Manila

Arrived in Manila, Phillipines in the wee hours of Thursday morning. Hot hot hot. 25 degrees at night. Haven't been to a tropical country since Malaysia in 2005. Sorta forgot what they are like!

So, first impressions of the Philippines besides the weather? Well, I have seen something that I haven't been used to seeing in Chengdu – the sun! The second thing is the traffic! Went to a huge mall the first day. Really nice mall beside Manila bay. Hadn't seen the sea in a long time either. The views with dark clouds were spectacular and the sunset was pretty cool.

The people here are very friendly. Communication is no problem as most people speak English. A lot different from China.

Bars seem cheaper than in Ireland. They also have a lot of Comedy Clubs. We wwent to a comedy club the other night. An interesting affair. \first act were 5 ladyboys who could hit both the low and high notes. Quite impressive singing Celine Dion and being able to hit the high notes. Second act were a bunch of gay guys. Both the first and the second act of course picked on us, the foreigners. But it was all in good fun. They did get us on stage and we had to take part in a dancing competition, which for some reason, I won. There was another foreigner in the bar. Guess where from? Ireland! Small world. After the club ended, the entertainers asked us to have a beer with them. Turns out the guy from the second act is a big TV star in the Philippines – he is on TV 6 days a week. There you go!

Gonna head out of the city to the provinces soon. See some nice scenery. The city here is just a concrete jungle. Not a lot of green space here. Looking forward to a slice of country life.