We All Get Older, We Don't All Get Grown.

I woke up this morning at 4am. And even that I had to force, because I easily could have got my day started at 3am. I'm not sure if its just that i'm not adjusted to the time zone or if i'm just excited to get the adventure started. To pass the time I went to the gym here at my hotel and worked out. I decided to stay at one of the 5 Star hotels here in Manila to start my trip off (although it's more like a 3 or 4 star by US Standards). I know that won't be the case for the rest of my stay, but I just wanted a nice place to rest up from my long flight and to adjust to this new country...heck, new continent.

After the gym, I went off to explore Makati. In one word, I would describe the Makati Area as: Mall. The Ayala Center is made up of shops, other hotels, and enclosed malls. It seems like everything here is an Ayala Property- think Irvine Companies. I believe Ayala was a previous President and that seems to be how the politics work here: Money = Power. All of the buildings are interlinked and the whole time it seems like you never leave the mall...cause well...you don't! I spent about 4 hours exploring the malls, the business district, and people watching; and I was often reminded of Las Vegas(interlinked buildings, unable to cross the street by the malls without using a bridge), NYC(sidewalks filled with people walking to and from places and occasional whiffs of the sewer system), South Coast Plaza(think South Coast x 50), and Cancun(tropical weather, similar smells) all wrapped into one city full of smiling Filipinos. I had lunch at "Sentro 1771"in the Greenbelt (mall) District. For my first real meal in PI, I figured it was only right to go with the local cuisine and it only seemed fitting to get the Adobo Dish. It was pretty good, but my Grandma's is better. I also asked for my servers recommendation for an appetizer and she quickly responded with what was basically mozzarella sticks cut into little bite-sized pieces. Wouldn't have been my first choice, but it was alright. Lastly, I finished with a classic filipino dessert, Halo Halo. Yum!

When I was walking around, I really couldn't help but feel that I could really love it here. The weather is great, its not too hot and the humidity is fine by me. This morning I was reading "The Philippine Star" newspaper and you can just tell that this country really is proud of being Filipino and they put a great emphasis on "improving themselves", pleasing God, and making an impact on the rest of the world. The support of Manny Pacquiao is a great example of that. I missed the fight, but I got to see the highlights. It only lasted 2 rounds, so i didn't miss much! Go Pacman!

During the afternoon, I spent some time at the pool. It looks really nice, but the tall standing hotel shadows the whole pool area. I wonder if they did that on purpose because Filipinos are brown and have no need to tan? I actually did see "whitening" sunscreen at the drug store and it boasts that it helps keep skin fair...doesn't that kind of defeat the purpose?

I went back to Greenbelt for dinner late tonight. For a Monday night, that place was packed! There are literally like 50+ restaurants and bars and all of them were pretty busy. After dinner, I decided to stop in at the nearby internet cafe and it too was packed with teens/college students playing warcraft, haha! I spent 30 mins there (for only 30 php) and when I got out it was pouring rain! I'm talking POURING...like monsoon rain! That's when I was forced to make a crucial decision, taxi or walk? A taxi would have cost maybe $1. Easy decision right? Well not for me...I decided that it would be SUPER fun to navigate my way back and enjoy the sites. This decision came with some obstacles though. The first one being that the malls shut their doors at 10pm. When they are open, I can literally walk all the way through them to my hotel. That was ok though, since a lot of the sidewalks have some cover. My 2nd obstacle was the fact that I really did not know where I was going. I traversed down some dark, not-so-safe looking alleys and did a few circles before getting on the right path. And then there came a point where there were no longer covered sidewalks to protect me from the downpour. One thing I should point out is that instead of wearing shorts, a tee, and my rainbows, like i've been doing my whole time here, I decided to dress up just a little and where jeans and my white vans. As you could imagine, I ended up getting completely soaked. How could I not when I'm sprinting through Manila in Katrina like conditions, jumping over newly formed rivers, all while doing my best to dodge the crazy manila traffic. When I finally got back to the hotel, the security laughed at me. But you know, after it was all said and done, I am really glad I made that decision. Now I can check it off my list: Took a monsoon head-on in Manila and won.