12-26-2015
Well what can we say? We’ve traveled into the future! Nine hours later, and a plus 16 hour time difference left our bodies feeling exhausted. Does it surprise you that we had to wait before landing? We left late, we arrived late, and there was nowhere to land because we missed our time window. So we circled Manila airport long enough to drive us crazy before getting the okay from ground control to land. The delays didn’t stop there either. Our luggage must have been the first on, and last off. Feeling bad, since Jenina’s sister had been waiting at the airport to pick us up, had to wait. Manila airport is NOT like YVR. There is no waiting area. If you want to call it a waiting area, its in front of the main doors. Only people with Airline tickets may enter the terminal. Needless to say, the crowd is overwhelming upon exit.
Getting out of the airport was the next major hurdle. Traffic in Manila is undisciplined, and unorthodox. Being grateful that we didn’t have to rent a car and had Kristine to drive us back to the apartment. We don’t think that either of us would have had the knowledge to be able to handle the driving practices in the Philippines. Robert is a professional truck driver who is very confident at driving and still couldn’t understand how drivers drove without turn signals, or driving down the middle of two lanes, roundabouts with no lines, no one moving over for emergency vehicles, and regular cars driving with flashing lights similar to police vehicles. We could go on and on with all the traffic issues, but one thing is for sure; there is too much traffic, and no authority.
The drive was nothing less than fascinating. Jenina didn’t recognize many of the areas since 8 years of upgrades and new construction made it discombobulating. Robert was in awe over how developed the Metro Manila was, and intrigued by the culture in the lower income areas.
Arriving at our building, the Sunshine City 100 building, a security guard made way for us down into the parkade. Once in the parkade, another security officer helped us back into the parking spot. Talk about service!
