Gregg's Philippine Adventure

[sir clinksalot]

Hey everybody

I'm here in the Philippines on my business trip. We got in this morning (Monday) at 5am. It's now 1220am (Tuesday) here which means it's 12:20 (EST) Monday afternoon there.

So far the trip has been okay. It was really hard to leave Kristi and the kids knowing I wouldn't be home for 2 weeks. The flight out was LONG but it was relatively smooth. We had a stopover in Guam and it was 80 degrees at 2am there.

When we landed in Manila it was about 85.

Today me and my work partner Kim went around Ayala Center (where our hotel is) and took some pics and did some window shopping. There are about 6 or 7 malls right around our hotel. The hotel itself is actually built on one. We walked under our hotel at one point and didn't even know.

We came back to the hotel about noon to sleep since our class time is 9pm - 6am Manila time (6am - 3pm PST).

Then tonight we had a sort of "meet n' greet" with our class of trainees. They seem really nice but we were kind of out of it. Our body clocks are really messed up.

Now I'm back at the hotel, it's almost midnight I'm hungry and nothing is open. That's okay though, I need to drop a few pounds.

I should have updates periodically...I'm going to 'attempt' to find out where the coasters are our here. There is supposedly a park very close to my hotel, but I didn't see it today. There are about 6 or 8 "family" parks and they are all in malls.

Here are some pics from day one:

Leaving LAX:




In Guam (Sorry the picture is so blurry)




Flyng into Manila (Does that say San Fernando???)




Driving on the streets of Manila ... which is INSANE I might add




Inside my hotel room/apartment:












The view from my room:

[sir clinksalot]

A few more pics:

The Greenbelt:




Ayala Center (all of those buildings to the left are malls)




There are like NO traffic lights in Manila




They do have Loius Vitton though (we are going to where they sell the knock-off stuff later in the week)




Our hotel from ground level




The place is weird ... you look at one side of the street and see this ... looks nice right???




Then you turn 180 degrees and see this:




They have some interesting food places:




And some typical food ... with messed up menus.




Here is a picture of me before I slept ... not sure if I look much better now




And finally ... some night shots from my room:





Check back for periodic updates (probably not daily). I just have time now since I didn't have to work tonight. This is the time I will usually be at work.

I will be putting pics up at my photo site, but probably not adding this many shots. I will try and post when I put more pics up.

Here is the gallery location:

http://greggandkristi.smugmug.com/gallery/1395822/1

[Bubba Z]

Very cool Gregg ...get some sleep , and I can't wait for another update.

The house that  fried chicken built is Hilarious !

Make sure you remember the names of the coasters and malls you went to, because it looks like RCDB needs some help with confirmation on where these coaster really are. Plus,  take tons of photos because I only saw a few coaster with pictures and I doubt I will ever go to the Philippines. That is, if you ever do find time between work and sleep.

Last thing, What are you teaching or learning that has you in the Philippines?

[sir clinksalot]

^ It's work stuff. We contracted some of our work out so I'm out here training.

Yeah, in researching exactly where the coaster are here on RCDB I didn't find much. I know that Gilco's is 1/4 mile from the Shangri-La hotel ... which is right outside my window ... so it's close.

I will make sure I take lots of pics and get as much info as I can on them. If I find them.

[ChuckR]

BK Spaghetti? WTF?

[stew560]

Forget the Spaghetti! Where's the Whopper!??!??

Great pics! Have fun and be sure to keep us in the loop!

[sir clinksalot]

Update for today:

No pictures. Sorry. Went to the grocery store to get supplies. Water, Coke Light some chips and crackers. The store was interesting. They have an entire aisle devoted to cheeze spread ... like Cheese Whiz. There were (I'm not even exaggerating) 100 different varieties. It was hilarious.

After that we headed back to Glorieta mall, got some pre-paid cards for our cell phones so we can call home. Now I'm back in the hotel about to go to sleep. Class starts tonight.

We are going to go to Green Hills Mall (where they have the cheap knock-off stuff) later this week. Should have more pics then.

Still trying to find out just where the coasters are. I think I will talk with my trainees tonight ... they should know.

[sir clinksalot]

A small update for today ...

Had our first full day (night) of training and it went REALLY well ... especially considering we were fading about 4am (Manila time).

