No escape from Manilla

painful and infuriating is manilla - 6 hours we tried and failed to leave this god awful city.... if i weren't so darn hangover I would write more but at the moment i simply can not... stay tuned for the vivid descriptions of our day from hell....ok, i am feeling a little more alive today after a great day (more on that in a minute) - first, sit back and enjoy the madness that was our first full day in manilla....the first mistake was mine, i will admit that. a mojito jug followed by umpteen million gin and tonics did not get me off on the right thing at 7am Tuesday morning. the plan was to go to the bus station, board a bus that would take us a good 12hours north to banoue, this was not to be. 4 bus depots later we accepted defeat, alex, me and the 4 million residents of manilla were all trying to get out for the easter long weekend and we didn't have a chance of getting on a bus. Never mind we shouted joyfully (me not so joyful but i was trying), we will go south instead and check out the volcano... off to yet another bus terminal, this time there were buses and we were quickly (very very quickly) ushered onto one that was already leaving the terminal - super?! - it only took us about 3 minutes to work out that this bus was not going where we wanted to go and we would have to jump out while it was still moving, add to the spectacle big backpacks, rain, puddles and crazy motobike drivers and we created a scene for all to enjoy - except us.heads down we clambered into our 5th taxi of the day for the airport we'd had enough, we wanted out... perhaps we could change our flights and head to the beach early? huh? remember holy week? remember the 4 million people trying to leave? no chance molony, what were you bloody thinking! you've been up since 7am, it's now 4pm, you've been around and around in circles, now it's game over - back to the hostel for another night in manilla.... the lonely planet does say "it is more difficult that you might think to take a regional bus out of manilla", they need to be informed that "it is bloody near impossible to take a regional bus out of manilla!".... seriously, this city sucks! ok, well it doesn't suck, its just not easy to handle. we made a good move and checked out Intramurous, this old brick walled city thing that was bombed once or twice and now is kind of trashed, but at least we managed on our day from hell to complete something at least a little bit touristy!tomorrow we will try again - fingers and toes are crossed....