Letter from Manila - Santol - of course!

I know where they are in Bangkok, but until I saw the temperature today, I've never needed to look.

Anyway, I remembered that about 8 years ago I bought a jacket in Melbourne, so Madam dug it out for me and now I'll be sung as a bug in a rug.

In the airport, handed loads of forms to immigration and due to board in about 45 minutes. Time for a cold one and some nicotine!

I used to love flying but the deteriorating treatment of passengers in the name of "Security" and two years of fortnightly Manchester - Asia long hauls soon beat that out of me! These last three years, where the only flying I've done has been domestic, have been lovely!

Right now we're in business! Just lashed out a fiver on a new mouse.

So the epic journey started last evening with a 20:00 arrival at NAIA Terminal 3. There's a certain irony here that this relatively brand new terminal should be the home of the Lo-cost carriers whilst those who pay full-fat fares are condemned to Terminal 1 which we have already seen makes it into the "Top Ten Worst" on a depressingly annual basis. You try and figure it.

Last time I was here, it was still a work in progress but it now seems to be finished with its full range of shops, amongst them, this one...


I've never noticed a WHS in Manila. They seem to get everywhere.

Anyway, having paid my Philippine Travel Tax which applies to locals and long term stayer's, like myself, along with handing over my hard-won Emigration Clearance Certificate...


It was time for...


as I had an hour to kill before boarding.

What did surprise me was they'd laid on a A330 for the flight which was virtually empty, but they've obviously learned as I was greeted on arrival at the hotel with an e-mail shifting me from the 01:05 flight on Sunday morning to the 03:50 one instead. They're obviously doing some consolidation. Thanks Cebu Pacific!

So having located the taxi stand and hurtled at vast speeds to the hotel, I checked in at around 01:30 this morning. This is the room...


it's big and the bed very comfortable, just what was needed.

However, in the rush to leave home (I won't go into that, but it involved an original plan to shave my hair to number 2 and the razor objecting to this half way through) I forgot the one single, solitary, travel essential. Tea bags. So this comes to you via two cups of 'Three-in-One' coffee which, as has been medically proven, can be fatal if not ingested with copious amounts of brandy to water it down. Which I have not got.

This is the lookout from my "Mountain View Room"...


Oops, sorry. If I crane a bit, this is the real thing...


Hardly a mountain, but then, hardly a view either!

Nice understated elevator too...



First job, although a fail so far, was a local SIM so I can let Madam know of my safe arrival. Enquiring at the desk, I was told a shop across the road, which opens at 10:00, will do the job. Well it probably would if it actually opened at 10, but it doesn't. Anyway, to kill the time before this non-opening, I had a little wander.

First impressions?

God it's quiet. This is the main street at 09:00...


No logjams there.

It's also clean. Not Singapore clean but head and shoulders over Manila. No beggars either.

And you can buy "Stuff" from these...


whatever it is.

Couple of retros spotted so far...





Of course, it's Chinese New Year, the time when paper money is burned so that your old Dad can have a few beers in the spirit world to celebrate. Normally any old receptacle will do, but these guys are obviously either professional, or they've killed off all their relatives...



Anyway, enough for now. It's time for a shower and check out. Then I need to find somewhere to kill around 12 hours before I'm due at the airport. I can't help but feel I'm about to become someones best customer. Cheers!

No sign of an invasion from China then? Given Trump's inaugural speech I wondered if the PRC might decide to take Taiwan overnight.

Looks like a tough day ahead of you hopping between hotel bars....... Keep us updated!

or a transposition error ?

we are around 1c here so 15c sounds positively tropical

must admit i am enjoying you latest adventure.

It's sickening watching you write of needing a jacket at 13 or 15 degrees.
While I wrap on thermals to work outside hovering around zero. It was about 6 on Thursday so just a cotton shirt sufficed.

Well done on the hassle free reentry into country of current residence, even if there is impending head laying location alterations.

Glad your trip went OK George.

The getting back bit did (eventually) and that's the main thing.


Unfortunately, I don't do health things. I just prefer it to the original pilsner and I'm not allowed Red Horse - Madam hits me.

So, where were we?

Ah, yes, Frozen in Taoyuan.

As you know, I’d walked for 90 minutes looking for somewhere to while away some time and only found a TGI Bloody F, but hey, beggars can’t be choosers.

To be honest there wasn’t much to see on the way. There were some allotments…





There was a river that actually moved like a river should, unlike the Mighty Pasig…





And not very much else really.

Last night the Girls were asking what the place was like and I struggled for a minute to think of an appropriate word. “Soulless” is probably closest to how it felt. People going through the motions, but without any real enthusiasm. This may be unfair but it’s the impression I got in several hours of people watching. I noticed that nobody seemed to be enjoying themselves. Entire families were out for lunch but there was little chatter or laughter. Given the amount of people in the bar when I arrived, there should have been the buzz and hum of conversation, but there wasn’t. It was all undertaken in virtual silence.

Hong Kong and the various Chinatown’s dotted around the world cities tend to be loud and vibrant places. For some reason Mandarin, Hokkien and Cantonese are shouted languages, they cannot just be spoken and this seems to be reflected in the atmosphere. This was the opposite, and not what I was expecting at all. Obviously I can only speak for Taoyuan, not the island as a whole. Perhaps in Taipei or other parts of the country, they do nothing but laugh and joke all day. Just not here.

I wonder if it’s because the populace are incarcerated in these?






Huge faceless apartment blocks everywhere.

Perhaps it's because they live in the shadow of their muscle-flexing northern neighbour, who've never made a secret out of their designs on Taiwan and look to be edging ever closer to realising them.


Don’t know, but I won’t be rushing back anytime soon.

Yesterday saw a very welcome return to normality with warm weather and cold beer, just as it should be.

Oh, and when the Girls returned from Tondo bringing SuperPup with them last night, he went into a huge sulk with me, and it’s only this morning normal relations have been resumed!

Right, going to finish my brew, don the overalls and head down to the Pit of Hell to start the brake work I should have done last week.

Uneventful but home.

Sounds a decent outcome in the greater scheme of things.