Manila, Philippines
I'm taking a trek out to the Philippines. This trip was focused on some WWII sites. There are no easy nor cheap flights to Manila
with the gas prices going up. I ended up flying on United Airlines after much debate
between this and Philippine Air. Ultimately, the ability to upgrade won out
since it is a very long flight. On this trip, I had to make stopovers in
Honolulu and Guam before landing into Ninoy Aquino International Airport. It isn't a route I would imagine
myself ever doing. The Polynesian flights did give me a different perspective
on United equipment. Since this isn't an actual transpacific flight, it had a
different clientele and equipment. Even though the plane is still a Boeing 777
from Guam to Manila, the plane is dated but I still appreciate the space. The
other silver lining is that most of my flights were during the day so I was
able to avoid the breakfast menu options and got to check out the United Club Lounge in Honolulu. The lounge is a little dated but spacious. The only areas where one can charge up is in the cubicle office space.
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| Meal on United from Hawaii to Guam |
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| It was an interesting concept but I wouldn't try it again.... |
Once I landed into Manila, I had arranged airport transfer
with the Best Western La Corona Hotel. I'm sure the taxi would have been
cheaper than the hotel rate but I was landing in late enough that I didn't want
to deal with it and it was still cheaper than the cost of my airport parking charges in the States. I typically don't stay at Best Western but there is no Hilton or
Starwood properties in the entire country. I sometimes stay at Best Westerns or
Holiday Inns when travelling through Bishop so I decided I would stay at a Best
Western for the few days in Manila.
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| Junior Suite at Best Western La Corona Hotel |
October is always a hit and miss regarding weather and I was
hoping to get good weather in Manila. On the first day, decided to cruise
through the Intramuros and Chinatown areas in Manila. As soon as I started
walking out the door, it started to rain and rain hard! Luckily, I had
brought a poncho with me and I quickly donned it and continued walking through
the city. I stopped at a local 7-11 to buy some snacks and a prepaid sim card.
I ended up with buying SMART sim card. After using it, I would say that the
data option for the cards is not great. I spent about $15 and didn't get much
use out of it. I would recommend adding the international data option on a US
plan. For $30 on AT&T, I could get 120 mb and it is 120 mb more than I got
out of these prepaid cards. According to their rates, the prepaid cards I used should have been enough for a week's worth of data but I never achieved more than a day's worth. I'm not sure why it didn't work out for me but I seem to have bad luck with foreign sims.
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| Chinatown |
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| Beware, these guys charge more than taxis |
It was pretty cool to go through the Intramuros area. The historic area was once the walled city of Manila with a fort built to protect against foreign invaders. I
went further north to Chinatown in search of Citibank. Ironically, it seems
that Chinatown is also a pseudo bank street row. After getting my cash, I
wandered into Starbucks for a break and found the best ensaymada ever, Filipino sweet bread with cheese.
Afterwards, started back to Intramuros to check out Fort Santiago.
It is interesting how valuable Philippines was in terms of geography. I
learnt more about how Americans and Philippines have worked together throughout
the Spanish-American War and WWII.
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| Fort Mills |
The next day, headed out to Corregidor Island to visit Fort Mills. There is only one hotel on the island and you can stay overnight to do additional tours and hiking on the island. Although interesting, I opted for the day trip only and took the ferry in the morning to the island. It is a fairly large island and was interesting to see all the barracks and guns scattered throughout the island. The defensive position of this particular island was critical in protecting Manila and played an important role in WWII. Although leveled during the last war, the island today is fairly lush and tropical. The guns on the island that were damaged are still impressive looking. The tram tour through the island was very informative and the sites were very interesting to view. The tour also includes a passable lunch buffet.
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