We landed in Manila and followed the instructions from the volunteer organisers to take a taxi to the dorm, which took an hour and a half (the same amount of time it takes me to get from Lichfield to Reading), and we were still in the city! When we arrived at the dorm we were shown to our room and we both crashed out.

We slept for a good 10 hours that night and didn't get out of bed for most of the next day. I think travelling between 3 countries in as many days had taken it's toll.

On friday we met the other volunteers that we would travel to Romblon with. Adam and Jenny are from Shrewsbury and doing the same project as us and Lewis and Pip, who also happened to go to Nottinham Uni, are doctors volunteering for 3 weeks. We all went out to do some shopping and get some food before stopping off at a pool/kareoke bar on the way home. Noone braved the kareoke.

Yesterday we were taken on a tour of Manila, going to the national museum, Fort Santiago and the slums. When we got home one of the organisers had bought us some Balut - a local delicacy of warm duck embrio, still in the shell, eaten with salt and vinegar. Actually quite a tasty snack! In the evening we found that the garage next to the kareoke bar not only sold beer but had free wifi. So we spent the night sat at a petrol station next to a motorway drinking beer and using the Internet.

Today we have a full day of travelling going from minivan to coach to ferry to jeepney to motorbike over 15 hours, until we reach Sugod on the Tablas island in Romblon province. Looking forward to meeting our host family and getting stuck into the project.