Gregg's Philippine Adventure

[sir clinksalot]

Hello MiceChat

I'm here in the Philippines on my business trip. We got in this morning (Monday) at 5am. It's now 12:20am (Tuesday) here which means it's 8:30am Monday morning there on the West Coast.

So far the trip has been okay. It was really hard to leave Kristi and the kids knowing I wouldn't be home for 2 weeks. The flight out was LONG but it was relatively smooth. We had a stopover in Guam and it was 80 degrees at 2am there.

When we landed in Manila it was about 85.

Today me and my work partner Kim went around Ayala Center (where our hotel is) and took some pics and did some window shopping. There are about 6 or 7 malls right around our hotel. The hotel itself is actually built on one. We walked under our hotel at one point and didn't even know.
We came back to the hotel about noon to sleep since our class time is 9pm - 6am Manila time (6am - 3pm PST).

Then tonight we had a sort of "meet n' greet" with our class of trainees. They seem really nice but we were kind of out of it. Our body clocks are really messed up.

Now I'm back at the hotel, it's almost midnight I'm hungry and nothing is open. That's okay though, I need to drop a few pounds.

I should have updates periodically...I'm going to 'attempt' to find out where the coasters are our here. There is supposedly a park very close to my hotel, but I didn't see it today. There are about 6 or 8 "family" parks and they are all in malls.

Here are some pics from day one:

Leaving LAX:


In Guam (Sorry the picture is so blurry)


Flyng into Manila (Does that say San Fernando???)


Driving on the streets of Manila ... which is INSANE I might add


Inside my hotel room/apartment:










The view from my room:








The Greenbelt:


Ayala Center (all of those buildings to the left are malls)


There are like NO traffic lights in Manila


They do have Loius Vitton though (we are going to where they sell the knock-off stuff later in the week)


Our hotel from ground level


The place is weird ... you look at one side of the street and see this ... looks nice right???


Then you turn 180 degrees and see this:


They have some interesting food places:


And some typical food ... with messed up menu's.


Here is a picture of me before I slept ... not sure if I look much better now


And finally ... some night shots from my room:




Check back for periodic updates (probably not daily). I just have time now since I didn't have to work tonight. This is the time I will usually be at work.

I will be putting pics up at my photo site, but probably not adding this many shots. I will try and post when I put more pics up.

Here is the gallery location:
http://greggandkristi.smugmug.com/gallery/1395822/1

[Fishbulb]

Don't stay at the house that fried chicken built. We all await your safe return.

[dsnylndmom]

Great pictures!! Have a safe trip

[SusieP.]

Spaghetti at Burger King?!? Now that's not right!

[NeverNeverland]

So pretty!
Have a good trip.
Look forward to more reports and pics

[penguinsoda]

Great pics!! Well your room looks really nice anyway!! Looking forward to seeing more pictures whenever you can!

[ALIASd]

Thanks for sharing your mission with us!

[sir clinksalot]

Update for today:

No pictures. Sorry. Went to the grocery store to get supplies. Water, Coke Light some chips and crackers. The store was interesting. They have an entire aisle devoted to cheese spread ... like Cheese Whiz. There were (I'm not even exaggerating) 100 different varieties. It was hilarious.

After that we headed back to Glorieta mall, got some pre-paid cards for our cell phones so we can call home. Now I'm back in the hotel about to go to sleep. Class starts tonight.

We are going to go to Green Hills Mall (where they have the cheap knock-off stuff) later this week. Should have more pics then.

Still trying to find out just where the coasters are. I think I will talk with my trainees tonight ... they should know.

[sir clinksalot]

A small update for today ...

Had our first full day (night) of training and it went REALLY well ... especially considering we were fading about 4am (Manila time).

We had dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe outside our hotel last night before work. It was really good. I had the biggest chicken sandwich you have ever seen ... I still have 1/2 of it left in the fridge. I should take a picture of the other half so you can see how big it was.

Got some nice pictures of the Manila sunrise from our office building.

In the room now ... it's about 815am. Just got back from breakfast and I'm going to head out in about an hour to head back to the grocery store ... I forgot detergent and fabric softener for laundry. I will try and take a few pics of the cheese whiz aisle while I'm there.

I asked my class where the coasters were and there are about 4 parks in Manila ... I should be able to hit some of them on Saturday.

Here are a few pics, there are more pictures (including some of my class) at the photo-site:

Hard Rock Cafe Makati:


Sunrise in Manila (it comes up at about 5am

[sir clinksalot]

Good evening from Manila,

It's about 1100pm and I just woke up from a 4 hour nap after being up for 23 hours.

I will actually have two seperate updates today. I ventured out into the city and actually rode some coasters today. So I will have a park update in the Disneyland section (there is a reason for this) ... and believe me ... what I found was WAY better than just finding a few junky old coasters to ride. Let's just say that there is possibly a 6th Magic Kingdom and it's in the Philippines ... and for those of you who have always wanted to see what getting walked off Peter Pan looks like ... this is your chance.

Give me an hour or so to get it all ready.

The other is just some city stuff that I will put here later.

Other than that things are good. Still quite homesick, I'm talking to Kristi online now. Were all having a much harder time with me being away than we thought I would. Even the kids.

But this time next week I will be flying home!!!! And that's a good thing. I'm ready.

[SCUBAbe]

Thank you for posting about your trip. I love reading about places and I really enjoyed the pictures..

[mikeolorprinter]

if your in the philippines did you get to eat at Max's(a.k.a. the place that fried chicken built, LOL), and did you eat at jollibee(its the mcdonalds of the philippines)

and yes fast food places in the philippines do serve fried chicken with rice and spaghetti(both mcdonalds and burger kings do that) but meals there only cost a dollar-ish.

enjoy the shopping in the philippines....its really cheap(esp in greenhills, beware for knockoffs)...also keep an eye for bootleg movies and video games.

find me a copy of MI:3 please.

i havent been back to the philippines in a couple of years...but if you get a free day there, go to boracay. it will be worth it.

[sir clinksalot]

I went to Green Hills on Saturday. Got a three designer purses and a burberry wallet for about 1500 pesos (about $25).

I'm going back tomorrow. I ignored all of the DVD guys ... not sure if they will even play in my DVD player at home and really don't want to get caught smuggling in bootleg DVD's to the states.

Haven't eaten at Jollibee or McD's while here ... the only fast food I've had is Chow King (chinese food) and it was pretty good. Other than that I've been sticking with American food.

Outback - Just as sucky as it is at home
Hard Rock Cafe - Worse than home
CPK - Better than home (surprisingly)
Tony Romas - Just as sucky as home

For the most part we eat in the hotel since they offer a free b-fast buffet and it's quite yummy. We only eat 2 meals a day because of our work hours (9pm - 630am).

Two more days and I will be getting ready to go to the airport!!!

[Olympicnut]

How the heck did I miss this???? I love it when you can post updates like this while on the road! Wish I could when I'm in London in 2 weeks.

Be safe!

[Morrigoon]

How the heck did I miss this???? I love it when you can post updates like this while on the road! Wish I could when I'm in London in 2 weeks.

Be safe!

Check near the train stations, there are often internet cafes.