Falls, despite the awful traffic on the way home. We will be back to Manila for a day at the end of our Philippines trip, but for now it’s time to see the island of Palawan.

To travel is to live, Katie x