Killing time

Leaving paradise for a week

Today I wasn’t too excited about traveling and the logistics of it; but, I was excited to experience Japan. My plan was to take a tricycle to Tagbilaran Airport, a 2 PM flight to Manila, then a 6:25 AM flight to Tokyo Japan the next morning. The problem was that I had to be in Manila for at least 15 hours and didn’t want to have to rent a room nor did I know the area well. And so, my day started with first moving out of Genesis.

It took a lot longer than I thought for such a small room. Fortunately, Giso let me store what I didn’t need to bring to Japan at Genesis. This saved me both time and money because now I won’t have to move into and rent my house for the week I will be away. He also sympathized with me when I told him I couldn’t pay him yet because the banks were closed the day before. He said the president, Gloria Arroyo, decided last minute to move a national holiday that was on Wednesday to Monday. How convenient! Some banks didn’t find this out until the day of the holiday!

Shortly before I took the tricycle out to Tagbilaran, I said my final goodbyes to my friends on Alona Beach. I got to Tagbilaran Airport about 2 hours before my flight departed. I soon realized this was a mistake because I went through the low security (one x-ray and one metal detecter) checkpoint and into the one terminal they had. At least there was a live band playing in the waiting area.

In-flight game flight attendants played, with prizes!

When I arrived at Manila airport I was lost; I didn’t know what to do or where to go. I was trying to decide if I should just hang out somewhere for 12 hours without sleep or if I should check into a room and hangout there. The problem was that I also was lugging around my bulky and heavy luggage. The only places I knew of in Manila was a bar recommended by a friend (LA Cafe), a pensione house, and a scuba shop. I told a taxi driver to take me to the scuba shop because thats the only place I had an address for.

Earlier, my friend told me to beware of taxi drivers in Manila because they may try to rip you off by offering you a higher fare than what their meter would charge. That’s exactly what my taxi driver did by offering me a rate of 500 pesos for the ride. I refused and demanded he turn on his meter. He did, and the total fare was 97 pesos. He was upset I barely tipped him when I just gave him 100 pesos total.

I was hoping to get at least some materials for the scuba instructor course I’m planning on taking at the scuba store. Everything I wanted had to be special ordered. I had nothing else to do so I asked the people working at the store where LA Cafe was. They pointed me in a direction and I went towards it. I luckily, happen to stumble upon the bar.

I knew something was odd when I entered the bar and there were a lot more girls waiting around than guys. It turns out the place was a girlie bar and not the type of place I was looking to waste 12 hours at (it was open 24 hours). Regardless, I ordered a drink and talked to a girl that said she was there “visiting friends.” She was nice, and after she asked for me to buy her a drink, and I refused, she became more normal to talk with. She knew I was misdirected to the bar and it wasn’t what I was into. She advised me on several hotels I could stay at and that I can waste time at Robinsons mall.

Very modern Robinsons Place mall

I went to Robinsons mall and was impressed by it--large, modern, Westernized mall. I went shopping for a good warm jacket but couldn’t find anything reasonable that I liked. I found out the mall closes at around 10 PM which would leave me with 5 hours to waste before going to the airport. I was tired and that was a lot of time so I decided to try to find a place to sleep. I looked into the Malate Pensione house which I stayed in before, and they had a room for 750 pesos ($18 USD).

Outside the mall, I waited for about an hour for a taxi at a taxi waiting area. Seeing how very few taxis were actually coming to the area, I went across the street and got a taxi in a few minutes. This time the taxi driver was fair by using the meter.

My room was simple, clean, but very muggy. Even with the ceiling fan on, I couldn’t sleep all that well in the heat. Despite this, it was better than roaming the streets for 5 hours with my bags.

- jason