My last day in Manila was spent nursing the hangover from the previous evening´s excesses. I joined Becky for lunch in a street food stall just around the corner from the hostel. They had a number of pots laid out on a table; you simply lift the lid of each one, decide what you´d like and it´s served up to you with rice.
Shortly after Becky beckoned me into a hairdressers to enquire about prettying myself up a bit, though as I was a bit short on cash (and as mother had insisted I do just that not one week before) I declined and headed back to the hostel. I spent the evening researching for my trip to Costa Rica, doing the usual admin of booking hostels and checking what the currency is. That night Bing´s wife cooked me a great rice dinner with corn on the cob and mango for dessert. I was being well looked after.
6am the following morning, and continuing on the theme of drizzle and rain from the day before, I woke up to make my way to the international airport - to Tokyo! I was very excited about my trip there, and even getting up at 6am to rain didn´t dampen my spirits (no pun intended). The flight from Manila with Japan Airways was amazing, I was in a smaller part of the plane upstairs and there was loads of space and the food was great. I was later told I must have been ¨bumped up¨because I was in ¨the bubble¨- which is the fancy part of the plane apparently.
Upon arriving at Narita airport, the journey to Asakusa was fairly straight-forward, this was vastly aided by the helpful lady at the tourist information stand. I paid my 1000¥ (approximately 8 pounds) and got the express train to Ueno, which took just over an hour. I then had to transfer to the underground and get the Ginza line to Tawaramachi station. This was all very easy, as I didn´t really have to think too much about directions and so forth. It was when I was on foot I got lost. The directions were simple: walk straight out of exit number 3 for five blocks; turn left at the 24 sushi restaurant; go past the shrine on your right; take the next right and it´s there.
Half an hour later, dark setting in and beginning to panic a little, I plucked up the courage to gesticulate at a Japanese couple and they pointed me in the right direction. Much to my relief I finally found the place. The directions to the hostel would've been better interpretted by an ability to read Japanese - this is a skill I do not possess.
The Asakusa Toukaisou hostel ($20 per night and the cheapest I could find) was really rather nice. According to the Japanese tradition you take your shoes off before entering; the place was immaculate and the common area very nice. This first I went on the hunt for food, I found myself in what must've been the Japanese equivalent of a fast food restaurant eating noodles, deep-fried dumplings and drinking a Kirin. There were many other lone diners in the restaurant, so I didn't feel as uncomfortable as I had lone-dining in Malaysia and suchlike.
I had a little wander around the local area and resolved to head back and get an early night to prepare myself for a day of exploring the following day.
Saturday, 14 February 2009
Sunday, 8 February 2009
Back on the road
After just over two weeks, an inordinate amount of flying and some confusing time changes, I returned to my trip. It was waiting for me in the Islas 8817 guesthouse in Manila. The climate here was quite a contrast to the snows and ices of London, in fact it was decidedly warm. Approximately 28 degrees C, which did nicely to nurse the nasty British cold I`d picked up the day before I was due to fly. The day before I was due to fly was fraught with snot and worry that there would be no flight. However all worked out, aside from the cold - I had to deal with that over 14 hours and sleeping on a plane with a cold and 4 screaming children simply isn`t possible.
Thus my first day in the Philippines was spent trying not to sleep all day, I wanted to adjust to the time difference. This proved difficult as I had effectively lost 8 hours and hadn`t slept a wink in 24. Thus, despite being offered all manner of options to fill my day with from the owners of the guesthouse, I drifted out of a sequence of dreams until around 6pm when I slapped myself around the face and thought it best time for some food. I hadn`t been too sure of the streets around the hostel when I first arrived, Manila reminded me a little of the streets of Delhi; I could see there was a lot of poverty here and I had heard certain areas were unsafe at night. As it was now dark, I opted for home cooked food at Islas, which was darned tasty.
Having met a lovely lady called Becky from London, Spain, Australia and the Philippines (seriously) and two Swedish guys, Kristian and Patrick, the evening was passed in good company. The next day it was decided to explore Manila together, and at this I felt some relief.
In the early hours of the morning a group of guys arrived, 2 Americans and 2 Canadians, and before long we were all resolved to hit Manila together. So, seeing morning the 7 of us went out into the traffic and smog of Manila. Suffice to say we stuck out like a tee-totaler in a liquour store, there weren`t many other large groups of white people walking around. After standing about on the street corner for a while, looking a little lost and confused, we resolved to cross the road. Upon doing so we were presented with a number of options for taxis. We agreed a price (35 Philippine Pesos per person) and off we went.
We must have gotten in what is known as a FX taxi; this means it crams in whoever it can fit (not within reason) along the way. Quite an experience. We evetually arrived outside the American Embassy and made our way to Rizal Park. The first vision of the park was of many homeless people taking naps under the trees; slightly eyebrow raising. The main part of the park was pleasant and traquil (and colourful). There were two guards "guarding" a statue at the entrance, I can only assume they were both incredibly bored as they put on a show of spinning their guns in sequence. The rest of the park was plastic swans, loud music from speakers in various positions and themed gardens.
We walked from the park down into the walled city Intramuros, which felt very Spanish and stumbled upon most unlucky church with a plethora of unfortunate histories and then off we went to Fort Santiago. In this prison building the Philippine's national hero, Jose Rizal, was confined before he was executed on Dec. 30, 1896. And I tried to get my head around Filippino history.
