I have spent the last few days in Manila and an interesting stay it has been too.
With the APEC conference and world leaders with in a few miles of my hotel the main roads were closed off, making for an unusually very quiet city.
I have explored the Bay area, The National Shrine of Mother Perpetual and the Mall of Asia because these areas are within walking distance of my hotel. There were no taxis and all the other roads were grid locked which is why I needed to walk the 3km from the Airport to my hotel when I arrived.
Today I went on the big wheel in the bay area prior to this I went to the science exploratory where I saw some great exhibits and a fantastic immersive movie about space. When I bought my ticket to enter the exploratory I was told that because of the number of school groups no tickets were being sold for the movie, so I had to purchase a basic gallery ticket. After looking around the gallery exhibits, which were very informative, I noticed school groups entering the domed cinema. I approached the guy who looked in charge and asked if there was a spare seat and if so could I pay the extra 100 pesos and see the movie. He very kindly said yes and would not take payment. I was so grateful, even more so afterwards because the film, narrated, randomly by Ewam McGregor, was fantastic!
The highlight has been getting to see the city both empty and busy, as on my final day the roads opened again, meaning it is easier to get to the airport to fly on my ‘Back to Future’ flight to Canada. I land in Vancouver 4 hours BEFORE the time I take off from Philippines.
