Arcoarena

The Philippines

Right so this is quite a long post but it might be worth it. I went to the Philippines for work a couple of weeks ago. It was quite a surprise as I only agreed to it on Wednesday evening and I flew out on Friday morning. It wasn’t even my project I was going out for either. Anyway I wrote this whilst I was out there and thought someone might be interested.
Friday 22nd & Saturday 23rd June

Flight to Hong Kong - not very comfortable so didn’t sleep that well, this, I knew was going to be a problem later. The movies were ok (”Starter for 10″ - a reasonable english romcom about a poor kid who gets on the University challenge team and falls in love yada, yada, yada. “Music and Lyric” a romcom with Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore, this was, frankly, awful; well not awful, maybe just awfully trashy - I couldn’t face “A Beautiful Mind” and I’d already watch the Friends and Top Gear episodes twice that flight)

HongKong airport is nice, as airports go, Manilla airport is grotty, and they are quite strict, it’s the only airport I know that actually checks the luggage tags against the tags you get given to make sure you haven’t got someone else’s bag.

The Shangri-La hotel in the business district, Makati, is very posh. So posh infact that I’d almost prefer a cheaper one….almost. Everyone says “Hello Sir” as you pass them, I’ve just got out of the habit of looking round to check to see if they’re talking to someone else. It just feels a bit odd, Give that the only people at work who do something if I ask them to are the secretaries, and I even feel guilty doing that.

Anyhow, I get to the hotel at around 12:30 localtime (some time around 5:30am BST I think) and find out I’m going into the vendor at 2. A quick shower and then lots of work (I left at around 10:30 that evening), most of which I tried to do standing up, or at the very least typing so I didn’t fall asleep.

We ate that evening in a Pirate themed italien restaurant run by some Italians who had somehow ended up in Eastwood city. Even at around 10 in the evening the office buildings were quite busy. A lot of call centre work is being located in the Philippines, probably due to the price and the obvious advantage of english speaking workers. Dell have a large call centre there so there is always someone around

Sunday 24th

Today is a day off, they don’t work Sundays (they don’t work Saturdays either but they came in since I was there). I got up late as I haven’t quite got used to the time. I headed out to have a wander.

Manilla is quite a cosmopolitan place. If you removed the people from the business district only the temperature and humidity would give away the fact you were in S.E. Asia. As a rule most Philippinos are Bi-Lingual and all the signs are in english. I think they are fairly westernised. That’s certainly the impression you get as you walk out of the hotel and past the one of the many Starbucks in Makati.

Just opposite the hotel is a large complex of shopping centres, many of the shops were recognisable, even Marks and Spencers & Crabtree and Evelyn. Near a park type area was a series of restaurants, all I could find that would even vaguely resemble Philippino food was a Japanese restaurant, so I did what any sensible person would do…and went to a Creperie. I was sat there feeling guilty about eating european food when two French women came and sat down, I felt a bit better after that.

After lunch I decided to head for Rizal park in the city center in the hope of it being a little more ‘authentic’, it seemed a pity to leave without getting a bit of an idea what the city is really like. In the taxi on the way to the park the driver was talking about the corruption of the government and how the value of the Peso has fallen since the new head of state got in to power. The park was very nice, lots of flags, there’s an auditorium opposite and there was a Christian concert going on. The Philippines has only been independant since 1946 and it was occupied until 1899 by the Spanish. I suppose that explains the corruption, a young government. The Spanish occupation explains the religion, most people converted to Catholosism at some point during their 300 year rule.

After the park I headed into the walled bit of the city to see the San Agustin Church, it’s a UNESCO world heritage site etc. It’s quite nice, it looked really nice inside but there was a mass going on so I couldn’t go in.

I then headed back. Another ‘interesting’ taxi ride. In the Philippines they tend to take the rules of the road as guidance more than rules. It’s not they don’t have red lights, it’s more that they don’t pay them any attention. Rights of way don’t exist either. That’s not to say pedestrians are any better. So much for, ‘look left, look right, look left again’ it appears to be wander out into the road and assume cars will stop for you.

Anyhow, back at the hotel doing some writing up of the trip so far (I’m sure I’ll have to prepare a trip report for work so I might as well do it now). I’m considering heading out for dinner soon, I’ll propably have a mexican

Sunday 24th Continued….

I did actually have an oriental meal in a ‘Asian Fusion’ place, a bit of a fast food place really but I didn’t feel like walking too far. I was sat opposite a flatscreen TV on the wall which advertised various things inbetween showing pictures of the food and tips on texting etiquette.
One of the adverts was for Brown Rice Tea “Stop frequent night urination”, the other was for a cooling company that bizarrly both made the air con units for the hotel I’m staying in and have a base in Havant. It’s a small world. Quite why one would sit eating Singapore Fried noodles (or whatever) and think “I really want one of those hemetically sealed, horizonal screw refigeration units” is beyond me.

