I was in Manila for two nights and two days, watching over a focus group discussion we had planning with our client- arguably Philipinne's largest pharmaceutical company, also arguably one of the nicest people I've had the pleasure of meeting.
I don't know if it's ever wise to talk about work and specific people with specific names so I never do although I wish I can just say whatever I want off the top of my head without a filter.
The last project I was handling, was a horrible disaster - bad clients, bad feedback basically a nightmare to work for, and they were my first project. So I was quite apprehensive about the nature of my job - is it going to be this terrible all the time?!
Anyway, my boss has already told me before hand that this client is super nice and super friendly and treat you like family. That's good because I am going to be handling the rest of their projects for next year.
Off I went on Tuesday night- I packed my eye mask, ear plugs, travel kit, and still could not sleep a wink for the entire four hour flight. I was a zombie by the time I reached Manila. And then, airport security there is so strict and maybe it's the speed that the immigration officers are working at but I was stuck in a queue for an hour just to get a chop on my passport -_- Not very pleasant. One thing that I do notice in the flight is that many overseas foreign workers were going home for Christmas. They had bags and bags of wrapped presents and most of them were chatting excitedly among themselves.
And also the odd sighting of many white men together with very young Filipino women. Oy.
I managed to get a cab from the airport and asked him to direct me to Richmonde hotel- one strange thing about Philippines. The taxi drivers do not seem to know their directions very well. I would imagine it to be a nightmare for tourists -_- I had to tell him more or less where Richmonde Hotel was and this is my first time in Manila ever!
View of the city from the cab
The taxi driver drove like a mad man- as do most people in Manila. It was pretty cool. For some reason, I got the impression that every though everyone drove like crazy, they drove like crazy in sync. If there is such an expression. But some cross roads... do not have traffic lights. And I do not know how they function, but they just do. And another thing, drivers are VERY LIBERAL with their horns. They use it for anything, to honk at pedestrians, to say hi, to alert an oncoming car that they are using that road even though it belongs to the oncoming car, to swerve right from left, to do a dangerous turning from the left side of the road all the way to the right and then back again... oh my. Drivers there also drive on the left side on the road, as opposed to Malaysians. Twice I got into the clients car, into the driver's seat 
I didn't have much time to walk around or explore as my time was almost fully absorbed by work. But these were some of the things that I saw/experienced, and heard.
One thing that Pinoys love is rice. They eat rice for every meal! Even their fast food is slightly different than normal. In the fieldwork office, they fed me three times a day, regardless or not whether I've had breakfast in the office.
This was breakfast, a KFC fully loaded meal. It comes with a chicken on the side, mushroom soup, rice, gravy for the chicken, coleslaw (not pictured) and a brownie (not pictured). The mushroom soup has pieces of bread in it, and... one single button mushroom slice. The brownie was so good that I ate it first which is why it is not pictured hahaha.
2 hours later, was lunch time.
They served me Chow King, which was a famous Chinese fast food chain in the Philippines. I had rice, noodles, and servings of dim sum, with a bag of crackers. I ate the bag of crackers first, no surprise.
AND THEN TWO HOURS LATER WAS "SNACKS"
This was a custard cake from Goldilocks bakery. Nyom nyom. It was good!It had pudding slices from the top, and two layers of sponge at the bottom.
Other than cake, they also served us pizza as snacks.
This ... was the best pizza in the entire world. It was pizza with lechon on top. Lechon is roasted suckling pig in Spanish. And on top of the pizza, was liberal sprinklings of pork crackling. Withgravy on the side to dip in.
After that I passed out from overeating.
The end.
I felt so fat that day that I went back to the hotel, changed into my bikini and swam 20 laps in the heated pool. I couldn't feel my legs after that but my stomach felt much better.
So much better that I was craving for some dinner.
=_=
So I went out. For dinner.
Exercising fail.
Sneaking a picture in the hotel lift mirror.
I walked about and discovered a Korean place. After so much fast food, I wanted some spicy tangy food to balance out my tastebuds. And I also liked the idea of a Malaysian having Korean food cooked by a Korean chef in the middle of Philippines.
Plus I had all those kimchi to myself. Nyom!
And then I pottered over to 7-Eleven to buy some stuff.
Toothpaste can be bought in mini tomato sauce-like sachets over there. Most other personal care items can be bought in this format- shampoo, moisturizer, conditioner, facial wash, etc, etc. My mom says it was common in Malaysia too over 20 years ago because people simply cannot afford to buy the large pack format.
And this is what a million other Pinoys are crazy about. Fit 'n Right. It is this health fruit juice drink with L-Carnitine that promises to keep you fit and slim you down or something. It's HUGE. People drink it about 3 times a day and substitute water for it. Most other people drink it because they like the taste. I didn't like it very much. Tasted like Gatorade to me. Gasless soft drink :S
Manila was hit by Christmas frenzy- I really loved the atmosphere there 
Had this giant Christmas tree right next to the hotel.
It is a thermal mug with a USB butt so that it keeps my coffee warm at all times, whether I am in the car or in the office. He remembered my whinings and posts from way back talking about how much I wanted one but couldn't find any inMalaysia so he decided to get me one. He he! It's super cute and it just arrived today!!