Following this we tried to get the Markati shopping district. We must have picked the Manila rush hour to do this, because after an hour of Jeepney swapping (the open-backed vans that pick up people along the way - similar to the ones in Chiang Mai), a serious amount of car fumes and a whole heap of confusion, we found ourselves lost on a roadside desperately pouring over a map. A kindly Filippino woman helped us out, and it turned out to get to this place would take quite sometime to reach. So we resolved to head to the "Mall of Asia" (the biggest shopping mall in Asia, if not the world).
This was a bizarre place; there was a marching band continually circumnavigating the mall and a number of fairground rides as well as an ice rink inside. As shopping wasn't actually on the agenda we soon made our way back to the hostel, narrowly avoiding being ripped off by some opportunistic taxi drivers - 7 white people equals beacon for rip-off merchants.
Upon arriving home everyone hit the beer - we all felt we deserved it after all the time we had spent sitting in taxis. Too right! I also felt the need to hit the beer after a petrifying story from our taxi driver about motorcycle gangs who store weapons in their bikes and hold up tourists travelling at night in taxis. Suffice to say I locked the door.
I was happier to venture the streets around the hostel after dark with a group, so we went out and sampled some of the street food and sang along to karaoke in one of the bars. The drinking went on well into the evening, and certainly helped me get a good night's sleep. Overall Manila can be done in a day, it's a vast city that is not easy to navigate but with a bit of effort you can see all the main points of attraction. The Islas guesthouse is a great location for getting flights, as it's only a short, cheap taxi ride from the Ninoy Aquino International Airport and the owners are fantastic. The people at the hostel were headed to a number of amazing sounding destinations throughout the Philippines, for that reason I intend to go back there in the future.
Thus my first day in the Philippines was spent trying not to sleep all day, I wanted to adjust to the time difference. This proved difficult as I had effectively lost 8 hours and hadn`t slept a wink in 24. Thus, despite being offered all manner of options to fill my day with from the owners of the guesthouse, I drifted out of a sequence of dreams until around 6pm when I slapped myself around the face and thought it best time for some food. I hadn`t been too sure of the streets around the hostel when I first arrived, Manila reminded me a little of the streets of Delhi; I could see there was a lot of poverty here and I had heard certain areas were unsafe at night. As it was now dark, I opted for home cooked food at Islas, which was darned tasty.
Having met a lovely lady called Becky from London, Spain, Australia and the Philippines (seriously) and two Swedish guys, Kristian and Patrick, the evening was passed in good company. The next day it was decided to explore Manila together, and at this I felt some relief.
In the early hours of the morning a group of guys arrived, 2 Americans and 2 Canadians, and before long we were all resolved to hit Manila together. So, seeing morning the 7 of us went out into the traffic and smog of Manila. Suffice to say we stuck out like a tee-totaler in a liquour store, there weren`t many other large groups of white people walking around. After standing about on the street corner for a while, looking a little lost and confused, we resolved to cross the road. Upon doing so we were presented with a number of options for taxis. We agreed a price (35 Philippine Pesos per person) and off we went.
We must have gotten in what is known as a FX taxi; this means it crams in whoever it can fit (not within reason) along the way. Quite an experience. We evetually arrived outside the American Embassy and made our way to Rizal Park. The first vision of the park was of many homeless people taking naps under the trees; slightly eyebrow raising. The main part of the park was pleasant and traquil (and colourful). There were two guards "guarding" a statue at the entrance, I can only assume they were both incredibly bored as they put on a show of spinning their guns in sequence. The rest of the park was plastic swans, loud music from speakers in various positions and themed gardens.
We walked from the park down into the walled city Intramuros, which felt very Spanish and stumbled upon most unlucky church with a plethora of unfortunate histories and then off we went to Fort Santiago. In this prison building the Philippine's national hero, Jose Rizal, was confined before he was executed on Dec. 30, 1896. And I tried to get my head around Filippino history.
Following this we tried to get the Markati shopping district. We must have picked the Manila rush hour to do this, because after an hour of Jeepney swapping (the open-backed vans that pick up people along the way - similar to the ones in Chiang Mai), a serious amount of car fumes and a whole heap of confusion, we found ourselves lost on a roadside desperately pouring over a map. A kindly Filippino woman helped us out, and it turned out to get to this place would take quite sometime to reach. So we resolved to head to the "Mall of Asia" (the biggest shopping mall in Asia, if not the world).
This was a bizarre place; there was a marching band continually circumnavigating the mall and a number of fairground rides as well as an ice rink inside. As shopping wasn't actually on the agenda we soon made our way back to the hostel, narrowly avoiding being ripped off by some opportunistic taxi drivers - 7 white people equals beacon for rip-off merchants.
Upon arriving home everyone hit the beer - we all felt we deserved it after all the time we had spent sitting in taxis. Too right! I also felt the need to hit the beer after a petrifying story from our taxi driver about motorcycle gangs who store weapons in their bikes and hold up tourists travelling at night in taxis. Suffice to say I locked the door.
I was happier to venture the streets around the hostel after dark with a group, so we went out and sampled some of the street food and sang along to karaoke in one of the bars. The drinking went on well into the evening, and certainly helped me get a good night's sleep. Overall Manila can be done in a day, it's a vast city that is not easy to navigate but with a bit of effort you can see all the main points of attraction. The Islas guesthouse is a great location for getting flights, as it's only a short, cheap taxi ride from the Ninoy Aquino International Airport and the owners are fantastic. The people at the hostel were headed to a number of amazing sounding destinations throughout the Philippines, for that reason I intend to go back there in the future.
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