We had dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe outside our hotel last night before work. It was really good. I had the biggest chicken sandwich you have ever seen ... I still have 1/2 of it left in the fridge. I should take a picture of the other half so you can see how big it was.

Got some nice pictures of the Manila sunrise from our office building.

In the room now ... it's about 815am. Just got back from breakfast and I'm going to head out in about an hour to head back to the grocery store ... I forgot detergent and fabric softener for laundry. I will try and take a few pics of the cheese whiz aisle while I'm there.

I asked my class where the coasters were and there are about 4 parks in Manila ... I should be able to hit some of them on Saturday.

Here are a few pics, there are more pictures (including some of my class) at the photo-site:

Hard Rock Cafe Makati:



Sunrise in Manila (it comes up at about 5am

[Bubba Z]

All this talking  about cheese makes me want to go to Geno's for a cheese wit.

[sir clinksalot]

Happy Saturday (EARLY Sunday morning here now). I actually got out into the city today and saw some of the sights and parks. I found a "Ghetto Disneyland" and it's freaky. I also went to Fort Santiago, I will share those photo's later.

Enjoy:

My saturday started at work, came back to the hotel and the driver picked me up about 11pm.

First Stop was SM Megamall. And when they say MEGAmall they aren't kidding.

The mall is probably 1/2 mile long and 5 stories tall. I had heard the shopping here was decent but the main reason for coming here was that there was supposed to be a park inside the mall called Glicos.

So I get in the mall and instantly start looking for a map to find this place. My common sense told me that it would be on the 1st floor ... coaster ... first floor right ... WRONG!!! It was actually on the 5th floor.

We will get to Glicos in a second. First some pics of the actual Mall.





First thing I come across is Worlds of Fun. Who knew that Cedar Fair had a park here too ...



Worlds of Fun





They have a bowling alley



And a Ice Rink



KFC has their own Chicken Boo



MegaMall ... 5 stories of shopping goodness:



Glicos

[sir clinksalot]

Quantum Leap ... now RCDB has this listed as a Tire Propelled Lift coaster ... that's not actually accurate. It's actually a powered coaster. I know most people would say it doesn't count but I'm counting it. Why???

It did coast for a second and I came all the way to the freakin' Philippines to ride it ... SO THERE!!!

Okay, back to your regularly scheduled TR ...

Pictures of Quantum Leap







So then I ride the coaster and see this ...



Yeah ...

The other thing, RCDB states there are 2 coasters here. If there are I never saw the 2nd one ... and the place isn't very big.

Back out into the mall ... apparently Erik Estrada is HUGE here.

Let's take a look at Erik Estrada's career path:

70's/80's ... hearthrob US actor, hit TV show

90's ... Novellas on Mexican TV

2000's ... Asian Pacific Superstar



That concludes the Megamall portion of the update ... Next post will be Star City.

[sir clinksalot]

Star City ... they have penguins inside. It's cool already



The entrance to the park. EVERYTHING here is either in a mall, on top of a mall or near a mall



The park is 1/2 indoors and 1/2 outdoors.



First stop ... Zyklon Loop

[sir clinksalot]

So up to this point the park looked just like any other amusement park.

This is where the park starts turning weird ...

I go around to where the supposedly 2 other coasters are (there are actually 3 more) and I see this:









Okay ... so that's weird enough. It was basically what looked like a boat ride. I wasn't going to ride any boat rides but had it been open I don't think I could have NOT ridden it ...

So then I head back inside to do the other coasters

First Stop, Wacky Dragon:





It was basically the worst kiddy coaster EVER ... and I felt like such a whore for even riding it.

While in the queue I notice some interesting paintings on the wall behind the coaster



I then head upstairs to do the other coaster ... I get up and I see another coaster, The Wacky Work ... that was EXACTLY like the Wacky dragon ... except green.







the next post is when it starts getting freaky ...

[sir clinksalot]

First thing I see is this ... hmmm



and this



Okay, at this point I thought it was a dark ride ... but it wasn't.

Let's put it this way ... if any of you were ever wondering what it would be like to get walked off Peter Pan at Disneyland ... you are about to find out ...

The first room





At this point I'm like okay ... this is weird ... but then we get to London

your basically on a cat walk over london





(sorry the pictures here are so dark)

Next room (they skipped the neverland fly-over)









Then the indians



mermaids



lost boys



Pan and Hook



And away we go



Some of the rooms were kind of out of order but they pretty much has all of the scenes there except the Neverland fly-over. It was really weird. It basically looks like someone went to Disney (most likely TDL) and took pictures and said "Hey, let's build this here".

