Howdy all! Hope this blog post finds you well. As I write this blog I am in my hotel room in the capital of the Philippines, Manila, about to head to the airport to fly down to the island of Palawan. I know I haven’t mentioned this trip at all in my writings, but the truth is this was third attempt to get to the Philippines and frankly, I felt it was all a bit cursed. I had to cancel back in May 2020 because – Covid. But here I am now!

I’ll just be sharing updates on the next few Saturdays with you, in January you can expect to see the vlogs filter through and later in the year I’ll be doing more detailed posts as I still have a lot of the Dhaka to Dakar trip to share with you first.

I flew on Cebu Pacific, a budget airline with super cheap flights. The plane was less than half full so despite delays on the group and an 8 hour flight time, it wasn’t too bad although I was very happy to get off!

Manila is muggy as and around 30 – 32 degrees Celsius all the time. It’s a super chaotic city like as if Rio and Bangkok had a child who then got out of control. The traffic is as bad as anywhere too!

I’ve been able to take myself on a walking tour through the historic heart of the city known as Intramuros, taking in Fort Santiago and a few more historic sights. Then I checked out a ‘Shoe Museum’ with over a thousand shoes included a fair collection from none other that Imelda Marcos herself!

I’ve braved taxis, MRT, LRT, tricycles and jeepneys, both of which I had never taken before coming here. I was creeped out by the Chinese Cemetery and checked out the Manila Bay outside one of the biggest malls I’ve ever seen. Manila is full of skyscrapers and glitz and at the same time there is extreme poverty. And everywhere you go you cannot escape Christmas songs! It’s been quite an experience hard to convey in a short blog!

Anyways, each Saturday I’ll come to you with an update! Take care for now wherever you may be! May the Journey Never End!