Manila: Day 1

We arrived here on Friday morning at 4 a.m. or so. None of us can seem to grasp the time change - we left San Francisco at 10 p.m. Wednesday. The international date line thing - it'za bitch. Anyhow, after an awesome 8-solid-hours of ambien-induced sleep on the plane, I was rarin' to go! However, we don't go to work until 11 p.m. (North America hours)...so...

We checked into the lovely Edsa Shangri-La, or, "the shang" as the group calls it. It's a lovely 5-star hotel with nothing to complain about. At 6 a.m. I hit the gym, and then we went to "dinner" - breakfast - at 8 a.m. The buffet is beyond words - there is a noodle bar, a full drinking bar, English breakfast, Japanese breakfast, Filipino breakfast, pastries, a ham carving station, rice porridge with a zillion toppings, sushi, fruit, yogurt...and more...it's amazing. Sadly, lap-band girl is struggling to eat, so most of the aforementioned treats were not able to be enjoyed. After, Don (my manager) and I hit the mega-mall.

Ah, the mega-mall - it's not even a block away! 6-stories of insanity - most of the stores sell similar stuff, so at some point, it all looks the same. Me and my gay manager hit the "Going Straight" salon for a $2 manicure and $3 pedicure, respectively. That was good fun. Got some cash, and I got a coffee at Starbucks which was lovely! Needed some calories, and well, something familiar is always good when having a little bit of culture shock.

At noon, it was bedtime - though I puttered until 2 p.m. and then slept. We met for "breakfast" at 9 p.m. at a good Japanese restaurant located within the facility. Off to work at 11 p.m. - 7 a.m. To be honest, it was just fine. Basically we were keeping to our usual time/sleep schedule and the call center had limited windows, so I just pretended it was daytime. What was funny was at hte end of the day, Don and I opted to walk home, and we were both commenting on how nice and cool it was for 5 p.m.! Ha! It was of course only 7 a.m., and the heat here isn't too bad before 10. And then you get cooked.

Photo fun for you below!