My flight is at 9:10 AM, which means I should get to the airport no later than 7:45, and thus must get up at 6:15AM! I do, but it is not fun. I wonder if I should get something to eat, but since my flight leaves at 9:10 I am sure there will be breakfast on the flight. When I check in with CP at the airport I ask the lady at the counter if there will be a meal, and she says "yes", so I do not get any food at the airport. This time the flight leaves from Gate 1, which is the closest gate, and by 8:45 I am on board. We are already to go but the flight is delayed a few minutes to allow some connecting passengers to board, however by 9:20 we have pushed back. After a short while the "meal" is served. A muffin and a croissant. That's all. What a disappointment! I was hungry! I could have had something to eat at home or at the airport! Otherwise the flight was fine and we arrived on time in Manila at about 11:05AM. Getting through immigration was fast and easy, but the wait for checked luggage was quite long. When we landed there was an announcement that all checked baggage would be checked by x-ray and that there would be a delay. It was nearly an hour after we had landed when my bag finally emerged.
I walked out into the airport terminal building looking for my friends D and G. D is a lawyer I met a couple years ago in NYC, and G is her friend who works for the Phil. Govt. Via email and telephone it had been agreed that they would pick me up at the airport. I don’t see them. I walk outside and see that only taxis are permitted here, and I must cross the roadway and go to another place to meet regular civilians. I do so, but still I do not see D or G. This area is outside under a canopy. There are designated areas for waiting based upon the first letter of your last name. I walk towards G and see a small booth that sells SIM cards for GSM cellphones. I inquire and buy the basic SIM card with a Phillipines phone number for $100HK, about $13.00. I then call D on her cellphone and she tells me that she had a problem but would be there in about 30 minutes. Soon she text messages me that G will come and pick me up, and G also calls me and confirms. And, at about 1:00PM G pulls up in her small white car and collects me.
G takes me to my hotel, the Richmonde Hotel, in Ortegas, Manila, where I check in. We then go to G's condo in a high-rise about 2 miles away where we have lunch with G's kids, and D who joins us there. What a nice lunch! Salad, rice, beef and mushrooms, squid in a dark sauce, fresh squeezed orange juice, water. After lunch I say that I am tired and want to go back to the hotel and take a nap, so D and her friend H bring me to the hotel. We agree that G will pick me up about 7:30 and take me to a dinner party at D's which will start about 8:00.
It is about 4:00 PM when I get back to the room. I am tired. I did not sleep much last night--about 5 hours or less--and my stomach is giving me some flip-flops. I actually do sleep for about 2 hours, and wake up at 7:20, just in time to get dressed and get downstairs to meet G. We head towards D's house. Traffic in Manila has a wordwide reputation, and I see that it deserves it. Traffic earlier from the airport was amazing, and here later on a Saturday evening traffic is still very heavy. It is similar, but actually worse, than rush hour traffic in a big American city. More confusing, bumpier roads, poor street lights, nearly invisible signage. Yes, it's a good thing that G knows where we are going!
We arrive at G's house on a dark and quiet narrow street. G parks her car near a heavy gate, pushes the buzzer, and soon the gate opens and we enter a driveway area leading to the house. We enter the front door into a large living room and dining area, with a stairway in the center leading up to the second floor. Following G to a side room we meet D and two of her guests, A and E, who are both lawyers. Soon D's friend H enters, followed by A and C, two more friends of D. H is also a lawyer, and C is an accountant. Joining us is D, the 4 yr old adopted daughter of H. What a cutie pie! We have a delightful evening of food, red wine, and good conversation. For dinner D has presented us with quite a selection: rice, noodles, salad, catfish, shrimp, stuffed squid, and marlin. Wow! What a great dinner!
Midnight arrives quickly, and G gives me a ride back to the hotel. I really should not have had quite so much wine! Oh well, at least I can just go to sleep, and I don’t have to get up at 6:15!
