Well I made it! As is usually the case my worst fears were not realized. I was imagining a cramped 20 hour flight but actually it went quickly although I did not sleep at all. At the beginning the flight attendant approached us (me and the filipino guy next to me) to see if we would change with a couple who needed our spot so the baby's basinet could fit the leggy space we had in front of the bulkhead. Fortunately when we moved we got a better space so I was able to stretch my legs the entire trip. This plane had the self selection of movies, music etc so I watched 3 movies: Superbad which was pretty good, Valley of Elah also good, and the Eleventh Hour a documentary on climate change plus I was reading an interesting book called "The Echomakers" which is very engaging. Ironically, one of the characters is based on Oliver Sacks the neurologist, author, and the guy Robin Williams portrayed in the movie Awakenings, he has traveled to Nebraska to observe this guy who is suffering from Capgras syndrome where he thinks people who are closest to him are imposters although they look the same to him etc, and Sacks is talking about lack of sleep when traveling etc which is happening to me because I have slept 5.5 hours since I left Toronto at 10 am and it is Sat afternoon. Anyways you can see I have time to kill because it is pouring rain outside although it is about 30 degrees . Speaking of lack of sleep my first really interesting conversation was this morning at breakfast with a Bosnian doctor who immigrated to the U.S. with his family and now lives in Dubai. He is a rehab specialist and is in the Philipines volunteering to set up a health clinic in a small village in the southern part of the country. He told me he works at a hospital in Dubai, has a small private practice, and works p/t as the doctor for a sports club where they have semi pro basketball club. He said he sleeps on average about 4 to 4.5 hours a night he is so busy. So anyways the trip went well my seatmate was a vet technician who works with animals in research at McGill U. who was going home because his father is ill. He told me a lot about Philipines in between movies. That's the thing about 20 hour flights is you have time for everything. I am learning as I am go because I missed my first great photo op. As we began our descent to Hong Kong I open ed up the blind on the window and there below were the mountains of China with the rugged coastline while my camera was tucked away. The airport sticks out into the ocean because of course there is no room. The other sight is the apartment buildings which look to be 60 stories high and are in rows. They reminded me of huge grain silos except they are people silos. The airport should be called airshoport because it is like Times Square with all the street activiy inside the terminal. Ohare airport is huge but hallways here go on and on and are so huge in width, height and length.
Last night as we came in, Manila fit into the classic third world city with 10 million mode. Lots of cars not following the street markings so everyone is all over the place, its slow driving and the honking of horns is incessant. My hotel is good al first I although at first I was not impressed by the furnishings but actually the bathroom is good and I have a separate kitchenette. I have a good view from the 14th floor of the area called Makati. Now I know what someone meant when they said it was like Vancouver but they were thinking of the West end and all the highrises and the density of the area whereas I was thinking of beaches and parks. Unfortunately it is not on the water but it is a safe area which the staff and my hosts keep reminding me. This morning I had the brunch which is free every morning and it was quite good. They also make good strong coffee which is terrific. Today is a day to stay close by but I will walk over to the office which is 5minutes away. The gym here has pretty new equipment where I had an indepth conversation with the attendant this morning on poisonous snakes in the philipines and he had some good stories which I will not repeat. I will post a not so good picture of Hong Kong at the end of the wing.
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