PurpleAliens Blog

[purplealien]

I though I would put my to'peneth in about how I met my gf Charity, It may be a little different to others. Lol.
We meet online through a dating site, to be honest I wasn't looking for an LDR, but it was over a christmas period and I was not with anyone at that point. She just said Hi on the chat and we started talking about the usual things we english do, the weather. We got on really well, and carried on talking via YM. She was currently in Mandaue, awaiting a job offer in of all the places Moscow ! There was a lot of messing about by the authorities but it all came though. Seeing that Moscow is only 3 hours away I though it much easier to meet up there, little did I know about getting Russian visas and the cost of living !
Anyway I flew out last year for a long weekend. Not as daunting as I though. We had arranged to meet in the Metro, but was a while before we did. Like here, there can be more than one platform in a station so for ages we were saying on the phone, 'I am standing next to the exit sign', only to find out we were 100metre apart ! Lots more to come, but I wont bore you unless you want to be !, I haven't even started on my trip to Phil to meet the family

[andypaul]

ah ha that explains the Picture in the snow, was thinking that cold even for Baguio.

I think the best way about finding out what to do is to learn from others experiences so i say carry on purple or is it mr alien?

[zef]

I love reading peoples success stories, Keep up the good work Mr Alien.

[joebloggs]

ah ha that explains the Picture in the snow, was thinking that cold even for Baguio.

I think the best way about finding out what to do is to learn from others experiences so i say carry on purple or is it mr alien?

i've been to baguio and it was colder there than manc land,

never again, i didn't realise i would need thermals

[purplealien]

I was pretty lucky as in the five trips to Moscow, it was only cold and snowing once. But boy was it cold ! The other thing is that it is very expensive (now officially the most expensive city in the world). Still I would do anything to see my gf, even for just a long weekend.

[purplealien]

As for my trip out to Cebu, that was a trial and a half. I had arranged to spend Christmas 2006 in Moscow with my gf, however, there was a mixup with her work visa so she had to return to Phil to sort it out. Seeing that I had already booked tickets with BA to Moscow, I decided to fly out from there on Qatar to Cebu. Arriving at Moscow at 4am I checked my Qatar flight, only to find it was delayed by 5hrs meaning that I would miss the connection in Doha to Cebu. After waiting for the Qatar desk to open I was told that the tickets I had been issued with were not electronic, and because I had not picked them up (a month earlier, in Moscow !) they had cancelled my booking. So I am stuck in Moscow, day before Christmas Eve, with no flight anywhere.
Hang in there everyone, it gets worse ! I overhear from some fellow travellers that Thai fly to Manila. So another wait for 4 hours for the desk to open. I ask the lady on the desk, are there seats, Yes, Ok, I would like to book one, No, we don't take credit cards, only cash...in Roubles.
At this point I am getting beyond caring so I get the cash out on my CC, but it's not enough, the banks are not open so I use the machine to change my dollars. The machine swallows $150 but then breaks down. I can hear you laughing at this point. I report this to the airport staff (i am not sure I ever got the money put back in my bank). With a final 'could not care a less' attitude, I change the rest of my money in the bank, (Now open) and go to buy my ticket with Thai. No, that is too much, I need the exact Roubles. Argggggghhhh. I buy some gum from the sweet store and finally get my hands on a ticket out of there. By this time its 10pm....

Still I had an amazing time in Phil and would not have missed it for the world. It was the first place I have visited that I could truly say I was heart wrenched to leave. With some luck I will be back there in January

Next installment, the trip to Leyte...

[Maria_2300]

Looking forward to know the trip to Leyte. Im pretty sure you had a time of your life there, from getting to Leyte, the people, the place, and all.

[Alan]

Alien, please carry on - this is really interesting - especially with the 'Russian slant.'

Al.

[aromulus]

Qatar is famous, or infamous, for delayed flights... I know that pretty well...

[flyingsparks]

Great story. It makes my journeys to the Philippines look quite tame by comparison. Worst delay I experienced involved a 12 hour delay at Hong Kong airport after missing my connection.

[purplealien]

Anyway, even with the panic I made it to Manila, then a short hop on Cebu Pacific to Mactan airport, I really enjoyed the flight, great entertainment
My girlfriend her little boy, her sister and brother were all there to greet me. It was dark at this point so I didn't see much on the way to her apartment. My trip to SM mall was an experience, having never been to an Asian country, travelling in the Jeepneys was great, no taxis for this foreigner ! I even got to sit up front and chat to the driver.
After a few days settling in the plan was to travel to Leyte to meet the rest of Charitys family. I thought they were joking about an 6 hour bus ride, hmmmm. It was around Christmas so the ferry tickets took ages to get hold of but we managed. We set off at 3am the following morning to get the SeaCat over to Ormoc.
A fairly uneventful ride over was followed by my first trip to a Jollibee and a long wait on the bus in the 'terminal'. The bus was nothing like I had been used to ! No Routemaster here. Eventually the bus in front left and it was our turn to leave. I felt like a spaniel, with my head out the window watching the world pass by. A few hours later we pulled into Sogod, all change, with bags and people flying off the bus. I was glad that I wasn't on my own I wouldn't have had a clue what to do. Money exchanged hands and off we went of the second leg, stopping off on the way to drop water and gas cylinders to people.
Tired but still grinning I was told that this is our stop and off we all got. This is where it gets scary. I had forgotten that it was the school holidays and as soon as I was spotted, the adults and children all came out to see the new visitor. I was followed everywhere which freaked me out for a while. Everyone was very friendly of course, but being the centre of attention does make you very self conscious.
I am going back in a couple of weeks and know what to expect, so it will be much easier to relax. I am really looking forward to it, both Cebu and Leyte, I have such fond memories of both places. More stories to follow...

[mach]

have a safe trip & enjoy!