Morning arrives quickly. I wake up at about 8:30, and by 9:00 I am downstairs having breakast. Included with my room is a free breakfast, which today is a buffet with an omelet station. It is quite good, but my stomach is still flip-flopping a bit. When I return to the room I take some Pepto-Bismol tables that I carry with me. I hope they help!
Last night D and I had agreed that D and H would pick me up about 10:30 and we would go to Subic Bay. She had read a newspaper article about a waterfront restaurant that had recently opened, and in which there was a museum of articles retrieved from shipwrecks. It sounded interesting and so I agreed to go. At 10:35 D arrived in a green minivan with her driver, O. Unfortunately H did not come--he wanted to stay with his daughter D today. We headed generally north. Even on a Sunday morning the traffic was quite heavy (by American standards; medium light by Manila standards). We eventually reached a tollway and went north for about 45 minutes, and then exited and headed west for another hour or more.
Here I could see the mountains that are north of Manila, including Mount Pinatubo, the volcano that had erupted several years ago causing great devastation. There will still areas with several feet of ash, and wash areas where the ash and mud had washed down towards the sea. It reminded me of Portland, Oregon after the 1980 blast of Mt. St. Helens, only here we were much closer to the volcano and the depth of the ash was much greater than it had been in Portland. D said they have learned to make concrete blocks from the ash, and I occasionally see stacks of the blocks. The mountain range is on our right side as we head west. The hills are lush and green, very pretty. We finally arrive at Subic Bay. This former US Navy base is now a shipping, tech and light-industry center. There really is not much happening here yet. After asking for directions a couple time we finally found Magellan's Point and the Vasco Bar and Restaurant.
From the street it did not look like much. There was a cloth sign with a large hole in the middle of it, and faded sign. The driveway headed downhill towards the water. There was a dive shop, a sea plane hangar, and some other miscellaneous buildings. Where was the restaurant? We found it, almost hiding, at the back end of the main building. A small sign, and two large white birds (parrots?), indicated the entrance.
We walked in. The place was rather spread-out and roomy. A large bar was in the center, and on the waterside of the bar was a deck with restaurant seating. A pool table was to the side, and there was another sitting room. The kitchen was in the rear. It was all open air. As we entered D asked one of the waitresses if the owner was there. Yes, he was, and as we were shown our table near the water we met Ryan XXX, a 50ish Australian shipwreck diver that has opened this restaurant and stocked the museum with some of his finds. Ryan gave us a tour of the museum which has a good collection of mostly Chinese and Japanese artifacts from the bottom of the seas in and around the Phillipines. Ryan also showed us one of the 6 motel rooms, and where he was soon going to build 12 towmhouses.
We ordered lunch (a salmon sandwich for me) which was very good and tasty. After enjoying the pleasant breezes and ambiance for a couple hours it was time to head back to Manila. Near where the country road connects to the tollway we stopped at an outdoor plaza that is a "Christmas Village" with arts and crafts from the provinces. It was very pleasant and relaxing, and various items from wood carvings, furniture, leather goods, ornamental items, food, and some clothing were on sale, all by small businesses and artisans from northern Luzon. D bought some Christmas decoarations, and I bought a wood carving of a water buffalo (50 pesos, just less then $1), and a leather cellphone holster (120 pesos, about $2.35).
On our drive into Manila D called her friend R to see if she wanted to join us for dinner. R is from Spain and is married to F, who is from New Zealand. R agreed to meet us at the Starbucks near my hotel, and so about 7:30 we met and went to a nearby restaurant for dinner. I had a noodle and chicken soup, D had a plate a baked oysters, and R had a large baked fish. The total cost for the 3 of us was less than 600 pesos, or less than $12. It was now about 9:00, and so I said goodbye and walked back to the hotel. D and O dropped-off R on their way back to D's place.
When I got back to the room I worked on this journal. My stomach has been pretty quiet for the last few hours. I hope that it stays this way!
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