In June 2008, I had to travel to Manila, Philippines in order to have the official meeting with business experts of my company. Actually they were supposed to come here in Pakistan but due to our law & order situation here, we went there. I stayed there for 14 days. I took the flight from Karachi-> Dubai -> Manila (same was the return route). Following are few points worth sharing.
1. 140 countries doesn’t require visa to enter the Philippines but Pakistan does
2. Requirements of Philippines visa were very high like they needed clearance from the POLICE and Ministry of affairs. I was laughing at the clearance from POLICE, even If I had committed the crime, how would our POLICE track that?
3. Travelling in business class is comfortable but for only 4 hours, after that you are saturated specially when you know 7 hours more to go
4. The rush at Dubai Airport was same as the traffic at Jinnah hospital signal 
5. I loved the way hotel staff used to call me “Good Morning Mr. Perkaaaaaaaaaash”
6. Finding the Halal Food in Manila is an issue, though Indian vegetable food is great to have as an alternate.
7. Training on security in Philippines by our company staff looked funny to me because we already have seen lot of things than they covered in their presentation
8. Malls in Manila are closed by 8pm.
9. Filipinos can understand English.
10. Horse & boat riding on weekend was awesome. Though I pity on that horse 
11. It was fun to see the active volcano. Smoke everywhere was amazing but the way to volcano was TOO tough. I was praying to be back safely
12. Filipinos charged us hefty amount for boat driving due to monopoly.
13. Ocean Park is manila is also a wonderful place where you can see various kind of fishes.
14. A girl in our group almost had a fight with a guy on commitment VS actual
15. Asia Shopping Mall is the largest mall in Asia. It was very huge to be visited in a day and was also costly but I managed to buy a few things from there as well 
16. Beaches are on 2 hours drive from Manila which will be explored by me in the next visit to Manila in September 2008.
17. On my return, at Manila airport we met with the judge of Supreme Court of UAE, he was a great guy. He told us a few things related to politics and I was astonished on them. He also asked us to contact him in case we face any issue unlike Asif (The Cricketer).
18. In flight, we two friends told the Air hostess that we are twins. After that we ordered the same in appetizers and food. While serving deserts she didn’t ask me but served the same ordered by my friend. After serving, she again asked “You both doesn’t look twins ”
