My trip to the Philippines : Perth - Singapore - Manila

PERTH - SINGAPORE - Saturday 8 December

After a visit from my son, daughter in law and baby grandson, I received an email from the online travel provider advising that my 9pm Scoot flight from Perth to Singapore would be delayed by 3h30 to half past midnight.

I panicked when I noticed that my arrival in Singapore would be about 15min later than the departure of my flight from Singapore to Manila, so I called the airline "Scoot" and after a 20 minute wait managed to get through to someone who said that because the next flight was with the same company they would wait.
At the Check-in at Perth Airport the gentleman said that was highly unlikely and I would most probably only be able to fly to Manila on the 2,30 pm flight instead of the 5,30 am flight which meant I would only arrive in Manila at 6,30 pm instead of 9.00 am, so a whole day wasted!! But he couldn't be sure either, and said it was up to Singapore to make that decision.

Christmas lights at Perth International airport

After the planned delay the flight only took off at 1,45 am instead of at 12,30 am, and we landed at terminal 2 in Singapore at around 7.00 am. 

Passengers with connecting flights were directed to Counter E to get re-booked on other flights.
Here I was given a boarding pass to the 2,30 pm flight and offered a room at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, plus breakfast and lunch.
I had to exit via passport control as I was going to Terminal 3 where the hotel is located.

All the way to the hotel and on the return to Terminal 2 I took the opportunity to take photos of the wonderful Christmas decorations and other art works at Changi Airport. 

It's truly one of the most beautiful airports that I know, known as an "Airport in a garden".

Orchid garden, various sculptures, A Million Times at Changi ,waterfall

Christmas Decorations at Changi Airport, Singapore

After checking in I went to the beautiful room, connected to wi-fi to let my daughter Karina know I wouldn't be arriving on schedule. She was already at the airport, having taken a lift with a couple who were flying out. She lives 80km south of Manila, but it takes them 2 hours to travel to Manila due to the traffic.  A few minutes later she sent me a message to say that as the driver was still there, she had decided to return home and come back later, as she could do a lot at home in those 8 or 9 hours. They were still unpacking boxes from the container that had arrived a few weeks before from Amsterdam, as well as preparing the house for the visiting family from both sides.
I also called my husband in Sydney to let him know where I was.

Crowne Plaza Hotel - views to airport tower, internal garden and my room

Then I went down to the restaurant for the buffet breakfast, returned to the room, 
had a shower, got into bed and slept soundly for 5 hours until my alarm woke me up.
Got dressed, went down to lunch - another great buffet but I only ate a little bit of sushi and  salads and found my way back to the departure gate at Terminal 2, where I went through security and passport control before taking off to Manila.
The 3 hour flight was uneventful, but being a low budget carrier (Scoot) there was no entertainment and I had forgotten to take a magazine to read or a movie to watch on my laptop. 


SINGAPORE - MANILA - Sunday 9th December 

Landed at Ninoy Aquino Aiport, Terminal 1 at about 7pm, and since I only had hand luggage - the first time in my life I managed to just travel with hand luggage for a 2 week trip - I was out very quickly. 
The terminal was empty, and I found it strange there was no one waiting for the incoming passengers. 
My daughter had said there was free wi-fi, but I couldn't connect and asked a young Filipino man how to go about it. He couldn't get it either, and he said he was going to buy a local sim card and would let me call my daughter.
As soon as he got his card he came to me, asked for the number and I spoke to my daughter who said it was now prohibited for family members to go inside the terminal, and I had to cross the road and go down a ramp to the Car park and she was waiting there.
Uff, what a relief!! I thanked the young man and made my way there.

Karina was waiting with the driver that brought her from her home in Batangas, we got in the car and he drove us to Shell Residences (City of Pasay) where Karina had rented an Airbnb apartment just 10 minutes away from SM Mall of Asia, the 4th biggest shopping centre in the Philippines.
Bonus: no jet-lag as the Philippines is on the same time zone as Perth.

