Stop Over in Manila, Thankfully

It's a little hard to describe Manila, capital of the Philippines. So I won't for the moment. Instead, allow me to celebrate our "one quarter of the way through our trip" as of today (assuming we last until the end of 2012, or don't stay away longer…either could happen). But, yes, 25% done marking 140 days of travel without being jailed, hospitalized or robbed. At times it's gone agonizingly slow; and now, it seems to have whizzed by. We've met an amazing number of people and when we say we're traveling for a year and a half, there's typically a reaction of amazement or disbelief. Yet when we think of a quarter already being completed, it doesn't seem so long after all. I wish I could just stay on this topic because that would mean not having to write about Manila. Umm, so maybe I'll procrastinate a little longer with the events of the day.
We left the Lazy Dog with the now-well-fed cats and figured we better not be late in getting to the airport given the various modes of travel required to get there on time. We took the "slow boat" (see photo) back instead of the "fast boat" and discovered the slower one is much faster, more interesting, and cheaper. One Well-Fed Cat(As I write this, it just occurred to me we never paid for the boat at all; not sure why. I thought they were going to collect fares once on-board but then nobody did.) But we got to the airport so early that we decided to sit in a room dedicated for guests of the very high-end Shangri-La Hotel and Spa, who paid ten times what we paid per night (reminder: we paid $55/night). With no one there it seemed like a no-brainer. Oh, but then people did start to arrive and we're like, "Hey, you made it!" Also, we figured if we're kicked out it was nice while it lasted (the place had couches, current newspapers and television, unlike the main waiting area that had, well, none of that). The rainy season has really kicked in and this resulted in planes not arriving so when the Shangri-La Dedicated Fix-It Guy suggested to us that we'd be happier on an earlier plane and could he "help you transfer luggage to a more convenient flight?" We said, "Sheesh, this hotel is finally coming through for us!" Which we meant quite literally. So, getting to Manila all the way from the speck of dust known as Boracay was easy. Getting to the hotel where I'm writing this was an agonizing foray into rush-hour traffic with a taxi driver who was as clueless as we'd ever seen.
Of course, they always tell you they know where they're going but we've since learned many of these cabbies just don't know their own city. Even something as simple as asking directions is a Herculean task fraught with symbolic gestures and nervous laughter, then followed with more assurances the hotel is nearby but the traffic, which moves more slowly than free hotel wi-fi, is the problem. After two hours we finally found the hotel because one of the people the driver asked actually knew where it was and Shirl jumped out and said, "Take me to it now!" (I learned later it was more like, "Take me to the hotel's bathroom now!"). So we finally checked-in after meeting Scott at the door who's been here, at this hotel, on this street, for the past two weeks, never having been out of the US before, to meet his fiancée for the first time in person before he returns to Tennessee to begin the "K-1 process" to import said female. (In telling the taxi story, I omitted facts like: The contact phone number provided for the hotel was never answered. The phone number for the taxi company was answered by someone who was even more clueless than our driver. The meter was running right up until we demanded it be shut off. The driver went in circles even driving through a pedestrian-only vending area. All for a two-hour trip that is supposed to be about half an hour.)
Views from our 2nd-story window.But we arrived at The Golden City Hotel on the corner of Chinatown and Depressionville. (OK, that last place isn't so much an area as a state-of-mind: see photo.) We're only here two nights then we're back to Indonesia again. I guess that's good. Maybe in the morning, when we walk over to Seattle's Best Coffee (because Scott, who's become an expert on every aspect of the neighborhood, informed us there are no western breakfasts to be had nearby) and we'll see about welcoming in the new quarter of our worldly jaunt then.

Update on Tue, November 15, 2011 at 6:41 AM by The Untethered Folks

I mentioned the happy couple so I grabbed a photo of Scott and Arah before leaving Manila. Scott was about to leave the next morning, flat broke, heading back to Tennessee. Hey Scott, did you ever make it back? Have you heard from Arah? How's it going buddy? When's the wedding?

Scott and Arah in front of Golden City Hotel, Manila