I love hostels. I love hanging out, meeting interesting people from all over the world and when I find a place I really like and have nowhere else I need to be I have a real hard time leaving. I could always say I like to stick around in places because I want to get to know them better but in reality, I’m probably just lazy.
I’ve been staying at Friendly’s Guesthouse here in Manila and it’s a wicked place to hang out. There’s free wifi and a beautiful rooftop terrace for getting some serious amounts of work done and a beer fridge nearby which has prevented me from getting serious amounts of work done.
I’m sort of torn because I know there are some fantastic people staying here that I’ve had a lot of fun with so far but I’ve got my flight to Bangladesh scheduled for Monday. I wish I could hang around here even just for a few weeks longer to get to know everyone a bit better because there are some really interesting characters in this place.
It really does prove that the people you meet have a huge impact on your impressions of a city. I never expected to like Manila and didn’t intend on spending anymore time here than I had to but I’ve ended up having a great time. I even scammed a free week of accommodation and beer for redoing the hostel’s website and know that anytime I return to the city, Benjie will be there with a warm welcome.
I’m sure I’ll meet some amazing people in Bangladesh so I’ll leave my fate up to the visa man at the Bangladeshi embassy. So far no sign of my visa and one application has been lost. I’m not sure if he’s just incompetent or expecting a bribe from me or what. Whatever is going on with the visa, I’d be quite happy to hang around Manila a wee while longer so if my application goes AWOL again. The lazy part of me kinda hopes it does!
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