long flight and a long day

afternoon tea

14hrs to taipai, 3 movies,2 meals, and an ambian induced sleep. My how time can fly.
Taipai airport is well stocked with every fancy store you can imagine, they even have the ubiquitous "hello kitty" store. After 3 hrs of zombie marching and following Anna around these stores, a quick 2 more hrs to Manila.

in our lobby

 Our hotel, the Makati Shangrila, is pretty nice. After unpacking we came down to the lobby for aft. tea and had a small orchestra almost to ourselves. The group was divided into the blue dress violins and the black dress violins, led by a piano and bass with two flutists thrown in for good measure.

xmas fantasy

i'm trying to get in the spirit

The nearby shopping centers provided incredible displays for the Christmas season and the night lighting  was spectacular. I've already eaten way too much for one man and will be in the gym first thing tomorrow.

whats in your trunk?

And there are guards everywhere, who basically open the door for you and wand scan your backback as you walk by. They are everywhere in the Malls so they double as your personal "where is the restroom" concierge. They also have dogs at the hotels to check your trunk/luggage just in case you were crazily thinking about bringing your crack pipe or molotov cocktail into the lobby. Its actually a good thing for tourists and other swells but a sad state of affairs for many countries. 


thanks for reading, I take any and all suggestions.


Anna and a little xmas decoration.