In the Philippines...

Afternoon all,

OK, after my Jordan trip it was off again on short notice. I am now in the Philippines on Mindanao island. I arrived on tuesday after a horrible flight with the dutch tossers KLM/AirPuke. The usual shite, no upgrades available, crap food, no empty seats anywhere, an AV box right in the footwell of my seat, total crap as per usual...

I arrived on tuesday morning in Manila. I went straight to bed for a few hours as the jetlag was pretty bad, its 8 hours later there. Luckily my hotel, The Oxford Suites, was right in the middle of Makati City which is the nightlife centre. So in the evening I spend a few hours on a terrace ogling the local talent. Of which there was plenty about...

The next day I had an early flight to Cagayan on Mindanao. From there it was an hours drive through the jungle to Iligan City. This is a small city on the north coast of Mindanao. The work is pretty straightforward, just an upgrade of an old system. That is all progressing nicely. This should all be done by saturday. On sunday I fly back to Manila and then on to Davao. That is also on Mindanao but apparently it is quicker to fly two hours north and then 2 1/2 south again
to get to Davao. Taking the road takes way longer. So I have another 6 days to go and then its Xmas time. Finally the end of this hectic year. That will please the missus. My wife has been my rock through all this mad travel. Half the time I don't even know the hell where I am but she keeps the homefront going and she keeps me sane. (Jacks, I love you...)

I must say I do quite like the Philippines. It is a bit like Indonesia but it appears less poor. The food is nice. Then again I say that about all food that has loadsa chillies in it.

I tried to include some piccies but this company network I am on will not let me upload pictures so I will do that when I get back to blighty. The roads here are full of Jeepneys. Which are sortof public transport busses or big taxis. The main difference is that they are all decked out in the most fantastic paint schemes. They all have weird and wonderfull names and whatever they can chrome, they will have chromed, they look wicked... I will include some pictures when I get back.

OK, gotta go, I gotta do some work, tonight off to Club Seven which is a diner/gig venue where they have excellent bands on in the evening. Has to be done at 40 p a pint hahahahaha!

Take care,

Alex in Mindanao.