Monday 25th

Mostly work today. On the way in to work we passed through the chaos (or something closely resembling chaos) of rush hour traffic. As the driver weaved his way through the traffic we slowly passed through the less weathly areas of Manila. Staying the in Shangri-La makes it even more shocking to see the huts and cobbled together shanties in the middle of the city.

I found out today why English seems so common despite having a native language. The Philippines was tribal for a long time, it was only with the colonisation that it was attempted to bring the tribes together. The tribal nature means that there are several vastly different dialects, so it seems easier to use English.

The Rest

Work took up most of the rest of the trip. The only other remarkable point of the trip was leaving. Manilla airport is quite grotty and much like the rest of the country the security was really tight and as a white male on my own I figured the chances of being pulled aside were quite high. Fortunately everything went fine but I’ve never been quite so glad to get out of an airport.
Photos are here

I really should do this more often

Ok, so it’s been two months since I last wrote anything. Does that mean I’ve been busy? Probably not.

[thumb:42:l] I have got up to a few things. We went to Lille via Eurostar thanks to Andrea’s parents. The main image I have of Lille however is not quite typical as you can see. A little odd I think you’ll agree.[thumb:50:r] In fact going to Lille was further confused by turning up at the end of a Bollywood festival whilst all the Christmas fairs and big wheels etc. were still up and running. It’s a nice city though.

Most of my time has involved decorating the living room, very slowly. As you may know my living room has been painted a sickly blue colour. Not only is this not a very nice colour it doesn’t help reflect the light in what is a very dark room. This being the case I’ve vowed to not have the walls the same colour for the anniversary of us buying the house (I’ve got ’till May so I should make it ). Whist I’m at it we’ve had the ceiling re-skimmed (to get rid of the horrible artex pattern), got rid of the gas fire (we’ve bought a cast iron solid-fuel fire to install but I’ve got to read the building regs before I do that), and the borrowed light (a window between the kitchen and the lounge to let more light in) have been replaced with glass blocks. You may notice that despite my couple of weeks of effort only one of those is in the past tense. I got distracted having to make a stand for a mannequin for Andrea’s shop (but at least it was an excuse to buy a router).

I’ve also been doing more theatre stuff. I helped out with a production of ‘Bent‘ (although actually to be fair I was probably a little useless for that one. I’m going to watch HumDrum’s production of Habeas Corpus.

The reason I’m writing this random selection of snippets of the past few months is that I’m currently officially ’sick’ as I’ve just had all four wisdom teeth removed. Thankfully I was asleep for the whole thing and oddly it doesn’t hurt that much. When you mention it to anyone beforehand it generally involves a sharp intake of breath and the impression that you will be writhing round in agony with a face like the Elephant man for at least a week. The reality is some what less in my case. I even got a few things done that have been piling up for a while. And I’ve got all my food cooked for me (that would be a bonus if it didn’t hurt to eat)

So what am I doing in the near future? Well I’m off to Cornwall for a week at the end of March (thanks to Andrea’s parents - again). Things are looking to be quite busy at work and at some point I might finish the living room.

easyCruise

Well I’ve just got back from holiday. Yes thanks, it was good, very relaxing.
As you might have guessed I spent my holiday on a big orange boat, in a cabin with no windows. To be fair the cabins aren’t that small, but they are very very orange. [thumb:11:l]They’re ok for sleeping in and that’s pretty much all you’d want to do (as long as the weather holds out).

They way it works is this….. the booking is very similar to easyJet as is the business model. No drinks or food are included (not even breakfast). You turn up and the take your passport and give you an easyCruise card. This works as your room key, a way of them working out whether you’re on-board or not (you sign out when you go ashore and back in again) and an account for drinks/food (no cash is used on board)

The ship doesn’t leave port until early the next morning so effectively you’ve got an afternoon and evening in every destination. When you awake you’ll be on the way to the next port of call. The fact that you’re at sea until around 1pm each day is quite nice as it forces you to relax, so take a book and sit on the deck reading (or just sit in the Jacuzzi if you so wish). There is also a gym on-board (which is free), it was empty the one time I went but there wasn’t an amazing choice of equipment.

The one drawback of being on-board all morning is you have to eat the food. As one could have predicted the food wasn’t that good, and along with the drink prices it’s what you would expect to pay in the UK (in fact the prices are in Stirling, I suspect that this makes everything seem cheaper than it is as you keep having to swap between euros and pounds)

We set off from Monaco (not as pretty a city as you’d think but we did get to see bits of the F1 circuit) and went to Genoa (pretty in places but you end up walking down a side street past a gaggle of prostitutes if you’re not careful (not quite sure ‘gaggle’ is the correct collective noun for prostitutes but anyway….)), on to Portofino [thumb:5:l] (which is very, very pretty), via Imperia (we didn’t get off the boat as it didn’t sound very interesting and it rained that day) and finally back to Nice (which is …..errr…nice).

