So I've arrived in Manila in the Philippines!

Flight was fine...had 3 seats to myself and I just remember sleeping most of the way.

To say it was my first flight since I got to Tokyo, it was the worst journey. I had to get: a taxi to the bus stop, a bus to the airport, a plane to Clark, a bus to Manila, and a taxi to Makati and then walk to the flat. Everywhere else I've been on the bus has picked you up outside your guesthouse and dropped you in backpacker central!

So I'm staying with Filipino's - Quincy (a woman) and Jijo (a man) who aren't a couple. Jijo works in IT, and Quincy is a doctor. I meet Quincy and we go back to the flat. I am in Manila, the cpaital, but its such a big place - I'm staying in Makati, quite a nice part. Quincy and Jijo's flat is really nice - Views from the roof are amazing. There is a French guy crashing there aswell called Xavier.

So I get sorted, then me, Xaiver and Quincy go for an Indian (Jijo has a date) and this Quebecan guy called Mike joins us. Then me and Xavier had a massage (awesome...and yes it was clean) then we go back to the flat, and walk in as Jijo and his amazingly hot date are getting drinks, so we make excuses and go back out to Mikes place, where Quincy and some other guy are.

Have a good time, then get a McDelivery (which was slow and fries were cold...shock shock).

Today I went to Intramunus. The transport in Manila is always packed, and just bloody crap. Had a look round a fort, a shrine, a museum and a mansion thing. All about the Spanish rule in the 1500s onwards.

Manila is weird. Massive place. Half of it reminds me of Tokyo, the other half reminds me of Kenya. Such a rich-poor divide.

Guard are everywhere (even places like McD's) and they all have pistols or rifles.

Some kid came to me begging. I liked it (that sounds wrong). Half the time they will look really sad etc... this kid just asks me my name, I tell him, he tells me his, and then, as bluntly as you like, he just says 'Give me money'. Gotta love it.

And I said no. And he called me a bad man.

Some Chinese guy was talking to me aswell today. He lives in the Philippines too, and he was clearly tapped in the head. He kept talking to me about God, and said that god picked him as an ambassador because his first name begins with God. Then he writes a TV channel on a piece of paper and tells me to watch it. Then he writes my name down and toddles off...weird.

Anyway tonight is Friday, and although Makati isn't backpacker central, it is nightclub central...