Philippines January 2008

I arrived in Philippines in the afternoon.  I took a taxi to the Richmonde Hotel in Ortigas, which is a business center northeast of Makati in Metro Manila.  The Richmonde Hotel was medium sized hotel, and it seemed to have an even mix of foreign and Filipino guests.  Indeed, during my stay at this hotel, two weddings were conducted at this hotel.  Also, local visitors would visit The Exchange, which had live entertainment during most nights.  The hotel was not a luxury hotel, but it would compare favorably with the Embassy Suites in the U.S. while being much cheaper at about $100.00 US per night.  The hotel had a nice indoor pool, and a nice gym.  The staff was also extremely nice. 

My family met me at my hotel, and we visited the SM Megamall.  The mall was huge.  It was about 5 stories high with rows upon rows of stores on each floor. 

We ended up eating at a Filipino food buffet, which was good, but not necessarily better than what one might find at a Goldilocks in the U.S.  The food probably would have been better had we arrived closer to lunch time.  As luck would have it, most of the food looked like it had been baking under heat lamps for a few hours.   

It was at this time that I first dealt with the inconvinience of not drinking the local tap water as recommended by the CDC travel advisory  for the Philippines.  As an ethnic Filipino in his native country, it is very ackward declining water and ice cubes while insisting upon bottled water.     

After eating, we then did a little shopping, before turning in for the day ahead.