15 hours in Manila

Two days ago, I was in Manila and spent all but 15 hours there. It was my first trip to the The Philippines and we arrived at the Ninoy Aquino airport at the ungodly hour of 4.20am via a connecting flight from Changi.

The boss was there to attend a regional high-powered transportation meeting, and due to his other commitments, we could only leave KL late at night.

After an almost four-hour flight from Changi, putting up with the airline's (not MAS) painfully uncomfortable seats, we were greeted in the hotel by the Malaysian delegation ready to brief the Minister on the meeting that was to take place in less than four hours.

With daybreak catching up, I caught less than 2 hours' sleep in an otherwise sinfully-comfortable room.

In the morning, the meeting, which was preceded by an informal pow-wow breakfast, went on well. I surprised myself having little difficulties staying awake. After lunch, everyone adjourned to the Malacanang Palace for a signing ceremony - the highlight of the entire meeting. After an almost 40-minute wait, President Arroyo strolled in, greeted her foreign guests and in less than 15 minutes, the show was over.

As me and my boss had to rush back to the hotel before catching our flight, we were ushered into an awaiting car (while others took the bus). I wanted to hop into the boss' car, but was prevented from doing so by the security personnel. Instead, I was told to take a ride in the police car that served as an outrider for the boss!

(Come to think of it, that was my first - and hopefully last - ride in a police car. I guess it must be quite "swey" to be in one.)

Upon reaching the hotel, we had less than an hour to freshen up and pack. And in no time, we found ourselves back at the airport to catch the 7.40pm flight. Again, we headed for Changi as there were no more flights to KUL at that hour.

By the time we touched down, the last flight to KL had already departed and we travelled by road back home - a journey which took as long as the flight from Manila. I reached home around 3.30am - about 32 hours since I left. Not that I was counting then when the only thing on my mind was to hit the sack.