Manilla Vanilla...

So this summer a few of us decided to go to a nice beachy location...

the small island in the middle of the Philippine Islands called Boracay. Unlucky for us though, we had to make a stop through Manila to get there. No offense to any Filippinos, but Manila is vanilla. Just like any other big city Ihave been to, except maybe slightly more dirty, loud and dangerous. My first experience was a clean, comfy room with a nicely placed fake window. To be completely honest, it reminded me a little of Tijuana. Well I spent the first day by myself wandering around the hot streets of Manila waiting for Sean, Younjoo and Holly to arrive.

Manila is filled with Jeepneys, Tricycles and shaddy cab drivers that try to con you out of every peso you have and blame it on the 'traffic.' Which brings me to that topic, I am pretty sure Manila is perpetually in rush hour.

However, Manila did have some bright sides... There was tons of western food, TGI Fridays, Hard Rock Cafe, California Pizza kitchen and Wendy's!!!...but the best was the Filipino roasted chicken (other than the cheap buckets of beer, not to be confused with the buckets o'liquor in Thailand). When the rest of the group arrived we also had a nice tour through the old part of Manila with our trusty tour guide, Anthony DeGuzeman, who loved to remind us that he had Facebook, and we should add him as a friend...

Finally, off to the beach... Boracay here we come

Scooooooter....

So back in the beginning of June I decided to follow in Trent's footsteps and 'Go Mobile.' I purchased an electric scooter. After doing a little searching online, I settled on a 2 week old scooter for 1600 RMB (~$230). It goes about 35-40km/h but was a little smaller than I expected, but it was a pretty good deal seeing how most of them retail for around 2000RMB. To date, this was the best purchase that I have made in Shanghai. After charging that baby up, it was time for Trent and I to experience a whole new dilemma in food choices. This is the common debate of the day, "where do you want to eat?" "I don't know... where do you want to eat?" "I'm down for whatever, you pick...".....as the daily debate goes. Now with an increased radius of possible food choices, the decision wasn't any easier.

Well, the scooter has opened me up to a seeing a whole new side of Shanghai. Small tree lined lane streets with locals eating outside their shops on mini chairs and table, more tiny hole in the wall restaurants, and the hustle and bustle of weaving through traffic, riding on sidewalks, honking your horn at pedestrians who seem to be oblivious to anyone but themselves and especially figuring out what streets to Not drive on...(aka no bike lanes, fast traffic, and screaming oh sh*t as you try to make it to safety).

The downsides of having a scooter...1) You hate walking Anywhere, as it feels like your barely moving. 2) Charging the battery...sucks (must weight about 40 lbs, and parking is no where near my building)

So, if moving to Shanghai....I suggest buying a scooter. My best purchase to yet...