I reached the airport at about 10:20pm. I thought I had forgotten to bring my wallet, because I checked my travel pouch and it wasn't there. No biggie. I brought enough cash in my bag. Next thing I knew, after I had clingwrapped both my bags, I heard a vibration in my bag. Turns out my shaver was activated. So, I somehow managed to unzip my bag, reach inside and switch it off without tearing the clingwrap (goes to show how thorough the airport in Melbourne does it). And I realised my flight was at 00:20am and not 1am (Normally I would try to arrive three hours before my flight, just in case something goes wrong; in this case, something had, and I arrived late).
Other than that, the flight was okay.
I arrived at Manila at 5:40am and only managed to get out at 6:20am. I bought a sim card from a vending machine for 100 pesos. Silly thing only had 1 peso credit inside, but at least I got 35 free texts. I texted to a contact I got from the mission trip minutes (Jace was the name), who turned out to be the wrong person to call at that point in time. So, I was nearly about to give up, when I saw this guy holding a paper with my name on it. Meet my very first Filipino contact: Henry, church leader (who does not like to be called pastor) and wife to Hani (another church pastor). He drove someone to the airport at 3am, went back to sleep, and came again to fetch me from the airport. He proceeded to dump me at our accommodation at Joyce Apartments (8am) and left me there all by myself, but not before he told the guard to let me through, signed me into the rooms (one for the guys and one for the girls), introduced me to my first ever Filipino eating place (Pares Pares, which apparently means pairs) and gave m,e the contact number for Hope Church and gave me rough directions to get there. So, he wasn't so bad. He must have been sleepy.
The others are due to come at 10am. I was the first to arrive in Philippines. I had two hours to kill. So I did the first natural thing that came to me: I ate breakfast. Beef pares with rice and soup. For 750 pesos. I was still trying to figure out the conversion rate. I soon found out that walking on the apartment floor will result in black feet, and that the apartment was lacking in cleaning supplies. So, I made my way to the nearby supermarket (noticed it along the ride here). By myself. Alone. In a foreign country. It was an adventure. An adventure... to find... pure gold!
And avast, thar be them pure gold!
Along the way, you see all kinds of different modes of transport. There's the jeepney:
And the tricycle:
I topped up my phone with 100 more pesos. Now I can call anybody. At each entrance to the shopping mall there are guards stationed. They go through your bags (me reckons they are more concerned with stuff getting in than getting out). I bought dishwashing liquid, sponges, instant noodles, instant milo, biscuits and shampoo. Also bought 2.5 litres of water for the girls...er...others. I reckon 100 pesos sounds roughly like 10 Aussie dollars, maybe even five dollars. The dishwashing liquid, e.g., was 250 pesos. $2.50 or $1.25 sounds about right in Australia for stuff like these. Underground the shopping mall is like a wet market where they sell meats and stuff. Looks a bit unhygienic. 10 am+ and the others still had not arrived. The next thing I knew, I was dozing off in the air-conditioned room...
To be continued...!
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