Who knew that my first ever visit to Philippines was
destined to be possibly my last travel, at least in the foreseeable future. I
am leaving my current organisation and the associated nomadic life, and
entering a more stable phase of my career - expecting a more 9 to 5 kind of job
with much less travel (& almost no travel outside home country). But I'm
doing it with full confidence that it's the right career move, providing me
opportunity to come back to industry, gain managerial experience and join at a
higher level than the current one - all leading up to wide avenues of future
progress.
Anyways, so I arrived in Manila on a cloudy afternoon, after spending 5 hrs. at the new Bangkok 'Suvarnabhumi' airport. The new Bangkok airport is huge (gives a feeling like Charles de Gaul at Paris), but seems to have got a bit impersonal, what with big shops & the absence of any of the small water/juice/convenience kiosks which were there at Don Muang. I walked about 2 kms. inside the airport trying to locate the Louise Tavern Dayrooms, but when I got there I found they were still building the short-stay rooms! Couldn't they at least publicise the fact, instead of marking it in all the maps & even putting direction boards? Or do they just want to show that the airport is fully functional in 10 days when it actually is not?
Anyways, Manila has quite a moderate weather, and now (Tuesday) it's even raining cats & dogs so it's quite pleasant - quite a relief from Delhi which is swelteriing during the day. And the office aircon is set to so cold that my local colleague got a cold & is wearing a shawl today! I am staying at the Somerset Millennium residences, Makati. It has a good reputation, but unfortunately I found on the very first day that the bathroom had a leak (which was mercifully repaired by Monday) and that the curtain would not close fully leaviing a crack (which has not been remedied till now). But at least the food is OK (even if the breakfast room is tiny & the lobby quite congested, which could be because the residents use it more as a home than as a hotel) - I had a Malaysian 'roti' (just like India) with mashed potatos for dinner last night!
We went to the nearby Greenbelt mall for lunch both days. It seems quite big, and has a good variety of food available.
Anyways, so I arrived in Manila on a cloudy afternoon, after spending 5 hrs. at the new Bangkok 'Suvarnabhumi' airport. The new Bangkok airport is huge (gives a feeling like Charles de Gaul at Paris), but seems to have got a bit impersonal, what with big shops & the absence of any of the small water/juice/convenience kiosks which were there at Don Muang. I walked about 2 kms. inside the airport trying to locate the Louise Tavern Dayrooms, but when I got there I found they were still building the short-stay rooms! Couldn't they at least publicise the fact, instead of marking it in all the maps & even putting direction boards? Or do they just want to show that the airport is fully functional in 10 days when it actually is not?
Anyways, Manila has quite a moderate weather, and now (Tuesday) it's even raining cats & dogs so it's quite pleasant - quite a relief from Delhi which is swelteriing during the day. And the office aircon is set to so cold that my local colleague got a cold & is wearing a shawl today! I am staying at the Somerset Millennium residences, Makati. It has a good reputation, but unfortunately I found on the very first day that the bathroom had a leak (which was mercifully repaired by Monday) and that the curtain would not close fully leaviing a crack (which has not been remedied till now). But at least the food is OK (even if the breakfast room is tiny & the lobby quite congested, which could be because the residents use it more as a home than as a hotel) - I had a Malaysian 'roti' (just like India) with mashed potatos for dinner last night!
We went to the nearby Greenbelt mall for lunch both days. It seems quite big, and has a good variety of food available.
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