With a flight from Nadi at 23:45 to Singapore 06:20 to Manila 9:30 we did a lot of travelling with a lot of time zone jumping; when I boarded my flight in Singapore I was on my last legs and went out like a light on the flight.

Stepping out of Manila Airport didn't bring the wave of heat that I had expected. The temperature was mild with a slightly smoggy sky. As we meandered through the city's skyscrapers to our hostel I was intrigued to see that Filipinos are absolutely dinky and either as smooth as a broad bean or as wrinkly as a walnut. They are all very friendly and smiley and speak exquisite English as it's their secondary language. As they are so dooty and I tower over them I feel like an absolute weapon, I've changed my middle name to 'Dangerous'.

With a genial, 'Salamath!' to our driver we went up to the ninth floor of a building and found our dorm room. It was very nice with blasting air-con and patterned quilt covers so we were content.

We went for a wander in the night to have a peek at the city and I was wildly impressed almost to the point of disbelief with the variety of cornettos that are sold here! In one pokey little corner shop there were 12 flavours, from mango tango to cookie shake! The city itself is notably clean and tidy, when big cities (particularly hub cities like Manila) tend to be drowning in rubbish and pollution Manila is spotless with no chewing gum on the floor and well tended shrubbery.

Off to my bunk bed surrounded by strangers sleeping - it's strange how quickly you get used to these sort of things.