In general (provided it doesn’t rain) you don’t spend much time in the cabin so the lack of windows and orangeness doesn’t matter. Time on deck is quite pleasant in good weather and the drinks might be more expensive that the local shops but they aren’t extortionate. Some of the cities are quite nice. Portofino is definitely worth a visit. If the boat based element doesn’t particularly appeal you’d be better off getting a hotel in Nice and taking the train to Monaco, St Tropez etc.

Anyway, we had fun and it was nice and relaxing. I’d think about doing it again but I wouldn’t go back on that area purely because I don’t have much of a desire to go back the the ports we visited.
Pictures to follow

China

Well I’m back from China now. It was very cool. The trip was very good as all the hard stuff was organized for you (like train tickets) but there was quite a lot of free time so it felt like you were on holiday on your own quite a lot of the time.

Some things I enjoyed:
- The Great Wall - It’s absolutely huge, very impressive
- The Food - It’s very nice
- The Guest-house we stayed in for a night - full of antique furniture

Some things I won’t miss
- Obviously being a tourist - perhaps the most annoying thing about the trip as the tourist industry is growing in China and quite a few of the people selling souvenirs are quite aggressive in their selling tactics
- The traffic - It’s absolutely insane, quite funny until you actually have to try to cross the road
- The Food - well not the food (it was nice) I just want a little more variation; how I longed for a croissant. The noodles for breakfast, lunch and dinner was a little too much for me.

All in all it was very cool though. I’ll put some photos up soon, maybe.

But for now back to reality. I’m getting round to trying to find a flat in Portsmouth (I start work in less than 3 weeks now, better than some though ). I’ve also got to book a gown for graduation.

Out of Office Reply

Well I’m off round China for two weeks starting from tomorrow. If I don’t respond to emails don’t be offended. If on the off-chance someone needs to contact me for some obscure reason and it’s really important email me making it obvious it’s important in the subject as I may check my email in order to email parents and tell them I’m not dead etc. . Failing that I’ll catch up with you all in two weeks.

Oh and yes I have packed my crew T-Shirt

Looking in Both Directions

Much like Mike I too am looking to the future. I’ve finished my course (I find out the class of my degree on Friday and it had better be a 2:1 or I’ll cry - I’m probably not joking there). Not that the class of my degree affects anything other than my pride. In September (the 6th at 9am to be precise) I start my new job at Xyratex in Havant, I’ve got that whatever my degree turns out to be. At some point before that I’m moving to Portsmouth/Southsea with Andrea (and my god aren’t flats expensive to rent down south, talk about North/South divide - you can buy a 3 bedroom semi in my village for 130K).

In between now and moving to Southsea I’ve still got loads to do. I’m hopefully helping out with the Guildford festival thanks to Surrey Union Crew and then I shall be attending about a week of MT Soc tour. I am then heading off on holiday. It’s all booked now so I’m taking flights from Heathrow (via Amsterdam - KLM do cheap flights) to Shanghia. The tour takes us round what appears to be the big things to see (the terracotta warriors and all that kind of stuff). We end up in Beijing and fly back again via Amsterdam. Should be cool. Following that I have about a week to find a flat before my Cousin’s wedding. I’m sure it’s not meant to be quite so busy. Added to which all of this is disguising the fact I’m actually moving out of my parents home for good in around 7 weeks time.

Based on my moving out status I’m currently unpacking from University (it was very odd to leave London for the last time - I shall visit but never live there again). As I’m unpacking I’m also chucking the random junk I left behind at home out. Anyone want a very old set of rock boots (I’m shoe size 10), or some old Linux Distro CDs (go on Gary you know you do)…?

All this thinking is making me nostalgic so I shall go now before I get too soppy (and start professing my undying love for everyone I ever knew). This is all in marked contrast to the reports I hear from my old school which appears to be going down the pan (I blame the new Head Teacher - well head-somthing anyway).

TV in North Korea

The news coverage of North Korea is very odd. Reports of a massive explosion with several killed and over a thousand injured and what does North Korean TV say - nothing.
The idea that you can deny all knowledge of an event to the people of the country seems very naive but that’s what they are doing. All North Korean TV has on is the Army Choirs, Sunsets and a woman talking very fervently about the achievements of the ruler.

It reminds me a little of Prague (we visited last summer - it’s a really cool place, a little touristy but really cool). The largest building in Prague is the TV tower that was used to block out all external TV signals. For years they were broadcasting how rubbish capitalism was and that the rest of the world was falling apart whilst Czechoslovakia (as it was) was living in communist splendor.

The thing I find funny is that all the visitors to Prague seemed to say ‘lovely view - shame about that big tower’. This seems to me to be missing the point. Yes, ok, the TV tower is far from beautiful but it represents a very important part of the country’s history so it would seem wrong for it not to be there - ugly or not