Hello from Manila

We arrived safely in WARM Manila, Philippines last evening – country 4 of 5. Good-bye sweaters and HELLO shorts and bathing suits!

We are on day 13 with 13 more to go. We’ve traveled from Korea to China to Japan and now to the Philippines. We have enjoyed awesome views from the 18th, 22nd, 33rd and now the 19th floors at various hotels and we've logged lots of miles in cities streets and on the gym equipment in each hotel. Packing smartly and traveling first / business class (with access to the private lounges) has made our transitions from country to country very easy… Thank God! While all the other hotels we’ve stayed at on this trip has been nice, the Makati Shangri La is probably one of the best hotels I’ve ever stayed. Our room is spacious and has every creature comfort of home including a COMFORTABLE mattress (I swear we slept on the box spring at 2 hotels!). I just spent a few hours at the gym/spa and I felt like I was in heaven. It makes our spa set up at home look shameful and pretty darn cheesy! Should we ever build a house, this is the set up I’d want!

We've picked up on subtleties about the Asian cultures we've encountered… From our perspective, the consistent elements are their respect for mankind (ALWAYS nice and gracious to us) and their precision and efficiency in accomplishing ANYTHING they set out to achieve -- from serving a meal to setting up the city's infrastructure to programming software -- the attention to detail is always at the same level! Unlike us quirky Americans with attitude!

During this trip, we have learned that our love of and need for coffee is not necessarily appreciated by nor expected in this region. Our access has been severely restricted in each country which led us to the Starbucks each day while in Tokyo – not matter the cost! Maybe we are addicted… Most Starbucks do not even offer the "venti" size -- their large is our medium – but it comes with the same price… We have already spotted “signs” of Starbucks here in Manila. Yay!

We thoroughly enjoyed our time in Tokyo. Tokyo’s metro system is quite elaborate and equates to 5 to 6 times the size of the Washington, DC metro system. Also, a big part of Tokyo’s efficiency is the fact that a lot of the city’s infrastructure is underground – the metro system, roadways and railways… Walking the streets of Tokyo is not very different from being in any major city in the U.S. – offering most of the same store/food chains we are accustomed to visiting at home. Although, it does take some of the fun out of visiting these new cities when they mirror what we have back in the states. That being sad it has come as a comfort, since Chris is still "gun shy" about trying new food, the chains have come in handy in keeping us both healthy! A few pics attached include the Tokyo Tower, a temple, the metro sys, and us enjoying a meal/beer at TGIF.

So far, Manila seems like a third world country – verdict still pending... While it has some of the commercialization as the other countries we’ve visited, from our first perspective, it is very dirty, poor, and unsafe. When we arrived at the hotel, we were greeted by guards searching our car for bombs before we were allowed to enter the hotel “compound.” Then we and our bags were “checked out” by bomb sniffing dogs before we were able to enter the hotel. I’m sure these are precautionary actions to make us feel safe… It is having the opposite affect on me…