Manila Baby!

Due to the timing of our China trip and lack of a China embassy here in Palawan we had to go to Manila to get our China Visa's. Therefore we of course took the opportunity to turn the little visa run into an unexpected adventurous holiday! I was super excited to spend a few days in the big city seeing as Puerto Princesa is not exactly a booming metropolis! Alicia and I set off on an early morning flight and we were meeting Nancy in the Manila airport. Our flight was slightly delayed... a common occurrence with discount Asian airlines but we landed shortly after 11 on the 5th of December. We grabbed a taxi to our hostel, Friendly's (I highly reconmend staying there), dropped our luggage off and then chatted about things to do beside get our China visa's while in Manila. I being the Harry Potter fan I am was all about hitting up the nearest movie theatre and embracing the air con! My travel partners were not so big of fans so we decided on grabbing a delicious feed at the Hard Rock Cafe followed by a sweet ass Peppermint Mocha at Starbucks then we would split up and all see our desired movie. I was in western societal bliss, Starbucks, Hard Rock, Harry Potter! Loved it!

We were up super early the next morning and off to the Chinese embassy. We arrived 40 mins prior to opening to find a giant line up! We grabbed a number from the Embassy lady and hit up a near by Starbucks (I was taking in all the the good coffee I could get!) to pass some time. We got back and there was about 20 numbers until it was our turn when I noticed we needed a copy of our contact page of our passports! Oh Shit! Under the sign in front of us said if you do not have all required documents you will have to get them and come back losing your place in line! So Alicia and I bolted out the door and asked where is the nearest photocopy place. Lucky there was one close by and Nancy stayed in line, we managed to get back just in the nick of time! After a successful passport drop off we were off to explore the city. Alicia and I got wind that there was a skating rink in the 'Mall of Asia' and couldn't wait to find it! We had our selves a little skate and loves the feeling of being cool!!!

The next day Katie came from Iloilo to meet up with us and the four of us explored Rizal park and went on a tour of Intramuras. Intramuras is a part of Manila that is surrounded by a wall that became opened to the rest of Manila when Americans took over rule of the Philippines. It was super neat to see the Spanish influence on buildings and of course the golf course the Americans brought in. After our tour we walked around Rizal park and ate lunch at this cute little bistro within the walled city. It was scrumptious and had homemade ice cream and cookies. Always nice!

We picked up our visa's without any difficulties and Alicia and I were on the next flight to Palawan, Nancy and Katie caught a later flight to Iloilo! A short trip of 4 days/3 nights but well worth it!

Manila at Night!