Manila!

Just as soon as we landed, Gemma thought she had lost her passport along with the presents for her host family- but no, Chelsea luckily found it! We proceeded to go through the passport control etc, etc. we were relieved when we saw our suitcases after a talk from a VSO (Voluntary Services Overseas) staff saying that it's possible that we could lose our suitcases, lol. Gemma then spotted a man with a sign saying 'Chelsea Pritchard and party' - we weren't 100% sure if it was us or by coincidence someone has a same name as Chelsea and was travelling in a group too. We asked if the man was with VSO or driving us or something- I started to feel suspicious of the man, like what if he hacked through the airport computer and found our name on it- me being me basically, haha. The man told us that he works in the airport escorting people to meet who we had to meet when out of the baggage reclaim area.

We met our interpreter, Kam, (who by the way, says 'let you know' a lot!) and Lean, an ICS (International Citizen Services) staff member. Lean kindly asked us if we wanted to eat, and we didn't know what to pick! So we safely picked McDonalds! We then went ahead to our transport and travelled through Manila.

What can I say about Manila?!

Well, not much, as it was dark when we landed therefore we could not see much of the Capital City of the Philippines! But we will see more of it today, whilst visiting the British Embassy! (I'll tell you all about that in my next blog!)

During our travel to the hostel, Kam told us some tips about the Philippines, such as not to give money to the children because they will come back and more kids will come, and to also look out for pickpockets (mainly by the children, while others are asking for money) - they're desperate to help their own family. We found out more information about our driver, he had worked in Afghanistan for one year, as an engineer, which gave him good money but he was on one year contract and had to come back. The families in the Philippines don't see each other very much as they're always working somewhere else in the world.

This made me very grateful that we live in a 'well off' country and that we are able to we our families a lot!

We finally arrived at our hostel, and we all were very tired, so we were escorted to our bedrooms, with some help by men (for the ladies, of course) for our suitcases. We asked for wifi and texted our families and friends! I went for a quick COLD shower, there's no hot water in the Philippines! But I don't mind, as it's very hot here and soooooo humid! It's about 80%-95% humid here! It was also 28 DEGREES CELSIUS at TEN O'CLOCK at NIGHT!

I quickly wrote my blog about the journey from London to Dubai and fell asleep!