Travelling to work

To get to work each day, I walk 10 minutes from our apartment at ‘Valencia Hills’ to the nearest LRT station ‘Gilmore’. At about 7.15 in the morning, by this stage it’s already hot and humid and I'm already sweating. Fortunately the LRT trains come every 10 minutes, so it's not long before starting the 15 minute ride on the clean, air-conditioned, but fairly busy train ride http://www.moveandstay.com/manila/guide_skytrain.asp.

From the 'Legarda' station where I 'alight' (as Filipinos say!), it's about another 30 minute walk to the NCRFW office. While the majority of the walk is quite pleasant, along the main road near the station, the pollution from the jeepneys, buses, FXs (a communal taxi), taxis and other vehicles can be quite suffocating! I'll try to take a picture of this road because it's very typical Manila!

The final portion of the walk is along the locked gates of Malacañang Palace - the Presidential Building. Initially I thought that I would be working with in Malacañang itself - but instead I am in an old restored Spanish building right across the road. While this sounds pretty nice, each division (consisting of about 4 - 8 people) is located in a different room, each quite small with minimal natural light. Particularly working 10 hour days, I'm ending up spending a lot of time with my workmates. Fortunately my 'team' is very friendly and fun, but still, having no personal computer or phone is strange!! Must of us walk back to the Legarda station in the evening together which is actually a really nice way to finish the day.

posted by batik billy @ 3:30 pm