Morning in Manila

My room in Manila

By 5:00pm local time (3:00am U.S. time), my valiant efforts to fight off sleep after a 30+ hour journey came to a definitive end.

I passed out on my spartan single bed in my tiny, neon-lit un-air-conditioned room. The whirring fan overhead did little to fight the heat and humidity, so I lay in a sheen of sweat all through the evening and night, hot and likely dehydrated.

Before passing out, I had spent several hours walking around the Malate district of Manila, getting a feel for my surroundings. It’s sunny, hot, humid and extremely crowded, but a convenient place to stay downtown just a few blocks from the bay while I planned out my two weeks in country.

Although I didn’t feel particularly threatened, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to conclude that if every shop and hotel has armed guards, many with shotguns and machine guns, some with attack dogs, all of them actively scanning the crowds of people, that Manila may be a place of occasional unrest. We’ll see.

I woke up 14 hours later, slick with sweat, and of course had the phenomenal idea that this would be a great time to work out. Wouldn’t want to get soft while I travel.

Had my mind been a little clearer, it probably should have occurred to me that the combination of extreme heat, humidity and fatigue meant I should drink up and ease into things a bit. But it didn’t.

That’s how I found myself on my knees in front of the communal toilet some time later, belatedly cursing the aggressive sets of push-ups, sit-ups, squats and shadow boxing, trying to keep my waves of nausea in check. Luckily, the toilet was immediately adjacent to the shower, so the stream of cold water on my back as I contemplated heaving up the distant remnants of my last meal probably spared me my first upchuck of the trip.

We’ll see if I handle it better tomorrow morning, hehe. But now, it’s time to explore some more.