[sir clinksalot]

Next up was my last credit ... the Blizzard Coaster ...





Anybody ever see wheels like this???



Okay ... so the weird thing about this coaster is the lift hill is curved ... so you automatically think ... tire lift ... BUT NO!!! It's a chain lift. There is one short chain lift, a HUGE gap and then another lift. Honestly, the lift is the scariest part about this ride.



The first lift:



The gap and the 2nd lift



After this I wanted to see the penguins ... but seeing how this park was maintained I really didn't want to because if they had been mistreated I would have been pissed. Ignorance is bliss!!!

Have you meet penguin???



They also had a couple more disney things



I don't know if it was a walk-through or a ride but I was fading at this point. I had been up for 20 hours, trained all night and walked 2 1/2 miles at Megamall and bartered for some cheap purses at Green Hills.

They had a Snow White Car ride too





Overall I'm glad I went out. The coasters sucked ass but the Pan thing made up for it.

[ChuckR]

Have you meet Penguins? hahah

Sounds like your having fun, I really need some oversea credits.

[Dubya91]

Sounds like you must of been preying not to rollback on the lift hills. It also appears that your somewhat of a credit whore. Sounds like your having a great time in the phillipines, and they use the customary system over there as on the signs i see it says you must be 4ft. to ride! Great TR's so far, keep it up!

[sir clinksalot]

^ Actually I'm not really a credit whore. This is the first time I've ever done something like this. I mean, I've been to Knott's MANY times but never made the 2 minute drive to Adventure City to get those credits.

Honestly, the real reason for me going out was because I really WANTED to just sit in the hotel. I'm honestly VERY home-sick and kind of forced myself to go out. I didn't specifically look for the parks. I was going to go shopping anyway, and since I was there I went up.

As for Star City it was just extreme chance that we passed it and I said "Let's go there". If we hadn't passed it I wouldn't have gone.

I did go visit some historical places, I will post those pics later. Star City was about a Kilometer away from there, on the back to the hotel.

[Bubba Z]

I'm glad your trying to make the best of things being home sick and all. Thanks for the updates on the coasters ! Sorry they were all lame , but I  think I would ride any coaster I could...being it would be my only chance. Then again I'm not so sure about the one with the maintenance issues , How scary.  Did they just pull that sign away when you walked up?    Here you go you crazy American.

Not only did you get 5 credits, You got to experience the newest Disney World. How crazy is right.  Well, hopefully this week goes quickly and you get home safely to your  family.

[sir clinksalot]

^ The sign was actually at the exit of the ride ... how scary is that???

That's what I figured. I don't plan on ever coming back here so why not go ahead and ride the coasters.

[WadeJ]

I'm enjoying these updates... thanks Gregg

I've found that whenever I'm away on business, the best thing to do is go out and explore to keep myself occupied.  Otherwise, homesickness just eats me up inside.  So of course, that usually involves finding a park lol

I am curious as to what Disney thinks of attractions like this lol

[sir clinksalot]

This will be my last official post from the Philippines ... I leave for the airport for an hour and I'm SO excited.

Just a few random thoughts:

- Despite being more homesick than I ever could have imagined I did enjoy my time here

- The kids (I call them kids ... they are ALL in their early 20's) that I trained were all completely awesome.

- My next training class at home is going to suck because they won't be my class from here

- I don't know if I'd ever come back for vacation or something but if I was in the area (Hong Kong) than I wouldn't mind coming for a weekend

- The hospitality of the hotel staff, the work people, etc, etc, etc was amazing

Anyway, I will have some addtl photos and some more random thoughts once I get home and have some perspective on everything.

So I will share one last photo with you guys ... me and my trainees on the last day of class:


Top Row: Juster, Alex, Romel, Edelyne, Richard, Rexon, Lloyd
Middle: Liezl, Criselda
Bottom: Alfie, Gregg, Paula, Banjo

Thanks for reading

[SilverBullet]

Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.

Seems like you had a great time there and like you became a little attached to the trainees. Kids lol.

[Bubba Z]

Well, I'm guessing  your home safely by now and enjoying sleeping in  your own bed! Thanks for all the updates. It was nice looking  at all your pictures of stuff I doubt I will ever see in person.