Manila, Day 2

Or rather day 1, if you count full days spent here. It rained, no wonder since the typhoon Helen is still relatively close. Moving away though but it'll affect the rains here for couple of more days. Tough luck, but so what?

Took a ride in jeepney today and went to a shopping mall complex. Boy was that place huge! And to my amazement the Canon lenses seem to be quite darn cheap here. (Speaking of which I have to check the price in Finland) Ok, not so cheap as I thought but still, the lens I was looking for is almost half the price here. Good to know.

We also made some culinary expeditions today and and dined at McDonalds. That was cheap. Big (double cheese burger) meal was like 1,5 euros. Damn.

On a side note we also stopped by at Ring Side Bar watched female and midget boxing. That was ... different. Had a shoulder massage there from a pretty girl. Which reminds me we did get a proper massage during the day too. Cost 200 pesos, which is about 3 euros. Not a bad price.

The clock here is about 3 am, so Manilla signing out.

Good night!

Manila

Flight from Shanghai to Manila was yet again uneventful one. A bit of turbulences on the way but nothing major. When we arrived at the airport in Manila we just walked out of the plane, then to the passport control, then to the luggage claim, only to wait for the bags on the wrong line. There was no mention of from which flight the luggage was from. Oh well... After the luggage claim the was one more stamping stuff and aftr the next door we were out.

Oh wait a second. Out? From the capital's international airport? Damn that was a small one...

In the plane Jarkko had discussed with one of the stuartesses and she had promised to show us a great hotel we lost her after the luggage claim. Oh well... We the decided to take Taxi to the hotel we were recommended: City Garden. Little did we know that there are two City Gardens here. The taxi took us to the wrong one. After a small hassle at the hotel we were able to get a hold of the right one, which was fully booked. Yay! Well, on with the calling spree and finaly we found rooms for us at the Great Eastern Hotel.

Now we shall go and get something to eat and tomorrow we have to make some decisions on how to proceed.

Shanghai, beibe!

So, Shanghai... Now what?

Couple of hours of time to spend before we have to head back to the airport for our flight to Manila.

The flight from Helsinki to Shanghai was quite uneventful. Night flight so I tried to get some sleep. Those of you who have slept in a car know how it is like.

Now I am at "The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf" sipping mango juice and fruit cocktail. Temperature outside is about 30 degrees centigrade and air humidity is ... well high.

So this is China. Burger King and Starbucks spotted already. I was actually quite astonished at the size of the buildings here. My mind tries to convince me that the building are of same size as those back in Helsinki. Only that the buildings are about 30 stories or so high. No wonder they look like miniature buildings until I get close.

Oh, and a pic of my first step to the Chinese soil. Pavement. What ever.

The Day of Departure

So they day has finally come.

Funnily enough I am completely calm, just like it would be perfectly ordinary morning. We shall see how long it is going to take to really hit me that we are really truly going!

The plan is to go and stop by the airport during this morning and leave our luggage there. We will also fill in the boarding pass stuff so we can choose the best seats. After that we will come back to downtown and try to chill for a while. The flight is scheduled to depart at 17:10 sp there is still plenty of time to get myself all hyped up about the trip...

Vacation!

It starts now!

One week Finland. Then flight to Shanghai -> Manila, then to... Puerto Galera? Angeles City? Who knows. Only thing that is certain is that we are going. The tickets have been booked and paid and the visa to China has been applied. What ever happens between the flights remains to be seen...