hey! i'm in manila

after a long, drawn out affair involving travelocity.com and the incompetance (i call for a boycott), i've finally made it to manila. my initial impression was that it was incredibly beautiful and lovely, green and lush, and much more of a city than taipei.

well, first of all i have absolutely no basis for comparison to taipei because i've never been there. second, upon exiting the lovely Centennial II Air Terminal, i foudn that manila isnt really that lush, green, beautiful or lovely. it's not bad, but it is no DC or san francisco or paris. that said, it's a hell of a lot more interesting at the moment than hsinchu.

after i left the terminal i got a taxi to a bus station way on the other side of town. now im in "metro manila" i think, somewhere near a neighborhood called sampaloc. doesnt look very posh at all, in drastic contrast to the airport, which was incredibly beautiful. do you know that you can take a plane to manila, buy another ticket to borocay, and leave again within the hour? this place is seemingly designed to filter out the resort tourists right away.

anywho, it turns out the bus station i want has moved, so im walking to the proper one. i think that's where im walking. when i get there, ill either buy a ticket, or walk back to the other one and buy a ticket. then i want to go exchange some more money, break some of my bigger bills, and get something to eat.

i also need to figure out how to clear out my right ear. somehow the snot in my sinuses managed to move around as the air pressure in the plane changed. now it's all in my ear or something, because i cant hear a thing. i think maybe if i blow my nose hard enough, something will happen. will try that soon...

so: long time no blog, but this is much more interesting than hsinchu, and should be worth the wait!