Day 70. Cebu via Singapore and Manilla. Mr Mintowt I presume.

Draw a line between Auckland and The Philippines and it looks like a straightforward journey. Take the circuitous route via the Southernmost tip of South-East Asia and things become a little more complicated.

After the relative calm of New Zealand and meticulously organised consumers' paradise that is Singapore airport, Manilla was a shock to the system. A humid, chaotic, teeming mass of people, all talking at once, rushing to somewhere else and seemingly carrying all their worldly possessions.

And that was before we'd even left the airport.

We had to take a short taxi ride to the domestic terminal, which was when the real mayhem started. It quickly became apparent that there is absolutely no Highway Code, so it's every Jeepney driving loony for himself. Quite exciting really, especially as we only had about 5 minutes spare to make the check-in for our connecting flight.



Cebu, which is The Philippines second city, is only marginally less hectic, so it was a relief to find Jan's big, daft grinning face waiting for us at the baggage reclaim. Big hugs all round for him and Marlou, and we were off to the hotel to talk long into the night about our trip and what's been happening back home.

Jan is sporting yet another ludicrously vulgar time-piece. What a ridiculous bloke he is.

Note to self: Must learn how to spell Manila.