Well, after a good time in the Seoul airport and trying to figure it out (nobody spoke English, my own fault, I shouldn’t expect them to), I made it to my flight to Manila and just so happened to get some free wine on the plane (yesss). After the 12-hour flight from SFO to Seoul, I embarked on another flight (5 hours) from Seoul to Manila, which arrived in Manila around 11 p.m. at night. Upon arrival in the Manila Airport, I could already tell what was in store. There were people everywhere and I hadn’t even gone through immigration yet. Which brings me to my next point, if you are traveling to a foreign country and you don’t know how long your entering visa will be for, CHECK! Until about a week before leaving, I was assuming (the mother of all f-ups) that I was going to get a visa for 3 months (as you get in Europe). Well, I ended up reading up on this at the exact wrong time, five days before departure (it’s 21 days in the Philippines).
So, since I was enlightened to this just before leaving, I was panged by it the entire flight (or flights, what have you)… this is not something you want to worry about at the beginning part of your trip. “Are they going to let me in the country?” Turns out, Filipinos are relaxed by nature, so I was not too worried about it, but worried nonetheless.
I arrived at the Immigration desk and there was a line of about 50 people in front of me (50 in 20 different lines = 1000 people)… it was a zoo. I took note of which one of the immigration officers looked like the “softest” and stood in that line. I also took note of what items were being presented upon being summoned to the window. Typically, the lady would just take whatever the person gave them (customs declaration, visa declaration (standard is 21 days) and passport). Then, I was third in line and the Officer asked the two people in front of me to present their return-ticket to her… I began to panic. So, I played it cool, even though the sign explicitly says “Present the following items: Passport, Visa Declaration, Onward Destination Ticket (Return Ticket)”. So, I smiled at the officer and she didn’t say anything and stamped my passport for 21 days…. Yessss! I think if you don’t end up leaving the country, on the 21st day they have all branches of national security hunt you down, put you on a livestock plane to India and then let that country deal with you. But for my purposes, I just need to go to immigration tomorrow to get a visa extension.
Next stop, Friendly’s Guesthouse (hostel) and all of the warm amenities it provides.
Friendly’s was, to say the least, friendly. The receptionist gave me my own room! Which wasn’t what I booked, come to find it, and they promptly threw my stuff into the dormitory room while I was out with the owner and other backpackers getting a few refreshments (did I mention that it is 1 o’clock in the morning at this point and I haven’t gone to sleep since I was in San Francisco, nearly 36 hours earlier). My thought process on going out was that I was energized by being in a new city and wanted to have a couple drinks so I could sleep a bit better… a couple turned into six, it was easy to down a 50 peso beer (around $1.00) and then another, and another, and another… you get the point.
I will let you know that you meet some pretty sketchy people in hostels. My ratio when I was in Europe was about 5 normal people to 1 crazy, but my experience in Manila was quite different… about 1:1. One guy was telling me that I should have just slipped the immigration officer a 500 peso bill and they would have stamped my visa as an extended-stay visa (not exactly how I wanted to do it). Another guy has a couple of “insert your own sex adjective here” websites… one including the, I can’t believe I am typing this, Foreskin Avenger… seriously. This guy had also lived in the Philippines for two years and affectionately called it the armpit of the Philippines.
I did meet two normal guys and so I talked to them the rest of the night (or morning, depending on how you are looking at it). One guy, Lucas, was from Sydney and was trying to find a job in Southeast Asia and the other guy, can’t remember his name, was nice but couldn’t hear a word he said, the bar was playing loud music (I am so old). Anywho, went to bed and on with the next day and more adventures… per usual.
I am getting very wordy, like my father…
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