Hello Manila!

We arrived Manila pretty early this morning ...4:15am. The flight was so-so....we didn't get upgraded this time around :( I guess Eric's charms are fading away. The food was horrible and the reading lights for the entire "economy" class were busted! The in-flight movies were also not working properly ...highly embarrassing for PAL actually....so I ended up listening to my ipod the whole time.


Here's Eric just waiting outside PAL's airport for driver, Boh-ning. Thanks Boh-ning for waking up so early to pick us up!






We got to Shangri-la Hotel in Makati around 5:30am but were told that our room won't be ready 'til 10am. Mom and dad were still asleep when we knocked on their door so we just decided to come down to the lobby...and so now we have like 3 more hours to kill.

Is he really watching the video or is he asleep?

Thank goodness for FREE internet access!

This was taken at 5:45 am. Sunrise is in the background with a fuzzy haze due to the smog. Restaurant's still closed so we can't have breakfast yet.

We had breakfast/brunch/lunch at the hotel's Circle's Cafe at 9:30.....loved their biko and bibingkas! Eric was hesitant to take pictures of the food close-up so he came up with a rather lame one that doesn't do justice to the creative array of delicacies.


We were finally able to get into our room at around 10:30 am. Pretty modern.....I love it!

....and this is the view outside:) We are within walking distance to a bunch of malls and restaurants so this is the perfect hotel to stay at if you like to shop and eat.




We we're so jet-lagged after our morning meal so we decided to take a catnap before going to the parlor where Eric had a haircut and I had the works...hehe:) We then went around the malls for a short time only but I managed to go crazy shopping when I saw all the cheap stuff at the Landmark Dept. Store. The only thing is, you have to wait a really long time to be able to buy something since the sales people need to itemize every single freakn' item on a sheet of order slip before you pay for them.... and then there's like 3 people double/triple checking the codes! So much hassle!



We were so hungry after that so I decided to buy some bread from our hotel's bakery.



Too bad for Eric....no carbs allowed:P








We had dinner with Eric's sisters and the gang at the Circle's Restaurant again. The kids have grown so big.....some of them are even taller than Eric!







To end the day off, we went for a relaxing foot and body massage after dinner at the "Island Massage and Spa" ......10 minutes away from the hotel. Very cool:)