Sunday, March 18, 2007
Trip to Philippines Part I
Recently, I made a business trip to Philippines. In preparation for the trip, I was given a few vaccination by my company. My poor left arm had 3 shots and one of the shots created a bump bigger than a 50 cents coin. It was also red and slightly itchy. However, the company doctor assured me that my reaction is normal, in fact, he said it's a good sign as my body is fighting against the virus (vaccine).
Arriving at the customs and waiting for my turn.
Waiting to be picked up by our agent in Philippines. Notice that they have organized the pickup area by your family name. I thought that was cute and very 'people' oriented, just like the Filipinos.
During dinner, we had cultural dance show, which was really good!
The jeep-like vehicle is one of their public transport. It's their bus! Some of them are quite well decorated and fanciful looking! But I didn't manage to capture that on my phone camera.
Labels: Overseas, Philippines, Trip
9:37 PM
Trip to Philippines Part II
The most exciting part about my trip was that I got this big hotel room at Pan Pacific Hotel all to myself!
In the bathroom, there is this big bathtub that comes with an extra TV. Though small, you can soak yourself and watch TV at the same time! Also, I like it that the mirrored wall opens up to reveal the bedroom. There was another time I stayed alone in a hotel room and I got paranoid when I thought I could hear sounds in the bedroom when I was bathing. With the walls opening up to reveal the bedroom, I feel so much safer here.
This picture shows you more of the bedroom from the bathroom.
Looking into the bathroom from the bedroom.
The bar counter and comes with an assortment of tea and coffee powder for you to brew your own cup of fresh coffee. The sad thing is I really don't have time to use the facilities at all! The breakfast spread was fantastic and I also didnt manage to taste much of it. The first morning I took only toasts to be safe, as my weak stomach threw out the authentic Philippines dinner I had the night before. The second morning I had no time for breakfast as we had to set off at 7am to Batangas, which is a 3 hours drive away from Manila. So lugi!
There's also an executive table and a king size bed. I felt so tiny for once, coz I didn't manage to occupy the whole bed! Hahaha....
View of Manila from the 15th floor.
This is where I put up in at Batangas for one night. The original plan was to stay in Manila for one night and Batangas for two nights. Thank goodness we had a change of plans and put up in Batangas for only one. Also, the hotel we put up at was worse than my 3 star hotel in Bangkok, although it is probably the best that Batangas has to offer already!
Batangas is a sleepy old town with nothing much to do. Along the way there, there were a lot of farmers and we see cattles and sheeps crossing the roads. There's also a man transporting goods using a horse and carriage! Alas, I was in a van so I didn't manage to capture these moments down.
Labels: Overseas, Philippines, Trip
9:00 PM
I am The Emperor