Day Two, Saturday 3rd June, Settling In

Carrying on from Becci's post, I thought I'd update you all on our next day in the Philippines. In terms of activities we didn't do that much as we were still adjusting to the heat, unpacking and generally getting orientated. We had a good nights rest and then they prepared breakfast for us. Very sweetly they are trying to cater for "western" tastes by providing cereal and toast for breakfast and things such as fried chicken and hash browns for dinner. Apparently the english people that have come before us have set a reputation of british people not liking to try Filipino food. We hope to disprove this. So far we have tried a variety of new things such as squid, a small fried fish with the head/tail still on (very tasty) and squash flowers. And of course there is rice with every meal, including breakfast. Hopefully by the end of the holiday we'll be eating completly with them and they won't be cooking a special meal just for us.

We had a tour of the rest of the houses and then went to the church to meet Richard. He had been taken out to lunch at that point so Becci and I were told to go shopping until he got back. Walking along the main road to the mall was indeed an experience what with all the pollution from the traffic, dusty pavements and roads with pedestrian crossings that no one observes. But we got there and we got back!

Manila in some parts is very western. As soon as we got off the plane we saw the good old familiar signs of Pepsi, MacDonalds, Dairy milk,Burger King, Pizza Hut and the like. In the mall we came across good old shops such as Marks & Spencers. Most of the signs are in english, which is quite surprising given that most peoples english is not that good as they mainly speak in their own tongue called Tagalog. Walking down the street there was also a lot of people staring at us , although I think the others picked up on it more than me. We haven't really seen any white people although that is probably because we are in a poorer area of the city where not many tourists go. However the children and the homes seem very used to having many visitors from the UK. However they often mistake us for Americans because of the strong US influence dating back to when the Americans actually had the Philippines as a colony (their only one I believe). This is reinforced by seeing streets such as Time Square, New York street, Harvard Street and lots of Boulevards and Hersheys chocolate.

Manila as a city is not much in and of itself. Its a bustling city of 10 million in a very small space, hence the manic traffic Becci was telling you about. There are a lot of concrete buildings , only a few tall towers to act as landmarks and a lot of small shabby huts selling different things along the road. In fact it very much reminds me of Kenya. The people are mainly of Malay origin with lovely chocolate coloured skin. However amusingly they all want white skin and lighter hair like us. They certainly do not look the ages they are. They are very petite and youthful and I would never have imagined that some of them were reaching 18. Apparently in the Philippines you have to add 5 years onto whatever you think a persons age is (when they are under 20) and then you will get their proper age.

Oh and Becci wants me to mention about the lizards! They crawl, no they whizz, up the wall but are apparently friendly. They hide behind the pictures mostly but we always look out for them. Apart from that we haven't really seen much wildlife. The mosquito's haven't really paid us a visit, fortunately, and there are no visible snakes (for my peace of mind). We got another waterfall (because thats how it sounds) in the evening at dusk and this time it went on for more than an hour which then counts as a flash flood. From our rooftop view its very impressive with the thunder although we dare not venture outside as probably even our umbrellas won't cope. The amazing thing is with the heat, the roads are bone dry again the next morning and its as if it never happened.

Take care everyone. Luv Sarah xx