Shell Residences, Manila - lobby, building, pool area and apartment

After dropping our bags at the apartment we walked about 10 minutes to Mall of Asia so we could go and eat something and we settled for an Italian restaurant. After dinner we popped by the gigantic hypermarket to buy yogurt, fruit and nuts for our breakfasts.
The hypermarket sells everything imaginable including shoes, clothing, furniture and appliances. The selection of fruit and vegetables was mesmerizing as I had never seen most of them in my life!

MOA (Mall of Asia), opened in 2006 and has an area of 4,2 million square feet or 42 hectares and 200 thousand visitors a day,  and is owned by Chinese-Filipino business magnate Henry Sy, Philippines richest man.
On the way home I was shocked to see a teenager sleeping on the bare pavement not far from the shopping, and that was my first taste of the reality of the very poor in the Philippines 😢.

Mall of Asia decked for Christmas, and the gigantic hypermarket fruit section

MAKATI - Monday 10th December

The next morning after breakfast, Karina and I caught a GRAB (the Asian Uber) car to the suburb of Makati so we could go and look for a white dress suitable for her wedding.
She had ordered one online from England when she was in Europe a few weeks before but it didn't get delivered.
Makati City, within metro Manila is the Philippines's financial center, where the Stock Exchange, major banks, department stores, foreign embassies and multinationals are located.
A very modern and clean area with lots of skyscrapers, modern shopping malls, entertainment areas, the Ayala Museum, the Ayala Triangle Gardens, Greenbelt Gardens and lots of al-fresco restaurants behind the Stock exchange building.

The ever present Jeepneys, lots of statues, "Make it Makati" sign and a traffic cop directing traffic

After searching a couple of shops that were indicated to her we went into the SM Makati Mall, and after trying out 12 white dresses at the SM Store, Karina found "the dress". 
Search over and we were free to wander around the Greenbelt Gardens with it's Christmas decorations, restaurants and a pond in the middle with a Catholic chapel - Santo Niño de Paz Greenbelt Chapel. A really pretty and relaxing area. 

Sampaguita (national flower) made with steel garden chairs, and Bumper to Bumper (made with car bumpers) by Pete Jimenez, a Swatch with the Philippines flag and an art structure in front of the Stock Exchange Building.

  

Greenbelt Garden with the Chapel on the pond (bottom left)

Christmas decorations at Greenbelt gardens and Ayala Triangle Gardens

It was getting dark (the sun sets at 5,30pm), and we thought the quickest way to get a taxi would be to walk to a hotel and catch one there. We walked to the Makati Shangri-la Hotel and asked at the reception. The lady offered the in-house taxi which would cost 4 times more than the usual fare. It was peak hour, if there is ever a non-peak hour in Manila I don't know, as traffic is chaotic at any time!!

So we went outside and flagged a couple of taxis going past, only three stopped, two refused to put the meter on and just wanted a fixed rate but the third one agreed on the meter plus 100 pesos (about 2.50$), which Karina agreed to.

The Makati Shangri La Hotel and it's Christmas decorations

He drove us to our apartment, and after freshening up we walked to an area about 1km away where we had seen a lot of restaurants when we drove past. We chose Kimono Ken (Metropark), where we enjoyed a lovely Japanese meal.

After dinner we crossed the park and had an ice-cream for dessert at Dairy Queen, before walking home.

We felt very safe wherever we went, people would just look at us because we were European.

 Christmas decorations at Metro Park, where we had dinner at Kimono Ken

And so ended my second day in Manila.

You've probably got an eyeful of Christmas decorations with this post, but the Filipinos take Christmas very seriously!!

Believe me they do, as their decorations go up on the 1st of September!! But I have to say that it was in Manila that I saw the best Christmas decorations ever.

But... you also get non-stop Christmas music wherever you go - shopping malls, hotels, restaurants, parks, resorts...I was only there for 2 weeks and I had enough of Christmas music, I kid you not, I knew all the lyrics by heart by the end of the holiday!!! 😄😄😄