It's 3:45 am in Manila right now and we both happened to wake up. Yesterday was our first official day in the Philippines and boy was it hectic, crazy, and fun.
First off, we made it safely to the hotel. Did we get ripped off by the transportation from the airport? Definitely. Did we have many options at 1 am in a country where we don't speak the language and we've been on an airplane for sixteen hours and essentially feel like we just skipped Wednesday alltogether? Absolutely not.
Our hotel is centrally located and right away we felt like we were in an entirely different place...even though we are staying at a Best Western. There is a prominent sign in the bathroom that says the drinking water is not safe. However, we both managed to find ourselves screaming after we brushed our teeth without bottled water. Breakfast was a mix of American and Filipino foods such as rice, beef with pineapple, croissants, and frosted flakes.
Our first mission was to obtain the necessary visa for our travel to Vietnam. We decided to go to the US Embassy where we made many friends during our three separate visits. There was a looping video playing while you waited that explained what to do if you were American and married a Filipino person. It starred a man named Homer, his wife Marge, and their son Bart.
Eventually we headed to the Vietnamese embassy. The cab ride was an adventure in itself. What should have taken all of ten minutes ended up in a half hour fiasco where our driver asked everyone and their mother for directions to the embassy. As expected, women and children continued to knock on the windows of our taxi to beg for money. It's extremely difficult to ignore, but we know this will be an ongoing situation we'll find ourselves in. Who knew there was so much traffic in Manila? It doesn't help that the road is filled with Jeepneys, pedal taxis, motorcyclists, horse and carriages, cars, and massive trucks.
Eventually we made it to the Vietnamese embassy. Arelys would like to note that if there was a Yelp account for this agency, she would write a scathing review. The good news is that we are all set for Vietnam!
In between our government field trips we were able to stop by the historic Rizal Park, named after the Filipino hero Jose Rizal. On our way we happened to stumble upon a small market/job fair. The market was 98% male and was very crowded. It consisted of people holding up signs for positions, an outdoor eye doctor, and other presentations for various remedies that were halted to say, "Hello, ma'am. Welcome to Manila." Don't worry moms, we did not talk to strangers.
We had a nice lunch of beef adobo and traditional flakes. Can't wait to try more new foods! Unfortunately, due to our Jetlag, we've skipped some meals.
We came to take a nap at 4 pm after our very busy day and accidentally slept for 12 hours with the lights on.
In the morning we leave for Boracay.
PS Nicki's new "favorite" beverage, Pocari Sweat, is sold everywhere.
It's 4 am...we really don't know what to do.
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