Baguio
Man is it a relief to escape the hole that is Manila. Im now in Baggio, which is still pretty shotty, but feels nicer than Manila, and there arent little kids begging for money everywhere. Anyways Ill start with what Manila was like and how Baggio is.
The second day in Manila was nice, I found that cafe, and wandered and found a cool catholic church that was having mothers day celebrations, and was packed full of people. I wandered around markets, and I get many many more people staring here than in Singapore, probably partially due to the fact that I havent seen another caucasian for the last couple of days. Anyways, I started chatting with a couple of locals at my hostel and they were very friendly and spoke english well enough. They said they wanted to show me around the area so I went with them. Unfortunately they expected me to pay for everything, and after talking to them for a bit they were really shady dudes, one of them had been in jail every year since he was 13, and had his leg shot off by a cop, and at 22 had two kids. I mentioned that I needed to get a watch and one of them went and got one from a friend and tried to sell it to me for like 20 dollars american. (1000 pesos). So basically I learned my lesson and am going to be a bit more weary of trusting the people. All the guide books say how nice everyone is here, but so far my experience is that they are only nice if trying to get money from you. Its a bit stressfull being a flashing beacon that says im a 6 foot 5 atm. The worst part of my time in Manila was the last night there, after coming back with the two guys (who both stayed at the hostel) I locked my door to lie down and a few minutes later people started banging on my door. Sometimes they would shout that they wanted money, and sometimes the banging got really loud. Wasnt very fun and sketched me out pretty good. As soon as I woke up I took off, and since I dont have a clock of any sort and there was no window it was kind of a gamble. It worked out well and I think it was around 5:30 when I took off. Got to the bus station and caught the 7 hour bus up to Baggio. Busses are similar to Singaporean busses in that the seats dont have enough leg room for a bean stalk like me, but it was a nice ride, and the countryside was gorgeous.
Baggio is a very cool mountian city, about 400, 000 strong. Has a couple of universities so lots of people my age which is nice, even though I havent made any friends, as its kind of difficult when they dont speak english very well and also just like to stare at you.
Looking forward to hitting the country tomorrow, had enough city to last a lifetime.
Hope all are well,
George
The second day in Manila was nice, I found that cafe, and wandered and found a cool catholic church that was having mothers day celebrations, and was packed full of people. I wandered around markets, and I get many many more people staring here than in Singapore, probably partially due to the fact that I havent seen another caucasian for the last couple of days. Anyways, I started chatting with a couple of locals at my hostel and they were very friendly and spoke english well enough. They said they wanted to show me around the area so I went with them. Unfortunately they expected me to pay for everything, and after talking to them for a bit they were really shady dudes, one of them had been in jail every year since he was 13, and had his leg shot off by a cop, and at 22 had two kids. I mentioned that I needed to get a watch and one of them went and got one from a friend and tried to sell it to me for like 20 dollars american. (1000 pesos). So basically I learned my lesson and am going to be a bit more weary of trusting the people. All the guide books say how nice everyone is here, but so far my experience is that they are only nice if trying to get money from you. Its a bit stressfull being a flashing beacon that says im a 6 foot 5 atm. The worst part of my time in Manila was the last night there, after coming back with the two guys (who both stayed at the hostel) I locked my door to lie down and a few minutes later people started banging on my door. Sometimes they would shout that they wanted money, and sometimes the banging got really loud. Wasnt very fun and sketched me out pretty good. As soon as I woke up I took off, and since I dont have a clock of any sort and there was no window it was kind of a gamble. It worked out well and I think it was around 5:30 when I took off. Got to the bus station and caught the 7 hour bus up to Baggio. Busses are similar to Singaporean busses in that the seats dont have enough leg room for a bean stalk like me, but it was a nice ride, and the countryside was gorgeous.
Baggio is a very cool mountian city, about 400, 000 strong. Has a couple of universities so lots of people my age which is nice, even though I havent made any friends, as its kind of difficult when they dont speak english very well and also just like to stare at you.
Looking forward to hitting the country tomorrow, had enough city to last a lifetime.
Hope all are well,
George
posted by George at 8:18 PM
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