Manila Madness

Mabuhey ! Yep Im on the road again

Just back from a speedy trip into Manila ..the first city of my 5 city week long whirlwind tour...

I dunno about you...but im not a fan of traveling for work.. after awhile every city seems the same, every hotel you stay in looks the same.. I thought i had grown out of living out of my suitcase...shuttling between airports and hotels.. but I guess one can never avoid traveling for work when the world is open for business aye ?

Ok now where was I, yes back to Manila..

Manila - my happie little gupsters -- is boring.. maybe because i have no chance to go out and take a look like a tourist spend some proper time exploring the place..just airport --> hotel --> meetings --> airport again..but what i have seen apart from my suite in the makati shangrila... everything else in town seems so drab, so poor, so grey.

I'll let my limited pictures do the talking... and be warned..i really only saw the airport and what was around my hotel..evey other picture is viewed from the window of my cab ride to the airport ..

My little room in the makati shangrila

my flufy bed.. ( yes i did some bounces and jumped on the bed! Wheeee!!)
my temporary work station...where i prepared for the next days meetings..
the entrance to the room ..yes little guppies dont get no presidential suites
temptation galore
yes took pics of the toiletries too..I was that bored and tired.. did i steal the toiletries? YOU BETCHA ahahahhaha!

the view from my bedroom window

Hardrock Cafe Makati , starbucks cafe. haagen daaz, park cafe etc these places were just outside of my hotel...but beyond them a few streets down the road..all construction, oldish looking grey buildings that look pretty scummy im afraid..

by the time i settled in for dinner , It was already 11pm , i decided to just find any thing to eat at the park cafe..right opposite the makati shang..

my lychee crush drink

my beef burger rice..

afterwhich i passed by starbucks coffee and remembered that moomoo wanted to collect starbucks bears from around the world..a quick call verified that yup moomoo didnt have one in green sweater from the philipines ..so i grabbed the little fella and popped back into my safe hotel room..
this bear was the only thing i bought in manila ...sigh

Fast forward to 230pm the next day, our morning meetings were over..everyone was "Satisfied" and it was time to rush off to catch my evening flight home , since traffic was really bad.. i decided to head off for the airport alittle bit earlier than normal.



waved bye bye to the makati shangrila .. and took the scenic route via cab ride to the airport :P

I'll let the pictures do the talking now...views from the backseat of my cabride to the airport :
its left hand drive in the philipines! very american :D
colourful car license plates..


yep as mentioned earlier..coming out from the luxurious shang, its really a rude shock to be riding through the streets of manila back to the airport.. there is so much construction work going on along side make shift slums ..very very messy. I guess the messier the country..the more opportunities for the brave to carve out an empire aye?

the metal frames are for billboards i think. bustling cities like manila, bangkok, jakarta seem to like to build these spanking big towering flyovers and freeways to eease the congestion in the city.. its interesting that here when we travel ,alot of the time we are below these flyovers! there are 4 levels to this its amazing.

crowded, congested, polluted...but i guess its just like batam, indonesia or some parts of malaysia , india as well

we reached the airport safe and sound..only to be greeted by traffic jams and a sea of people .. yup , the madness quotient here? id say on par with the New Delhi airport..whoopdeedooo...

sigh next stop Bangkok... will i survive this weeklong work adventure?

man i need to scuba dive soon... i miss u my fishies...