My trip to the Philippines--Part I

Hey all. I know you have been waiting with baited breath to see what I might write about my trip!
Gosh I hardly know where to start...So these posts might go on for awhile if I remember things as I go along.

So I left Seattle abou 6:20pm on Friday night and took that little plane to Vancouver BC where we layed over for about 4 hours. Got on the VERY fully flight at 12am local time to head off to Manila.
The flight was brutal for me. I had to sit by a stranger and I was nervous. Now I'm not a nervous flyer, just not accustomed to a 14 hour flight!!!! I was tired too. It had already been a long day and was going to get even longer. Off we went and you tried to get comfortable which isnt' easy. Sure we were in business class which had some room to stretch your legs, but its not something I can sleep in.
I reached one point during the flight where I felt a sense of panic and I was afraid I was going to get sick. So I prayed and popped on my iPod (thank you Jesus for my iPod) and tried to relax. Somehow I managed to come off that feeling, but it was the worst. I just thought I was going to lose it. Talk about an attack from the enemy.

So they feed you on these flights, but I couldn't do dinner. I was just not into the food they were serving. To which wasn't a good thing to say to the flight attendent who immediately asked me if I was on a diet. Nice.
There was movies to watch, but I wasn't interested in them. I just wanted to get to Manila and get off the plane. The flight was very smooth and quiet. We were very lucky the children on the plane were so well behaved.
I did end up watching Music and Lyrics which wasn't the best movie on earth but helped pass about an hour of my time. Ugh.

They "woke us up" eventually by turning on all the lights in the plane and starting serving breakfast which was some sort of fish with rice. Rice cooked in butter people. All I could think was, oh this is not good if everything is going to be cooked in butter when I get there....
I did finally eat, good ol' corn flakes and fruit!
The lady next to me started talking to me about how she worked for the airlines forever and told me all sorts of things about the Philippines. She was Filippino and it had been her home at one time in her life. She helped me pass the time and I felt more at ease eventually. Mind you, this was about 10 hours into the flight.

We finally arrive in the early early morning. Its too dark out for me to see out my window (yeah window seats all the way baby!) but it was hot. They informed us that even at 5am it was about 85 degrees already. Groan. I knew I was in for a long trip.

The airport was an experience. People were so rude and pushy and your personal space was not something you had anymore. People would just cut in front of you and act like you weren't even there. It was NOT how I wanted to spend after having been on a plane for 14 hours!! HOURS people HOURS!!!
Finally get our luggage and off to find our shuttle. Get outside and its like a giant sauna that just rolls over you. Again its about 6am now....and nearly 90 degrees. And by the way, it was now Sunday. During our flight we had crossed the international date line and had pretty much skipped Saturday and it was now about 13 hours ahead.

We finally get out of the airport and are heading to our hotel and I get my first glimpse of the city that is really awake at 6am. If it was that hot out I would be awake too I guess.
It was shocking when I first started to see the city.
I didn't know what to expect, but I guess I should have prepared myself better for it. Garbage EVERYWHERE and I mean everywhere. And in the canals, instead of mostly water it was covered in garbage. Run down buildings, abandoned buildings, slums everywhere.
I literally gasped.
And the billboards! WOW they were HUGE!!! Like stories high. They were a sight. But the garbage just threw me a loop.
Seeing things like the skinny dogs wandering thru the garbage and people picking thru the trash was hard for me. But I had to remind myself over and over and over again that this was a 3rd world country and its NOT going to be like home....and that was when I realized this was my home for the next 2 weeks.

Don't even get me started how they drive there. Ohmigosh I thought we were going to die everytime we got in a car. I mean, I don't know why they have lines dividing the lanes or stop signs because NO ONE USES THEM!!! Its crazy!!!! I doubt anyone gets traffic tickets there. Amazingly enough everyone manages to squeek by one another with no scraps or dings. But that doesn't make your heart fly into your throat when a bus gets next to you. Oh and the horns. The never ending honking of the horns....sigh....I can still hear it echoing in my brain. That was how they told you they were coming and you had better move. You have to be an aggressive driver there. If you are whimpy you will die. I'm NOT kidding. I know I'm dramatic, but I'm serious. It was like a rollarcoaster all the time. The traffic there is AWFUL too. I was told it was full of traffic, but they weren't kidding.

Finally reach our hotel with no damage except to my SOUL which was in serious doubt I was going to survive the traffic in this town. The hotel is nice. They search our shuttle with mirrors under the bottom of the van to check for bombs and let us through. Get to the hotel where its all, "Good morning Ma'am." Walk thru a metal detector to go inside the building just to get into the lobby. Its very secure in these buildings and in EVERY building your bags are searched and they check you with the wands.
There was even a bomb/narcotics sniffing dog at our hotel as well. Alkida likes to hide out on the remote islands surrounding the Philippines so they take the countries safety pretty seriously.

Get into our room and I just drop dead. Well, after I showered in my AMAZING shower which had a showerhead that was so powerful it was like a message everytime you got into the thing. Loved it. And I miss it.

I should have mentioned who I traveled with. There was Romina, my boss and Deb Romina's boss so to speak. Its a long story but Deb works in another city from us, but she is in charge of my position across all cities and countries and websites. She's important. So there was me-short white girl, Romina--the italian, and Deb--the very tall black lady. We must have looked like quite a group coming. It was like a rainbow!!

Did I mention that EVERYONE stared at me?? It was like no on had seen a white girl before. Ok that is mean, but I have never experienced being the minority and it was eye opening.

Day one was sleeping and then getting to know our surroundings. I ventured over to the mall which was across the street. Crossing the street was like frogger. Those taxi's saw you try to cross and I swear they gunned it. I mean, I felt so WHITE in that town that I felt like a lighthouse sending my light across the world or something. I needed a TAN badly!!!! Maybe then the taxis' wouldn't have tried to kill me each time.
The mall was gorgeous. The grounds were incredible and the mall kept going and going. Then it would connect to another mall and then another and another. Shopping is seriously a hobby there. Plus, its a way to get out of the heat and be inside.

More later people.
If you want to hear my animated story I will be making an appearance at Melissa's Girls night out party! I'm better at story telling in person!
Promise to write more fun this week. Should take me awhile to really spill it all. But I hope this was a start for you all.