Freeway Scurry, Airport Hurry

There were a few hours left to kill in Manila, so we decided to leave the walls of our hotel and then the walls of Intramuros to head out into part of the city. We had to dodge many tricycle drivers who wanted to offer us the same cycle tour we already had, but they didn't seem to understand when we said we had done it.

First we went to Rizal park, there are a lot of things named ‘Rizal’ across the places we have I visited. Jose Rizal was part of the revolution that gave The Philippines its independence from the Spanish. Apart from a statue and a open amphitheatre there wasn't too much to see.

Next door to the park is the National Museum, which seemed like a good place to escape from the heat outside. The first part was interesting, back in 1991 a ship called the San Diego was discovered on the seabed close to Manila bay. It had sunk in 1660 after a battle with a ship from the Netherlands. Part of the ships cargo was brought up to the surface although oddly they have re-buried some of the woodwork so it can be rediscovered again in the future.

The rest of the museums displays were well put together, if not always that interesting. It went through Rice farming, clothing and some other stuff I have forgotten about the day after going!

We've already discovered Manila is just one big traffic jam, our flight was at 19:45 so we left our hotel at 16:25. The twenty minute journey to the airport was in its 60th minute by the time we got close to the terminal. I say close, there is a main freeway that runs about 400m parallel to it. It became very clear that if we stayed in the taxi we would never make it to the airport on time. I asked the driver if there was a path to walk on but he said he didn't think so. Next to us was the other side of the road followed by another lane of roadworks and fences before you could get to the terminal, so not like you could just hop over. After a few more minutes of discussing it with Tash, I got out of the car and went for a walk up the road. About 100m up I found a gap and asked a guard how we could get across, he pointed up the road which I think meant we could get through. I ran back to the taxi, told Tash to pay and then grabbed the bags from the boot, quickly got them on and scurried up the road like giant turtles with our luggage on our backs. About 10 minutes of walking got us to the terminal and eventually into the building and checking in just in time. That was the first barrier reached. I then needed to get some more dollars out for the Cambodian visa (I spent all mine in Malapascua). Knowing we were on a time limit I thought it was best we did it after airport security. After waiting 15 minutes at the money exchange I was told it was cash transactions only. Manila Airport may be the only one I've ever been to that doesn't have any ATM’s! I was told I would have to clear immigration to leave, get the cash and go back through immigration and security. Not really achievable in the 15 minutes before boarding! So I was faced with hoping Siem Reap had a ATM in arrivals.

On the plane we got chatting to a Italian guy who lives in Manila but works for the UN and travels around most of the time. We mentioned about the time/visa money issue and he offered to lend me some money until we got through. On landing in Siem Reap I discovered a ATM so it was all fine anyway. Visa was got without much of a delay or issue, although the officers did stop halfway through to eat some pizza!

On getting our bags I was looking for the sign from our guest house Tuk-Tuk driver, but we were actually met by the manager as well, a little lady named Huyeng. We spent the next 15 minutes on the way back to the hotel talking about all-sorts, another person with great English, which is good, as Cambodian looks even harder to pronounce that Vietnamese. I'm told the food here doesn't have the heat of Thai food but I'm looking forward to more adventurous flavours again.

And so that brought to an end our Filipino adventure. It's fair to say we've seen less than 1% of the country, I wasn't fussed about the cities, but the islands we visited were great, much less people around, clean and clear water. The food was as expected, and the people were so friendly and happy. Often waking around people would just wave and say hello and not even use it as the start to sell you something. I have also been forgetting to write about their favourite sport, which was a surprise to me - it's Basketball! You see courts all over the place and lots of kids playing with it. We were told by someone that the national team does actually have a player that's 7ft! (I haven't validated that though!).

It's more fun in the Philippines signs; 6
Hours travelled; 48
Locations visited; 6